Rev-Ola Rec. 
Kathe Green : Run The Length of your Wildness (US/UK,1969,re.2008)****
I decided to check out some of the Rev’Ola releases now and then, because they release some beautiful voices from the 60s. Looking back at those days makes me realize that it wasn’t all such a free expression time as we now wish to remember. Lots of female singers were bombed to popularity with a re-enforcement of often lushly orchestrated arrangements in standardised styles, which fitted perfectly for some songs, and sounded just nice with some others, while turning the singer-songwriter’s potential this way very often into a chansonnier/singer/crooner made for entertainment and showbiz, while in the end they were more often being judged for it’s entertainment success before they could continue with their career or not. Despite this bitter fact which happened, the positive thing about it is that the production ideas of the 60s had a nice attractive sound on its own, which in its early years actually hardly ever ruined the music itself. It was only when the costs and efforts for it in the 70s did no longer have the desired success that the production arrangements turned to different, less sweet attractions, leaving less fitting ability to a singer, so that the taste for arrangements became overshadowed by the game of manipulation.
Kathe Green’s first LP surely was one of the more successful female pop albums, but through circumstances missed that much needed promotion. This reissue surely proves how much this is a shame. The London Philharmonic was hired for the sessions and the musical score was done by John Cameron who worked in close cooperation with Kathe’s essence, so that the orchestrations work perfectly. I very much like the strong expressions on “If I thought you’d ever change your mind”, a song by the arranger and musical director John Cameron himself and which I remember very much from David Bowie’s version of it, a version with fits very well as to compare both interpretations. Also the title track, even when this song is not ringing a bell, and this is with additional brass to the string orchestra, convinces in a similar way, creating a world around the song expressions that makes them stronger from within. 10 out of 13 songs were Kathe’s own songs. Recommended.
