The _December_ CD

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

 To: Love-Hounds
 From: Andrew Marvick (IED)
 Subject: The _December_ CD

     IED has finally got hold of a copy of EMI's _It's_Christmas_
CD, which includes Kate's _December_Will_Be_Magic_Again_, available
for the first time on compact disk.
     The earlier reports were indeed correct: this is _not_ the
well known version of the song which Kate released as a single in
1980 (with the b-side _Warm_and_Soothing_). Rather, it is an alternate
recording which Kate made approximately one year earlier.
     The version heard on the new CD was recorded in 1979, and
was formerly known to the public only through a "hastily filmed" video
performance given by Kate on a BBC music special hosted by Abba and
called _The_Winter_Snowtime_Special_. That programme aired on December
21, 1979. The recording was ready in time for a video airing, but not
in time for a Christmas-single release that year. In fact, it very
nearly wasn't ready the _next_ Christmas, either, because by that
time Kate had decided it needed a completely different treatment
with a heavy rock beat.
     The CD version is the second of three arrangements of the
song--the first, featuring Kate on piano with Kevin McAlea on
electric piano, was heard on Kate's own Christmas special, _Kate_,
which aired one week after the _Snowtime_ version (December 28, '79),
but which was probably taped sometime during the preceding autumn. (The
contrast in style is not limited to the musical arrangements: Kate's two
nearly contemporaneous video performances are very different: on _Snowtime_
she moves and projects extravagantly during every note, really pushing
the song's theme of childhood wonder. On her own television special,
however, her manner is much more subdued--perhaps a result of the
natural constraint imposed by simultaneous singing and piano-playing.
     Anyway, here, completely without warning or explanation, is
a brilliant CD transfer of the _Winter_Snowtime_ version of _December_,
complete with that inimitable combination of Moog synthesizers and
Christmas bongo drums. What's most interesting to IED, hearing the
recording for the first time in high-quality audio, is the discovery
that the "bongos" version is actually a fully realized, even ambitious
production, rich with parallel melodies, multiple backing vocals,
subtle reverbs, sleigh-bells and surprising counter-rhythms.
     This CD is well worth the money. Even the additional presence
of Christmas singles by "Slade", "Shakin' Stevens", "Aled Jones" and
others cannot dim the sparkle of this rare Bushohistorical treasure.
Recommended.

-- Andrew Marvick
   "Don't let the mystery go now."