Billboard article on "Two Rooms"

[ed@wente.llnl.gov (Ed Suranyi)]

The latest _Billboard_ (Sept. 28) has a long article on the Elton John
tribute, "Two Rooms."  I'll just mention the parts that are relevant for
this newsgroup.

It says, "Drawing on the album's varied artists and tracks, Polydor plans
a multi-format blitz, including the likely promotion of . . . "Rocket
Man" by Kate Bush to alternative programmers, . . ."

"Five years in the making, . . ."

The video is a completely separate project from the audio release, so
some artists (such as Kate) won't appear on both.  "The video is a 
companion piece, not a mirror-image," says Joe Shults, president of 
PolyGram Video USA.

The article also says, "Marketing of the superstar project may also
include a network television special and a pay-per-view concert
starring some of the album's participants before the end of the year.
Both events are under negotiation."

"As producer of the album, [Steven] Brown concedes that coordinating
a project on this scale with such top-name participants was 'a nightmare.
You're trying to deal with 16 acts, 16 managements, and 16 record
companies.  You're trying to assimilate all their ideas and get all the
clearances you need.'"

"' We're just beginning to let some of the tracks out to our promotion
people,' says [John] Barbis [senior VP of promotion for PolyGram]. 'What's
great about this is everybody knows these songs and every artist gave
their own interpretation.'"

The article also has the final list of tracks, in their final order.
"Rocket Man" will be the second track.

Ed
ed@wente.llnl.gov