Kate-echism VII.4.xvi

[IED0DXM%UCLAMVS.BITNET@wiscvm.wisc.edu]

KT News:
^^^^^^^^

All 6 KT albums are finally available as EMI-America CDs. There was
a long delay with some of them, but they've all shown up in Tower now,
wrapped in U.S.-style card-paper outer sleeves.

Ernest Heramia has begun a new KT-related apazine called
Watching Storms. Each contributor is asked to pay $10.00
a year, and to send in 40 copies of one 250 - 2500-word
piece of writing (or artwork) each quarter to a central address.
Anyone interested, write to him at:

167 Central Avenue
East Providence, RI 02914

Now, the mail-bag:
^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^

To Jon Drukman: You're welcome, don't mention it, etc.
To Julian Gomez: IED has been unable to deliver mail to you
because apparently the host "riacs.edu" is "unknown".
If you can help IED with your address, he'll send the interviews.
Speaking of which, did you have a particular interview in mind?
Several have been posted in L-Hs. Also, he might be able to help you
out with the Night Flight video, if no-one else offers.

>Date: Thu, 16 Apr 87 07:28:08 EST
>From: hofmann@nrl-css.arpa (James B. Hofmann)
>P.S. To IED.  You're not fooling anybody, IED.  Your discography is
>incomplete but I'm not going to be the one to tell you WHERE it's wrong.

Could you give a clue? Like for instance, which discography are
you talking about?

>The new Kate Bush song from "She's Having A Baby" is entitled
>"Make It Go Away".

O.K., Sue, your mysterious KT-fan friend told you this, right? So, what
did the song sound like? Is there any info on the film yet?
Any mention of Kate's involvement in print yet? Is the song about
the movie, or completely independent? And why doesn't the KBC ever
tell us about these things first???

Sue and Phil, you're both now on the list, re-printed below.

>I would be willing to start a second tape around, to speed the
>process up a bit (besides, I've got more cassette mailers than
>I know what to do with :-) If you'd like to be on the receiving
>end, please send your address to...

You're welcome to start another tape, Sue, esp. since the first
one will probably take a million years to make the circle now, there're
so many L-Hs requesting it. But, of course, it won't have any
of the same stuff on it. IED will update the master list occasionally,
but he cannot be responsible for people getting overlooked by the
people doing the actual mailing. If you do get another tape started,
maybe you should just assume that everyone on the first list wants
to get your tape, too -- but start from the bottom of the list
for your tape, and work your way up. That way everyone will
get SOMETHING sooner rather than later.

>Subject:  IED's demise?
>But the film isn't even going to be released until mid-June!
>I am afraid that this ensures your death! Unless the soundtrack
>is released in advance of the film, of course. Gee, we'll
>miss your interview transcriptions! :-)

God has spoken to IED again, and gave him a postponement till
the end of June. But boy! This better be legit, Sue -- the Lord
is getting steamed.

>Glad you finally found one -- so did I! It will doubtless
>be added to future "100 Most Collectable Kate Items" lists...
>IED, perhaps you could post *your* list of, say, the 10 or
>15 rarest artifaKTs (I think 100 is a bit excessive).

IED agrees totally that 100 is excessive; actually so is 10. The only
truly "rare" Kate Bush collectable record is the (possibly non-existent)
East German Demos LP called The Early Years. All other KT "rarities" are
actually just "hard-to-find", a decidedly inferior status. After all,
according to the Record Collector's price list, a new collector
could acquire every item on the entire Top 100 list by making a
total investment of 1,588 Pounds (approx. $2,223.00): you can't
even buy a Yugo for that! Furthermore, the collectors who can
get you what you want (provided you have the money) are pretty
well known and reasonably reliable. So none of these are Christie's
or Sotheby's material. The excessive length of the list
was the root of almost all of Record Collector's mistakes:
the compiler had so many spaces to fill up that
some arbitrary insertions and omissions were inevitable.

On the other hand, there are a lot
more than 100 "collectable" records that
can go for 5 Pounds or so, so the only way to make an effective
list is either to include every item, no matter how long the list,
or to make a cut-off at something like 20 Pounds. Even so, such a list
is next to meaningless, because there will always be some new
Kate fan with a poor knowledge of the market, some extra cash and a
fervor to buy, buy, buy. So what items are probably the hardest to find?
Again, hard to say, since even those items were easy for SOMEONE to find.
In other words, these lists are not very helpful. So instead, IED will
list ten items which he feels are probably the most INHERENTLY
worthwhile, even at inflated prices. That's about the best he can do.
Notice that no ordinary promotional copies are included, and only
one white-label makes the list. In general, the premium on such items
is artificial, and annoying to this fan.

Top 10 ColleKTable Records

 1. The Early Years (East German Demos LP).
    If it exists at all, then its value is immeasurable.
    An album of Kate's earliest performances -- pre-falsetto-era --
    from the period of (and possibly including) "Passing Through Air"
    and "Maybe". Like going back in time to witness the birth of God.

 2. Let It Be (ca. 1981; Kate Bush Club of Japan flexidisc).
    With brief spoken messages from Kate and John Carder Bush. This
    is quite rare; but more importantly, it is extremely interesting.
    It gives a very strong and atmospheric impression of the ethos
    of the Bush family, plus a recording of Kate's most ingenuous
    and (arguably) least artistic performance. For Kate fans it
    has to be a remarkable icon.

 3. The Bristol concert bootleg cassette (with a photo of silent film
    star Louise Brooks on the cover.)
    IED has never heard of anyone else having a copy of this tape,
    but it is almost certainly not rare. In IED's opinion,
    this unedited two-hour bootleg of one of Kate's Tour of Life
    shows is invaluable. It includes not only nearly all of the songs
    from the concert -- including the alternate early version of
    Egypt -- but most of the incidental music, chants and
    readings, as well. By contrast, all of the U.S.-made bootleg LPs
    feature radically edited excerpts from the live performances.

 4. An Interview with Kate Bush (Canadian promo LP, EMI America SPRO 282).
    This is the more recent of the two official interview
    LPs, and it features a few interesting moments. It's also
    supposed to be very rare.

 5. Kate Bush Self-Portrait (U.S. promo LP, EMI America SSA 3024).
    A very early interview (done in the summer of 1978). Kate is
    young and filled with enthusiasm. It makes a marked contrast
    from Number 4.

 6. The Kick Inside (UK white-label test pressing in folder cover with
    photos & biography).
    One of the few white-labels for which the high price may be justified.
    It is very rare, is specially packaged, and supposedly has terrific
    sound. Except that the CD has even better sound; and anyway, if the
    LP gets played, its sound deteriorates and its value goes way
    down. So what's the point?

 7. The Kick Inside Picture-Disk (original edition).
    Not really any higher quality than the later re-pressing, but its
    authenticity may still be of value to some collectors.

 8. The Single File (original numbered edition).
    As with number 7, the original run of this item is no better
    than the later unnumbered edition, but its verifiable rarity
    gives it some value. The actual records are cheap re-prints,
    so collectors of singles would do better to concentrate on
    finding mint copies of the original U.K. picture-sleeve singles.

 9. A tie between all of Kate's original U.K. picture-sleeve singles:
    Wuthering Heights, The Man With the Child in his Eyes, Hammer
    Horror, Wow and the Kate Bush On Stage double-pack.
    In perfect condition these are worth alot of money, and are
    genuinely valuable artifacts.

 10. A tie between A Symphony in Blue (Canadian blue vinyl),
     Wow (Canadian yellow vinyl), Wuthering Heights (U.S. gold vinyl),
     Babooshka (Russian blue vinyl flexi), and
     a complete set of the Canadian mini-album (in Green, White,
     brown, red, blue and clear vinyl).
     These were all genuinely limited editions, unlike the
     U.S. marbleized Hounds of Love LPs and cassettes, of which a great
     number were pressed. The fact that the marbleized items bring
     a very high price nowadays doesn't mean they're worth it.

>Houdini seems a bit calculated in comparison,
>although there's obviously genuine feeling in it too.  Still, "Get Out
>Of My House" was placed at the very end of the album for a reason - to
>shock the listener, to scare him/her and to make him/her ruminate on
>the past ten songs... think about the themes brought up, the locales
>visited, etc.  We've just taken a trip through Kate's mind (house) and
>now she wants us OUT!!  Think about _that_ next time you plunk the
>CD in your player.
>
>--Jon

An interesting interpretation. GOoMH certainly is an inhospitable track!
About your comment that Houdini seems comparatively more "calculated",
IED respectfully disagrees. In general, the music which is accused of
being calculated, manipulative, insincere or affected is comparatively
quieter, more contemplative, more openly confessional and less aggressive
than that which is judged to be less calculated, manipulative, etc.
In fact, in this case, GOoMH is about as highly calculated and
elaborately designed and polished as anything in pop music. But because
it features such APPARENTLY spontaneous, aggressive vocals, etc.,
which mainly communicate emotions of anger and terror -- emotions
seldom associated with affectation and preciousness -- it can easily
be mistaken for a spontaneous piece of work, something it is not.

>Oops, I meant to give you mine, too.  But I don't need to be high on
>the list.  Not sure I have any rock esoteric enough myself, but I can
>probably borrow some.  Unless you want a track of Bulgarian choral
>music or Hungarian dance tunes. (Seriously, that's what I collect,
>folk dance records and such).

Personally, IED would love to hear some of that on the tape.
Your misgivings prompt a reminder to all potential KonTributors and
listeners that the KompilaTion tape places NO restrictions on
content. Love-Hounds are encouraged to put ANYTHING THEY DAMN
WELL LIKE on the tape(s)! The more diverse and weird the
collection the better. Above all, don't be too concerned that
one or more listeners might already have heard something you
want to put on the tape: If even one listener is unfamiliar with
a recording and discovers something he likes as a result, that's
more than enough justification for putting it on in the first place.
And reverse snobbism is just as bad as the opposite. In other words,
if you want Barry Manilow on the tape, put him on! (AARRGGHHHHH!!!!)
In fact, there's not even any restriction against Kate Bush --
if that's what you like, put it on! (But don't worry, IED didn't
include her.) The only suggestion would be to keep in mind your
time limitations, and design your set so as to maximize outsiders'
interest and minimize fast-forwards.

Here's the list as it stands now:

 1. IED0DXM
    c/o Andrew Marvick
    10499 Wilkins Avenue
    Los Angeles, CA 90024

 2. Mark Kat(e)souros
    1807 Fox St. #104
    Adelphi, MD 20783-2353

 3. john labovitz
    3314 farthing drive
    silver spring, maryland 20906

 4. Gregory Taylor/602 Russell St./Madison,
    602 Russell Street
    Madison, WI 53704

 5. Joe Testa
    196 W. 11th Ave.
    Columbus, OH 43210

 7. Peter E. Lee
    24 Puffton Village
    Amherst, MA 01002

 8. Joe Turner
    329 Ward Street
    Newton Center, MA 02139
    (617) 965-8058/969-5993

 9. Mark Ganzer
    4670 Chateau Dr
    San Diego, CA 92117

10. Walter Henry
    xb.k98@forsyth.stanford.edu  <ARPA>

11. Dan Hall
    71 High St, Apt 2T
    Exeter, NH  03833-2908

12. Andrew Elliott
    70 Caliente
    Reno Nevada 89509
    (702) 786-8762

13. Sue Trowbridge
    4401 Roland Avenue
    Apartment 215
    Baltimore, MD 21210

14. Phil Stephens
    4066 Yellowstone Drive,
    San Jose, Cal 95130


That's all.

-- Andrew Marvick