KT MEGA-NEWS

[IED0DXM%OAC.UCLA.EDU@mitvma.mit.edu]

 To: Love-Hounds
 From: Andrew Marvick (IED)
 Subject: KT MEGA-NEWS

     Nice to see _that_ subject-heading again for a change, eh?
Well, this news doesn't disappoint, either--it's a doozy!
     KATE BUSH DEMOS HAVE COME OUT!!!
     (Please be indulgent with IED today, his annoying verbosity
seems to be on the upswing. It's just his way of dealing with
his totally undeserved _state_of_bliss_ at having NEW KATE BUSH
SONGS rioting through his brain!!!)
     That's right, folks, Kate Bush demo recordings are now
available. Attentive Love-Hounds-readers will remember IED's
notice a week or so back concerning a rumour about a female
bootlegger in the Southern California area who had obtained
tapes of twenty early Kate Bush demo recordings and had plans
to release them as a series of seven-inch EPs, featuring three
or four tracks on each single and spacing each release about
a month apart.
     This evening IED got his sweaty palms on the first in the
series. And let him assure his gentle readership--this thing _really_is_
the Holy Grail at last!
     The record is very nicely packaged in a white sleeve featuring
one of the most beautiful of John Carder Bush's old Pre-Raphaelite-like
close-up portrait photos of Kate, taken when she was about eight or
ten years old. On the front are the words _Kate_Bush_, _The_Cathy_Demos_,
_Volume_One_. On the back is a blow-up of Kate's eyes from the same
photo, the catalogue number KB001, and the titles of four songs:
on Side One, _The_Kick_Inside_ and _Hammer_Horror_, and on Side Two,
_A_Rose_Growing_Old_ and _Keeping_Me_Waiting_. At the bottom of the back
of the sleeve is the handwritten series number xxx/600. (IED's copy
was number 269.) All the writing is in vaguely _HoL_-style black typeset.
     The record itself is in a second, blank paper inner-sleeve.
It is in red vinyl, and has black labels with white lettering in the
same typeset. Titles are the same as on the outer sleeve. Finally, in
the runout grooves there are "secret" messages which actually identify
the bootleggers, at least by first name (this is only IED's theory).
On Side One, the catalogue number (slightly different than on the sleeve)
and the words: "She smokes the blackest hash". On Side Two, the words:
"Fan Fan, Jackie and Cecile" and "Fan Fan, Cecile and Jackie". Since
IED was told that the bootlegger was a woman, he assumes that one or
more of these names refers to the manufacturers. He has no idea what
the relevance of the "hash" remark is. Ideas, anyone?
     Now to the musical content itself--in a word, _amazing_. It's
fantastic! The first track is _The_Kick_Inside_, but the performance
is an _early_ demo version, featuring the voice of Kate accompanied only
by her own piano-playing. The sound is extremely "matte", i.e. without
any echo, ambience or reverb of any kind. This has the advantage of
making the performance eminently clear. All four of the songs on the
record have the same bare-bones sound quality, and all four are highly
listenable. The transfer from the master-tapes must have been relatively
well handled, because the tape-hiss-level and surface noise are quite
acceptable.
     In IED's opinion the four songs all come from the same demo
collection. They do _not_ come from the same collection which Peter
FitzGerald-Morris discussed in an issue of _Homeground_ last year,
because the titles do not correspond with those he listed. IED believes
that these recordings may date from about 1976 or '77. This is because
Kate's high soprano technique is fully under her command, there is
no hint of uncertainty with intonation, and a few of the little vocal
embellishments of the melodies seem similar to some of those heard on the
first two albums. Based on the only other pre-album recordings known
to us already--the tracks _Passing_Through_Air_ and _Maybe_, both
of which stem from the first David Gilmour session--IED believes
that the present four tracks probably date from a somewhat later
period, because in both _PTA_ and _Maybe_ Kate's voice is a little
timid and uncertain, and does not venture into her now-long-since-
abandoned-but-historic falsetto range (which is at its prime
in these demos). However, IED is by no means certain of
this dating, and indeed can readily see how another listener might
make a strong case for placing the new group of recordings among the
earliest collections (ca. 1971-73) which Kate made at home with very
simple equipment and only piano accompaniment. Given the homey but
high quality of the recorded sound and the evident care that was taken
with its packaging and design, IED thinks it's likely that the reason
there is no specific information about the recording dates is that
the bootleggers themselves didn't really know. Anyway, suffice it
to say that the recordings are _early_, and that they're _beautiful_.
     Both _The_Kick_Inside_ and _Hammer_Horror_ differ significantly
from their later album versions. _TKI_ veers from its album counterpart's
lyrics several times, even referring explicitly to the song's
characters' _identification_ with Lizzy Wan--making it very clear
that the actual story of _TKI_, though similar, involves quite
different characters than _Lizzy_Wan_'s. The piano arrangement--which
Kate obviously plays in real time with her vocal--also differs in several
places, and stands as further evidence of the subtle and unassuming,
quietly sophisticated nature of her songwriting technique even at this
very early stage. Naturally the performances are all highly professional.
     _Hammer_Horror_ contrasts with its later album incarnation even
more strikingly than _The_Kick_Inside_. This is partly because we know
the song as a rocker of sorts, and in its solo-piano demo arrangement the
expected visceral power of the song is, of necessity, suggested rather
than hammered home (ha). On the other hand there are several marvellous
structural touches, especially in the piano writing, that are absolutely
brilliant, and the overall feeling of intimate confession in this demo
version is, for this listener, a revelation: it completely transforms
the long-familiar song into a fresh and touching new piece. The bridge
section from the album version had evidently not yet been composed
at the time of the demo's recording, for it is missing and the song
is consequently much shorter. Also, many of the words are different
than on the album version.
     Then on Side Two there are two new songs. IED apologizes, but he
couldn't possibly find the words to describe them to you
yet. What he _can_ say is this: if you like Kate Bush,  Y O U   M U S T
G E T   T H I S   R E C O R D !  And if anyone is ever foolish enough to
suggest that there is the _slightest_doubt_ that Kate is a full-fledged
GENIUS--just play them Side Two of this record. That'll put an end to
such nonsense--the same way it now stops IED's posting.

-- Andrew Marvick
   "Feeling like a waltz..."