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From: nessus@mit-eddie.UUCP (Doug Alan)
Newsgroups: net.music
Subject: Re: Kate Bush's "The Dreaming", Peter Gabriel, & "The Kick Inside"
Message-ID: <3603@mit-eddie.UUCP>
Date: Fri, 8-Feb-85 19:35:02 EST
Article-I.D.: mit-eddi.3603
Posted: Fri Feb  8 19:35:02 1985
Date-Received: Sun, 10-Feb-85 04:49:07 EST
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> From: toml@rlgvax.UUCP (Tom Love)

>>		From mit-eddie!nessus (Doug Alan) [Me]:

>>		I think it is also fair to say that Peter Gabriel has
>>		been influenced by Kate Bush.  They have worked
>>		together, and their music has evolved together.  (Kate
>>		Bush's influence on Peter Gabriel is certainly apparent
>>		in his recent concerts, where he does mime and stuff
>>		while singing.  Kate Bush was doing this a long time
>>		ago.)

>	ack.  "gabriel doing mime and stuff."  fancy that.  he must be really
>	grateful to kate bush for teaching him how to do stuff while singing.

>	in case you weren't aware, peter gabriel has been combining
>	mime, makeup, outrageous costumes, and theatricality in his
>	performances since kate bush was nothing but a kick inside.
>	ever hear of a band called genesis?

Of course -- I never saw a Genesis concert, though, so I admit I
could have been wrong.  But I doubt if Kate Bush picked this up from
Peter Gabriel, because she was into being theatrical before there was
any apparent connection between the two.  In fact, 10 years ago Kate
Bush took two years off between obtaining her record contract and
recording her first album so that she could study dance and mime, which
would be used in her concerts.  This was certainly long, long before
Kate Bush and Peter Gabriel converged musically.

Also, having seen both a Peter Gabriel concert and a Kate Bush concert
(The Kate Bush concert on video tape), Kate Bush seemed more at home
dancing and miming while singing.  I assumed this was because she had
been doing it longer, but it may be just because she had spent two
concentrated years studying it.

But in any case, it really makes no difference.  Because no matter who
is influencing whom, they are still both highly original, and different,
even if they have similar artistic goals.  They may both be into
theatrical performances, but both of their performances are very
different.  Peter Gabriel seems to tend toward the more simple.  (He
mimes alone.)  Kate Bush tends toward the more complex.  She dances into
addition to miming (how she manages to dance and sing at the same time,
I don't know) and has other dancers dancing with her.  The both use
strange rhythms, but they don't use the same rhythms.  They are both
into making their music emotional, but they do it in different ways.
They both use obscure instruments, but not the same obscure instruments.
They both sing about unusual things, but not the same things.  "The
Dreaming" is much more layered -- it has more going on at any instant than
any Peter Gabriel album (I won't claim this is necessarily an
advantage -- it's just different (and I like it better)).

Peter Gabriel certainly wouldn't say that he feels Kate Bush is copying
him.  He must respect her as an artist or he wouldn't do duets with her
and he wouldn't have appeared as guest host on her BBC TV special.
Listening to a Kate Bush album and a Peter Gabriel album are two
different and complementary experiences.

				"You can dance.  You can make me laugh.
				 You've got x-ray eyes."

				Doug Alan
				 mit-eddie!nessus
				 Nessus@MIT-MC