A Bush-el of Fruitopia

[rlovejoy@pipeline.com (Robert Lovejoy)]

Hello RMG!
     This isn't my usual territory, but I do lurk in now and 
then.  I'm
usually over on Ecto.  However, the following article caught my 
eye and I thought it would be nice to share it with you.
     I'm in the television postproduction business, and one of 
our trade papers, SHOOT, deals with all aspects of 
commercial-making.  In their current issue, dated July 29, the 
following article appears:

     A Bush-el of Fruitopia

     by Michael Clark

     When Kate Bush took the assignment to do the music for 
Coca-Cola's new
Fruitopia spots, it was indeed free rein for the British 
singer/songwriter
_People_ magazine once dubbed "The Queen of Ethereal Pop".
     Chiat/Day, New York, creative director Marty Cooke and 
executive 
producer Andrew Chinich were overjoyed when Bush agreed to do 
not only
one, but all nine of the spots in the Fruitopia campaign.  
Perhaps the
fact that they told her she could do anything she wanted with 
the scores
had something to do with it.  In any case, Cooke and Chinich 
were just
glad to get Bush on the job, which she did from London with a 
bunch of
hand-picked musicians.
     "In early tests, we played different music against the 
visuals, and
Kate Bush music felt intuitive and right," Cooke says.  "It 
gave the
campaign a lot more consistency than it would have otherwise."
     Bush, with 15 years of producing her own eclectic albums 
(and video
clips) in the music business, was told only to provide a 
"variety" of
styles and moods for the Fruiopia spots directed by Greg Ramsey 
out of
bicoastal Farenheit Films.
     The spots, which broke in early July in a variety of :30s 
and a
:60 cinema version called "What If," features intense 
kaleidescope-style
manipulations of brightly colored fruit.  Serendipitous text 
appears in
the center of the psychedelic frame, with the soundtracks by 
Bush giving
the spot an almost dizzying pace.
     "We're very pleased...all the indications are that the 
music is one
of the strongest parts of the campaign," says Chiat/Day's 
Cooke.  Bush
supplied a variety of soundtracks, from a version that is heavy 
on 
percussion, to a poppy "lounge" guitar/keyboard combination, to 
one
Cooke describes as sounding "like a bunch of Japanese 
schoolchildren."
     For the cinema :60 "What If," which is number one on the 
most recent
SHOOT Top 10 Spot Tracks chart, Bush put down a track of very 
tribal
percussion with layers of rhythmic chants that blend with the 
changing
fields of rotating fruit.
     "She said she was interested in providing a lot of 
variety, from 
Japanese drummers to Moroccan music...and she came through in 
spades," 
Cooke says.


     I for one was unaware that Kate had done this music.  My 
son and I
were watching teevee together recently and were both pleasantly 
impressed by one of the spots described.  
     Vickie, or anyone, please feel free to post this over on 
Kate's mailing list.
     Best wishes to everyone,
                             Bob Lovejoy