Mailbag and _WARNING_ to Love-Hounds!!!

[IED0DXM%OAC.UCLA.EDU@MITVMA.MIT.EDU]

 To: Love-Hounds
 From: Andrew Marvick (IED)
 Subject: Mailbag and _WARNING_ to Love-Hounds!!!

     Andy Gough asks:

 > Hey, how does the refrain to "Experiment IV" go?  I only get parts of it:
 >
 >    Then they told us
 >    What they wanted
 >    Was a sound that
 >    Could kill someone
 >    From a distance
 >    So we go ahead
 >    (and we?) .....
 >    ...........
 >    It's a mistake
 >    That we're making

     You're right about all the lines you did get, Andy. The
missing line are "And the meters are over in the red (/It's a
mistake we are making/we have made)".
     Now that you've deciphered the _published_ lyrics of _X4_,
Andy, maybe you could start working on the _secret_message_
in the song? It's a spoken line, heavily processed, multi-tracked
and broken up into little pieces (apparently), which can be heard
in between the lines "It can sing you to sleep" and "But that dream
is your enemy". There's definitely something being said there, and
it's a bit more audible on the original (_TWS_, 7") mix than on the
12" mix. The line was apparently spoken by Paddy. Any theories?

 > From: momus@ihlpl.att.com (Radtke)
 > Subject: Collectibles for SALE!!!!!
 > Date: 21 Dec 88 21:53:01 GMT
 >
 > Kate Bush...FANS!!!
 >
 > i have MINT copies of the following:
 >
 >         Kate Bush 1978-1983 BOX SET of 5 singles w/booklet: $200.00
 >...in MINT condition, and i am willing to negotiate on the
 >price, or better yet, trade for something.  REMEMBER, these contain
 >songs unavailable in ANY OTHER format!
 >
 >let me know
 >
 >-- chuck radtke
 >ihlpl!momus

     LOVE-HOUNDS BEWARE!! IED IS WARNING ANYONE AND EVERYONE
WHO MIGHT CONCEIVABLY BE TEMPTED BY THE ABOVE "OFFER": DO _NOT_
REPEAT DO _NOT_ DEAL WITH THIS PERSON! HE IS RIPPING YOU OFF.
     In fact, this advertisement has got to be _the_ most dishonest
piece of skulduggery that IED has _ever_ seen in all his days of
Kate collecting--and he's seen a _lot_ of rip-off "offers" to
unsuspecting fans over the years.
     First of all, there _is_ no "box set of 5 singles"--the box set
should have _13_ singles. If it only has 5, then you can be DAMN
sure it's no "mint" item! What it is is an old box set that some
scurrilous dealer (probably this "chuck" person) has been cannibalizing
for some time: selling off individual singles from the box
set to various poor dupes as "original" picture-sleeve releases (a
common practise among the sleaze-ball merchandisers of Kate Bush
products).
     Second of all, even a _truly_ mint version of the boxed set
of singles--one including all thirteen singles--should not cost
more than $100 _at_the_outside_. This is because, following the
initial release of _The_Single_File_ on January 23, 1984, a second,
unnumbered, and _celo-shrink-wrapped_ edition was released in a much
larger shipment (many thousand).
     Therefore, although the box set is sometimes very hard to
find, and often expensive, it is not actually "rare". If you look
long and hard, you should be able to find a reputable Kate dealer
or fan willing to trade or charge a _reasonable_ price for a mint
second-edition box set _still_in_the_shrink-wrap_.
     Hell, even Bleecker Bob's Records, an import store with
outposts in NYC, L.A. and London, gets in a copy every other month
or so, and they never ask more than $125.00--and Bleecker Bob's
is the most outrageously priced import shop in the business.
IED has seen mint sets going for as little as $45.00 in the Southern
California area as recently as six months ago.
     Finally, if what you're attracted by is the prospect of
getting Kate's b-sides, the box set is _not_ the only way to
get them. First, there's a bootleg (which IED mentioned in L-Hs
only last week) called _Passing_Through_Air_ which includes
reasonably decent stereo copies of all of the b-sides. It's U.S.-made
and it's available at many record meets throughout the country for
a _lot_ less than even $45.00. And an even better solution would be
to do some private trading with some _honest_ Kate Bush fans.
     So you've all been warned. IED would just like to add that
it seems to him a disgrace to use Love-Hounds as a means of trying
to bilk Kate Bush fans. This "chuck" person should apologize and
then _get_off_the_group_. He is _definitely_ not welcome.

-- Andrew Marvick
   a _real_ Kate Bush fan