phoenix - the history of the demos

The early years

It is not clear from what session the songs on this lost album come from. The description in Homeground (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 = Passing through air).

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

Homeground 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.

Homeground 29 (Christmas 1987), p. 6: "Kate Bush - The Early Years - West Germany - 1986"

Ah yes, the almost semi-mythical disc. Homeground 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

The fourth recordings: (Three 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 The man with the child in his eyes, 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.

Kate: "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.