KT Mailbag; Sylvian on CD; Kate Bush CD wish list

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

 To: Love-Hounds
 From: Andrew Marvick (IED)
 Subject: KT Mailbag; Sylvian on CD; Kate Bush CD wish list

     First, IED thanks Edward Lee Whiteside for alerting us to the
availability of _December_Will_Be_Magic_Again_ on CD--fantastic news!
     Kelley asks about the likelihood of seeing Kate perform live
in England sometime within the next three months. The chances of that
are exactly nil, IED is afraid, Kelley. Anyway, don't count on it.
Don't count on a live performance anytime within the next _year_,
or _two_years_, or _three_years_, or...
   T.Atwell asks about the availability of records of the complete
Tour of Life. IED just posted a detailed review of all the bootlegs
of Kate's Tour of Life shows. There are quite a few: the _Hammersmith_
Odeon_ video shows twelve songs; there were also a few others shown
in a German/Dutch documentary ca. 1980; and still others in a Swedish
documentary of the same period. Of current bootlegs, the most complete
records of the concert are the London Palladium 3-LP set, the Bristol
set and the Manchester set, in that order. Other boots can be found
of part of the Paris show, the Bill Duffield (London) show, the Mannheim
and Hamburg shows, and an unidentified English show (LP called _Temple_
_of_Truth_). All of these bootlegs can occasionally be found at
record swapmeets, and some may be obtainable via mail-order services
which advertise in _Goldmine_, etc. Almost without exception the sound
quality of all of these is _abominable_, so don't expect hi-fi audio
or you will be sorely disappointed.
 >From: Jon Drukman <jsd@GAFFA.MIT.EDU>
 >Also, what exactly is going on in the room next to the official's
 >office when Kate enters to give the guy his coffee?  It looks vaguely
 >like some talking heads (!) and one of them might be wearing a hat
 >kinda like the men in black were wearing in Cloudbusting... Could this
 >be some between-video continuity here?  Inquiring minds want to know!

     Indeed, inquiring minds already _do_ know, Drukman! Yes, the
official-looking shadow-figures in the _X4_ video do recall the
government types in the _Cloudbusting_ video, but even more closely
they resemble the Bobby in the _There_Goes_a_Tenner_ video--in that
instance the figure of the Bobby (sp.?) is seen in the same way, i.e.
as a silhouette shadow on a wall. In _Tenner_ he is seen in synch
with the policeman's Python-like spoken line, "Wot's all this then?"
     But the image is not original to Kate. Rather, it is a deliberate
and explicit reference to a shot from the famous music-hall scene at
the climax of Alfred Hitchcock's early British thriller, _The_Thirty-
_Nine_ Steps_. The shadow of a Bobby's distinctive uniform is seen
briefly as a signal to the hero and the villain that the "net" was
"closing in". Kate is simply paying tribute to one of the artists
she most admires; but you're right that it has become a kind of
continuity device across several videos. The number of Hitchcock
references in her work is quite large now.

 >The disc of _Alchemy_ also contains "The
 >Stigma of Childhood (Kin)" which was previously unavailable.

     Not true. _The_Stigma_of_Childhood_ was already available as one
of two instrumental tracks on the recent _Pop_Song_ CD-single. See
below for IED's rundown of the Sylvian boxed set and related Japan
information.
     Greg Ward writes:
 >By the way, IED has revealed on a number of occasions that he is an admirer
 >of David Sylvian's work. I believe that Kate Bush aside, Sylvian is one of
 >his favourite artists. Of course if I'm imagining this, IED will be quick to
 >dispute it. I wonder if he has any information about David Sylvian's current
 >activities/releases?
 >
 > -- Greg Ward

     IED does think highly of Sylvian, although he believes the best work
any of Japan's members did was done before they split up. In IED's opinion
_Gentlemen_Take_Polaroids_ and _Tin_Drum_ are landmark works in modern
music. (This is not to denigrate the various ex-members' solo recordings,
which without exception are first-rate.)
     Since Greg asked about Sylvian, and mentioned The Dolphin Brothers,
IED will take a moment out from his Kate Bushological studies to add a
few words about the ex-Japan members. IED does not have any news to offer
about forthcoming music from that quarter, however. His latest information
is simply that a second Dolphin Brothers album is promised for eventual
release; that Karn is working on a third (or fourth, if you count Dalis Car)
solo album; and that Sylvian is working on new music, with no release date
set. Sorry, no solid news of a Japan reunion has come IED's way, although
he reminds you that Barbieri and Jansen both played in Sylvian's band during
the tour, and Sylvian and Karn collaborated recently as well (on two tracks
from Karn's _Dreams_of_Reason_Produce_Monsters_ LP, one of which--_Buoy_--was
re-mixed and re-released by Sylvian himself as a solo b-side).
     That said, here is a hodgepodge of information about the availability
of Japan music on CD:
     The latest product to emerge is a new compilation CD put out by Hansa,
the German label which owns the rights to Japan's pre-_Gentlemen_ catalogue
(much to the musicians' dissatisfaction). This is _not_ the same as Hansa's
ca.-1983 compilation, which they called _Assemblage_, and with which Sylvian
helped in order to avoid the album's being an embarrassment to him. _Assem-
blage_ only came out as a vinyl LP and a cassette (with extra re-mixes),
never on CD. The new collection, called _Souvenir_From_Japan_, is on CD
(only, IED thinks). It offers six tracks (of its thirteen or so total)
which have never appeared on CD before. They are: _Life_in_Tokyo_ (the
rather brief "handclaps" re-mix which appeared on the cassette of _Assem-
blage_, _not_ the more impressive Steve Nye re-mix which came out as a twelve-
inch in '82); _European_Son_ (again, the original Moroder mix, not Nye's
re-mix); the Steve Nye re-mix of _All_Tomorrow's_Parties_ (not the original
from _Quiet_Life_); the EP track _I_Second_That_Emotion_ (Nye re-mix); the
early non-LP track _State_Line_; and the 1983 re-mix of the early LP
title-track _Adolescent_Sex_.
     The following Japan tracks have still never appeared on CD anywhere:

 1. _In_a_Foreign_Place_, the Hansa b-side from their _Quiet_Life_ 12". This
is a beautiful quasi-ambient instrumental with an obvious Oriental influence,
unique to the Hansa catalogue in this respect, and inexplicably omitted from
the new compilation CD.
 2. _The_Experience_of_Swimming_, a b-side from the Virgin _Gentlemen_ 7" EP.
 3. _The_Width_of_a_Room_, a b-side from the Virgin _Gentlemen_ 7" EP.
 4. Re-mixes of _Quiet_Life_, _Life_in_Tokyo_ (there were three), _Taking_
_Islands_in_Africa_ and _European_Son_.

     As to the various ex-members of Japan, much is still missing on CD:
Mick Karn's spotty but sometimes wonderful debut solo album, _Titles_,
is still not available anywhere (even in Japan, so far as IED is aware,
though you'd expect it to be out there), nor is the title-track re-mix or its
b-side. Karn's collaborative twelve-inch with Midge Ure, _After_a_Fashion_
b/w _Textures_, has also never been transferred to CD. Karn's collaboration
with Bill Nelson and Yukihiro Takahashi on a Y.T. b-side, called _Metaphysical_
_Jerks_, has at last appeared on CD, as a track from Nelson's new UK two-CD
compilation, _Duplex_ (strongly recommended anyway as a wonderful selection
of solo Nelson from many different periods in his career). The two Dalis Car
b-sides, _High_Places_ and _Lifelong_Moment_, are not yet on CD.
     Steve Jansen and Richard Barbieri, who have generally worked together
since Japan's breakup, have two albums out on CD. The UK version of the
first, however (it is called _Worlds_in_a_Small_Room_) is _incomplete_,
lacking as it does the final _vocal_ track (the set is otherwise all-
instrumental), _Move_in_Circles_, a vocal version of _Moving_Circles_.
_Move_in_Circles_ _is_ included, though, in the Japanese edition of the CD.
     Jansen's collaboration with Yukihiro Takahashi, a Japanese-only twelve-
inch (and one of the best records of the 1980s, in IED's opinion) called
_Stay_Close_, has never been put out on CD. It contains a long mix of
the title track, a re-mix subtitled _Weirder_World_, and a third record
called _Betsu-Ni_. Both Jansen and Barbieri have played on Takahashi's
albums in recent years, however, and most of these are available on
Japanese CD now. (The exceptions are a live album and the marvellous
studio LP _Wild_and_Moody_.)
     Finally, in their Dolphin Brothers incarnation, Jansen and Barbieri's
"Am-Ex" re-mix of _Shining_ is the only track of theirs still unavailable
on CD.
     Now for Sylvian himself:
     First, IED must disabuse any of you out there who are expecting
"lots of extra tracks" in the new CD boxed set, _Weatherbox_. This
is definitely _not_ the case--rather the opposite is true.
     In all, there are only five tracks in the whole 5-CD box set
which have not appeared in CD form elsewhere already. The packaging
is lovely and luxurious (though not particularly original--anyone
who has beheld Riuichi Sakamoto's recent cube of CDs will agree), but
packaging should not be a reason for spending $60 or $70 on CDs that
have already been available for months if not years--not in IED's
opinion, anyway.
     The _Weatherbox_ versions of the CD-albums _Brilliant_Trees_
and _Secrets_of_the_Beehive_ are identical to their original single-CD
counterparts--i.e., the new versions contain _no_ extra tracks of any
kind. This is particularly stingy of Virgin, because there were three slightly
re-mixed and/or extended twelve-inch versions of _Pulling_Punches_, _Red_
_Guitar_ and _Let_the_Happiness_In_, as well as an instrumental version
of _Weathered_Wall_, _none_ of which has ever been put out in CD form,
and none of which is included in _Weatherbox_. Also missing--very dis-
appointingly, IED thinks--are the b-side _Blue_of_Moon_ and Sylvian's re-mix
of _Buoy_, both of which appeared as b-sides of the _Let_the_Happiness_
_In_ twelve-inch. Why these tracks are omitted from _Weatherbox_ is a
real mystery--especially since the resulting CD albums in the boxed set
are extremely short--most of them under forty minutes long.
     The other three CDs in the boxed set are: a restored, full-length
version of the original two-LP set _Gone_to_Earth_ (on two CDs, again
therefore badly under-exploiting the medium's larger capacity), and
a CD called _Alchemy_. The former two CDs give you a measly total of
_four_ instrumental tracks which, in order to make _Gone_to_Earth_ available
as a single CD when it was originally released, were omitted from the
first edition. The four tracks are: _Silver_Moon_Over_Sleeping_Steeples_;
_Camp_Fire:_Coyote_Country_; _A_Bird_of_Prey_Vanishes_into_a_Bright_Blue_
_Cloudless_Sky_; and _Sunlight_Seen_Through_Towering_Trees_.
     _Alchemy_ consists of the entire _Words_With_the_Shamen_ twelve-
inch's contents (three instrumental tracks), all of which were already
available as a three-inch CD-single; the title instrumental track from
the video _Steel_Cathedrals_; and the two new instrumentals _A_Brief_
_Conversation_Ending_in_Divorce_ and _The_Stigma_of_Childhood_ (the
latter track actually derived from Sylvian's music for an art show
called _Kin_). Both _A_Brief_Conversation_ and _The_Stigma_of_Child-
hood_ were also already available on CD, in the CD-single (available
in 3-inch and now deluxe-packaged 5-inch versions) called _Pop_Song_,
which came out in November.
     The _Alchemy_ CD also, therefore, is more memorable for its
_omissions_ than for any "extra" tracks: inexplicably absent are
_Preparations_For_A_Journey_, the title track from the Japanese-only
video release which was an early form of the UK _Steel_Cathedrals_
video; and the other Sylvian original from _Preparations_, an instru-
mental called _The_Women_at_the_Well_, of which two versions were
heard in the video. Also glaringly absent from _Weatherbox_: _Showing_
_the_Wound_ (_A_Will_to_Health_), which is a version of _Steel_
_Cathedrals_ heard in that video.
     As though these gaps weren't obvious enough, the new track
_Pop_Song_ is _also_ missing from the boxed set, even though that
single's two b-side instrumentals do appear! An infuriating, inexcusable
omission, in IED's view.
     All in all, then, _Weatherbox_ contains the barest-bones album
work of Sylvian to date, but leaves out no fewer than _eleven_ tracks
crucial to any fan's collection of solo Sylvian material--even though
there is enough room in the set to include that much music _three_ or
_four_ times over! It's up to the individual Love-Hound to decide
whether this product is worth its price--beautiful packaging or no--
but at least now they will be buying it with a full understanding of
what they _won't_ be getting. (Naturally, no track listing appears on the
outside of the box!)
     What's really needed in the CD world is some ambitious but
independent CD label that will take it upon itself to buy or lease the
rights to release b-sides and re-mixes by major artists who neglect
--or whose official labels neglect--to re-release such tracks on CD.
They could start with the thirty-two uncollected Japan and ex-Japan
recordings which IED has enumerated above, and follow those with a
three- or four-CD set of the now quite extensive non-LP catalogue of
KATE BUSH.
     Another solution would be to put out Kate's back catalogue in
a deluxe box set like _Weatherbox_, only this time doing things
_right_ by adding all the relevant b-sides and contemporaneous tracks
to each CD-album. _Passing_Through_Air_, _Maybe_ and _Scares_Me_Silly_;
along with some tapes of Kate's early live pub performances with the KT
Bush Band, circa 1975--_Honky_Tonk_Women_, for example; and perhaps her
live Japanese-TV performances of _She's_Leaving_Home_ and _The_Long_
and_Winding_Road_--all these could be attached to the end of the special
edition of _The_Kick_Inside_. A new version of _Lionheart_ could
include the _On_Stage_ four-track live EP, as well as, say, early
demo versions of _Kashka_From_Baghdad_ and other songs. The deluxe
_Never_For_Ever_ could restore the original non-fade-out ending to
_Army_Dreamers_; and could add a demo of _Violin_ and the only
live recording of _Blow_Away_ which Kate performed with the London
Symphony Orchestra in 1979; as well as her performance of Maurice Jarre's
_The_Magician_of_Lublin_; plus the relevant b-sides, _The_Empty_Bullring_
and _Ran_Tan_Waltz_; plus the Christmas single, _December_Will_Be_Magic_
_Again_ b/w _Warm_and_Soothing; plus the duets of _Antother_Day_ and the
unreleased _Ibiza_ with Peter Gabriel, and of _You_(_The_Game_Part_II_)
with Roy Harper; as well as the French-language version of _The_Infant_
_Kiss_ known as _Un_Baiser_d'enfant_. The deluxe edition of _The_
_Dreaming_ could include both mixes of _Sat_In_Your_Lap_ and both
versions of _Ne_T'enfuis_pas_; as well as the instrumental of _The_
_Dreaming_ called _Dreamtime_; and the b-side of the _Sat_In_Your_Lap_
single, Kate's cover version of Donovan's _Lord_of_the_Reedy_River_.
The new edition of _Hounds_of_Love_ could feature the instrumental
as well as the extended re-mix of _Running_Up_That_Hill_; the Alternative
Hounds Mix of _Hounds_of_Love_; the Meteorological Mix of _The_Big_Sky_;
and a new mix of _Cloudbusting_ incorporating the video-only extension and
the original Orgonon Mix; as well as the five b-sides, _My_Lagan_
_Love_, _The_Handsome_Cabin_Boy_, _Under_the_Ivy_, _Burning_Bridge_ and
_Not_This_Time_; plus the twelve-inch re-mix of _Experiment_IV_.
Finally, the new extended version of _The_Sensual_World_ could
include _Rocket_Man_; both mixes of _Be_Kind_to_My_Mistakes_; one of
the a cappella traditional songs that Kate almost certainly recorded
with the Trio Bulgarka; _Brazil_; and _I'm_Still_Waiting_, in addition
to any b-sides that may still appear on future _TSW_ singles. The whole
boxed set could be accompanied by a forty-page booklet written by Peter
Morris--as edited by IED!--and supplemented by a long article by Kate
in which she explains the secret meaning of "Gaffa" and the solution
to the mystery message in _Experiment_IV_, and offers--free--as a special
bonus to her fans a magnificent limited-edition ten-CD set containing
digitally re-mastered versions of all two-hundred-odd Kate Bush solo-
piano demo recordings from circa 1972-1975.
     Is that really too much to ask?

-- Andrew Marvick