The Line, The Cross & The Curve - USA Promo Counter Display

Columbia Records, double-ended, full colour promotional counter display which would have been used in U.S. record shops to promote the VHS release of The Line, The Cross & The Curve.

It measures 16" in length with a width of 5.5". It folds into a triangular shape and is held together by a sticky strip on the back. Mine has never been folded or stuck together, and I'm not about to do that. However, if this had been folded, it would have a resting height of nearly 7". It's also made from a thinner type of card stock, so it wouldn't take much to destroy this thing.

I've seen this one turn up a few times here and there, so it's still out there. Typically you will find these in a used or beat up condition when they do turn up.

Eat The Music - UK 1 Track Promo CD Single

One track promo CD single that was issued in the UK. This one is pretty rare and it's estimated that only 50 copies were pressed. This one doesn't come with any sort of a insert or picture pocket sleeve - what you see is all you get.

What should have been and what there actually is:

The history behind the Eat The Music single is pretty fascinating. It was supposed to be the first single from The Red Shoes, but as it failed to gain any radio interest it was immediately scrapped and replaced with Rubberband Girl.

So, what should have been???

As far as the UK is concerned there should have been three releases: a 7" picture sleeve release, a 12" picture disc release and a CD single picture disc release. A cassette single release has been speculated about through the years, but there's never been any evidence that this was ever planned. As for the 12" picture disc, the final artwork was completed for this and even existed on paper, but that's as far as it went before the single was scrapped indefinitely.

What there actually is?

17 copies of the fully finished withdrawn 7" single got out of the pressing plant. This includes the full colour picture sleeve and picture labels on the single. It also has its original catalogue number, which was eventually reused for Rubberband Girl. And no, I don't have a copy myself. I did hold one in my hands many years ago, but I passed on buying it at the time as I thought the other person wanted too much money for it... little did I know. You literally have to sell your children now to afford this one.

5 copies of a white label test pressing also exists. It does include Big Stripey Lie as the B-side and also has the original catalogue number engraved in the run off area. Some consider this to be more rare than the picture sleeve release.

50 copies of a promo CD single, as I mentioned earlier, and there were also promo CD single releases in Germany and Mexico. Oddly enough, the Mexico promo was actually made in Canada. Details on the number of promos produced for Germany and Mexico are sketchy, but most likely these are also very limited quantities.

Side Rant: I just wanted to mention that this scan may not be the absolute best quality. I actually spent the better part of a full hour trying to get a half decent scan of it. If that sounds a bit nuts to you, it pretty much is. The problem is that these black coated CDs with the mirror-like letters don't seem to scan very well at all - or even photograph well for that matter. Light clearly interferes and causes distortions, and if you've seen my UK CD singles for the Sensual World, then you know what I'm talking about. But I did the best I could with this one.

The Kick Inside - USA LP First Issue

First issue release For The Kick Inside in the USA. The interesting thing about this one is that it shared the same cover and catalogue number as the Canadian release. It even had the same two tone green Harvest logo record labels. One of the few ways of telling this one apart from the Canadian release is simply by looking at the manufacturing information on the back of the record jacket and vinyl record labels and seeing where they were made.

This release has also been reissued several times, and later pressings will have a different typeset to this one, a different printing arrangement and even dark green/bluish and yellow Harvest logo labels.

The Kick Inside - Japan First Issue Cassette

First issue Japanese cassette release for The Kick Inside, which uses the same cover photo as the first issue Japanese LP. Just like with many of the early 7" and LP releases, Japanese cassettes also had some really fantastic eye catching graphics.

The cassette case is a typical clear one, with MADE IN JAPAN molded into the front of the case. It might be a little difficult to see, but it's in the lower right-hand corner area.

The outer insert has some nice full colour photos of Kate by photographer Gered Mankowitz, with a combination of Japanese/English text throughout. The inner portion of the insert is fairly plain and boring in comparison. I believe those are music magazines being advertised on the left-hand side.

The cassette shell is a sort of beige in colour, but for these scans I decided to focus in on the label portion, mainly because they're sticker labels and not printed directly onto the cassette shell like you typically see with other releases. Because of this the Japanese letters are a bit on the smaller side, and I thought this would help to enlarge them a bit more.

For the second side I left a bit of the cassette edge in so that you can see JAPAN is molded directly into the shell - this stamp applies to both sides.

The other nice thing about this one is that it came with a Japanese/English text lyric sheet. It's a really long strip of folded paper, which I had to scan and chop into sections - otherwise you wouldn't be able to read any of it. That was always one of the nice things about Japanese releases - even though lyric sheets weren't always supplied in different formats in other countries, you could always count on getting them with any Japanese release.

Finding Japanese cassettes can be kind of on the scarce side these days. Not impossible - just more scarce. They're also not cheap.

December Will Be Magic Again - Holland 7" Single

Holland 7" single release of December Will Be Magic Again. And no, my copy isn't in very good shape at all. It looks even more horrendous in person than it does in my scans.

The front of the picture sleeve reuses the same artwork found on the UK release, with the addition of the catalogue number in the bottom right-hand corner. The back of the sleeve is a little more interesting. Not only does it reuse the UK version of the artwork, but it's also the UK reissue version of the sleeve, which differs slightly from the original one with some of the credits. There's also some simple manufacturing info added.

The record is probably the most interesting part - no picture labels, but rather EMI labels instead. Most likely it was the only reason why I picked it up at the time.

Symphony In Blue - Japan 7" Single

This is the standard Japanese 7" release for Symphony in Blue - not to be confused with the white label pressing which you can see right here. Commonly referred to as the "Dolphin Sleeve", this is one of the more rarer releases to come by... and also quite expensive these days.

Apart from the record labels, which are considerably different from each other, there aren't any other substantial differences between the standard and white label pressings. The photo insert is virtually identical on both releases - front to back. The standard release vinyl labels were similar to the UK ones at the time.

This one also comes in a green Toshiba EMI company sleeve.

 

Misty - Japan 1 Track Promo CD Single

A friend found this one quite some time ago and sent it to me.

Supposedly this is a one track Japanese promo CD single for Misty, which was released in very limited quantities. I say supposedly because there's every chance that this is not a legitimate release.

I found absolutely no online information about this one - not that I really looked all that hard to start with. Since I gave up hardcore collecting about 16 years ago, I have no real reason to do any in depth research on more current things. What I can tell you is that over the past several years or so, there has been an influx in producing fake things. Case in point, all those Japaneses CD box set holders you see out there featuring artwork from Kate's different albums and the 12" release of Sunset (both versions). So it happens.

If this one is a legitimate promo it's not a very appealing one. It doesn't come with any sort of picture pocket sleeve, case or insert - just the CD in a clear plastic sleeve. For a Japanese promo I find that a little odd to start with.

Rocket Man - UK 7" DJ Advance Copy

UK 1 sided advance 7" promotional copy given out to radio stations prior to the release of the single. The A side has a full paper label clearly listing it as a promo copy. I may have gone a little overboard with the resolution on this one since I couldn't get it to scan very well for some odd reason.

The B side plays nothing and has a plain white label on it. Often times you'll find this one either in a plain black or plain white paper sleeve - it makes no difference. It still turns up for a pretty decent price.

Kate: Inside The Rainbow

 

I've been meaning to get around to this one for quite some time now, especially as I've had the book since it was first released. But I also wanted to properly absorb the book before I attempted to make any comment on it. It was also tricky attempting to take some half decent shots of some pages. It's a very heavy book to start with, and scanning this in without destroying it completely would literally be impossible. Besides, I wouldn't want to ruin the surprises within this book for anyone that doesn't own it yet.

Just to give you a better idea of how thick it is.

In the beginning I started out with ordering the limited edition version, but halfway through the order I stopped and cancelled it completely. I couldn't justify spending £120 on a book that was exactly the same as the standard edition. The extras that came with the limited edition version didn't warrant that excessive amount in my opinion. This was my personal choice and I have no regrets about it. I'm sure if anyone is at all curious about the extra goodies of the limited edition version there are most likely several people out there who have posted photos of these things for you to look at.

Kate breaking into the BBC after hours and stealing the Doctor Who story "The Underwater Menace".

With that being said, this is a stunningly gorgeous book that's absolutely stuffed with hundreds of unseen photographs - so if you don't have a copy yet, I strongly suggest you get out there and get yourself one. The photographs are arranged in a variety of different ways and sizes - full page, half page, medium sized, quarter sized and super small. If I do have one small gripe about the book it's that some of the more interesting photos have been presented in a much smaller size. The bat photos from the Never For Ever sessions are a good example of what I'm referring to. Only two of those photos are printed in this book, and when you compare them to the overall size of the page, you can really see how small they are. I personally found that slightly disappointing. However, with the vast amount of photographic material presented in this book, I do realize having full sized photos on each page would have been next to impossible, considering that the book stands at 283 pages as it is - so that little disappointment is my own and shouldn't be a reflection of the book itself. It is stunning and definitely worth having.

Even though this is primarily a photo book, there are some wonderfully written in depth sections as well that are really essay-like in their style. The text is candid and insightful as we get a glimpse into the world of Kate Bush. See what I did there? Never mind! Whether you like to read or not, you'll definitely appreciate reading John's memories regarding various photo shoots, etc. I won't get into much detail about the text as this could easily turn into a long-winded rant from me. It's pretty interesting stuff though, so you won't be disappointed.

For those who haven't got the book yet - Although the price on the back of the standard edition states £40, you can actually buy it via Amazon UK for £26. So if you live internationally, this will be a huge price saver for you. So whether you collect Kate related books or not, this one is definitely worth picking up.

Highly recommended.