More than anyone ever wanted to know about KT picture discs

[IED0DXM%UCLAMVS.BITNET@WISCVM.WISC.EDU]

For those who have been wondering about KT picture discs, here is the
scoop.

There are now a total of seven piKTure discs: two official, five
unofficial. The earliest is a picture disc of _The Kick Inside_,
released first in 1978, then again (without run-out groove message) in
1981 or 1982.

The second was a seven-inch pic-disc of "The Big Sky" single,
UK only.

Of the five bootleg pic-discs, it is IED's opinion that three
of them are UK-made, and two U.S.-made. It is very easy
to distinguish between the two kinds. The UK discs are all
part of a large and recent series of rock "interview"
pic-discs put out by an outfit which claims UK origin on each
disc and identifies each record with the letters BAK in the
catalogue number. There are now three Kate Bush pic-discs from
this group, all featuring interview tapes. All of these discs
have two photos, a different one on either side of each.
     The first one which IED saw (about six months ago now)
had on one side a close-up of Kate wearing the floppy bow-tie
which she wore both for the U.S./Canada promotional tour in
November 1985 and for the Wogan Show lip-synch of "Experiment IV".
On the flip side of this disc is a shot of Kate in red pants-suit
with bass viol in hand, taken from one of the European lip-synchs
of "Babooshka".
     The second of the UK boot pic-discs (the one which seems to
be the most common one in the L.A. area) had a close-up of Kate
on either side. Both were taken in 1978, probably quite early in
the year. IED dates them that way because of the feathery choker
she wears in one photo, a decoration which she wore during a
1978 German lip-synch. One of the photos is very distinctive: Kate
stands against a blue background, and has both hands raised,
as though displaying her manicure to the camera.

The third of these UK bootleg picture-discs has only surfaced
in this area within the past week, although reports of a third
BAK disc surfaced some time back. This "new" one features
two more of the 1978 feather-choker photos, and is called "Kate
Bush II".

All three of the above discs have interviews on them. Two of
them are real interviews done live with Kate. One of those is
notable for its tense, uncommunicative atmosphere and astounding
lameness of the interviewer's questions. In its favour, the sound
of this interview is extremely good.

The other of the legitimate interviews (found on the latest
BAK disc) has absolutely abominable sound. Let IED qualify that:
the sound is all right, but the interview took place in a
room full of loudly chatting people (a pub, perhaps, or at a party?),
and as a result it's sometimes very difficult to hear all of Kate's
answers. In this record's favour is the quality of the discussion
itself -- really first-rate. The interviewer is either English
or Scottish, IED thinks, and he manages to do what very few
Kate interviewers succeed in doing, namely to turn an unnatural
"interview" session into a very comfortable, mutually respectful
chat of some thirty minutes' length. The conversation, which dates
from just prior to the release of the "There Goes a Tenner" single,
touches on a great many topics, and Kate makes many very
interesting comments about subjects no-one has ever brought up with
her before.

The third UK disc is a "fake" interview, i.e. a tape of Kate, possibly
from an official promotional interview, from which the original
interviewer's questions have been excised, and to which the
(as usual anonymous) interviewer has appended his own re-wordings
of the questions. There's a particularly slimy attempt by the
bootleg interviewer to pretend as though he's there chatting with
Kate, chuckling and re-acting to her responses in a disgraceful
performance of misrepresentation.

As for the U.S.-made pic-discs, there are at least two. Both
are cheaply made, with poor resolution of the photos, and with
only one photo on each, repeated on both sides of each record.
Neither of these discs has any identifying mark on it. Worst of
all, the material featured on these records is entirely superfluous.
All they are are single discs taken from the same old bootleg
tapes found on half a dozen earlier U.S. boots, most recently
the three-record set called "Kate Bush in Europe '79 - '80".
In other words, one disc has the Hammersmith Odeon film's
audio track, and the other either the "Kate" Christmas special
audio-track or the tape from the Paris concert (can't remember
which, off hand, sorry). It's possible that a third U.S. pic-disc
was or will eventually be made, since such a record would complete
the pic-discification of the "Live in Europe '79 - '80" set.
If so, you've been given fair warning: steer clear unless you
still don't have those bootlegs in an earlier form.

Finally, there may also still exist copies of an _eighth_ pic-disc
in Europe. _Homeground_ reported a few months ago that a French
group had pressed up another disc, but that because the process
hadn't worked, most of the pressings had split apart, and the record
was therefore very rare.

That's all IED knows about KT picture discs. He trusts it's enough.

-- Andrew Marvick