PHOENIX, The history of the demos, Part 1

[Wieland Willker <willker@chemie.uni-bremen.de>]

- My Magical Mystery Demo Tour - 
- Submission for approval again - 
(I have included more quotes. Several substantial corrections have been made. 
Please save this file! I do not post it again!) 
Listening to the demos and looking at the photos in your Cathy book while 
reading this is strongly recommended. 

This version is especially dedicated to Mandy Heath. 
I really hope, you'll enjoy it! 


P H O E N I X

THE EARLY KATE BUSH

THE HISTORY OF THE DEMOS

"Just like the phoenix really, she rises out of the ashes..." 


Sources: IED, Ron Hill, PDFM, LH-archive, Amazing Pudding Special, Phoenix 
broadcast (thanks Tom Tuerff), my own collection. 

Summary:
- the First Recordings, at home 1972, unknown number of songs. 
- The Second Recording ('Gilmour Piano Session'), at Kate's house 1973, unknown 
number of songs, possibly incl. TMWTCIHE. 
- the Third Recording ('Passing Through Air', PTA-Session) at Gilmour's farm 
August 1973, ca. 10-20 songs have been recorded incl. PTA and Maybe. 
- the Fourth Recording (3-SONG-Session), at AIR London Studios in June 1975,
the 
songs TMWTCIHE, Saxophone Song and Maybe have been recorded. 
- the Fifth Recording (the 1976 demos), piano-only at Kate's house. These
are very 
possibly the songs known to us originally from the Phoenix broadcast and later 
from the various bootlegs. 
- the Kick Inside Recording Sessions, at AIR London Studios in July, August
1977. 
The six 'Kick Inside Demos' are most probably from these sessions. 


THE BEGINNING:

"My father has told me I used to dance to the music on the telly. I remember it 
vaguely. It was completely unselfconscious and I wasn't aware of people
looking at 
me. One day some people came into the room, saw me and laughed and from that 
moment on I stopped doing it. I think maybe I've been trying to get back
there ever 
since." [Look up the photo of little Cathy dancing in the grass, Cathy book.] 

At about 1969, 11 year old Kate begins to play on the piano and starts writing 
poems. By 1971 she starts writing ballads and slow songs such as TMWTCIHE or 
Saxophone Song. 

Vermorel: She wrote stories for her own amusement and poems 'about being 
alone or wandering in the woods'. She had a phase of being obsessed about
whales 
and tried several times to write 'a whale song'. [Moving?] 

Kate: 

"I wasn't an easy, happy-go-lucky girl, because I used to think about
everything 
so much, and I think I probably still do." 

"I found it very frustrating being treated like a child when I wasn't
thinking like 
a child. From the age of ten I felt old. I became very shy at school...". 

"When I was very little, my brothers were into traditional folk music, and my 
father used to play and compose on the piano and I think that this was a
very strong 
influence on me. I was very little and there was always music in the house,
so it 
didn't seem unnatural to start playing the piano or playing around on the 
instruments that were in the house." 

"I probably wrote the first song when I was about eleven, but I mean it was 
terrible [laughs], very overdone. And I think the more you write songs, you
just get 
a knack for them, hopefully. [laughs]" 

"Since I was a kid, I mean I've been interested in music since I was about
five. 
But when I was about eleven I actually started writing songs." 

"I was up in my little room screaming my head off and plonking away at the 
piano." 

Paddy: "And when Kate began working on the piano, she'd go and lock herself 
away and wind up spending five or six hours, seven days a week, just playing
the 
piano. At the age of thirteen or fourteen she was spending tons and tons of
time 
writing, but starting in fact when she was about ten." 

"I just started poking around at the piano and started making up little songs." 

"When I was 14, I started taking it seriously, and began to treat the words
to the 
songs as poetry."  

"It's very hard to remember how I felt at the time, but it was something I
enjoyed 
doing so immensely. It was my release from school, and, you know, if I
couldn't go 
out and it was a wet day, or there wasn't anything good on television, that
would be 
my favourite place to go: to the piano." 

"I had such an excess of emotion that I needed to get it out of my system and 
writing was how I did it." 

"It was a very important relationship and still is to me. I found something
that I 
don't think I've ever really found since, when I first started writing
songs: that I 
could actually create something out of nothing, and it was a very special
discovery - I 
think if you are lucky enough to make it at a young age, as I was." 

"My father played the piano, and we also had an old harmonium in a barn next to 
our house, where I'd spend a lot of time just pedalling away hymns. I really
loved 
their melodies and harmonies and worked out for myself that a chord was made 
from a minimum of three notes, and that by changing one of these notes you
could 
get completely different chords to work with the new note. In a way, that
started my 
interest in the way things could sound and feel very different just by putting 
different chords to a tune. As the harmonium got eaten up by mice, less and
less of 
the stops that selected the sounds worked, so naturally I turned my
attention to 
playing the piano." 

"I couldn't read music at all. It was really a question of having a logical
approach, 
once I knew where middle C was. Even though I wasn't much good at maths at 
school, I could see the logic of how the piano was working, and got on with
it myself 
very well. I've now been playing the piano for many years, and I really did
start off 
in the most basic way. After a couple of years I'd got a slight style, and
since then 
I've simply developed it more, just by writing and then practising playing
the songs. 
Often, I'd be writing songs beyond my technique which would stretch my playing 
even further." 

"I usually started off with the tunes, and used library books for a source
of lyrics, 
but I couldn't get on too well with the restriction of always fitting the
music to the 
words. So I started making my own lyrics up alongside the music." 

"Discovery of music personally for me came when one day my father took me 
into the piano and showed me the scale of C on the keyboard. And I couldn't
believe 
that this was how this worked, that it was so logical, that there was
actually a plan to 
the keyboard that was so easy to see, that was like playing one finger on
the notes 
and then singing that tune. And then gradually I got to understand about
chords, and 
once I hit chords that was really it, you know. This was the most exciting
thing in 
my life, the chord." 

"Instead of going out to play with other children I used to play the piano -
it was 
my way of talking, of expressing myself." 

"Every night for a couple of hours I'd sing and play." 

"Well... they thought it was a lot of noise. When I first started, my voice was 
terrible, but the voice is an instrument to a singer, and the only way to
improve it is 
to practice." 

"I could sing in key but there was nothing there. It was awful noise, it was
really 
something terrible. My tunes were more morbid and more negative. That was a lot 
of people's comment: they were too heavy. But then a lot of people are
saying that 
about my current songs. The old ones were quite different musically,
vocally, and 
lyrically. You're younger and you get into murders..." 

"I used to write poetry like everyone else did in English classes. Everyone was 
free to read them - we always read each other's work. But people at school
didn't 
know that I was writing songs." 

"At 16 I had gotten to the point where my songs were presentable. That was
after 
five years of writing ballads and slow songs like 'The Man With The Child In
His 
Eyes'." 

Vermorel: 1972 saw KaTe's first public appearance as a singer and dancer. The 
occasion was a school production of the musical play 'Amahl and the Night
Visitors'. 
The school magazine records that "...'colourful relief' was introduced at the 
entrance of the shepherds and shepherdesses, members of the Senior and First
and 
Second year Choirs, who tripped in all rosy-cheeked and healthy-looking,
bringing 
gifts for the kings. Two of these, Catherine Bush and Sarah Brennan, later
gave a 
short dance in honour of the kings, which was both pastorally graceful and 
imaginative." 


THE FIRST RECORDINGS:

In 1972/73 Kate recorded several tapes of songs (more than 30 songs per tape, 
some sources say 60 altogether, Kate once said "...I had, say like 50
songs...". Some 
said up to 200 songs). 20-30 of these songs were presented via JCB's friend
Ricky 
Hopper, first without success to record companies. 

"I was about fifteen. My family thought it would be interesting to see if we
could 
get some of my songs published, I'd written loads of songs. I just used to
write one 
every day or something." 

"He [Ricky Hopper] came around to listen to me. I put twenty to thirty of my 
songs on a tape and he'd take it to record companies. Of course there was no 
response; you wouldn't be able to hear a thing, just this little girl with a
piano going 
"yaaaa yaaaa" for hours on end... [the songs] weren't that good. They were OK, 
but..." 

Then Ricky Hopper presented the songs to David Gilmour. Gilmour noticed her 
talent, but also the bad tape recorder quality. 

Gilmour: "A friend of mine has a friend who told my friend that his sister was 
very talented. This friend of mine came to me and said, "My friend has a very 
talented sister" and would I listen to her. And I said "sure", so I listened
to her. I 
thought she was very good." 


THE SECOND RECORDING: ('GILMOUR PIANO SESSION')

This session took place at Kate's house with Gilmour in 1973. Only Kate and 
piano, with a better recorder. There are at least two Gilmour-interview 
confirmations about this session (Q and CHEZ Canadian radio). I think this
is the 
session, Kate had in mind, when she said: 

"Absolutely terrified and trembling like a leaf, I sat down and played for
him." 

"He came along to see me and he was great, such a human, kind person - and 
genuine. 

Gilmour: "I did some recording at her house, her parent's house..." 

Gilmour: "I know that one of the first songs that I noted was "The Man With the 
Child in His Eyes", out of many songs that she had written. She was only 14,
I think, 
when I met her, maybe just about 15." 

But Gilmour also once said re this [?] session: (IED stating from the
Q-interview:) 
"He paid to have Kate go into a studio and re-record some fifty songs over
again. 
(again, apparently, solo with her own piano accompaniment-- not, it seems, with 
Gilmour and his musician friends at Gilmour's house)." (Q, 1990) 

This is a bit confusing. It seems to be sure, that Gilmour visited Kate at
her home 
and listened to her songs. I also think, they recorded something. Did
Gilmour visited 
Kate more than once? Did he brought a recorder at the first meeting? What is
this 
about the piano studio session? It seems unlikely IMHO, to insert yet
another session 
here. Nothing is well confirmed so far. 

*********************************************
We need this Q-interview!!!!
Has anyone access to the Q-mags in his library? It must be around Sept. 1990! 
I think, IED, you brought this up, so it's your turn!  :-)
*********************************************


THE THIRD RECORDING: ('Passing Through Air', PTA-SESSION) 

In August 1973 at Gilmour's farm with two "Unicorn" band members: drummer 
Peter Perrier and bassist Pat Martin, and Dave Gilmour electric guitar.
According to 
Gilmour (Q) ca. 10-20 songs have been recorded. This tape definitely made it
to EMI. 
Besides PTA also the second version of "Maybe" has been recorded. 

Kate: 

"And we went to Dave's for a day, basically. And the bass player and drummer 
from Unicorn sat down and we just kind of put a few songs together. I
remember it 
was the first time I'd ever done an overdub with the keyboard - I put this
little 
electric piano thing down, and I remember thinking: 'Ooh! [laughing] I like
this!'" 

"And, well, I mean really it was because of those tracks that I then went on
to do 
the tracks which were then used - two of which were used to go on the first
album. 
As far as I remember the tracks we did with this session in '73... There was
a track 
called "Passing Through Air", which I think went on a b-side -" 

PTA appeared as a B-side of Army Dreamers. 

The song MAYBE: 
The version from this session was presented by Kate in part on Personal Call, 
BBC Radio 1, 1979: 
[A portion "Maybe" is played] 
Ed: Kate had a very wistful look on her face. Why was that? 
K: I was waiting for the flat note in the middle. [Laughs] 
Ed: Ah, you mean we faded it just in time! 
K: No, you caught it actually, I'm sure... )

Kate 1978 re Maybe: "pretty awful." 

1990, Bush Con: "It had a couple of titles..."Maybe". ...there was an -
"Humming", 
it was called as well.") 


================================
Insert: THE EARLY YEARS 
================================
It is not clear from what session the songs on this lost album come from. The 
description in HG (see below) indicates band-accompaniments, but other 
trustworthy word-of-mouth descriptions say, the album consists only of voice 
and-piano performances, "albeit EARLIER-sounding ones than ANY of the known 
piano demos". It is said that the "Maybe" version on The Early Years is NOT the 
version played on Personal Call but a piano-only version. If this
'piano-only' rumour 
is true, the record contains songs from the first or the second session and are 
therefore from 1973 or earlier. 
It is also not clear, if the titles are given by Kate. Maybe they are only
guesses 
from the bootleggers (e.g. Need Your Loving = PTA). 

The following two excerpts from HG give us the only known 'facts' about this 
record. There are several other rumours though. 

from HG 23 (Summer 1986), p. 2: 
" -Early Years- Bootleg stopped in its tracks" 
Someone, somehow has got hold of one of Kate's early (circa 1973) demo tapes, 
which appears to have contained not only a number of Kate's early songs, but 
embryonic versions of more well-known tracks. A West German company appeared 
to believe that it had bought the 'rights' to this tape and was set to issue
an album 
entitled:"Kate Bush:The Early Years". EMI-Electrola in Germany were aware of
this, 
but some reason took no action to prevent the release. The album was in fact 
pressed and white labels send out in an attempt to secure overseas
distribution deals. 
At this point Kate became aware of the proposed release, and feeling that
her early 
mistakes are not fit for public consumption, took the appropriate legal
action. The 
stockpiled albums will now be destroyed (sorry, we don't know how to get
hold of 
one!). 

from HG 29 (Xmas 1987), p. 6: 
"Kate Bush - The Early Years - West Germany - 1986" 
Ah yes, the almost semi-mythical disc. HG can assure yout that it is/was
quite real. 
It was a single album containing ten songs recorded by Kate in her early
Gilmour 
days in 1973. We have a tracklisting for eight [ten] of the songs as follows: 

1. Something Like a Song. 
2. Need Your Loving. [=Passing Through Air]
3. Davy (or Davey). 
    [= Maybe, Humming?, not While Davy Dozed]
4. You Were the Star. 
5. Gay Farewell. 
6. Cussi Cussi. 
7. Atlantis. 
8. Sunsi. 
9. Disbelieving Angel. 
10. Go Now While You Can. 

No, we don't have a copy of the disc. 
======================================================== 


THE FOURTH RECORDING: (3-SONG-SESSION)

In June 1975 Gilmour booked a professional studio (AIR London), brought 
Andrew Powell to arrange and produce the songs and hired top musicians to back 
Kate. 

They recorded TMWTCIHE, The Saxophone Song and Maybe. This tape finally 
was Kate's breakthrough at EMI. The first two songs from this session
appeared on 
The Kick Inside. 

"Gilmour said: 'It looks as if the only way you can do it is to put at most
three 
songs on a tape and we'll get them properly arranged.' He put up the money for 
me to do that, which is amazing. No way could I have afforded to do anything
like 
that." 

Kate: "I think he liked the songs sufficiently to feel that it was worth him
actually 
putting up money for me to go in and professionally record the tracks,
because all 
my demos were just piano vocals and I had, say like 50 songs that were all
piano 
vocals. And he felt, quite rightly, that the record company would relate to
the music 
much in a more real way if it was produced rather than being demoed. So he
put up 
the money, we went into the studio, recorded three tracks..." 


------------------
July 1975 - July 1976
------------------

The recording deal is much discussed between Kate, her family, Gilmour and 
EMI. In July 1976 it is finally perfect. 


THE FIFTH RECORDING (the 1976 piano demos)

During the first year of the EMI contract Kate makes two further demo tapes. 
These are very possibly the songs known to us originally from the Phoenix 
broadcast and later from the various bootlegs. The date 'Nov. 1976' is
written on the 
reel tape, the DJ played in 1982 (?) on KSTM. 

from 'Amazing Pudding': 
"These recordings [her early recordings 1972/73] are thought to be live, single 
track recordings as opposed to demos Kate was to make at home [!] four years 
later [!], which were two track recordings (two separate tape recorders
having been 
connected)." 

"IED believes that the demos probably date from a somewhat later period, 
because in both PTA and Maybe Kate's voice is a little timid and uncertain,
and does 
not venture into her now-long-since-abandoned-but-historic falsetto range
(which is 
at its prime in these demos). Also, although IED is the first to admit
loving Passing 
Through Air, and especially Maybe, he thinks it would be silly to try to
argue that 
either of those songs--particularly PTA --is as complex or as stylistically
singular as 
any of the 23 solo-demos." 

I think, this argument is also supported by the fact, that 5 songs, which
appear on 
The Kick Inside, Lionheart AND Never for Ever [!] (Violin!), can be found on
the 
demo tape! 

re Organic Acid (the song which includes one of JCB's poems). 
Vermorel: "The crucial - earliest and most abiding - influence on Kate's 
development was Jay's writing. Kate was intensely proud of his poetry and,
loosely, 
described a two page poem he published in 1970 [The Creation Edda] to her
friends 
as 'book'. " 
This maybe explains to some extent the inclusion of the poem "Before the Fall" 
into one of her songs? 

END OF PART 1
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