MisK

[ed@das.llnl.gov (Edward Suranyi)]

Thanks, |>oug, for fixing the hard disk on gaffa.  That's why it's not
been working well lately, everyone.  I think it's fixed now.  I tried
posting the following article several days ago, but it failed.  Here
goes again:

Has anybody ever heard of a Belgian group called Tilt?  I just
heard their very weird cover of "Running Up That Hill" -- industrial
techno-dance!  It's amazingly bad -- yet, it's amazing.

I just got a whole bunch of Rock Over London shows in the mail today,
from late 1985 and early 1986.  I don't mean bootlegs -- I mean the
actual LPs that went to the radio stations who broadcast this show.
I already had one from August of 1985 when RUTH was played for the 
first time -- the host, Graham Dene, seemed very excited about it.

I was shocked to discover that "Cloudbusting" was edited for this show
by removing the second verse!  Both editions of ROL where this song
is played are like that.

ROL always broadcasts the top five British songs of the week.  I don't
know how they get their chart information, but it's always much more
favorable to Kate than any other chart I've seen.  On one edition they
have "Cloudbusting" at number four, and on another they have "Hounds Of
Love" at number three, despite the fact that the gatefold of _The Whole
Story_ shows that neither of these songs got into the top ten.  More
recently, they had "The Sensual World" at number three one week, much
higher than I'd seen elsewhere.

At the end of December 1985 they played a countdown of the top 20 albums
of that year.  _Hounds Of Love_ was number 17.

Here's the big thing: at the beginning of that month they broadcast an
INTERVIEW with Kate!  Although she doesn't say anything we haven't heard
hundreds of times, and it's only four minutes long, the interview is one
that I, at least, hadn't heard before.  Here it is:

D:  Graham Dene, the host of ROL.
C:  Paul Cooke, the interviewer.
K:  Kate.

D:  You might like to know that in three weeks time on Rock Over London
    you'll be able to hear our review of the British rock year, and the
    re-emergence of Kate Bush will have to go down as one of the comebacks
    of '85, with her album _Hounds Of Love_ and two hits: "Running Up That
    Hill" and "Cloudbusting".  Well, Kate's been chatting with Paul Cooke,
    who first asked her about the concept behind _Hounds Of Love_.

K:  It's, uh, two separate pieces for me really, the A and the B side.
    The A side is five individual songs, perhaps linked by the theme of
    love, but very much individual songs for me.  And the second side
    is a concept -- seven songs that are linked together, and it's very
    much one story, about someone who's in the water for the night, and
    how they manage to cope with the situation until morning.

C:  You call the second side "The Ninth Wave" and you quote Tennyson.
    Why?

K:  Well, rather than it being inspired by Tennyson as a lot of people
    have presumed, it was completely the other way around, in that I was 
    looking for a title for the piece, and there was no line from the
    songs that was -- no title that was really right for the whole side,
    so I started looking through books for quotes, _et cetera_, and just
    found this quote from the ninth wave, by -- about the ninth wave that
    seemed so parallel -- the idea of waves moving in cycles of nine so
    that it all builds up to the ninth and then begins again.  So, it
    was used as the title.

C:  You're considering making a film about it.  Could you tell us about
    that?

K:  It's what I'd like to do next, is the major project if I could.  And,
    it is really just talk at the moment, and I won't know, I suppose,
    until next year if that is going to be a feasible thing or not.  But
    I would love to do that next.

C:  Do you find that a lot of people don't quite understand your work, 
    maybe think it's a little bit mystical?

K:  I think there's a lot of people who don't understand necessarily what
    I'd originally conceived as the idea, but I don't know if that's very
    important.  I think if people feel they understand it on any level,
    then I've achieved something and that's great.

C:  Could you explain a couple of your songs?  First of all, "Running
    Up That Hill".  What's that about?

K:  It's about two people who are very in love, and it's about the power
    of the love and how that can get in the way sometimes, and how if they
    could swap places -- if the man could become the woman and the woman
    the man that perhaps in areas they'd understand each other better and
    there would be less problems between them.

C:  The other song I'd like to know about is "Cloudbusting".

K:  Yes, that was very much inspired by a book by a man called Peter 
    Reich, and the book's called _A Book Of Dreams_.  And it's about
    a very magical relationship between himself when he was a child 
    and his father.  And it's all written through a young boy's point
    of view, and it's so innocent and sad, and it was just the inspiration
    for the song.

C:  Now, what about doing some live dates?  I mean, a lot of people would love
    to see you again.

K:  Well, I really would like to, and I've been saying this for so long,
    and it's just a matter of when it's the right time.  Obviously, if I
    can go ahead with "The Ninth Wave" as the next project, then I don't
    think there would be time for a tour.  But if that's not feasible,
    then who knows?  So there's a possibility.

C:  What about going to America?

K:  Um, that's a very strong possibility.  I've only been there a couple 
    of times, and that was a long while ago now but, yes, I would very
    much like to go to New York.

C:  Well, thank you very much for coming to see us, and all the best with
    things.

K:  Thank you.

D:  Kate Bush, chatting with Paul Cooke, and let's hope that feature film
    comes off.


As we all know, it didn't, and neither did a tour.

I've got a couple of other items.  A listener requested "Hounds Of Love"
on KITS yesterday, and they played it.  The DJ, Big Rick Stuart, called
it a "great song".

Has anybody else seen the movie "Jesus of Montreal"?  It's a French
Canadian movie, in French with English subtitles.  There's lots of
great music in it (unfortunately, none by Kate).  But the point is
that the lead actress reminds me tremendously of Kate, aged another
five or ten years!

I went to Tower Records the other day, and as I entered I heard the 
unmistakable Kate.  They were playing "And Dream Of Sheep," so I stayed
to hear the rest of "The Ninth Wave", then congratulated the clerk on
his taste.

That's it for now, folks.

Ed 
ed@das.llnl.gov