FEATURE:
Kate Bush in June 1977
A Beautiful Calm Before a Debut Album Storm
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I am going to…
IN THIS PHOTO: Kate Bush in 1977/PHOTO CREDIT: John Carder Bush
put out a series of features marking Kate Bush’s debut album, The Kick Inside, turning forty-five through the next couple of months. Although it was released in February 1978, the recording of its was completed in August 1977 (it began in around July of that year). I will also put together proper anniversary features early next year. As it is June 2022, I want to look back forty-five years for this one feature – and I will steer away from this time period for future Kate Bush features. With buzz around her still because of the big role Running Up That Hill (A Deal with God) has played in Stranger Things – Bush herself has been working with the show and seems to be fully onboard with the track being used so heavily -, it is good to sort of take things back to a simpler, quieter time. It is great that, as we speak, Kate Bush’s music is being talked about so fervently. New fans are ensuring that one of her best songs is storming the download charts and putting her firmly in the spotlight! I wonder what will happen after Stranger Things’ new season ends and there is a fading away of attention on Bush’s musical inclusion on the series. There are anniversary celebrations and other stuff that will happen later in the year. I predict that the spotlighting of her most famous song will compel Bush to release new music – whether that is this year or next. I want to think about June 1977. Bush was not going fresh into The Kick Inside in July/August. A couple of the songs from the album had already been recorded in 1975 (they were The Man with the Child in His Eyes and The Saxophone Song).
A lot of June was dedicated to gigs with the KT Bush Band. Between March and June, the band (comprising Kate Bush, Del Palmer, Vic King and Brian Bath) played about twenty gigs around and near London. Playing their final gig at The White Elephant Club in Mayfair as an EMI showcase, it was decided that Bush was ready to head into the studio. I guess that is the main focus of June 1977. It is amazing to think that, twenty-five years ago, Bush was playing small pubs to a crowd who had no idea what was about to happen! Playing songs that would appear on The Kick Inside – including James and the Cold Gun and Oh to Be in Love -, this was invaluable live experience and exposure for Kate Bush. I did not only want to mention again the performances of the KT Bush Band. In a previous fracture where I mentioned how June 1977 was the final month the KT Bush Band performed, I was not aware of the later gigs. More than anything, June 1977 marked a time when this young woman (who was only eighteen) was embarking on an unpredictable career. Whilst some of her same-aged friends might have been heading to university, she was in the earliest stages of her career. Of course, she already had a record deal, and we knew that a debut album was coming. Bush was still finalising and thinking about the songs that would appear on The Kick Inside. Before she could head to AIR Studios for several weeks or exciting recording and taking those big steps, she would have been unaware of how her career would take off.
The dates vary, but Bush was called to come to the studio in August 1977 (though some say July). In March of 1977, she wrote Wuthering Heights (a late addition to the album, as the other songs were more or less written before that). By September of 1977, she was battling EMI to have that song released as the first single from the album (they favoured the more conventional James and the Cold Gun). In the space of a couple of months, Kate Bush was thrust into the thick of things! Therefore, June 1977 feels like one of the most important months in Kate Bush’s career. She was excited about performing these small gigs, and I wonder what life was like at her family home. At East Wickham Farm, I get the sense her parents would have been a bit worried but also very proud. Seeing their daughter embark on a music career would have stirred a mixture of emotions. There would have been discussions about what she has been up to and gigs ahead. Songs coming together and plans for her debut album. Maybe concern that, in spite of her undeniable talent, things might not explode straight away or work out long-term. I am fascinating getting a sense of what things were like with the KT Bush Band, her thinking about making her album, EMI watching their protegee blossoming, her day-to-day life, and what she did when unwinding.
1978 was a manic year for promotion, so 1977 seems like a time more reserved to creating music and preparing the groundwork. June and July 1977 was a time of gaining live experience, working on album songs (maybe honing them a little) and thinking about the future. I know that Bush was excited about her debut album and doing something she had dreamt about since she was a child. Thinking about Running Up That Hill (A Deal with God) and what her career was like in 1985 – busy; successful; at a peak – made me want to glance back forty-five years to 1977. It was only a short time before Bush and the band started recording The Kick Inside with producer Andrew Powell. I am going to do a short series of features around her debut in July and August. There is something almost romantic and calm about June 1977 in Kate Bush’s world. Some gigs here and there, but time for her to concentrate on her album and not being too overwhelmed. That would all change soon enough! Forty-five years ago, the world was witnessing…
A star being born.