Re: Lionheart discussion

[Richard Bensam <rabensam@earthlink.net>]

ABMarvick wrote:

>Those who disparage Lionheart are usually fans
>who never felt the magic of the album *in November 1978*.  IED's long
>search for the new import album during that fall in Los Angeles, the instant
>when he finally laid hands on the thing and was taken wondrously aback by
>its mysterious cover photograph, and the moment when the sacred objeKT
>finally sounded forth on his old phonograph, are experiences for which he
>is forever grateful.   Remember that in 1978 the sound of that voice and
>the quality of the album's production were still rare and novel, and that
>very little was yet known about Kate Bush at all in this country.  By knowing
>Kate's subsequent achievements we are all inclined to affix the stamp of
>relative rank to each, and in such a competition what music could hope
>to compete -- even Kate's own Lionheart?  But even the "lesser books
>of the Bible" are endowed, so IED hears, with the grace of God.

Reading these perceptive words reminded me of the strange story of how I
first came to acquire a copy of Lionheart.  Have I bored everyone here with
that story?  Can I just?  Cheers.

At the start of 1979, I happened to be corresponding with a radio DJ in
Australia.  (How I came to know a DJ in Australia is a long and not
particularly relevant story.)  In a letter to this DJ friend of mine, I
mentioned my extreme fondness for this British singer called Kate Bush, and
asked if he had ever heard of her.  A few weeks later I received a totally
unexpected package from him: it was, you will have guessed, a copy of
Lionheart.  It turned out that he had sent me the official playing copy of
Lionheart from his own radio station...because, he explained, he absolutely
despised Kate Bush, could not stand the sound of her voice, and sending the
album to another country seemed like a good way to make sure his station
would never play the damned thing again!

The loss of possibly thousands of radio listeners in Western Australia was
my gain.  If anyone reading this lived in the area of Perth during 1979, my
deepest apologies.  I can't possibly repay you.  I was never able to repay
my benefactor for his generosity on my behalf -- hey, he could simply have
dumped it in the rubbish bin, rather than posting it to America at his own
expense! -- however misguided his motives may have been.  (This DJ
subsequently went on to become a moderately successful television
correspondent for the ABC, so for all I know he may be a major celebrity
over there by now...)


RAB

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