Thankyou notes; mailbag

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

 To: Love-Hounds
 From: Andrew Marvick (IED)
 Subject: Thankyou notes; mailbag

     IED has been getting lots of very nice, friendly e-mail notes
from Love-Hounds since the beginning of the week.
     He does not refer to the thankyous for the flowers, a gift
for which more than 140 Love-Hounds can share credit (although to
the thankyous he received for performing his task as flower-agent, IED
replies that it was his pleasure).
     No. He refers to other thankyou notes, many of which refer
to some other obscure service IED is alleged to have performed.
Naturally, he hasn't the slightest idea what that service could possibly
be, but he would nevertheless like to say a big You're Welcome to all
who took the time to send him a note.
     In the meantime, anyone who may by now have managed to dig up
some of those 22 demo-tracks (entirely on their own, of course) is
encouraged to discuss them in Love-Hounds. Any comments or observations
about these early songs stand a good chance of providing grist for
the Love-Hounds Discussion-Mill.

 > Eh?  I thought there was NO SUCH THING as Kate *junk*!  :-)
 >
 > -- Douglas Krause

     Absolutely right, Douglas. IED misspoke.

 > Subject: Re: Looking for Record Store in LA

     In Hollywood (sort of), there are still several good
independent record stores, all on Melrose Avenue east of Fairfax
but west of La Brea. They are Aron's Records, Rene's All Ears,
Bleecker Bob's (a haven for Kate fans seeking import material,
though not a place for penny-pinchers), and (of decidedly lower
calibre) Second Time Around Records. All of these are within
one block of each other, grouped around the corner of Melrose and
Spaulding Avenues. Closer to La Brea on Melrose is the venerable
Vinyl Fetish, under new management which is far more sympathetic to
Kate than were the founding staff. Sometimes _Single_File_ boxed sets
can be found there, although the new proprietor is all too aware of the
current market value of such items.

 >     Temple of Truth ('79)   - LP - $30
 >     Under the Ivy Bush      - LP - $25
 >     Live at the Hammersmith - CD - $35
 >
 > ...Also, for someone like me who has all the albums, but
 >basically nothing else (save obsKuriTies), which would be the best
 >one to start with (I may eventually buy more than one, but they do seem
 >expensive).  Are any of these really rare (and thus a good investment,
 >
 > -- Mike Mendelson                                                      |

     If you mean that you have _obsKuriTies_1_, Mike, then you
don't really need to be searching for early singles, since most
of the b-sides and other non-LP bits of importance are contained
on that tape. What one might still lack would be the re-mixes of
the more recent singles, including the extended mix and the
instrumental version of _Running_Up_That_Hill_, the "Alternative
Hounds" mix of _Hounds_of_Love_, the "Orgonon Mix" of _Cloudbusting_,
the "Meteorological Mix" of _The_Big_Sky_, and the extended mix of
_Experiment_IV_. Some of these are available on one vinyl 2-record
bootleg set called _Passing_Through_Air_. None of the three items
you asked about (above) will help you with those re-mixes, however.
     In fact, _Temple_of_Truth_ is to be _avoided_ even for $10.00
or less, unless you are so devoted a fan that you must have any
Kate item no matter what its quality. _Temple_of_Truth_ is simply
an excerpt from an unidentified (and unidentifiable) Tour of Life
concert. The sound of the recording is the _worst_ of any of the
several live concert bootlegs of Kate's Tour of Life, and it doesn't
even contain half the programme. Do not buy this album.
     _Under_the_Ivy_Bush_ is of much greater interest, though this
is not to say it's worth the inflated price you quote. It bears the
misleading label "previously unreleased live German tracks." Tech-
nically this is true, but the first two tracks (_RUTH_ and _The_Big_
_Sky_) are actually just the album tracks as heard during Kate's
lip-synch performance of the songs on the German TV show _Peter's_
Pop_Show_ in the fall of '85. You're paying, in other words, for
the tinny, mono audio track of the video appearance, mixed with
artificially enhanced in-studio audience applause. The live track
of _James_and_the_Cold_Gun_ is indeed a live version which, as far
as IED can tell, is unique to this album--quite possibly from one of
the German concerts. All but one of the other tracks are from the
Hamburg and Mannheim dates, as heard on the German TV special
_Kate_Bush_in_Concert_. The sound is not good. Finally, the last
track on side two--_Under_the_Ivy_--which is marked "Studio Demo",
is not. It is simply the audio portion of Kate's performance of
the song, which aired on UK TV's _The_Tube_ in 1986. It is a
different performance than heard on the official b-side recording:
Kate sings the song alone, with her own piano accompaniment.
The performance was taped in Abbey Road Studios (the familiar parquet
floors are visible behind her in the video clip). The sound is
tinny-TV mono.
     Finally, the bootleg CD you describe is the same which was
recently the subject of a lengthy Love-Hounds discussion (Tim
Maroney apparently mistook it for a legitimate release, despite its
total absence of copyright acknowledgements.) The programme on this
CD is very well known, and has been available in other formats for
quite some time. It consists of the audio portion of the entire
Japanese laser-disk of _Kate_Bush_Live_at_Hammersmith_Odeon_;
plus Kate's live performance of _Breathing_ from the 1987 UK Comic
Relief concert album (called _Utterly_Utterly_Live_); plus
the live version of _Running_Up_That_Hill_ from the live CD of
Amnesty International's 1987 _The_Secret_Policeman's_Third_Ball_
concerts, featuring David Gilmour on electric guitar; plus the
song _This_Woman's_Work_, taken directly off the official soundtrack
CD for the John Hughes film _She's_Having_a_Baby_. (This same song
will take up space on Kate's forthcoming album _The_Sensual_World_,
as well, though whether in its familiar form or in a new version
is not known.) The sound of all these tracks is exceptionally good
even for a legitimate release, and unheard of in the history of
Kate Bush bootlegs. Nevertheless, its price may be considered very
high by many fans, especially those who already have these recordings in
their original, legitimate configuration.
     Merry Katemas to everyone, and to all a good night!

-- Andrew Marvick
   P.S.: IED will try to check up with the florist's shop in Welling on
Monday to make sure that everthing went OK with the roses.