FEATURE:
Eat the Music
ART CREDIT: Nick Price
The Artistic Brilliance of Kate Bush’s Album Covers and International Versions
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I have covered this before…
PHOTO CREDIT: Gered Mankowitz
in another feature, though I thought that it was worth revisiting. There are artists who have a knack for putting out incredible album covers. Not just in the country that the act comes from. You also get these amazing international versions. Kate Bush is certainly an artist who has been responsible for some of the most striking, individual and enduring album covers ever. Although the U.K. originals are great, I also love some of the international options. I have seen a few posted on social media. In fact, the main image for this feature is the Japanese version of Never for Ever (the Japanese promotion is pretty awesome too). Even if the cover design is not altered or radically changed, seeing the cover with foreign language and other symbols brings something from the imagery. There is a curious case of The Kick Inside. That is Kate Bush’s 1978 debut album. There are quite a few different photos depending on the country. I am not exactly sure why the U.K. version, which features Bush mounted against a kite with some Eastern-influenced lettering, was not used worldwide. It is one of those album covers that perhaps is better intentionally. I am thinking again of the Japanese cover that was shot by Gered Mankowitz. That shot, of Kate in a pink leotard and the camera being focused on her face and neck – and top of her chest – is iconic. It was originally slated for the Wuthering Heights. The shot was not used because a version that was leaked and featured in the wider world showed Bush’s erect nipples. It was not the shot that would necessarily have been used. Something from that session. It was confusing. The photo could have been cropped slightly. The image that we see on the Japanese version of The Kick Inside is the photo that should have been the Wuthering Heights cover.
It goes to show that various images and photos can bring something different from the same album. People say not to judge a book by its cover. Maybe the same with an album. Even so, the cover is a portal into the music. The first image. Maybe the defining one! I feel that the album covers became truer to Kate Bush from Lionheart on. That front cover was also taken by Gered Mankowitz. As much as I like some of the international variation for The Kick Inside, the U.K. version for Lionheart is amazing. It is almost edible. If not food for the soul, it is an image that stays in the mind. It is curious that The Kick Inside was the first and last time that a wide range of photos was used around the world. I guess EMI wanted Bush to come across as this varied artist. Maybe a little rigid releasing the one cover. Perhaps some nations would not understand that kite image and its relevance. It got me thinking about how Kate Bush’s album covers would translate. How they would be interpreted by particular nations. I think that Bush had this in mind when she was thinking about the covers. Not only releasing something that was standout and would somehow define the album’s themes. It is designed so that people would look at the photo/image and it would cross language barriers. Something that was figured by EMI after the debut album. Even though I am not a fan of the covers for 2005’s Aerial and 2011’s 50 Words for Snow, they do the album justice. They are intriguing works of art and design that speak loudly.
When I see someone sharing a Kate Bush album cover or even a single cover, it makes me think about the connection and relationship between that image and the music. That Never for Ever cover springs to mind. You can read more about the album here. The 1980 album was Kate Bush’s third. A year after her extensive The Tour of Life, it was the first time producing. She produced with Jon Kelly. Maybe the cover had to be different and bolder. The first two albums are great, though Never for Ever is more fantastical, odder and beautiful. It has qualities that separate it from anything Kate Bush released. Not only her and this self-portrait. Though Lionheart has its own vibe and story – one gets a sense of children’s literature, disguise and sexuality too -, the pencil drawing from artist Nick Price was turned into this wonderful illustration. Bush would steps away from a photographic cover for Aerial and 50 Words for Snow. Even 2011’s Director’s Cut. I feel every album cover has its own personality and standout quality. The Kick Inside has this sense of movement and mystique alongside one another. International versions feature Kate Bush front and centre. The U.K. version is more about Kate Bush as an album mystical woman. A spirit or strange figure. It raise so many questions. The symbolism and relevance of the kite and the style of letting. Lionheart is the mixture of grown up and child-like. Bush young and naïve still but also hugely confident and bold. Never for Ever is more imaginative and bigger. Ideas bursting out of Kate Bush. This sense of quintessential English with the intangible, spiritual, fantasy and beyond. The Dreaming directly related to one of the album’s tracks, Houdini, but I also think that it is Kate Bush creating some mystery. Making escaping from the past and trying to break free from constraints. Hounds of Love is a mix of the literal and figurative. Her hounds, Bonnie and Clyde, are on the cover (shot by her brother, John Carder Bush), though there is also the more metaphorical representation in the Hounds of Love title track.
The Sensual World is womanly, sexy and coquettish. Seductive too. The Red Shoes has only Bush’s feet in red shoes (albeit an illustration of her feet rather than a photo). Balletic. Perhaps more literal than anything, it is also a chance to focus on more than Kate Bush. To get away from her image and the face. Less about the woman behind the album. An image that is enduring in its beautiful simplicity. That is the first not to feature Kate Bush’s face/body. She would not appear on any album cover after that. I love how there are different colour schemes and backdrops. A fresh canvas for each album. Compare the slightly misplaced and odd design of The Kick Inside and the range of international alternatives. How a teenage Kate Bush was portrayed around the world. How the U.S. photo was very different to, say, the one in Uruguay. A Japanese version of Never for Ever is stunning and highly desirable, in spite of the fact there is not much different to the original cover. I don’t think enough people have gone into depth about Kate Bush’s album covers and their significance. How each are vastly different. That bond between cover and the music. There is a lot more to explore. Single covers too. Think about Eat the Music and its recent reissue for Record Store Day. How there is something collectable and desirable about buying a physical version because of that beautiful cover. So many other single covers are extraordinary in their power and beauty – including Symphony in Blue (a Japanese single from Lionheart), Babooshka (Never for Ever) and King of the Mountain (Aerial). I get transported when I see a Kate Bush album cover! Get all these sensations and thoughts when seeing international version. Whether it is a different photo or a different language, you get something very different with each. Her album covers are representations of her art. A window into her soul. A visual connection to the music and its them. It is also a tantalising sign and signal of…
WHAT can be discovered within.