Mailbag

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

 To: Love-Hounds
 From: Andrew Marvick (IED)
 Subject: Mailbag

    Tracy Roberts, "desperateinsantacruz", asks a question that still
crops up from time to time: "How do I get a copy of _obsKuriTies_I_?"
All IED can say is, ask around. Over 130 people were on the list in
time, so presumably all those people got copies, and all are potential
copi-_ers_, too.
     Another possibility is still being considered. IED will have
more to say on this matter very soon.

      From: Michael Portuesi <mp1u+@andrew.cmu.edu>
 > well, now that my taping duties are over, I feel allowed to comment on
 >the obsKuriTies tape.
 >  "Passing Through Air" is a very beautiful song...probably my favorite
 >song on the tape.  It is a shame that Kate didn't re-record this song
 >for TKI...I would have loved to have seen it in place of "James and
 >the Cold Gun" and had JatCG reduced to bootleg-demo track status.

     IED loves both songs, of course, but there can be little doubt that
from a purely compositional point of view _PTA_ is a far less assured--
even a somewhat awkward--early exercise, whereas _James_ is already a
pretty confident piece of rock writing. Also, _James_ is much more
deeply imbued with Kate's personal style than _PTA_, which does not
yet contain much of her vocal or musical stamp. None of this is to
imply that _PTA_ isn't every bit as beautiful or moving as _James_--
or that it couldn't even be _more_ beautiful or moving. But if you
compare the subtle twists and turns of construction in _Keeping_Me_
_Waiting_ with the simple steps of _Passing_Through_Air_ you'll see the
reason why IED tentatively dates the solo demos to a later period than
_PTA_.

 >   Given that I'm not a fan of JatCG, it's not surprising that I didn't
 >like her rendition of it on the Hammersmith video either.  It's too
 >much of a "rocker" song for my tastes, and I think the live version on
 >the Hammersmith tape just drags on for ever and ever.

     Talk about a difference of opinion! Here's Jon Drukman's recent comment:
 >Personally, I don't think most of her songs are particularly stunning
 >live, but there are exceptions: my personal favorite has to be "James And
 >The Cold Gun" (the version found on the "On Stage" EP and Babooshka-
 >cover EP).  To put it in simple terms, IT KICKS ASS!

     Of _The_Kick_Inside_:
 >Anyway, I prefer the album version of TKI over the _Cathy_Demos_
 >version.  Kate's signing improved noticeably between the demo tracks
 >and the album, and it is really her singing that makes the song.

     Pardon IED, but this is plain wrong. It's the _song_ that
"makes the song". You surely can't mean to suggest that _Passing_
Through_Air_ is a better song than _The_Kick_Inside_? _The_Kick_Inside_
is a thoroughly brilliant and perfectly proportioned piece of music.
Its subject is stunningly original, its lyrics are deeply personal,
meaningful and eloquent, and its melody is unforgettable. Remember also
that when Kate wrote that little masterpiece her vocal power was not
yet at the peak it has reached in the 1980s. So it would be much more
accurate to say that in the case of _The_Kick_Inside_, it's the _song_
that makes the _singer_, not vice versa. IED would be willing to bet that
Kate would agree with him on this point, too, since she has often
expressed regret about the sound of her pre-_Never_For_Ever_ singing
voice, but has several times mentioned _The_Kick_Inside_ with affection.

 >  The two non-album _Cathy_Demos_ were okay, but not truly spectacular.
 >I liked "Maybe" and PTA much better.

     This depends entirely on personal taste in music and production.
In regard to technique, it would be unreasonable to deny that _Feeling_
Like_a_Waltz_ is a far richer and more intriguing piece of writing
than _Passing_Through_Air_. To IED's ears, _Feeling_Like_a_Waltz_
and _Keeping_Me_Waiting_, while perhaps not "truly spectacular" in
comparison with something like _The_Ninth_Wave_, are certainly
more spectacular, as pieces of music go, than _PTA_ or _Maybe_.
No offense intended, however, since IED loves _Maybe_ very much.

 >With regard to the Cathy Demo tapes (no IED, I'm not going to bug you!),
 >did anyone in Australia (or NZ) end up with a copy? If so, I too would be
 >interested in a copy.
 >Thanks in advance
 >
 >-- Stephen Nicholson

     IED posted this last month for our antipodean Love-Hounds. By now
Gaye and Warrick will have received a copy of the tape. You should
make contact with them as soon as possible, to arrange to get a copy:

     _Dreamtime_ (The Australian Kate Bush Fanzine)
     Gaye Godfrey and Warrick Williams, editors
     7 Bryden Road
     Carmel 6076
     Western Australia

 >Any connection?  Kate quoted Shakespeare in "Blow Away" (and not a really
 >famous quote, either), and I thought I remembered reading her say that
 >she admired Marlowe and Elizabethan drama.
 >     Just a thought.
 >
 >-- Douglas MacGowan

     Very interesting, Douglas, and IED was equally impressed by
Julian's reply (with all its other possible textual interconneKTions).
IED, however, has never seen any such acknowledgement of Marlowe's
work by Kate, Douglas. It sounds a bit far-fetched to this fan,
but who knows? If you could track down the source of your information
it would help.
     Maitland Bottoms asked for the current address of Intergalactic
Garage. Contrary to Maitland's belief, IG has never moved to Kentucky.
Wasn't it West Virginia? However, although their phone number changed,
their mailing address did not. They still use the same W., D.C. address:
              c/o Alan and Maura Balliot
              P.O. Box 7323
              Washington, D.C. 20044
according to Alan. So use that. Incidentally, IED spoke
with Alan recently and found that IG have never actually seen
a copy of the _Cathy_Demos_ EP yet. They are looking, but not
finding--which Alan says is odd, because it's his understanding
that the limited edition of "600" only refers to the West Coast
stock. He says the bootleggers pretty much have to count on
pressing and selling at least 1500 copies of any seven-inch single
to make a profit, so what they often do is press up three or four
"limited editions" of 600 or so copies, and hope that no-one will
ever discover the twin of his/her hand-numbered copy, since they
will be sold on opposite coasts. Pretty sleazy, but not in the
least bit surprising.

 >>Really-From: IED0DXM%OAC.UCLA.EDU@mitvma.mit.edu
 >>that Kate Bush is the one true living God, and that anyone who is less
 >>than absolutely convinced of the divine perfeKTion of her works is a
 >>bloody idiot).

 >     Do you know any females who feel this way (ie this extremely)?
 >If so, what percentage is female?  No implications, just curious.

     No one has ever done a poll to determine the gender-ratio among
Kate Bush fans, as far as IED knows. However, the proportion among
the population of _contributing_ members of the fanzines as a whole
(i.e., those who one way or another get their names in the fanzines)
seems to be between one-fourth and one-third female to between two-thirds
and three-fourths male. This is only a guess, obviously. The ratio
among Love-Hounds is evidently much more heavily skewed towards males--
there are far too few computerized women Kate fans out there, unfortunately.
     As to whether IED personally knows any females who feel quite
the way IED feels about Kate's place in the musical cosmos, the answer
is no--but then he doesn't know any _males_ who feel that way, either,
so that doesn't prove much. If you mean are there women who are totally
and utterly involved in Katedom?--yes, there are. Probably not as many
as there are men, but they do exist. One need only think of three of
the best and longest-running Kate fanzines--_Homeground_, _Dreamtime_
and _Still_Breathing_ (formerly _Break-Through_)--all of which are
either edited or co-edited by dediKaTed women, to see the truth
of this.
     As for the violence with which IED expressed his faith in the
excerpt you re-printed above, that's supposed to be understood by
the group as at least partly tongue-in-cheek.

 >By the way, I had heard from a dedicated Kate Bush fan, that, in
 >order,
 >a) she had demos, but noone would listen

 As just explained in IED's lengthy rundown of the history of Kate's
demos, this is more or less true. That is, she had demos (lots and
lots) by age fourteen, and she submitted them (with Ricky Hopper's
help) to several companies, and presumably at least some of them
"listened" (because Peter has quoted some of the reactions: "boring",
"morbid," and "depressing" were the words repeated). So they listened;
they just didn't _sign_ her.

 >b) someone she knew knew Gilmour

     That's Ricky Hopper, who had gone to college with Gilmour (and
perhaps there was a connection with Kate's elder brother John Carder
Bush, who had many Cambridge U. acquaintances, as well).

 >c) Gilmour liked her stuff and helped her get rec. corp. attention

     That's true. He went to considerable effort on Kate's behalf,
and has never made a big deal about it. Very decent chap.

 >d) first album

     Huh? You mean did Gilmour help with _The_Kick_Inside_? Well,
he helped get Andrew Powell on the team (as producer), IED has read,
and of course he helped on the production of the two tracks
_The_Man_With_the_Child_in_His_Eyes_ and _Saxophone_Song_, which had
actually been two of the three pro-quality demos which got Kate her
EMI contract in 1975.

 >If this is all correct, then your posting implies over 4 years from
 >beginning to end of this process. Is that true?

     That is true. It _is_ kind of amazing, and it's that time-gap that
makes it so hard to choose a date for the 22 demos. We know that
_Passing_Through_Air_ and _Maybe_ were recorded in 1973, when Kate
was 15 or even a little younger. After that, there are _TMWtCiHE_
and _Sax_Song_, from the 1975 demo-session, which appear virtually
unchanged on _The_Kick_Inside_. Aside from those tracks, there is
no music by Kate which we can assign a definite date to until 1977,
when most of _The_Kick_Inside_ was recorded (over a six-week
period).
     Judging from the sound of Kate's voice, piano technique and
songwriting abilities alone, IED believes that the 22 solo-piano
demos represent the work of a considerably more "mature" artist than
the 1973 demos of _Maybe_ and _Passing_Through_Air_. Those two
early recordings feature a relatively timid-voiced Kate as vocalist,
and she doesn't soar into the high range that Peter (for his own
reasons) has said came into being only in 1976. Also, although IED
is the first to admit loving _Passing_Through_Air_, and especially
_Maybe_, he thinks it would be silly to try to argue that either
of those songs--particularly _PTA_--is as complex or as stylistically
singular as any of the 22 solo-demos. For these reasons, it seems
likely to IED that the 22 demo-tracks date from 1976, or even early
1977.
     However, one could also argue that Kate might have been very
nervous during those very early sessions with Gilmour, and that the
group may have deliberately chosen the simplest tunes to rehearse
together because they had never worked with Kate before. If that's
true, it's possible that Kate's _solo_ recordings of 1972 might
actually already have been as assured and masterful as the 22 tracks
we now have. Anything's possible.

-- Andrew Marvick