How to improve Kate Bush's "Running Up That Hill?"
I just spent about 40 minutes of my time reading about and listening to YouTube covers of Kate Bush’s "Running Up That Hill". The original Kate Bush version from the Hounds of Love album is definitely my favorite. This is a song that was the big hit on that album. Pretty powerful at the time but one that risks being overplayed, therefore contrary to what an audiophile might listen to.
I’ve been hearing one version by a female singer on the radio here a lot and it is no better than the original. None of the nuance or theatricality is preserved. And it is shortened in length for short attention spans. Just awful, and in a way disrespectful of the original. I don't mean to be so cranky, maybe the covers are actually OK. I did understand the lyrics a little clearer on a few of the covers thus absorbed the meaning of the song a bit better.
Which brings me back to the original with Kate Bush singing. I have been listening to the CD version and the sound quality is just OK. I have to use my imagination to ignore the muddy echo and moderate compression that I hear. I have not listened to the LP record in 20+ years. I am addressing that now and hope to be back to listening to my old vinyl records through my old Linn LP12 (which I am looking forward to modernizing this year).
So beside my specific comments about one Kate Bush song, its imitators and how sound quality is not quite where it could be, I would ask - have you encountered any of your favorite recordings that no matter how much you upgrade your system, or however intently you listen - the recording still disappoints in a way? In this instance, it is just that I am unable to cut through some of the over-production to get to the essence. Kind of a shame. I don’t mean to be negative, since I love this music but it is a slippery slope.
Showing 3 responses by teo_audio
12" EP 45 rpm version is the way to go. That is about as 'improved' as it will get... studio mix on one side, instrumental version on the other. (IIRC) |
Just listened to the Meg version. it misses the insistent propulsion, the desire to move, the stress of need and desire, the motion of progression, the pull. The force that drives, the forces, compulsion in one to simply GO, at any price. The meg version misses this entirely. It is a very subtle sense of timing, in the the beat vs the rest of it all. It is a key, maybe even ~THE~ key component of the driving power of Kate’s original. The drums and percussion, the subtle timing of the voicing, the instrumentation, all of it, is built into the push of it. At the same time some of it is designed, to calm, to relax, to open the mind and the mood. A purposely torn and stressed mix. To find this all critical aspect of Kate’s original, you need to find a pitch/speed perfect orignal on youtube, at a high enough data rate, recorded by a smart (or lucky) yootoober. Youtoob is a total s**tshow when it comes to trying to find such. Or, can the listener even understand and feel the the difference? Can they get it at all, does it mean anything to them, if they actually do ’get it’? What level does the listener live on/in? eg, at the end of the original song is the relaxation, the relief of being in motion, a fulfillment of sorts...as opposed to unfulfilled unrelenting stressing and longing -of the body of the song. (combined with a existential search) Akin to the unstoppable desire for infinity and immortality, to live.. while feeling like one is being eviscerated. The song is a story, a ’life arc’ - if you will. This complex mix is intentional and perfectly executed.. and is why Kate’s version will probably never be equaled. |