############ KATE BUSH LIVE BOOTLEGS PART II ############

[rhill@netrun.cts.com (ronald hill)]

        _Live_in_Bristol_ (1988): two record set containing the entire 
Bristol concert as well as some bits of John Carter Bush's poetry.  
Nice package, poor audio.
        Front left picture: Kate dancing in a white long dress, Front 
right: Babooshka-photo used on the Canadian EP. Front bottom after 
folding out the left and right parts: Photo of the Hammersmith video 
tape, printed twice, once mirrored. Back: head of Kate with a 
light-violet T-shirt.

 
        _Live_in_Amsterdam_ : a single lp containing most of the 
aborted Amsterdam concert which was cut short due to KaTe's flu attack.
 
        _Kate Bush Live in Manchester, April 10th, 1979_.  (1988) This 
album, a two-record set from our old familiar NYC-based bootleg outfit, 
is exactly what it claims to be.  The record is not as complete a 
record of the Tour programme as the bootleg 2-LP set of the Bristol 
concert (which is a virtually unedited copy of the entire concert), 
since it only contains twenty tracks, and some though not all of the 
incidental music and prose-readings are missing.  But it _is_ a 
different performance, and Kate and the band are in unusually
fine form. The sound is boomy on the bottom and weak on the treble, but 
it still manages to create a strong atmosphere and presence, and the 
album, overall, is considerably more listenable than, say, the Paris 
concert bootlegs, which have extremely muffled and distant sound. 
"Moving" is extremely beautiful and ethereal in this performance.
        Front picture: part of the Japanese 'Them Heavy People' single 
cover. Back: The 'Experiment IV' cover.

        "What Katie Did at Amnesty International".  (1988) This is a 
seven-inch bootleg.  It has a b&w cover design on high-quality 
cardpaper, with red and black lettering in a type-face that is meant to 
imitate the style used by Peter Gabriel for several recent singles. The 
photo, too, is a nearly-abstract b&w shot of a figure moving down a 
street (not Kate), sort of like the blurred shots on some of Gabriel's 
_So_ singles covers. The record itself features the live performance of 
"Running Up That Hill" from the _other_ night (as opposed to the one 
which is included on the official _Secret Policeman's Third Ball: The 
Music_ LP), but of course the sound is very poor in comparison with the 
Amnesty LP track. The real selling-point of this bootleg is its b-side, 
a crude but quite listenable recording of the live version of "Let It 
Be" which Kate gave at the Amnesty concerts. It's not earth-shaking, 
but it's a _huge_ artistic advance on the performance of the same song 
which Kate gave with Steve Harley and Peter Gabriel in 1979.  This is a 
very thoughtful and well-thought-out interpretation, and Kate sings all 
but the second verse this time around (IED can't say for sure who the 
male singer in this version is, but supposes it could be a very hoarse 
Gilmour?).


        _Kate_Bush_Live_at_the_London_Palladium_1979_  (1988) is a 
3-record set from what looks like the same old New Yorkers.  On this 
album they go by a name they deserve, "Pharting Pharoah Records". The 
album design is particularly noxious: on the front cover it features 
the famous (and copyrighted) photograph of Kate with ivy in her hair; 
and on the back, a collage mixing official photographs taken from music 
magazines (including the KBC Newsletter) with shots from the nude photo 
session of "'lookalike' Kate Simmons" which originally appeared in a 
Autumn 1982 U.K. edition of _Penthouse_ Magazine.  As IED understands 
it, the photos and story appeared in the UK edition of _Penthouse_ 
only; and the article was filled with teasing insinuations that left 
the reader in little doubt they were supposed to think it was Kate 
("young doctor's daughter from Kent"; "been composing since she was a 
child"; etc.)
        As for the use of one of those photos on a bootleg LP cover, it 
doesn't surprise IED at all. There's zero evidence that the people who 
make KT boots are fans. That's highly unlikely, in fact. In the first 
place, any real fan would do a much better job of organizing the 
tracks, listing the titles correctly (there are no fewer than eight 
mistakes on the cover of the three-record set), etc. And in the second 
place, a real fan wouldn't even sell a bootleg in the first place!
        However, there is no reason that IED can see for doubting the 
authenticity of this album's contents. All 24 songs from the Tour of 
Life concerts are included (spread over three records), as well as 
virtually all of the "incidental" music and poetry/prose readings, 
readings, chants, etc. (The Bristol bootleg, in its recent vinyl 
incarnation, manages to fit roughly the same amount of material into 
two records, but who's counting?)  The sound of the Palladium set is no 
better than you'd expect, but the source does
sound different from those of any of the other albums. As a result, it 
seems relatively safe to accept that this set originated from the 
London Palladium.


        Kate Bush - Dreamtime  This 3-record-set is apparently a 
re-release of called 'Kate Bush - Live at the London Palladium 1979'  
It has the same 'Ivy-in-the-hair' picture on front, the same Penthouse 
photos on back. But I suppose this is a re-release, because: 1. The 
record is called 'Dreamtime'. 2. The track listing is accurate (if you 
don't count abbreviating on the record labels).


     _Temple_of_Truth_ is to be _avoided_ unless you are so devoted a 
fan that you must have any Kate item no matter what its quality. 
_Temple_of_Truth_ is simply an excerpt from an unidentified (and 
unidentifiable) Tour of Life concert (a different show then the other 
bootlegs). The sound of the recording is the _worst_ of any of the 
several live concert bootlegs of Kate's Tour of Life, and it doesn't 
even contain half the programme. The sound is easily recognizable, 
because the sound on this record has a peculiar way of coming in and 
out of "focus" in a cyclical pattern, rather like a shortwave radio 
station, except that the sound changes in tone rather than in level of 
distortion. Do not buy this album.
        The LP is a single record, with a purple cover that features a 
strange photograph of what might be a small, ancient lighthouse or 
something, sitting on a precipice overlooking the sea. No explanation 
is given for the choice in cover art, and there are no liner notes or 
track listings. In fact, not even
the source of the material is identified.
        Here is the track listing (not even on the cover, you have to 
listen through it)

A: Moving, The saxophone song, Room for the life, Them heavy people, 
The man
   with the child in his eyes, Egypt
B: L'amour looks something like you, Violin, The kick inside, 
Fullhouse,
   Strange phenomena


        If_You_Could_See_Me_Fly_ (1988) (NOT to be confused with the CD 
of the same name) is a single lp containing excerpts from the Bill 
Duffield concert from 1979, features Steve Harley and Peter Gabriel 
(organized to benefit Duffy's family following his death early in the 
tour). Also included two early demos of "Babooshka" and _Let_It_Be_ 
from the Amnesty show.
        The quality of the Hammersmith material is marginal.  The 
Amnesty show track is better, but not great.  The two studio takes of 
"Babooshka" are pretty good, though they crackle as if they had been 
lifted off another vinyl disc.
        This is a European pressing and has a black, white, and gold 
cover with a composite photo of a Fred & Ginger like pair dancing on a 
typewriter keyboard.
        The tracks and credits are listed as shown below.  Recorded 
live 12 May, 1979 at the Hammersmith Odeon, London, except where noted.

side one:
--------

Let It Be
(Lennon-McCartney)
  Kate Bush-vocals
  David Gilmour-vocals, guitar
  Pino Palladino-bass and others
  Recorded live, March 28, 1987 at the Palladium, Amnesty Festival

The Girl/Man With Child In Her/His Eyes
(Bush)
  Kate Bush-3rd lead vocals, piano
  Peter Gabriel-1st lead vocals
  Steve Harley-2nd lead vocals

Here Comes The Flood
(Gabriel)
  Peter Gabriel-vocals, piano

I Don't Remember
(Gabriel)
  Peter Gabriel-lead vocals,piano
  Kate Bush-synthesizer (solo), back-up vocals
  Paddie Bush-guitar
  Stuart Elliot-drums
  Del Palmer-bass

side two:
--------

D.I.Y.
(Gabriel)
  Peter Gabriel-lead vocals, piano

The Best Years of Our Life
(Harley)
  Steve Harley-vocals, acoustic guitar

Make Me Smile
(Come Up And See Me)
(Harley)
  Steve Harley-lead vocals, lead guitar
  Kate Bush-back-up vocals, piano
  Peter Gabriel-back-up vocals, acoustic guitar
  Paddie Bush-rhythm & lead guitar
  Del Palmer-bass, back-up vocals
  Stuart Elliot-drums

Let It Be
(Lennon-McCartney)
  Kate Bush-lead vocals
  Peter Gabriel-lead vocals, guitar
  Paddie Bush-vocals, guitar
  Del Palmer-vocals, bass
  Stuart Elliot-vocals, drums

Babooshka
(Bush)
  Take 1 & 2
  Kate Bush-vocals, piano
  David Gilmour-engineering, drum programming on Take 2
  both takes recorded at David Gilmour's own studio in 1974


        _Live_in_Japan_ (1989) is a seven-inch single featuring (on the 
a-side) Kate's live performance of _Moving_ from the Seventh Tokyo Song 
Festival, which was held at the Budokan on June 18, 1978. On the b-side 
are Kate's performances of abridged versions of two Beatles songs, 
_The_Long_and_Winding_Road_ and _She's_Leaving_Home_. The latter two 
songs were taped at Tokyo's TBS G Studio on June 23, 1978, for airing 
on the programme _Sound_in_S_. All three songs are accompanied by a 
large orchestral group (including full string and wind sections), and 
for _She's_Leaving_Home_ Kate pre-recorded her own background choruses.
     The sound is surprisingly good, and is in stereo (although it may 
be simply a stereo recording of the original mono tracks). There is a 
good deal of "toppiness" to the sound (distortion of the higher 
frequencies), but for the most part the recordings are quite 
listenable.
     The cover is of hard, glossy card-stock, with a close-up copy of a 
1978 publicity shot of Kate on the front, and a copy of the close-up of 
the "radiating eye" from the front cover of the official UK single 
release of _The_Man_With_the_Child_in_His_Eyes_ on the back.
     Kate's performances are extremely professional, with no hint of 
uncertainty about intonation or anything--although at the very end of 
_She's_Leaving_Home_ Kate finishes a beat later than the arrangement 
evidently indicated, a mistake no doubt prompted by what must have been 
minimal rehearsal time and poor orchestral direction. (Anyway, the 
error does not damage the performance, since the arrangement ends at 
that point.) Kate's voice is at its most spectacularly _high-pitched_ 
in all three performances, and she does manage to add two or three 
interesting little melodic flourishes to the Beatles songs, despite 
their abbreviated length.
     All in all, IED agrees completely with Peter FitzGerald-Morris, 
who called this bootleg "a treasure". 


---
rhill@netrun.cts.com (ronald hill)
NetRunner's Paradise BBS, San Diego CA