***** INTERVIEW CDs PART II *************

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

INTERVIEW CDS

     Conversation Disc Series ABCD 012 - The first-ever KATE BUSH 
PICTURE-CD.
Actually, though, it's still a pretty shoddy piece of merchandise.  
It's an interview-disk, a new entry in the continuing series of 
cult-rocker interview CDs that had been showing up in import CD shops 
during the past couple of months before this CD. (Earlier entries 
include Sisters of Mercy, Cocteau Twins and Peter Gabriel, plus perhaps 
five or six others.) The covers of all of these CDs are yellow, with a 
photograph of the artist/artists on the front of the "booklet". No 
label name is given, and it's possible that the company is the same 
that put out the long series of picture-disk vinyl interview LPs under 
the "BAKTABAK" label, but there's no way of really knowing.
     The Kate Bush CD features a candid photo of Kate from her 
appearance at the laser-art press audition of the _Hounds of Love_ LP 
in the fall of 1985. Another photo by the same photographer was used by 
Verkerke poster company as the source for a poster which appeared in 
Europe shortly afterward. Kate is seen wearing a plain off-white silk 
blouse and the dragon earrings which appear on the cover of the _Hounds 
of Love_ twelve-inch (and elsewhere). The same photograph is reproduced 
on (and somewhat rattily inserted in) the label-side
surface of the compact disc itself.
     As for the audio content, it is comprised of two separate 
interviews, the first of about twenty-three minutes' length, the other 
of about nine minutes  The first of the two from the French TV show 
Profile 6 and is an undoctored, legitimate conversation between Kate 
and an unidentified Englishman who asks all the usual and basic 
questions, receiving all the usual and basic replies, although Kate 
seems to take more than her usual care in choosing her words.  The 
second interview is the "canned" promotional interview for Hounds of 
Love, the questions were dubbed in later.
     Oh, one more thing, this by way of a warning to the buyer: on the 
back of the CD's jewel-box notes there is a "guarantee" that none of 
the interview CDs in this yellow series is less than 40 minutes in 
length. In fact, however, the Kate Bush CD is only a little more than 
32 minutes long. So much for truth in advertising.
        The first interview begins: 

    Int: Many congratulations on the success of the album _hounds of 
love_ and of course the singles which have also been very successful.  
How are you coping with the success this time around - are you finding 
it alot easier than the "wuthering heights" days?

     Kt:  Yes and no, I mean it's easier cos it's something i've 
experienced before,

        The second interview begins: 

     Int: Where do you get the ideas for the imagery in your music and 
videos?

     Kt:  I think most of my imagery comes from films. but, initially, 
it all comes from people.


   
     "Kate Bush Interview, 1986" - A 3" compact disk, in a 5" "economy" 
jewel-box (same size as but thinner than a normal jewel-box) with 
adaptor and plain white-paper cover inside that says simply "Kate Bush 
Interview 1986", printed (as was the sticker on the cover of the 
picture-disk) in violet "Hounds of Love"-style script. The product 
bears no label name, but says "Made in
UK" and has a catalogue number "KB3CD". The interview on the disk is
identical to the picture-disk's, but the inside of the cover-card in
the CD box has a short, illiterate and anonymously authored blurb
about Kate and the interview.
     This same 3" compact disk is also reported to have become
available in "gold", i.e. with a gold tint to the CD.  

        _Kate_Bush:_The_Abbey_Road_Interview_ - Unlike most of the 
others released to date, this CD is an excellent product.  It is 
apparently being made in an authentically "limited" edition--at any 
rate, each copy includes a serial number on the front cover.
     The cover--which is made of card-paper in the style of a 
five-inch-
size album cover--is beautifully designed, with pretty silver block 
lettering on a dark blue background. On the front cover it simply says 
"K A T E   B U S H" above a reproduction of one of Guido Herera's 
_HoL_-era publicity close-ups, in full and good-quality colour. The 
back has the title, the serial number (printed in black on a white 
band) and a marvelously printed colour shot of Kate, dating from a 
series of photos for a ca.-1979/80 UK music-weekly interview (quite 
unrelated to the contents of the CD itself, but a wonderful
shot nevertheless), showing her seated on a bank of black leather 
couches in a lobby, wearing a bright red dress with a butterfly brooch. 
Lovely.
     The interview itself is _not_ from "Abbey Road". God knows why 
such a title was chosen. At any rate, it probably wouldn't have been a 
good idea to identify the interview correctly, because the actual 
company which owns the rights to it--UK's Capital Radio-- almost 
certainly had nothing to do with this product. Anyway, the interview 
was really undertaken by Tony Myatt, a longtime friend of Kate's dating 
from November of 1977 when Tony and Capital decided
that _Wuthering_Heights_ was such a great record, they would play it on 
their station even though its release had been postponed for four 
months. Their early promotion had a "teaser" effect on the British 
public, and helped make _Wuthering_Heights_ the success it was.
        This particular interview was, as far as IED knows, recorded by 
Tony at Capital's own studios, but at the Romford Convention in 
November 1985 it was announced that the interview had been conducted 
expressly for the convention itself.
     Anyway, the interview is one of Kate's very best, and even though 
Tony's questions are frequently very, very silly, his evident affection 
and respect for Kate have the effect of provoking some very interesting 
and emotional answers. It's also a long interview--the second longest 
that IED has ever heard/read. It lasts forty-seven minutes. Finally, 
the sound is superb--almost like a digital recording. Absolutely no 
hiss, though there is a very low-level
intermittent buzz from the in-studio equipment. All in all, this CD 
gets an A from IED, and is recommended to anyone wishing to hear Kate 
talking over a broad range of subjects with the thoughtfulness and 
maturity that has distinguished her public conversation since 1985.
        The interview begins: 

        Let's talk about The Hounds of Love [sic] first of all, ok? A 
wonderful title for an album, but where does it actually come from?
     "The title comes from one of the songs, which is entitled Hounds 
of Love, and this album for me is like two quite separate pieces of 
work: 


        
        CBAK 4011 - A picture-disk CD on the Baktabak label.  This 
contains two interviews, the first from '82 (about 20 minutes long) and 
the second from '85.  The first interview is the same as the one on 
"Kate Bush II" record, but this CD MAY only contain about half of the 
interview [NOTE: I'M NOT ENTIRELY SURE ABOUT THIS, I only know that the 
transcription I have this CD is only half as long as the recording I 
have from the album].  The second interview is the same as the BAK 2006 
interview.


        'Words About Music' (1992) - It's order number is 'WAM 05'. My 
xerox-source sais that there are two interviews on it: 1. the same one 
as on the picture LP 'Tell Tales / KB1011A / 1987', but with some more 
questions (?), 2. The "canned" promotional interview for Hounds of 
Love, the questions were dubbed in later. (see the Conversation Disk 
Series CD entry).

        "Kate Bush Interview" is made in England under the "Discussion 
Records" lable. It's got a CD number as well but I recon it's a silly 
play on words and that's all. It's numbered "NEVER 4 CD". The box it 
comes in says that it's a limited edition (I got #360) and also comes 
with some nice pictures inside. The actual CD cover is a beautiful KT 
picture.
    So, to the interview, ... it's a direct tapeing (about 45 mins 
long) in some very public place since there is a LOT of background 
noise. It's seems to
me that it was taped just before the release of NFE since that's what 
most of the discussion's about.


NOTE ON KATE'S VOICE

      Hearing recent interviews after a long spell of listening to some 
of the earlier interviews, it occurs to IED again that Kate has become 
an even more articulate and eloquent speaker than she was a decade ago. 
She has also radically reduced both the expressive range of her 
speaking voice and the "South London" accent which she used to assume 
in interview situations. For years it has seemed to IED that the 
now-forsaken "popular" accent which Kate used to sport during her 
public appearances was affected rather than ingrained, because no other 
members of Kate's family spoke with such an accent, and because its 
intensity seemed to vary depending upon the social and topical context 
in which she was speaking. Her present accent, which more closely 
approximates "U" diction, and which she has used with a new consistency 
over the past three years or so, is very likely another more or less 
calculated element in her promotional campaign for the post-_Dreaming_ 
work, since it reinforces the seriousness and sobriety of thought and 
feeling which Kate has tried to communicate in her tone and choice of 
words since 1985, in a clear
effort to correct her undeserved image as a naive and overly effusive
flower-child.



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