FEATURE:
And Spend My Evenings with it Like a Friend
IN THIS PHOTO: Kate Bush in 1989/PHOTO CREDIT: John Carder Bush
Kate Bush: A.I., Outtakes and Fresh Potential in 2025
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MY penultimate…
Kate Bush feature of 2024 looks to the future. I am going to be spending time discussing 1978, The Kick Inside and that period. For now, I want to assort a few different topics. That clash and contrast between the past and present. Recently, Kate Bush joined voices from artists calling for protection of their work from A.I. The Guardian reported on this:
“Kate Bush has called on ministers to protect artists from AI using their copyrighted works amid growing concerns from high-profile creatives and ongoing political uncertainty over how to handle the issue.
The reclusive singer-songwriter has joined the actors Julianne Moore, Kevin Bacon, Rosario Dawson, Stephen Fry and Hugh Bonneville in signing a petition, now backed by over 36,000 creatives, which states the “unlicensed use of creative works for training generative AI is a major, unjust threat to the livelihoods of the people behind those works, and must not be permitted”.
Her intervention emerged after Sir Paul McCartney became the latest star to back calls for laws to stop mass copyright theft by generative AI companies, warning the technology “could just take over”.
Bush, who shot to fame with Wuthering Heights in 1978 but whose last album was released in 2011, gave a rare interview this year in which she said she was “very keen” to make a new album, saying: “I’ve got lots of ideas … it’s been a long time.”
The 66-year-old told the BBC: “I’m really looking forward to getting back into that creative space … Particularly [in] the last year, I’ve felt really ready to start doing something new.”
Amid growing hunger from tech companies for content on which to train their artificial intelligence algorithms, Peter Kyle, the secretary of state for science and technology, was expected to launch a consultation last month on a system that would require copyright holders to opt out of having their work mined to train AI algorithms. Kyle believes AI could be an engine of growth in the UK economy”.
The longer we await new music from Kate Bush, the greater the fear that someone will use A.I. (Artificial Intelligence) and try to replicate her work. They can write a Kate Bush song without her performing it. New words but manipulate her vocals. It is scary that we are in a position where artists can be exploited by A.I. No true Kate Bush fan would do that. However, as we have seen bands like Oasis and The Beatles subjected to A.I. replications of their music, it would be horrible to hear something like this happen to Kate Bush! She has always been at the forefront of technology but, as an artist and person, she favours natural sound. Analogue and vinyl. Rather than streaming and anything that is not warm and rich. A.I. really does seem to be the opposite of all of that. I really do hope that we never get a ‘new’ Kate Bush song from someone using A.I. I guess it puts a certain pressure on her to get ahead of this and release her own work.
That is not to say Kate Bush will never use A.I. herself. In terms of videos and helping to create visuals. It would never be part of recordings, but I wonder whether she will utilise it for any music videos. The thought does occur about artists like Kate Bush being subjected to the negative aspect of A.I. Not only when it comes to creating new recordings using her voice. Or her original music being used and manipulated by A.I. It is not only to protect Kate Bush. Other people involved in the recordings. I have already written about 2025 and what might be in store. I will write another feature as to what a possible eleventh studio album might sound like. Themes explored and what direction Kate Bush will head in. It does seem like we have seen the final push of archiving. Before talking about the possible end of retrospection and reissuing. I do wonder about 2025 and what will arrive. I have recently re-pitched the idea of Hounds of Love’s The Ninth Wave being adapted for the screen. Something Kate Bush wanted to do around the time Hounds of Love was released (in 1985), I do think it is a project that would intrigue her. People will say that she has already been approached by producers about this. But nobody knows Kate Bush or can speak for her. I always think this when people shoot down ideas. Assuming Bush would reject them or has already been asked. This year has seen Kate Bush’s music feature in trailers and T.V. shows. Including an appearance of Hounds of Love’s The Morning Fog in season three of The Bear, there have been nods to her incredible work. I do think that this will continue into 2025. Even though Bush is protective of her work and would not say ‘yes’ to everything, that is not to say she is going to deny everyone who comes her way! Will we see another one of her songs enjoy the same sort of exposure and revival as Running Up That Hill (A Deal with God) did in 2022?! I would like it f another album got some focus. Not that we want people to use her music as a novelty or a sure-fire way to get some attention.
It would be good for Kate Bush when it comes to reaching new people. I think a big part of her reissuing her albums and putting so much effort into that is to attract both existing fans and a younger demographic. The fact that Emerald Fennell is adapting Wuthering Heights for the screen, does this mean that Kate Bush’s debut single will be in the film?! Whilst we do hope that A.I. and Kate Bush’s music do not mix in a bad way, it is always pleasing when filmmakers pay tribute to her. Not only does her music heighten particular scenes. It creates this attention and wave of curiosity that brings new people to that particular song. I have also pitched other Kate Bush-related projects. Like photographers John Carder Bush (her brother), Guido Harari and Gered Mankowitz discussing their time photographing Kate Bush. I know that there will be plenty of celebrations and discussions around her work next year. Possibly a new album. Have we seen the last of Kate Bush reissuing her albums? Will there ever be anything older but unheard brought to people? I don’t think that everything Bush has released on her albums is all that we have. In terms of archive takes and demos. Have they been erased? After 2014’s Before the Dawn and the 2016 live album from that residency, Bush began the first real reissuing of her albums. In 2018, Bush – assisted by James Guthrie - reissued her albums on vinyl and C.D. under her Fish People label. One important bit of retrospection and editing centred around 2005’s Aerial. With Rolf Harris providing vocals, they were taken out for new reissue. Bush’s son Bertie took on Harris’s parts.
Two C.D. and four vinyl boxsets were released (Remastered in Vinyl: I-IV). This was a chance to have her studio albums collected together. The Whole Story was included. Repackaged to include The Kick Inside through to The Dreaming, Hounds of Love to The Red Shoes (repackaged as a double album); Aerial to 50 Words for Snow. Thanks to Graeme Thomson and his book, Under the Ivy: The Life and Music of Kate Bush, for the information. A fourth boxset, The Other Sides, collected B-sides, remixes, non-album tracks and songs that appeared on soundtracks. It was one of the first cases of Bush’s releasing these lesser-known tracks. Dipping more into the archives and away from the well-known albums. One big reason why Bush initiated this first round of reissues is because she wanted ownership of her work. It was hard to find many of her albums on vinyl pre-2018. Now on Fish People, this was important to Kate Bush. Ensuring that her work was available again on physical formats. Bush spent so much time and energy overseeing the reissues. Many artists have their work reissued but do not get involved. Bush wanted to make sure that the sound and packaging was to her specifications and subject to her approval. In February 2023, Bush announced that Fish People was working with a new distribution partner, state51 Conspiracy. They would take over from Warner Music Group. They would reissue her work released from 1980 onwards. The entire catalogue in the U.S. It was a big moment. Given the new interest in her work in the U.S. – no doubt bolstered by Bush being inducted into the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame (2023) – her albums were rereleased to C.D. and vinyl in 2023. It was another round of reissuing that is likely going to be her last. The 2023 editions featured 2018 remastering by Kate Bush and James Guthrie. Alongside the studio album reissues, Bush also put out special editions for The Dreaming, Hounds of Love and 50 Words for Snow. Hounds of Love got extra special treatment. Some fans found it excessive and too pricey for their tastes. I think it was this final and definitive push to get her albums on physical formats under her own label.
If we think A.I. is something fake and designed to exploit and undercut artists and manipulate and steal their music. Physical formats seem to be the opposite of that. Albums that will not be copied or subjected to anything underhand. Bush realising that streaming was not viable for most artists. That most artists were not making any real money from it. When Bush performed Before the Dawn in 2014, she reinvestigated and mounted her work from 1985 onwards. No retrospection of the period before. I think Kate Bush genuinely only wants her albums to come out as they always were. Not expanding or adding anything. Many of her music heroes, with us and departed, have seen their legacy reshaped with outtakes, demos, live recordings and anything else that can be mined. Mainly designed to gain money for estates and labels, it does reshape how we see that artist. Prince and David Bowie are two examples of deceased artists who have had so much posthumous material released. No doubt Kate Bush has an archive and there are outtakes, demos and some unreleased songs that will never come out (such as the title track of 1980’s Never for Ever). Bush’s albums have not been distilled and there has been no major architecture or excavation. Instead, Bush has tweaked, tailored and repurposed her albums. Making sure her albums are available on vinyl. So, next year will be one with very little in the way of looking back. Bush is looking ahead. Now that she has mainstream acceptance and awareness in the U.S., there will be occasions where artists cover her work, T.V. shows and films use her work; there will be this new demand and desire. With every reissue and new step, Kate Bush is protecting and preserving her work. As intended. In her own vision. It takes me back to A.I. and this unauthorised use of artists’ work. Ensuring that we do not hear a horrible A.I. Kate Bush song that would be roundly condemned by Bush and her fans. New possibilities and horizons for 2025 now that Bush opened the possibilities of new material. It could be announced at any moment really. From GRAMMY nominations to her work being included on the screen, through to Bush releasing a video, Little Shrew (Snowflake), and raising funds for War Child, it has been…
A wonderful year.