D E M O S (Craig's posting re _Record_Collector_)

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

 To: Love-Hounds
 From: Andrew Marvick (IED)
 Subject: D E M O S (Craig's posting re _Record_Collector_)

 > Date: Thu, 12 Jan 89 14:35:29 +1100
 > From: munnari!physiol.physiol.su.oz.au!rebeccam@uunet.UU.NET (Rebecca Mason)
 > Subject: Re: Mailbag

     Preliminary note: IED was not able to find the text of Rebecca's
posting re "Mailbag" in Thursday's Digest. If anyone has it and if it is
relevant to something IED said (or shouldn't have said), could he/she
please re-post it? Thanks.

     Craig writes:
 >I picked up a copy of the January issue of the UK magazine "Record
 >Collector" today, in which "Richard Jackson reviews the rarest releases
 >from the first three years of Bush's career, including promos, limited
 >editions and obscure overseas picture sleeves and LPs".

     Many thanks to Craig for his posting on the new _RC_ article. IED
entertains little hope that his contributions to the research behind
Jackson's article was acknowledged. (IED sent in a long--as if you
couldn't have guessed it would be long!--letter of review of _RC_'s
last big Kate collectibles article, and it was never published. One
of the points covered in his letter was the distinction between
the two German LPs.)

 >The majority of it will be no surprise to the dedicated KollecTor
 >(although I wonder if the prices have really gone up _that_ much since
 >I was last in the market some 3-4 months ago), but...

     Not knowing the prices cited in the magazine, IED can't say,
but he has seen the prices on some Kate items skyrocket beyond all
reasonable belief during the past year or so. It all depends on who
you're buying from, of course, but how about $750.00 for the pair of
framed, autographed photos that went for a total
of $60 when originally offered by Kate and EMI at the time of _HoL_'s
initial release? Or $125.00 for the Canadian _On_Stage_--in less than
mint condition? Both these items were _sold_, too, at a Hollywood store.

 >recordings, almost all of which are songs unavailable elsewhere.  I can
 >confirm that the record does exist, as I had a copy in my hands for
 >about five seconds last year - long enough to say that it looked like
 >an official release, but not to memorise the song titles!

     The record does indeed exist. Peter FitzGerald-Morris confirmed
this fact at the beginning of 1988 in a news flash in _HG_. He also
listed the individual song titles (there are ten) in the article. Among
them (from IED's poor memory) were: _Davy_ (an early version of _Maybe_);
_Cussi_Cussi_; _Atlantis_; and _Sunsi_.

 >If it was an
 >'official' release, then expect it to change hands for very large sums
 >indeed." (In context, this would appear to mean several hundred
 >pounds.)
 >   So, eKsperTs (IED, this means you!) (|>oug, where are you?) what's the
 >story here?  I personally find it very hard to believe that such a
 >treasure trove could be hidden in obscurity for so long, especially
 >if it was an official West German release, but then again, "Record
 >Collector" is not given to perpetrating hoaxes.

     IED, too, would like to know where |>oug is. Should IED renew his
former habit of baiting |>oug in L-Hs in a crude attempt to provoke
our once-Pseudo-Moderator into breaking his long silence?
     IED agrees that the album (or future bootleg versions of it,
even if only from tapes made from the original) could, for a time,
anyway, bring many hundreds of dollars. In fact, that is probably what
is actually happening right now. The only way the price could remain
as high as that would be if the purveyors have been able to keep it
out of bootleggers' hands--something that cannot continue for long.
IED suspects that the collection will eventually turn up in a more
affordable and more widely distributed bootleg form.

 >Of course, if anyone actually *has* this, it goes without saying that
 >I'd give my right (insert your chosen body-part here) for a tape of
 >it.
 >
 >-- Craig

     IED has had a recent lead on the existence of at least one
collection of early Kate demos. A reliable (but unfortunately
Kate-ignorant) source has recently _heard_ extracts from a collection
(in what format IED has not yet discovered) of recordings that Kate
reportedly made at age 14. The age has _not_ been confirmed by IED.
Also, the songs were alleged to have been early versions of songs
that later appeared on the first two albums, which would indicate
that these are not the same demos that have been talked about for
so long, but another set. Kate scholars will have already realized
the holes in this story, since only a very few of the songs
from _TKI_ and _Lionheart_ had already been composed in 1973. If all
the songs on this latest collection are versions of _TKI_ and _Lionheart_
tracks, then it's likely that they belong to the group of demos
that Kate made for EMI between 1975 and 1977.
     IED has been given no further particulars on this product
yet. The owner was said to have been undecided what he/she
should do with the songs. Since the intermediary messenger
from whom IED learned these tantalizing facts works for a somewhat
sleazy record importer, it seems likely to IED that the owner
of the recordings is considering the profitability of marketing the
collection as a bootleg--a la the recent Beatles _Back_Track_ CD--especially
as IED was told that the sound of these Kate demos was quite good.
     IED has now told Love-Hounds absolutely everything that he
knows about this subject. Craig and all other interested parties
can rest assured that IED will be doing everything he possibly can
to find out more about it in the future. If anything new comes up,
Love-Hounds will be the first to know.

-- Andrew Marvick