MOMENTS OF PLEASURE ( KATE BUSH COVER ) ( PLANE FLYING OVERHEAD TRIAL RUN VERSION) 10.31.10

Addendum: I did a second pass at this great song, one with a better vocal mix, which can be found here:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HQjzS5XhavA

- - - - -

In 1985 Kate Bush tore my head off with The Hounds Of Love album. I played it religiously, every day, for almost a year, trying to decipher what was happening in the music, wondering how she was able to make a recording that was so technically original, dynamic, and new-sounding. That album was my direct portal into the world of Kate Bush. It's in my top ten all-time favourite albums, very high up on the list. The Dreaming (1982) is my second favourite.

My first exposure to Kate Bush came about seven years earlier while watching the syndicated UK export, The Kenny Everett Video Show. It was on that show that I first experienced Kate Bush. Kate showcased her idiosyncratic, then-new song, Wow. My younger brother and I looked at each other after seeing it for the first time. We didn't know what to make of it. It was like no other pop music we had been exposed to. I will admit, we did have a bit of a knee-jerk reaction to it. What did we do? We laughed at it, thinking it was just too weird for us. Then again, we were only around 12 and 9 at the time. The funny thing is, my brother and I mimicked her windmill arm gestures for days afterwards, singing "Wow, wow, wow, unbeLIEVABLE" repeatedly.

After The Hounds Of Love came out though, when I was just starting my second year of art college, my borderline obsession with Bush began. In the years following, I purchased every studio recording she ever released. I kick myself for not ever picking up the Live video, from 1979. It's no longer available. She only toured once, which only added to her mystique.

My favourite song of Kate's is This Woman's Work from the She's Having A Baby movie soundtrack (1987), but the one I like to play is Moments Of Pleasure, from her 1993 album, The Red Shoes. Oddly enough, that one is my least favourite Kate album, although I must clarify that there are no bad Kate Bush albums. I remember walking in to pick up that album at Toronto's now-defunct Sam The Record Man the day The Red Shoes was released. The first song I heard blasting out of the store speakers was Moments Of Pleasure, and when Kate sang "Hey there Michael... do ya really love me," I was stopped dead in my tracks. Kate Bush was singing to ME!

At least that's what I like to think anyway.

It's a song I like to play when I just want to roll on the keyboard. It has a reoccurring motif that I really like, which repeats through the entire song. There are some incidental lyrics in the tag that I left out, because they seem very specific to Kate's studio and personal experience with her fellow musicians and friends. But I kept the last two lines in the song.

This is the noisiest clip I've made. A plane flew over my building just as I started recording. It was kind of Pink Floyd-y, so I just kept it. There were some other weird things that happened in earlier takes; I share one such incident with you at the end of this clip.

Yes, I know my voice should be louder. I use a cheap camera, and since it's mono, so the mix is always a crapshoot. We are learning new technology. We're working on that, thank you very much.

For more of my ramblings, follow me on Twitter!
http://www.twitter.com/michaelthorner

Category:

Music

Tags:

• Pop
• ClassicPop
• Standards
• Masterpiece
• Cover
• Covers
• KateBush
• Kate
• Bush
• TheRedShoes
• The
• Red
• Shoes
• 1993
• Songwriters
• Songwriting
• CriticalAnalysis
• Musicology
• Acoustic
• Live
• Piano
• Music

[coolernie131]

Great job. Your vocals are good and your piano style is awesome.