Re: If you could see me fly

[fnord@spdcc.com (Dan Schaeffer)]

In article <9101141458.AA05482@chem.nwu.edu> Love-Hounds@gaffa.MIT.EDU writes:
>Really-From: stern@chem.nwu.edu (Charlotte Stern)
>
>I believe that (if you could see me fly) is the title of the bootleg
>disk of Kate demos.  I spotted it in Chicago for $40, which seemed high.
>What is the going rate for these things?  I also noticed it had some
>incorrect info on the listing of tracks, like a purported :30 Babooshka.
>Is there such a thing?  There were 2 Babooshkas on there (the guy at the
>store let me listen to the disk and I scanned a bit of each song),
>one with strange drum-machine noises in the BG.  There were also
>a few other tracks which I had not yet heard, but the overall sound
>quality was really not much better than you know what.  Still, it'd
>be nice to have it on disk.  For laughs, I offered the guys there
>$20.  But I was able to tell them that Kate might be touring.
>They hadn't heard this yet.  And when they said "hey there's this
>box set here" and I said "yeah, already got a copy" they seemed relatively
>incredulous.  It's fun to know more about something than people who
>think they know more about it than you do...

Charlotte: Yes, "If You Could See Me Fly" is indeed the title of a bootleg CD
of KaTe demos (or so it claims*).  I have seen it here in Boston for $25 --
$40 sounds like a total ripoff, unless maybe you're in East Podunk.  I own
a copy of the CD -- given to me for Xmas -- and I have to say that while the
quality is certainly not what one would call "good," it is far from unlisten-
able.  Also, I have found the simple combination of KaTe's voice and a solo
piano to be incredibly sweet.  (I don't know which song has "strange drum-
machine noises," but some parts of the disc have a relatively rhythmic static
"beat.")  The 0:30 Babooshka is apparently a misprint on the listing; the
song is actually about *2:30*.  (It does fade oddly at the end, though, leading
me to wonder every time I listen if it is an incomplete recording.)  The second
version of Babooshka is not significantly different, but I think it has more
instrumentation.  Overall, I like the CD, because it contains a bunch of
tracks (about 2/3 of the whole disc) which are not available on any of the
commercial albums, as far as I know.

(*I say the CD "claims" to be early demos -- "Home Demos Recorded 1974" --
because listening to her voice, I have difficulty believing that she was a
mere 16 when she sang these particular songs.  One KaTe fan friend of mine,
when I played it for her and told her KaTe had been 16 at the time, said, "If
she's only 16, then she's definitely oversexed." 8-)

D. J. Schaeffer
"'The Todal looks like a blob of glup.
  It makes a sound like rabbits screaming,
  and smells of old, unopened rooms.'" 
[fnord@ursa-major.spdcc.com]

>-mjm