IED:
- The "Christmas" TV special, U.K. TV, aired December 28,
1979. This forty-five-minute television programme is the only longform
televised performance Kate has given to date. It is by any standard a great
success. Not one spoken word is heard--only song and dance. Kate's only
guest (aside from the KT Bush Band and her usual dance partners) is Peter
Gabriel.
- Intro music
- A simple melodic phrase, without lyrics, sung by Kate while a
glittery hand creates the title on the screen.
- Violin
- Pre-LP mix used for lip-synch, without some of the sound effects
heard on the final version, other-wise identical. The choreography is
essentially the same as that used for the Tour of Life shows.
- Satie's Gymnopedie No. 1
- Played by the KT Bush Band as background for the two giant violins
(Paddy and his friend Andrew Bryant), who mime an introduction for the next
song:
- Symphony in Blue
- Sung live with the KT Bush Band. Kate sings and accompanies herself
at the piano.
- Them Heavy People
- Lip-synched to a live recording.
- A cappella introduction for Peter Gabriel (Peter the Angel Gabriel.)
- This is sung by Kate, Paddy and one of Kate's female vocal
supporters from the Tour of Life, all of whom are dressed as choristers. The
brief introduction segues directly into Peter Gabriel's performance of his
song Here Comes the Flood, which he sings at an electric piano.
- Ran Tan Waltz (known at this time as The Ran Tan)
- Lip-synch to the same mix later released on vinyl. This is, in my
opinion, one of Kate's three finest stage performances. An absolutely
brilliant piece of modern-dance choreography, packed with subtle narrative
details stunningly and beguilingly executed by Kate, Stewart Avon-Arnold
and Gary Hurst.
- December Will Be Magic Again
- An early version, sung by Kate at the piano, with Kevin McAlea
behind her adding keyboard embellishments on an electric piano.
- The Wedding List
- A video which switches to an in-studio ("live") lip-synch
toward the end. The video sections incorporate imagery based on old
westerns as well as the Truffaut film The Bride Wore Black. The stage
section of the performance is very similar to the live choreography for
James and the Cold Gun, in which Kate's character goes on the rampage with
a rifle.
- Another Day
- Another video mixed with in-studio stage performance. The music was
all pre-recorded, then acted out by Gabriel and Kate, who sit stonily at a
tea-table. A second set of pre-filmed images of the characters is seen in a
picture-frame behind them.
- Egypt
- A video performance with Kate's flighty, superficial protagonist
standing in romantic, exotic clothing in front of a screen on which are
projected a series of gritty newsreel shots of the reality of modern-day
Egypt. Toward the end two veiled men, referred to by Peter F.-M. as "Phantom
Phlingers" (a TisWas surround) and threaten Kate's character.
- The Man With the Child in His Eyes
- Again, a combination of "live" performance (Kate singing
at the piano) and pre-recorded video (a small inset of Kate cross-legged,
performing the choreography for the song, and placed so as to appear like a
smaller-than-life figure sitting on top of the piano). At the end the small
figure gets up and hurries to another stage where she looks around
trepidatiously (watching out for video pixies!) and jumps into a garbage
can--which serves as a segue to:
- Don't Push Your Foot on the Heart Brake
- A live stage performance, done to a pre-recorded (?) audio performance
of the song; finally fading to end titles, which roll to the accompaniment
of the LP version of Wuthering Heights.
|
