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Post by Al Truest on Apr 11, 2008 0:13:54 GMT
Interesting points. I had always assumed HTBI would've been the single, but thought that, though it doesn't have a direct 'hook', something from A Sky of Honey would have been spectacular. Like 'Nocturn', or 'Somewhere In Between,' which I thought I had read actually did get some airplay anyway? Maybe it wouldn't have done well, but to tell the truth it doesn't seem Kate really cares about that... and they're the ones that get stuck in my head. Kate said that there would never be a single from 'Sky' because it was supposed to be listened to as one suite - uninterupted. Well I only have done that once. I would love to have 'Sunset' with 'SIB' on the flip side.
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Post by rosabelbelieve on Apr 11, 2008 1:08:10 GMT
Kate said that there would never be a single from 'Sky' because it was supposed to be listened to as one suite - uninterupted. Well I only have done that once. I would love to have 'Sunset' with 'SIB' on the flip side. Yes, I know, and I agree with her in theory, but they still are glorious songs in their own right. And to see one of them as I single would have been quite extraordinary. But Al- you've really only listened to A Sky of Honey all the way through uninterrupted once? It really does work better that way, just like TNW does. At least IMHO.
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Post by Al Truest on Apr 11, 2008 1:19:35 GMT
Kate said that there would never be a single from 'Sky' because it was supposed to be listened to as one suite - uninterupted. Well I only have done that once. I would love to have 'Sunset' with 'SIB' on the flip side. Yes, I know, and I agree with her in theory, but they still are glorious songs in their own right. And to see one of them as I single would have been quite extraordinary. But Al- you've really only listened to A Sky of Honey all the way through uninterrupted once? It really does work better that way, just like TNW does. At least IMHO. Yes. The first time - and I loved it. However, there are a couple of bits that I can't abide. So I skip them. e.g. - "It's raaain-ing - what has happened to my paain-ting" No thanks.
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Post by rosabelbelieve on Apr 11, 2008 1:22:59 GMT
What?! Well, I guess we're just one different wavelengths on this one. But I adore A Sky Of Honey, the whole thing- on most days it's my favorite of Kate's work.
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amy
Reaching Out
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Post by amy on Apr 11, 2008 18:29:11 GMT
Yes. The first time - and I loved it. However, there are a couple of bits that I can't abide. So I skip them. e.g. - "It's raaain-ing - what has happened to my paain-ting" No thanks. You dare to diss the genius of Rolf Harris? I have a picture somewhere of me standing on stage with Rolf after accepting a customer services award from him I'll have you know. (He's extremely small - I thought he was a giant, well over 6'?)
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Post by Al Truest on Apr 11, 2008 20:00:15 GMT
Yes. The first time - and I loved it. However, there are a couple of bits that I can't abide. So I skip them. e.g. - "It's raaain-ing - what has happened to my paain-ting" No thanks. You dare to diss the genius of Rolf Harris? No. Just his Forrest Gump delivery on this one song. Even Kate has a moment or two that I can not listen to. In fact some of my own poetry makes me cringe. But as artists we must press on. I shook hands with Tommy Lasorda once. BTW he is also very small - I made him wince with my manly grip. ;D
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Post by Barry SR Gowing on Apr 12, 2008 0:23:44 GMT
I have a picture somewhere of me standing on stage with Rolf after accepting a customer services award from him I'll have you know. (He's extremely small - I thought he was a giant, well over 6'?) Interesting. He claims to be 5'10" - which is the same height as David Bowie (or slightly shorter than I am) - but is he really much, much shorter? I haven't seen Rolf in person since I was a wee lad and of course everybody seems big when you're a wee lad! Please tell me that he's taller than Kate, at least! --Paul--
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amy
Reaching Out
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Post by amy on Apr 13, 2008 12:16:15 GMT
Al you must be colossal! Tommy Lasorda looks like he's going to break through the screen.
Barry; I'm 5'4" and though I was wearing heels he must only have been about 5'4" himself. I remember looking down on him. I was expecting a lumberjack! They must have had a very short cameraman for Animal Hospital.
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Post by Barry SR Gowing on Apr 13, 2008 13:35:33 GMT
Al you must be colossal! Tommy Lasorda looks like he's going to break through the screen. Barry; I'm 5'4" and though I was wearing heels he must only have been about 5'4" himself. I remember looking down on him. I was expecting a lumberjack! They must have had a very short cameraman for Animal Hospital. Amy, I've now managed to track down some pictures of Rolf. It wasn't easy because he generally isn't pictured with anybody I know. I did find one of Rolf and Kate that would indicate that he's not much taller than her, and then I found one of him with a town cryer. Now I didn't know how tall this town cryer was, but there's also a pic of the town cryer with Trinny and Susannah and they tower over him, so let's just say they'd tower over Rolf as well! I'd tower him even more! Fancy him telling people he's 5'10"!! It's funny though, celebrities often aren't anywhere near as tall as they seem. --Paul--
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Post by beekeeperal on Sept 16, 2008 21:11:04 GMT
I think Pi would have made a good single too ;-) or even an edited remixed version of Aerial - the final song?!
However, surely KOTM only did so well as a single because it was her first release in so long and that's what happens! The 2nd and 3rd single of similar aged/reclusive artists, however talented, rarely do well - so maybe it was a wise and cunning plan on her part - the 1 single album! - both doing well in the charts.
Also....it works well as a complete album - both sides - why interrupt that!?
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Post by tannis on Sept 16, 2008 23:50:53 GMT
Kate Bush took everybody by surprise, including herself and EMI, by breaking through immediately. She had insisted that "Wuthering Heights" be the first single, as much for business reasons as artistic ones. "I felt that to actually get your name anywhere, you've got to do something that is unusual, because there's so much good music around and it's all in a similar vein. It was, musically, for me, one of my strongest songs. It had the high pitch and it also had a very English story-line which everyone would know because it was a classic book." Melody Maker, "The Kick Outside", by Harry Doherty, June 3, 1978 gaffa.org/reaching/i78_mm2.htmlI suspect KOTM was a wise and cunning plan! After 12 years away, maybe KT felt she had to "return" on the back of Elvis, which everyone would know because...
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Post by tannis on Feb 6, 2010 5:27:22 GMT
Is EMI in imminent danger of collapse? Thursday 4th February 2010
Music giant EMI is on the verge of collapse after announcing pre-tax losses of £1.75 billion for the current year. The company was acquired by Terra Firma, the investment vehicle of Guy Hands, who is a well respected investor in the City. However, his acquisition of EMI has turned sour with the company on the verge of breaking banking covenants and in danger of being taken over by the banks.
Guy Hands has written to the company's 150 investors to clarify the situation and ask investors to inject an additional £120 million to save the group. There is a deadline of June by which time investors will need to have stumped up extra capital to secure the company's future. This is not the first time that EMI has required additional capital from investors after the £4.2 billion acquisition in 2007. Investors have so far injected a further £100 million although there is no doubt the company has been impacted by the move away from physical CDs towards music downloads.
When you also take into account £800 million in finance charges, £1 billion in write-offs, a £150 million loss on derivatives and a £300 million foreign exchange loss it is easy to see why the results are so dire.www.financialadvice.co.uk/news/5/investments/13650/Is-EMI-in-imminent-danger-of-collapse.html
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Post by Barry SR Gowing on Feb 7, 2010 15:48:07 GMT
Is EMI in imminent danger of collapse?Thursday 4th February 2010 Music giant EMI is on the verge of collapse after announcing pre-tax losses of £1.75 billion for the current year. Yes, EMI will be sold off (again) perhaps to one of the other large record companies; Universal, Sony or Warner Brothers. Under this scenario, the bits of the EMI catalogue that are still profitable will be merged with the other companies' existing lineup and the rest dumped. I can't see another company like Terra Firma coming to EMI's rescue again, so the only possibility is that the company will be merged with another record company. Clearly Kate won't be recording for EMI again. Any new released from her will be coming out via a different channel. --Paul--
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Post by tannis on Feb 7, 2010 17:27:36 GMT
Yes, EMI will be sold off (again) perhaps to one of the other large record companies; Universal, Sony or Warner Brothers. And if Warner get their Hands on EMI (see below) then the KaTe Bush songs and videos will probably face copyright barring on YouTube... Hit turns to miss as Hands sues Citigroup over EMI deal Terra Firma's boss says he bought the now struggling music company for a 'fraudulently inflated' £4.2bn. By Richard Northedge Sunday, 7 February 2010 The most played track on EMI's website last week was the American band Hockey's song, "Learn To Lose". Guy Hands, whose private-equity funds own the music company, has had to learn about losses quickly: EMI reported last week that it lost £1.7bn in the year to last March and may not survive unless investors subscribe more cash. Lord Birt, the former BBC director-general who chairs EMI's parent company, admitted: "There is no certainty that such funds will be available." If the peak of the dot-com boom was marked 10 years ago by AOL's disastrously overpriced US merger with Time Warner, then in Britain the summit of the stock market before the credit crunch was marked by Hands's takeover of EMI for £4.2bn in 2007. EMI had a long and prestigious pedigree in recorded music – founded in 1897, pioneering discs over cylinders and recruiting the stars of the day. Sir Edward Elgar was an overture for soprano Nellie Melba and tenor Enrico Caruso, while the early Elvis was followed by the Beatles, Pink Floyd, Queen, the Spice Girls, Robbie Williams and, latterly, Katy Perry. Yet revenues had been falling for five years when EMI and Time Warner eventually gave up a tortuous two-year takeover attempt in 2007 and Hands chose to gear up his Terra Firma funds for an audacious bid. But now, after writing off 90 per cent of his investment, he is claiming fraud by Citigroup, the Wall Street bank that advised EMI. Hands claims he was rushed into an auction by the bank without time for due diligence or the chance to shop around for finance. He thus had to agree a £2.7bn loan with the bank that was selling the music company, he says. A New York lawyer was given details of the claim on Thursday, with Hands saying: "Terra Firma has now discovered that in order to induce it to bid in a private-equity auction for EMI, Citigroup misrepresented fundamental facts about that auction, including misrepresenting that there was another bidder. Because of Citigroup's misrepresentations, Terra Firma paid a fraudulently inflated price." He cited a subsequent note to investors in Warner Music by Citigroup's broking analysts that referred to EMI's problems and claims this is part of a campaign to undermine the UK company, possibly prior to the bank foreclosing on the debt, and selling the business to Warner. The bank denies the claims and intends to defend the action, but such allegations make it harder for Hands to negotiate a refinancing of its debt that could make EMI viable again. Citigroup has agreed such deals with other troubled borrowers but shows no signs of reaching an agreement with this company. Its loans are not expensive – the interest rate is 2.75 per cent above Libor, so the cost has fallen since the takeover – but the covenants are tested every three months to ensure the collateral covers the sum due, even though repayment is not until 2015. But with recession and the adverse consumer trend in recorded music, EMI's liabilities exceed the value of its assets. Terra Firma had to inject an extra £16m capital, a year after completing the purchase, but three months later it put in another £13m, then a further £39m at the next test, and £37m three months after that. EMI scraped through December's test but directors do not think it will pass next month's assessment and are now asking investors to subscribe another £120m. Those investors are spread around the world, but the largest number, providing about a quarter of the finance, are in the US, and include the pension funds of New York's fire department, police and teachers. With Lord Birt warning that yet more cash may be needed to satisfy Citigroup next year, some investors may decide to stop throwing good money after bad. As if it didn't have enough problems, EMI also has a hole in its own pension fund of up to £200m that the regulator wants filled. Lord Birt admits: "These circumstances represent a material uncertainty that may cast significant doubt on the ability of the group to continue as a going concern." Yet if it was not laden with debt, there is still a viable business within EMI despite its trading difficulties. Its operating profit – excluding losses on derivatives and currencies and goodwill write-downs – was £298m in the year to last March, according to figures filed last week. That covers Citigroup's £250m interest bill. Besides artists such as Lily Allen and Coldplay, EMI makes almost half its money from music publishing. But the Rolling Stones and Radiohead left the label after Hands started cutting costs, and he must be careful not to lose further talent. Hands doesn't come from a music background: He was a bond dealer at Goldman Sachs in London until he joined Nomura in 1994 to run its principal finance group; he then took Terra Firma independent in 2002, bringing in outside investors. His deals include buying and selling motorway service stations, railway wagons, pub portfolios, Odeon cinemas and former Army housing. As he looked for ever-larger deals his name was associated with many public companies from Boots to Glaxo but he gained a reputation for losing interest as prices rose. He was likened to a bidder at a charity auction who makes the initial offer but drops out before the hammer falls. Many were thus surprised when he won EMI. But the deal was completed in August 2007, just as the credit crunch struck. So even though Citigroup secured a sale – and £93m of fees, according to Hands – it was too late to syndicate the loan to other investors, leaving the bank with the whole £2.7bn. The debt would have junk-bond status if it had a credit rating. A court date for the fraud claims has been set for October but Citigroup is arguing to have the case brought to London. Hands opposes such a move because it could land him with a large tax bill. Terra Firma is based in Guernsey, where he lives, and he told the court last week of its care in ensuring corporate decisions are made in the tax haven, rather than in the UK, to avoid Inland Revenue probing. Preparing for a London court case and attending the hearings would make running his business difficult, he argued. His lawyer explains: "Hands made a personal decision to change his personal tax status from UK residence to Guernsey residence. Litigating this case in the UK would be inconvenient to him from a personal tax perspective." Hands admits his own interest in music doesn't extend far beyond karaoke, but EMI's site will allow him to download The Bad Bankers' track "We Fucked You Up" – or The Jolly Bankers' "Tax Return". Either way, he should do it before Citigroup seizes control of the company. The Independentwww.independent.co.uk/news/business/analysis-and-features/hit-turns-to-miss-as-hands-sues-citigroup-over-emi-deal-1891476.html
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Post by Barry SR Gowing on Feb 16, 2010 16:03:48 GMT
And so it begins... EMI to sell historic Abbey Road Studios: www.ft.com/cms/s/0/889e63f0-1a70-11df-a2e3-00144feab49a.html"Abbey Road, the London recording studios immortalised by the Beatles album of the same name, has been put on the market by EMI as the music group looks to extricate itself from the debt burden of Terra Firma’s 2007 leveraged buy-out. EMI would not comment but five people familiar with the situation told the Financial Times it had been courting bidders for the property in St John’s Wood. A sale could raise tens of millions of pounds." In terms of Kate, if EMI is sold off to Warner Bros (or whoever) I'm not sure that the new company would get all of Kate's albums. EMI may just have an agreement to put out Kate's later albums ... they may not actually own all of them. Kate owns her own recording studio and has done so since the time of "Hounds of Love". The main reason for people having record contracts back in those days was because the cost of recording music was very expensive. The record company paid for the cost of the recordings (which they then owned) and the artist was paid a percentage of the album's retail price once the record company had made its money back. An album that sold poorly would return no money to the artist because it would never make a profit. Since Kate owns her own studio, her costs have always been much less. Yes, she has to pay the musicians for their time, but if she covers all the costs herself then she wouldn't require a record contract. My understanding is that she doesn't in fact have a contract with EMI at this time. I notice, looking at "The Line, The Cross and the Curve", that the copyright notice for the film indicates that the copyright is owned by Novercia (which is Kate's company) not EMI. Although I also notice that there is an EMI copyright on "The Hair of the Hound", so clearly EMI owns those (older) videos. In any case if EMI goes bust then the opportunity might even exist for Kate to buy back all her music and videos. Some artists have already done so in the past, for example David Bowie owns almost all of his stuff now.
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