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Date: Thu, 10 Jul 86 01:37:50 EDT
From: nessus (Doug Alan)
Subject: KB News (Homeground)
Well, the latest issue (#23) of *Homeground*, "the International Kate Bush Fanzine" arrived a few days ago and there's some new news:
A German record company somehow got hold of some of one Kate's early demo tapes from 1973, and believed it had purchased the rights to press it. The album was pressed and entitled *Kate Bush: The Early Years*. When Kate found out about it, she took legal action and all the pressed albums are to be destroyed.
If anyone ever sees one of these, please keep in mind that Doug will gnaw off his left arm and mail it to you in exchange for this album.
Date: Sun, 21 Sep 86 17:20:37 EDT
From: nessus (Doug Alan)
Subject: *Kate Bush: The Early Years*
I talked to Peter Morris, one of the editors of *Homeground: The International Kate Bush Fanzine*, a few days ago. It turns out that the story about the bootleg record "Kate Bush: The Early Years" was not an April Fools joke. It does exist, and a warehouse full of these things are sitting somewhere in East Germany waiting to be destroyed. (Oh, by the way, Doug is catching the next plane to East Germany.... They tell him it's hard to sneak around there, however.) This info comes right from the mouth of John Carder Bush, so it's unlikely to be made up. No one I know, other than JCB has actually seen one yet, though. (Whimper, whimper.)
Date: Tue, 26 Jul 88 10:41 PDT
From: IED0DXM%UCLAMVS.BITNET@MITVMA.MIT.EDU
Subject: Maybe
IED believes that there were probably three recordings of "Maybe" made: the first presumably by Kate alone, at which time the song was still called "Davy" (possibly in reference to Dave Gilmour, though no one has ever confirmed this); the second presumably "at Dave's house" during the same preliminary demo session that produced the recording of "Passing Through Air" that we all know; and the third for the "proper" and final three-track demo that actually succeeded in getting EMI interested.
It's also worth mentioning that Kate did not play the later, more fully produced version of "Maybe" on the air when she chose to play a snatch of the song once on UK radio. Instead she chose the second version recorded "when <she> was about fifteen," or at the time of the "Passing Through Air" session. Does all this seem logical to you, |>oug?
Incidentally, by now both |>oug and IED must know enough utterly useless Ktrivia to enter and win the quiz-competition at the next convention. Anyone want to consider forming an American quiz team? Anyone want to sponsor their trans-Atlantic crossing?
[Actually, |>oug was at the pinnacle of his Katrivia ability around the time of the '85 KonvenTion, and |>oug didn't win that year, so it is unlikely that he'd be able to win now. If only he'd been able to place the lyrics "Between you and me" faster... -- |>oug ]
-- Andrew Marvick
Date: Mon, 12 Sep 88 15:01 PDT
From: IED0DXM%OAC.UCLA.EDU@MITVMA.MIT.EDU
Subject: Maybe
> I recently heard a copy of a compilation tape of some of Kate's lesser known songs, thanks to IED. Anyway, among the treasures was "Maybe," from the first recording session on a sunny afternoon at Dave's. Anyone got a transcription of that song? I can only make out parts of it.
> -- Douglas Weiman
IED never could make out any more than a couple of words from that song. Anyone else have better results?
-- Andrew Marvick
Date: Thu, 12 Jan 89 11:26 PST
From: IED0DXM%OAC.UCLA.EDU@MITVMA.MIT.EDU
Subject: D E M O S (Craig's posting re Record Collector )
Many thanks to Craig for his posting on the new RC article. IED entertains little hope that his contributions to the research behind Jackson's article was acknowledged. (IED sent in a long--as if you couldn't have guessed it would be long!--letter of review of RC 's last big Kate collectibles article, and it was never published. One of the points covered in his letter was the distinction between the two German LPs.)
> The majority of it will be no surprise to the dedicated KollecTor (although I wonder if the prices have really gone up that much since I was last in the market some 3-4 months ago), but...
Not knowing the prices cited in the magazine, IED can't say, but he has seen the prices on some Kate items skyrocket beyond all reasonable belief during the past year or so. It all depends on who you're buying from, of course, but how about $750.00 for the pair of framed, autographed photos that went for a total of $60 when originally offered by Kate and EMI at the time of HoL 's initial release? Or $125.00 for the Canadian On Stage --in less than mint condition? Both these items were sold, too, at a Hollywood store.
> recordings, almost all of which are songs unavailable elsewhere. I can confirm that the record does exist, as I had a copy in my hands for about five seconds last year - long enough to say that it looked like an official release, but not to memorise the song titles!
The record does indeed exist. Peter FitzGerald-Morris confirmed this fact at the beginning of 1988 in a news flash in HG. He also listed the individual song titles (there are ten) in the article. Among them (from IED's poor memory) were: Davy (an early version of Maybe ); Cussi Cussi ; Atlantis ; and Sunsi.
IED agrees that the album (or future bootleg versions of it, even if only from tapes made from the original) could, for a time, anyway, bring many hundreds of dollars. In fact, that is probably what is actually happening right now. The only way the price could remain as high as that would be if the purveyors have been able to keep it out of bootleggers' hands--something that cannot continue for long. IED suspects that the collection will eventually turn up in a more affordable and more widely distributed bootleg form.
IED has had a recent lead on the existence of at least one collection of early Kate demos. A reliable (but unfortunately Kate-ignorant) source has recently heard extracts from a collection (in what format IED has not yet discovered) of recordings that Kate reportedly made at age 14. The age has not been confirmed by IED. Also, the songs were alleged to have been early versions of songs that later appeared on the first two albums, which would indicate that these are not the same demos that have been talked about for so long, but another set. Kate scholars will have already realized the holes in this story, since only a very few of the songs from TKI and Lionheart had already been composed in 1973. If all the songs on this latest collection are versions of TKI and Lionheart tracks, then it's likely that they belong to the group of demos that Kate made for EMI between 1975 and 1977.
IED has been given no further particulars on this product yet. The owner was said to have been undecided what he/she should do with the songs. Since the intermediary messenger from whom IED learned these tantalizing facts works for a somewhat sleazy record importer, it seems likely to IED that the owner of the recordings is considering the profitability of marketing the collection as a bootleg--a la the recent Beatles Back Track CD--especially as IED was told that the sound of these Kate demos was quite good.
IED has now told Love-Hounds absolutely everything that he knows about this subject. Craig and all other interested parties can rest assured that IED will be doing everything he possibly can to find out more about it in the future. If anything new comes up, Love-Hounds will be the first to know.
-- Andrew Marvick
Date: Tue, 04 Apr 89 01:15 PDT
From: IED0DXM%OAC.UCLA.EDU@mitvma.mit.edu
Subject: KT MEGA-NEWS
Nice to see that subject-heading again for a change, eh? Well, this news doesn't disappoint, either--it's a doozy!
KATE BUSH DEMOS HAVE COME OUT!!!
(Please be indulgent with IED today, his annoying verbosity seems to be on the upswing. It's just his way of dealing with his totally undeserved state of bliss at having NEW KATE BUSH SONGS rioting through his brain!!!)
That's right, folks, Kate Bush demo recordings are now available. Attentive Love-Hounds-readers will remember IED's notice a week or so back concerning a rumour about a female bootlegger in the Southern California area who had obtained tapes of twenty early Kate Bush demo recordings and had plans to release them as a series of seven-inch EPs, featuring three or four tracks on each single and spacing each release about a month apart.
This evening IED got his sweaty palms on the first in the series. And let him assure his gentle readership--this thing really is the Holy Grail at last!
The record is very nicely packaged in a white sleeve featuring one of the most beautiful of John Carder Bush's old Pre-Raphaelite-like close-up portrait photos of Kate, taken when she was about eight or ten years old. On the front are the words Kate Bush, The Cathy Demos, Volume One. On the back is a blow-up of Kate's eyes from the same photo, the catalogue number KB001, and the titles of four songs: on Side One, The Kick Inside and Hammer Horror, and on Side Two, A Rose Growing Old and Keeping Me Waiting. At the bottom of the back of the sleeve is the handwritten series number xxx/600. (IED's copy was number 269.) All the writing is in vaguely HoL -style black typeset.
The record itself is in a second, blank paper inner-sleeve. It is in red vinyl, and has black labels with white lettering in the same typeset. Titles are the same as on the outer sleeve. Finally, in the runout grooves there are "secret" messages which actually identify the bootleggers, at least by first name (this is only IED's theory). On Side One, the catalogue number (slightly different than on the sleeve) and the words: "She smokes the blackest hash". On Side Two, the words: "Fan Fan, Jackie and Cecile" and "Fan Fan, Cecile and Jackie". Since IED was told that the bootlegger was a woman, he assumes that one or more of these names refers to the manufacturers. He has no idea what the relevance of the "hash" remark is. Ideas, anyone?
Now to the musical content itself--in a word, amazing. It's fantastic! The first track is The Kick Inside, but the performance is an early demo version, featuring the voice of Kate accompanied only by her own piano-playing. The sound is extremely "matte", i.e. without any echo, ambience or reverb of any kind. This has the advantage of making the performance eminently clear. All four of the songs on the record have the same bare-bones sound quality, and all four are highly listenable. The transfer from the master-tapes must have been relatively well handled, because the tape-hiss-level and surface noise are quite acceptable.
In IED's opinion the four songs all come from the same demo collection. They do not come from the same collection which Peter FitzGerald-Morris discussed in an issue of Homeground last year, because the titles do not correspond with those he listed. IED believes that these recordings may date from about 1976 or '77. This is because Kate's high soprano technique is fully under her command, there is no hint of uncertainty with intonation, and a few of the little vocal embellishments of the melodies seem similar to some of those heard on the first two albums. Based on the only other pre-album recordings known to us already--the tracks Passing Through Air and Maybe, both of which stem from the first David Gilmour session--IED believes that the present four tracks 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).
However, IED is by no means certain of this dating, and indeed can readily see how another listener might make a strong case for placing the new group of recordings among the earliest collections (ca. 1971-73) which Kate made at home with very simple equipment and only piano accompaniment. Given the homey but high quality of the recorded sound and the evident care that was taken with its packaging and design, IED thinks it's likely that the reason there is no specific information about the recording dates is that the bootleggers themselves didn't really know. Anyway, suffice it to say that the recordings are early, and that they're beautiful.
Both The Kick Inside and Hammer Horror differ significantly from their later album versions. TKI veers from its album counterpart's lyrics several times, even referring explicitly to the song's characters' identification with Lizzy Wan--making it very clear that the actual story of TKI, though similar, involves quite different characters than Lizzy Wan 's. The piano arrangement--which Kate obviously plays in real time with her vocal--also differs in several places, and stands as further evidence of the subtle and unassuming, quietly sophisticated nature of her songwriting technique even at this very early stage. Naturally the performances are all highly professional.
Hammer Horror contrasts with its later album incarnation even more strikingly than The Kick Inside. This is partly because we know the song as a rocker of sorts, and in its solo-piano demo arrangement the expected visceral power of the song is, of necessity, suggested rather than hammered home (ha). On the other hand there are several marvellous structural touches, especially in the piano writing, that are absolutely brilliant, and the overall feeling of intimate confession in this demo version is, for this listener, a revelation: it completely transforms the long-familiar song into a fresh and touching new piece. The bridge section from the album version had evidently not yet been composed at the time of the demo's recording, for it is missing and the song is consequently much shorter. Also, many of the words are different than on the album version.
Then on Side Two there are two new songs. IED apologizes, but he couldn't possibly find the words to describe them to you yet.
What he can say is this: if you like Kate Bush,
Y O U M U S T G E T T H I S R E C O R D !
And if anyone is ever foolish enough to suggest that there is the slightest doubt that Kate is a full-fledged GENIUS--just play them Side Two of this record. That'll put an end to such nonsense--the same way it now stops IED's posting.
-- Andrew Marvick
"Feeling like a waltz..."
Date: Tue, 04 Apr 89 11:27 PDT
From: IED0DXM%OAC.UCLA.EDU@mitvma.mit.edu
Subject: A Rose Growing Old/Feeling Like a Waltz
On quite another matter, IED would like to amend his first announcement re the demo bootleg. One title on the cover and label of the record is quite wrong. It reads A Rose Growing Old. This is based solely on the bootleggers' mis-hearing of the lyrics. The actual lyrics prominently feature the phrase "And I'm feeling like a waltz, growing old." The correct title of the song is almost certainly Feeling Like a Waltz.
Date: Tue, 04 Apr 89 14:28 PDT
From: IED0DXM%OAC.UCLA.EDU@mitvma.mit.edu
Subject: Lyrics to demos
Here are the lyrics of Kate Bush's newly released demo recordings, as well as IED could make them out:
[see lyrics section]
Date: Wed, 05 Apr 89 13:45 PDT
From: IED0DXM%OAC.UCLA.EDU@mitvma.mit.edu
Subject: The Cathy Demos dilemma
IED has been deluged by requests for the Cathy Demos. He would genuinely like to accomodate everyone, because he understands how long and ardently Kate fans have been waiting to get hold of the mythical demo recordings. Alas! He has not seen another copy since buying the one he was offered (literally under the table) two days ago. He also paid a rather steep $20.00+tax for his 4-song seven-inch EP.
Now, here is the situation. IED is presently in deep trouble with his Columbia U. professors over the miserable rate of progress on his Ph.D. dissertation (guess what could possibly be distracting him from his work?). He absolutely has to force himself to toil at non-KT-related tasks during the next three months.
Also, much of what little time remains to him for the pursuit of Kate Bushological knowledge will unfortunately be dominated by obligations he foolishly assumed on behalf of a large group of non-computerized fans. The details of that burden need not be related here; suffice it to say that he has many hours of dull and unrewarding work to do.
This said, IED would still like to help the Love-Hounds out. He suggests that anyone seeking the Cathy Demos should first do everything he/she can to find them on his/her own. Check Goldmine magazine for mail-order offers (Music Machine may very well have copies, even if they don't advertise them--they have a large ad in every issue). Also check Goldmine 's schedule of record swapmeets for the date and exact location of the swapmeet nearest you, and when you get there, inquire of all dealers. Finally, try writing or telephoning Intergalactic Garage or Burning Airlines. And of course, check your own neighborhood import/alternative shop.
If none of these leads produces the Cathy Demos, then you may send IED a blank cassette, with a padded, stamped, self-addressed envelope. He will make a tape of the demos for you and send it back as soon as possible. His address is: Andrew Marvick, 10499 Wilkins Avenue, Los Angeles, CA 90024.
There is another reason for waiting a while, and exhausting every other avenue before sending a tape to IED. There are going to be more demos coming out soon. IED doesn't know exactly how many, but he was told that this particular group of bootleggers had a total of twenty tracks. That probably means four more EPs in the Cathy Demos series alone. In addition, the release of these tracks will put new pressure on the possessors of the so-called Early Years collection of ten demos (which do not, apparently, overlap with the Cathy Demos ) to get their booty on the market lest demand for them begin to decline.
And IED has heard of a third collection of demos, the fate of which the "owner" was undecided about, but which may also eventually show up in stores. You can be relatively sure that IED will get such demos if and when they appear, and you may want to wait until he can add them to a cassette.
Also, of course, the original records are a lot nicer to have than IED's home-baked dubs. And remember, this is the age of the bootleg CD--count on a CD, a la the Beatles Back-Track disks, to come out within the next three or four months.
If you are even remotely like IED, however, when it comes to the words "Kate Bush demos", most of what he has just said will have had no sobering effect on you. If you absolutely must hear Feeling Like a Waltz and Keeping Me Waiting asap, send along your cassette. Listening to these recordings is like eavesdropping on Kate's most intimate moments alone: the beauty of the experience makes the guilt worth living with.
-- Andy
And to think she composed and recorded over 200 songs during those early years...
Date: Tue, 11 Apr 89 23:23 PDT
From: IED0DXM%OAC.UCLA.EDU@mitvma.mit.edu
Subject: Demos distribution logistics
The VHS-HiFi idea would be great--if IED had access to such a machine for the purposes of making a high-quality "master". But he doesn't. He should add also, for the sake of the audiophilic philo-canines in our midst, that at this point IED's lone copy of the demos has been played on his none-too-great turntable (with its now-quite-old and never-was-too-hot-to-begin-with cartridge and tone-arm) about four hundred times. And anyway, the vinyl on which the music was pressed was highly bio-degradable in the first place. For this reason such considerations as HiFi vs. ordinary high-bias audio-tape seem a little pointless. Better to settle for the possible and timely than the improbable and time-delaying, IED thinks--at least at this premature stage in the demos-bootlegging game. After all, no self-respecting bootlegger who, having possession of twenty or so totally exclusive Kate Bush demos, failed to re-release the collection on CD at some point, would be a poor bootlegger indeed in this day and age.
-- Andrew Marvick
Date: Thu, 13 Apr 89 14:02 PDT
From: IED0DXM%OAC.UCLA.EDU@mitvma.mit.edu
Subject: Latest word on tape distribution projeKT
Here is the total contents of the 90-minute cassette, which has been recorded with Dolby B (Dolby C being still uncommon for many people, and thus oddly distorting to the sound for some listeners):
SIDE A:
1. Maybe (aka Davy ). A song which Kate played about one minute of in 1978, on a UK radio programme called Personal Call. The version she played this brief excerpt from comes from the same sessions in which Number 2 was recorded:
2. Passing Through Air. The second b-side track of the Army Dreamers single, this track, like Number 1, dates from the summer of 1973, and Dave Gilmour's home, where Gilmour and a couple of his friends met to record a number of Kate's songs. Maybe (but not PTA ) was later re-recorded more carefully for the TKI sessions, but neither version was ever officially released.
3. The Kick Inside. IED is not sure of the date of this demo (or of the date of Numbers, 4, 5 and 6, all of which are from the same collection of demos), but it couldn't have been recorded any earlier than 1972, nor later than 1976. IED leans toward 1973-5, but for no good reason.
4. Hammer Horror. The second of the four demo tracks.
5. Feeling Like a Waltz. The third of the four demo tracks. N.B.: The bootleggers mistitled this song Like A Rose Growing Old (the full, correct phrase being "like a waltz, growing old.") Of course, only Kate knows what the true titles of this song and of no. 6 are, since they have never been officially released.
6. Keeping Me Waiting. The fourth of the four demo tracks.
7. The "incidental music" from The Tour of Life. This consists of about eight little bits of low-fi sound, taken from the London Palladium bootleg recording of the complete Tour of Life concert programme. It includes three brief prose readings by John Carder Bush, an odd ethnic chant by the KT Bush Band, and several musical interludes, all of which were heard in between the songs.
8. Egypt (live). From the London Palladium bootleg. An early version of the song, with an arrangement very different from the LP version.
9. I Don't Remember. A live duet of Peter Gabriel's song, performed by Kate and Peter with the KT Bush Band, dating from the May 12, 1979 concert organized by Kate for the benefit of Bill Duffield, a lighting engineer who was killed prior to the opening of the Tour of Life. (Sound quality is typically miserable.)
10. Let It Be. From the Bill Duffield concert, with Kate, Gabriel and Steve Harley trading vocals.
11. The Empty Bullring. The b-side of the Breathing single.
12. Ran Tan Waltz. The b-side of the Babooshka single.
SIDE B:
13. December Will Be Magic Again. The a-side of a Christmas single, released in December 1980.
14. Warm and Soothing. The b-side of the Christmas single.
15. Lord of the Reedy River. The b-side of the Sat In Your Lap single. The song was originally written by Donovan.
16. Dreamtime. The b-side of the single The Dreaming. It is an instrumental mix of The Dreaming, otherwise the same as the album version except for an extended ending.
17. Ne T'enfuis pas. The b-side of the There Goes a Tenner single. This song by Kate, sung in French, was later slightly re-mixed (but not extended) for use as the a-side of a single for the French and Canadian markets. (Only the first of these mixes is included in this collection, however.)
18. Under the Ivy. The b-side of the Running Up That Hill single.
19. The Burning Bridge. The b-side of the Cloudbusting single.
20. My Lagan Love. A traditional melody with new lyrics by John Carder Bush, this was the second b-side of the Cloudbusting 12".
21. The Handsome Cabin Boy. Another traditional song, this time with traditional lyrics, this was the b-side of the Hounds of Love single.
22. Not This Time. The b-side of the single The Big Sky.
23. Be Kind to My Mistakes. The title-sequence song from the Nicholas Roeg film Castaway.
24. Another Day. A duet by Kate and Peter Gabriel of a Roy Harper song, performed on Kate's Christmas television special, December 1979.
Date: Fri, 14 Apr 89 12:38 PDT
From: IED0DXM%OAC.UCLA.EDU@mitvma.mit.edu
Subject: Cathy update as of April 14, 12:20 PM PST
AAARRRGGGHHH!!! Yikes, people, how many of you are there out there??
Date: Wed, 19 Apr 89 12:40 PDT
From: IED0DXM%OAC.UCLA.EDU@mitvma.mit.edu
Subject: The Cathy demos are out
All those who are unhappy about the delay and uncertainty surrounding their receipt of a copy of IED's tape, take note of Steve's announcement--the records are out there. IED has a friend in Long Beach, CA who found two copies near San Diego--for $10.95 each. Also, IED was recently told that the ones that he had received arrived at the retail outlet in their import packages, not as a domestic item. So IED withdraws his earlier claim that the Cathy Demos are definitely made in Southern California. At this point he has no idea where they are made or how they are being distributed. Perhaps Steve's friend who claims to know the people involved could be prevailed upon for further information?
-- Andrew Marvick
Date: Tue, 2 May 1989 22:08:50 PDT
From: John M. Relph <relph@presto.ig.com>
Subject: Cathy demos tape (obsKuriTies)
It seems that IED forgot to list a couple of things on the obsKuriTies tape. Here's a couple of additions:
On Side A, following "Keeping Me Waiting", there are two excerpts from two Beatles songs that we all know and love. IED: where did these excerpts come from?
On Side B, following "Ne T'enfuis Pas", is the song "Un Baiser D'Enfant", which IED says is
(1983) -- B-side to "Ne T'Enfuis Pas".
A French version of "The Infant Kiss". Also on the "Kate Bush" EP.
-- John
Date: Sat, 20 May 89 14:04 PDT
From: IED0DXM%OAC.UCLA.EDU@mitvma.mit.edu
Subject: The demos - the moral issue
>The real objection has nothing to do with money matters, it has to do with the fact that Kate doesn't want this stuff heard. She's embarassed by it, or whatever. This objection would hold just as well if the stuff were *given* away. Of course, historically, this argument seems to be given little respect. If Bach's secret diaries were to suddenly be found and they containing new snippits of music he never wanted anyone to hear, do you think they would go left unpublished. Of course not. Such is the price of being a star....
It does seem to be true (at least for the time being) that Kate doesn't want this stuff heard. It's also true that the privacy of dead artists like Bach is seldom respected. Kate is not a dead artist, however. She would be perfectly within her rights (and fully justified) if she decided to bring legal action against bootleggers of her material. The fact that the public routinely raids the privacy of public figures--even during their lifetime--doesn't make such actions somehow "right". Sure, it's a fact of life, but it's an ugly one, and not something which we should try to kid ourselves into thinking is perfectly OK. It's not. IED continues to buy things like The Cathy Demos because he's addicted to Kate Bush material, and his flimsy conscience is unable to put up much of a fight against that addiction. But he's at least willing to admit that it's a sleazy thing to do, and he doesn't try to delude himself by evoking hypothetical scenarios about Bach's lost letters.
Date: Mon, 29 May 89 11:00 PDT
From: IED0DXM%OAC.UCLA.EDU@mitvma.mit.edu
Subject: K T N E W S
I E D
H A S
T W E N T Y - T W O
K A T E B U S H D E M O S !
Actually, a friend has them, and IED is going to pick up the cassette tonight. He hasn't heard any of them yet, but they're described (on a homemade cassette from some hitherto-unknown dealer from Palm Springs) on the label as "demos, 1977, The Kick Inside )". They are all with Kate and her piano, and the sound is said to be quite good. They may be from the same group that included the four tracks IED earlier included on obsKuriTies (the so-called Cathy Demos ). IED will be able to tell Love-Hounds more tomorrow.
And rest assured, he will be making the demos available to interested Love-Hounds, although it may take a while to figure out an economical, non-profit and efficient means of copying and distribution, so please bear with him.
-- Andrew Marvick
Date: Mon, 29 May 89 23:17 PDT
From: IED0DXM%OAC.UCLA.EDU@mitvma.mit.edu
Subject: KT NEWS (update): The "complete" "Cathy
Demos"
Well, IED won't rave on about how incredibly great these recordings are, because he was shown (by the varied reactions which the first few "Cathy Demos" tapes got from different recipients) that people will have their own reactions--right or wrong, wise or foolish--to Kate's art, no matter how much time and care IED might spend trying to demonstrate the obvious truth (i.e., that Kate Bush is the one true living God, and that anyone who is less than absolutely convinced of the divine perfeKTion of her works is a bloody idiot).
Therefore, suffice it to say that IED has now finally obtained the full collection of twenty-two demo-recordings of songs by Kate Bush from which the EP known as The Cathy Demos Volume One was made. To be more precise, the tape which IED received today is actually a "through-the-air" recording (done by a fan with poor equipment and no patch-cords, just a built-in microphone) of a copy of the tape from which the manufacturers of The Cathy Demos culled the tracks which made up their "Volume One". What this means is that there are loud clicks (the dubber's "stop" switch being snapped on and off) between each song, audibly greater tape-hiss, a tinnier sound and a narrower high end--with consequently poorer clarity in the vocals (making the deciphering of the songs' lyrics more difficult than ever).
Despite all these drawbacks, what IED now has in his possession is an authentic, bona fide, genuine, real, honest-to-god twenty-two-song demo-tape by Kate Bush, dating from sometime between 1972 and 1977. (There isn't anything in the new collection that helps IED to fix the dating any better than before, unfortunately.)
IED will not divulge how much he paid for this tape--both because the friend from whom he bought it promised confidentiality in the matter to the shady, anonymous character who had sold it to him, and because IED has no confidence that the tape won't soon become widely available at much lower prices, which would make him look like a dope for having paid what he did for his copy. He will say that he paid a lot--a lot more than he can really afford, too. But fortunately, it was worth it.
All twenty-two songs are recorded very, very simply, and all feature Kate singing while simultaneously accompanying herself at the piano. A couple of the tracks have an extremely basic analog echo-delay added, which adds a certain sheen to Kate's vocals but also makes the words even less clear. IED is not yet certain whether that delay was applied by Kate at the time of recording, or whether one or another bootlegger/dubber added it at a later date.
It will take IED some time to get the lyrics to these songs even close to figured-out, so please don't expect a transcription for a while. Also, beware: we can expect much confusion within the Kate Bush fan community over the titling of these songs during the next year or so. Since Kate has never mentioned them anywhere in public, and since IED's tape did not come with any track-listings, he has no way of knowing what Kate's original titles for any of the new songs were. In several cases IED hasn't yet even developed a solid make-shift title, so difficult is it to make out the words as they are heard in the recording. With that said, here is the track-listing as IED now understands it, with titles that at least go some way toward identifying which song is which:
1. The Kick Inside. The same as the one on The Cathy Demos.
2. Hammer Horror. The same as the one on The Cathy Demos.
3. Feeling Like a Waltz. The same as the one on The Cathy Demos.
4. Keeping Me Waiting. The same as the one on The Cathy Demos.
5. Kashka From Baghdad. Early demo version.
6. Camilla. NEW SONG.
7. Oh To Be In Love. Early demo version.
8. Playing Canasta in Cold Rooms. NEW SONG.
9. Set in the Snow. NEW SONG.
10. Ferry Me Over ( the Music ). NEW SONG.
11. Lionhearts. NEW SONG. (N.B.: Not a demo of Oh England My Lionheart .)
12. Violin. Early demo version.
13. The Craft of Life. NEW SONG. (TOTALLY GENIUS new song. Sorry...)
14. Eddie the Queen. NEW SONG.
15. Something Like a Song. NEW SONG. (N.B.: This song was also recorded by Kate with Dave Gilmour and a small rock band in 1973, when Kate was 15--according to the track-listing for the Gilmour-demos collection which was briefly, allegedly marketed as an album called The Early Years .)
16. Frightened Eyes. NEW SONG. (Utterly incredibly great new song...)
17. Disbelieving Angel. NEW SONG. (N.B.: Also recorded with Gilmour in the '73 sessions. Incidentally, this song appears to be a very bitter rejection of traditional Christian faith--apparently by an angel, not necessarily by Kate herself, though the implication is hard to resist. Beats both "XTC"'s and "Midge Ure"'s Dear God's to hell.)
18. Nevertheless, You'll Do. NEW SONG.
19. Goodnight, Baby. NEW SONG. (N.B.: The title IED has chosen from among the lyrics sounds trite, but that's misleading--the song seems to be about a woman whose lover is in love with someone else, and who is talking about the other woman in his sleep. The full phrase is "Goodnight, baby--come on home." Extremely brilliant and neato song.)
20. You're Soft. NEW SONG. (Again, IED's title doesn't begin to indicate the intelligence of the song's lyrical ideas.)
21. ( I Don't See Why I Shouldn't ) Pick the Rare Flower. NEW SONG.
22. Davey. NEW SONG. (N.B.: This song, which was also recorded during the Gilmour sessions, is NOT the same as the song known as Maybe --another song recorded at the Gilmour sessions. Davey and Maybe (probably not that song's true title) are entirely different, so disregard any earlier remarks made by IED or Peter F.-M. or anyone else. It seems likely now that the song we call Maybe is really one of the other titles on the ephemeral album The Early Years, or perhaps even another Gilmour-session song not included on that album. IED has never had any real idea what the lyrics to Maybe are, or what its real title might be. At this point he is very, very confused about the whole thing, and is sick to think that his "corrections" of the Juby book on this point, which may be used in the paperback edition, are actually just as false as Juby's original mistakes.)
Anyway, as you can see, the collection includes a total of fifteen hitherto unknown, vintage Kate Bush songs that Love-Hounds are completely unfamiliar with, plus the four original Cathy Demos tracks, plus three early demo-versions of long-familiar songs. As for the fifteen "new" songs, IED cannot detect any inherent qualities in them which would explain why they were rejected for inclusion in Kate's early albums in favour of the ones that were selected: each one of these songs is filled with fresh and powerful musical ideas, each one has a wealth of remarkable lyrical ingredients, and each one is a completely polished composition, performed with sometimes astonishing strength and assurance. The well-known songs fit in well with but do not stand out from the others.
-- Andrew Marvick
A True Disciple of the One God Kate Bush
Date: Tue, 30 May 89 16:17 PDT
From: IED0DXM%OAC.UCLA.EDU@mitvma.mit.edu
Subject: Notes about the early demo recordings of Kate Bush
NOTES ABOUT THE EARLY DEMO RECORDINGS OF KATE BUSH
Very little concrete information about Kate's early demo recordings has ever been made available to fans. The number of songs recorded, their titles, even their rough dates, remain obscure. Kate has only released one demo recording officially, the song Passing Through Air ; and has played only a part of one other demo (a song known as Maybe ) on the radio. More will be said of these recordings below.
Kate first began writing simple songs from about 1969, when she was eleven years old. By 1971 she had written early versions of such songs as The Man With the Child in His Eyes and The Saxophone Song. In 1972 she recorded a large number of songs herself, at home, with only her own piano accompaniment. With the help of a family friend named Ricky Hopper Kate submitted copies of these recordings to several publishing and recording companies, without result. There were at least thirty songs on each of these tapes. It is not yet clear whether there were several different collections of thirty songs each, or whether copies were made of a single collection; but Kate has said that by the time she went in to record the first album, The Kick Inside, in 1977, she had accumulated finished versions of "about two hundred songs", so it is quite possible that those first demos of 1973 numbered more than thirty.
It is very difficult to know how fully developed Kate's art was by 1972. The earliest Kate Bush recording which fans can give a solid date to is Passing Through Air. This recording belongs to a second group of demos. Recorded in the summer of 1973, at which time Kate was fifteen years old or a bit younger, Passing Through Air was a result of her first recording session with a band.
This track was recorded at David Gilmour's home studio, under his direction, along with an unspecified number of other original Kate Bush compositions, including a song which Kate has never publicly given a title, but which fans have come to refer to as Maybe. <N.B.: Contrary to earlier assumptions by some fans, the song known as Maybe is not the same as the song called Davy (or Davey ).> A brief chronology of Kate's demos follows.
Following the rejection of Kate's earliest solo demo recordings, friend Ricky Hopper made contact with David Gilmour (of Pink Floyd), whom he had known during his student years at Cambridge University. Gilmour listened first to some of the solo recordings, then had Kate perform for him in person. To his great credit, he was impressed. He arranged a rehearsal with Kate at his own home. With drummer Peter Perrier, bassist Pat Martin (both members of the group Unicorn) and Gilmour himself on electric guitar, Kate, singing and playing piano, recorded simple demo recordings of several of her own songs (probably at least a dozen), among which were the versions of Passing Through Air and the so-called Maybe which fans know today. Kate has never released this song officially, but she did play an excerpt of it during an appearance on a British radio programme.
Twelve recordings from these early Gilmour sessions briefly appeared in the form of an album (possibly East or West German) known as Kate Bush: The Early Years. No-one has ever acknowledged actually seeing this album except Peter FitzGerald-Morris, who insists that he does not own a copy, but who did print the track-listing in his fanzine Homeground. It is important to remember that none of the titles in that track-listing has been authenticated by Kate herself. They are probably only make-shift titles suggested by what the producers of the album thought they heard in Kate's demo-vocals. In fact one title in the list is almost certainly incorrect. With that in mind, here are the titles from the Early Years collection:
1. Something Like a Song.
2. Need Your Loving. <Clearly this is simply Passing Through Air .>
3. Davy (or Davey ).
4. You Were the Star.
5. Gay Farewell.
6. Cussi Cussi.
7. Atlantis.
8. Sunsi.
9. Disbelieving Angel.
10. Go Now While You Can.
These first Gilmour-produced demo recordings also failed to interest the labels. In 1975, therefore, Gilmour arranged for and financed (again to his credit) another recording session, this time under fully professional conditions. Three songs were recorded: The Man With the Child in His Eyes, The Saxophone Song and a new version of the song known as Maybe. The first and second of these three recordings were later incorporated, almost without changes, into Kate's debut album for EMI, The Kick Inside. The third, a more polished recording of the song which Kate played part of on the radio programme called Personal Call, has never been heard by fans.
This new set of demos, together with Gilmour's personal backing, finally succeeded in obtaining a contract for Kate with EMI. In 1976 Kate bought a modest piano for 200 Pounds and, according to Peter, began only then to "screech into existence her unmistakable voice." Also according to Peter, Kate recorded two more "tapes" of demos during the year 1977. Peter has not explained or substantiated these statements, but if we assume that they are true, then it would seem that another set of twenty-two demo recordings, which has now begun to circulate among fans in at least two forms, dates from about 1976-1977.
These twenty-two tracks have only started to surface within the fan community since the spring of 1989. The first sign of their existence came in the form of a bootleg seven-inch EP (anonymously pressed and distributed) called Kate Bush: The Cathy Demos Volume One. This EP contains four tracks, the first four of a twenty-two-track collection of demos, all of which feature Kate singing alone and accompanying herself at the piano without backup. There is every indication that further EPs will appear throughout the next year or so, each of which may contain four or five excerpts from that twenty-two-song collection.
Meanwhile, a cassette, also entirely anonymous in origin, but sometimes called Fiddle (after the song Violin ), has begun to appear at U.S. record swapmeets as of the time of this writing (May 1989). This cassette contains a total of twenty-two tracks, the first four of which constitute the contents of the first Cathy Demos EP. (The sound of the cassette reproduction is noticeably inferior to that on the vinyl EP.)
If Peter's claims about Kate's development of her high range only after the beginning of 1976 are accurate, then we must conclude that this collection of twenty-two songs dates from the period 1976-1977. Certainly the sophistication of Kate's compositional style, lyrics and keyboard work support such a dating. On the other hand, if the collection dates from 1976 or 1977, then we must accept the notion that Kate was re-recording songs (such as Something Like a Song, Disbelieving Angel and Davy ) which she had already composed four or even five years earlier, and which she had recorded with Gilmour during her first sessions with a band in the summer of 1973. This is possible, of course, but it also suggests the possibility that the collection of twenty-two songs dates from considerably earlier than 1976. Whatever the correct date of the recordings, they are an absolutely invaluable document of Kate's early talent and astonishingly precocious mastery of the crafts of songwriting and performance.
With the exception of the five titles which have since been authenticated through their inclusion in Kate's albums, the titles on the following list of twenty-two songs are completely hypothetical, and in some cases may not even accurately reflect the songs's lyrical content. They are merely temporary and tentative titles which I use solely to facilitate identification of individual songs. In some cases I have not even been sure of the words I have chosen to represent the songs, because the sound quality of the recordings is not clear enough to enable me to decipher the lyrics properly. These disclaimers made, then, here are the twenty-two songs which make up, for want of a better group title, the Cathy Demos collection:
1. The Kick Inside.
2. Hammer Horror.
3. Feeling Like a Waltz. <Incorrectly identified as A Rose Growing Old on the Cathy Demos Volume One EP.>
4. Keeping Me Waiting.
5. Kashka From Baghdad.
6. Camilla.
7. Oh To Be In Love.
8. Playing Canasta in Cold Rooms.
9. Set in the Snow.
10. Ferry Me Over ( the Music ).
11. Lionhearts. <N.B.: This is not the same song as Oh England My Lionheart .>
12. Violin.
13. The Craft of Life.
14. Eddie the Queen. <Possibly a later version of the song identified as Gay Farewell in the track-listing for the now-lost Early Years album.>
15. Something Like a Song. <Apparently a solo-piano version of the song identified by the same title in the track-listing for the now-lost album The Early Years .>
16. Frightened Eyes.
17. Disbelieving Angel. <Apparently a solo-piano version of the song identified by the same title in the track-listing of the now-lost album The Early Years .>
18. Nevertheless, You'll Do.
19. Goodnight, Baby.
20. You're Soft.
21. ( I Don't Know Why I Shouldn't Pick ) The Rare Flower.
22. Davy. <Apparently a solo-piano version of the song identified by the same title in the track-listing for the now-lost album The Early Years. N.B.: This is not the same as the song known as Maybe .>
-- Andrew Marvick
Date: Thu, 01 Jun 89 15:45 PDT
From: IED0DXM%OAC.UCLA.EDU@mitvma.mit.edu
Subject: the early story
> By the way, I had heard from a dedicated Kate Bush fan, that, in order, a) she had demos, but noone would listen
As just explained in IED's lengthy rundown of the history of Kate's demos, this is more or less true. That is, she had demos (lots and lots) by age fourteen, and she submitted them (with Ricky Hopper's help) to several companies, and presumably at least some of them "listened" (because Peter has quoted some of the reactions: "boring", "morbid," and "depressing" were the words repeated). So they listened; they just didn't sign her.
> b) someone she knew knew Gilmour
That's Ricky Hopper, who had gone to college with Gilmour (and perhaps there was a connection with Kate's elder brother John Carder Bush, who had many Cambridge U. acquaintances, as well).
> c) Gilmour liked her stuff and helped her get rec. corp. attention
That's true. He went to considerable effort on Kate's behalf, and has never made a big deal about it. Very decent chap.
> d) first album
Huh? You mean did Gilmour help with The Kick Inside ? Well, he helped get Andrew Powell on the team (as producer), IED has read, and of course he helped on the production of the two tracks The Man With the Child in His Eyes and Saxophone Song, which had actually been two of the three pro-quality demos which got Kate her EMI contract in 1975.
> If this is all correct, then your posting implies over 4 years from beginning to end of this process. Is that true?
That is true. It is kind of amazing, and it's that time-gap that makes it so hard to choose a date for the 22 demos. We know that Passing Through Air and Maybe were recorded in 1973, when Kate was 15 or even a little younger. After that, there are TMWtCiHE and Sax Song, from the 1975 demo-session, which appear virtually unchanged on The Kick Inside. Aside from those tracks, there is no music by Kate which we can assign a definite date to until 1977, when most of The Kick Inside was recorded (over a six-week period).
Judging from the sound of Kate's voice, piano technique and songwriting abilities alone, IED believes that the 22 solo-piano demos represent the work of a considerably more "mature" artist than the 1973 demos of Maybe and Passing Through Air. Those two early recordings feature a relatively timid-voiced Kate as vocalist, and she doesn't soar into the high range that Peter (for his own reasons) has said came into being only in 1976. 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 22 solo-demos. For these reasons, it seems likely to IED that the 22 demo-tracks date from 1976, or even early 1977.
However, one could also argue that Kate might have been very nervous during those very early sessions with Gilmour, and that the group may have deliberately chosen the simplest tunes to rehearse together because they had never worked with Kate before. If that's true, it's possible that Kate's solo recordings of 1972 might actually already have been as assured and masterful as the 22 tracks we now have. Anything's possible.
-- Andrew Marvick
Date: Thu, 01 Jun 89 16:22 PDT
From: IED0DXM%OAC.UCLA.EDU@mitvma.mit.edu
Subject: Fiddle
First, a further word about the sound quality of IED's new tape of the demos. He was definitely exaggerating the flaws in the sound the other day. He has now had a chance to listen to the tape on a good system, and finds that it was almost certainly not done "through the air", but directly, through patch-cords. The better system also makes it clear that much of the noise of which IED complained actually is the noise made by Kate in between songs! Between all but one song on the tape there are a few seconds of dead air, and in that space one can hear not only some loud clicks (much like the sounds of switching on and off an old-fashioned tape-recorder), but even the sound of a page (of music, apparently) being turned.
Also, the echo-delay applied to two of the twenty-two songs is now clearly audible as part of the original recordings, not something added at a later stage. Therefore IED thinks that although the sound is by no means wonderful, nor even particularly clear, it is relatively unlikely that a significant improvement can be expected from the future volumes of the vinyl EPs, if and when they are ever released. And one should remember that the vinyl will bring its own problems to the final sound, too. IED is genuinely sorry to have to offer potentially unsatisfying sound-quality to his fellow fans. On the other hand he finds it a little weird that anyone could place such importance on sound-quality that he would rather risk never hearing this music at all than settle for a less-than-perfect copy. We're talking about KATE BUSH DEMOS, for petesake! Which brings us to the issue of distributing copies:
...
If you're not sure that these demos are going to be worth your hard-earned cash, IED will be supplying the lyrics to all twenty-two songs in future postings during the next couple of weeks (or at least all the lyrics he is able to decipher), and perhaps they will guide you in your dilemma. Meanwhile, you should be warned that these recordings are completely without guile or gimcrackery--that is, they hold no wonders of production, no seductive rhythm-tracks, no anything of that kind. Furthermore, dating as they do from Kate's pre- The Kick Inside period, all of the songs feature the high--sometimes piercingly high--vocal range which characterizes her work at that time. So be forewarned: what you will not get is a commercially viable programme. What you will get is five early demos of songs which eventually appeared on Kate's first three albums, plus seventeen songs that Kate has never released in any form anywhere ever (and fifteen of those weren't on obsKuriTies I either). And those songs are every bit as good as anything on The Kick Inside or Lionheart. In fact, the more familiar IED gets with these songs, the more masterful and heartbreakingly beautiful they seem to become. He feels as though he made fifteen lifelong friends this week.
So anyway, does IED's proposed plan seem fair to you people? If Love-Hounds have any suggestions or comments, please share them soon. Thanks.
-- Andrew Marvick
Date: Fri, 02 Jun 89 15:44 PDT
From: IED0DXM%OAC.UCLA.EDU@mitvma.mit.edu
Subject: Lyrics to seventeen unreleased Kate Bush songs (ca.
1972-1977)
The Lyrics of Kate Bush: Appendix
Seventeen unreleased songs (ca. 1972-1977)
These seventeen songs, which were part of a tape containing twenty-two songs (five of which were earlier versions of songs later included in Kate's first three albums), have never been released. Consequently I am not sure of the words. Nor have any of the titles which I have given the songs been confirmed by Kate. A more complete version of these lyrics will be included in the third edition of The Garden. In the meantime, IED is risking the ridicule which would be his due should the actual lyrics be discovered and his embarrassing mistakes exposed.
-- Andrew Marvick
[see lyrics section]
Davy
<N.B.: I am not even sure that this is the name Kate is uttering in the song, or even whether it is indeed a name. This title has been bandied about for years among fans, but no-one had ever reported hearing the song itself until the emergence of new bootlegged tapes in 1989. It does now seem clear, however, that the song which I am calling Davy is quite unrelated to the song known as Maybe, even though the two titles have sometimes been used to refer to the same song. There is no lyrical or musical connection between the two songs.>
Date: Mon, 05 Jun 89 01:21 PDT
From: IED0DXM%OAC.UCLA.EDU@mitvma.mit.edu
Subject: K T N E W S
P.P.S.: The latest swapmeet rumor is that volumes two and three of the Cathy Demos are already out, but no-one had seen them yet. Also, they were actually pressed up right here in SoCal, someplace in the Simi Valley. Also, the 22-song tape that IED got came indirectly from a collector in Florida. How he got it IED doesn't know.
Date: Tue, 06 Jun 89 01:12 PDT
From: IED0DXM%OAC.UCLA.EDU@mitvma.mit.edu
Subject: Kate-echism XXI.6.iv
[re Demos:]
You're welcome, Peter, and thank you. IED would like only one favor in return for his services, and that is that all Love-Hounds, and especially those who are ordering a copy of this tape, please take a moment to sit down in a quiet corner of a room at some point and contemplate the privilege that we have all been given to hear these recordings. Try to make an image in your minds of little Cathy Bush sitting alone--perhaps in the old barn out back with a few lazy rats milling around nearby--and writing the lines:
"Somebody I couldn't see
Tied me up and put me away
Here on the rocks..."
Then preserve that image deep in your souls for all eternity.
Date: Tue, 6 Jun 89 23:54:33 EDT
From: jsd%UMASS.BITNET@mitvma.mit.edu (Jonathan S. Drukman)
Subject: a bit of saKTrilege
> The sheets are soaked by your tiny fish.
This has got to be the most embarrassing lyric Kate has ever written. Far worse than "thighs like marshmallow" and it's also biologically incorrect.
Date: Wed, 07 Jun 89 13:43 PDT
From: IED0DXM%OAC.UCLA.EDU@mitvma.mit.edu
Subject: re: a bit of saKTrilege
>> The sheets are soaked by your tiny fish.
>This has got to be the most embarrassing lyric Kate has ever written.
Far worse than "thighs like marshmallow" and it's also biologically incorrect.
IED totally disagrees with you about this one, Jon. Not only does he see nothing "embarrassing" about those lines from The Craft of Life and In the Warm Room ), he actually considers those lines to be among Kate's most remarkable and powerful. Such explicit yet simultaneously sensitive references to sex are extremely uncommon in vocal music of any era, and they're even more uncommon in the work of female popular musicians. Though they may be excruciatingly direct, they are not the least bit trite. These lines may "embarrass" you, but IED thinks they're totally wonderful. Perhaps your dedication to the exigencies of the scientific process is what makes these images (which are obviously poetic and not subject to standards of "biological" correctness!) so unpalatable to you, Jon. If so, it's too bad.
-- Andrew Marvick
On to The Cathy Demos General Thoughts Pt. 2
written by Love-Hounds
compiled and edited
by
Wieland Willker
Sept 1995 - June 1996