FEATURE:
For the Birthday Queen
Kate Bush’s Julys
__________
BECAUSE Kate Bush…
PHOTO CREDIT: Gered Mankowitz
turns sixty-seven on 30th July, for this birthday feature, I want to include information about her career in July. What I mean is what she was doing in July through various years. Many fans are dedicating this whole month to Kate Bush. I have covered years like 1988. That is when Bush spent her birthday that year doing work for charity. I am going to cover two different years in her career but also reference a couple of others near the end. From 1978 where she was promoting her debut album, The Kick Inside, still and was really busy, through to a later year in her career that was very different. Thanks to this incredible website for providing details about what Kate Bush was up to during her birthday month. Let’s start out with 1978 and what Kate Bush’s July consisted of:
“July 1978
Kate is the best selling female albums artist in the U.K. for the first quarter of 1978. Wuthering Heights has been number 1 in the Netherlands, Belgium, New Zealand (five weeks), and Australia; and "top-ten" in Germany, France, Brazil, Argentina, South Africa, Denmark, Sweden and Finland.
July 4, 1978
The Man With the Child in His Eyes reaches its chart peak in the U.K. at number 6.
The Kick Inside is re-released in the U.S.A. on a new label--EMI-America [and with a different but equally inappropriate cover, now sometimes referred to as the "country-western" or "Tammy Wynette" cover.] Wuthering Heights is finally released as a single in the U.S. There are some good notices, but Kate is considered by radio programmers to be "too bizarre" for the American market.
It is interesting, as Bush approached her twentieth birthday, there was this half-hearted attention in America. The fact Bush was considered too weird for the U.S. It took them so long to appreciate her! I think July 1978 is Bush’s busiest birthday month of her career. Just about to leave her teens, there was all of this pressure and success. She barely had time to rest and properly celebrate. I hope that she did spend 30th July at least relaxing and with her family. The first part of July 1978 was packed. One of the most notable transitions was the promotion of The Kick Inside and the start of recording for her second album, Lionheart.
July 7, 1978
Kate travels to Superbear Studios in Nice, France to record her second album. She had had good reports of this studio from Dave Gilmour, who recorded his first solo album there. The recording is a much-needed break for Kate. In the sunshine and the mountain air she recovers from almost six months of solid promotion, and pursues her real vocation, making music.
July 1981
Kate goes into Abbey Road studios with Haydn Bendall as engineer to complete the backing tracks.
Kate goes to Dublin to record the track Night of the Swallow with members of Planxty and The Chieftains.
July 14, 1981
Kate appears on the children's programme Razzmatazz to explain how the Sat In Your Lap video was made.
The rest of July 1978 was Bush busy stepping (briefly) off of the promotional treadmill. She was embarking on recording her second album. It must have been exciting traveling to France and getting out of London. This would be the only album where she recorded outside of the U.K. Still nineteen, Bush was in this new location and trying to follow a hugely successful debut album. If July 1978 was all about her promoting The Kick Inside and laying down the early parts of Lionheart, things were a bit different three years later. Following the release of those 1978 albums and her third, 1980’s Never for Ever, Bush was working on The Dreaming. I love to imagine Bush recording in Dublin. This was plant sewed for Hounds of Love when she recorded there again. Twenty-two and involved in the most intense recording period of her career, it was interesting. Bush recording at Abbey Road and going to Dublin. She would travel between various studios through 1981 and 1982. 14th July, 1981 is one of the most interesting appearances she made on T.V. On a children’s show to promote a song that probably went over their heads, I sort of wish there was a better-quality video of her interview. Even so, still so young and with all this ambition, I guess Bush just wanted to promote her music as widely as possible.
I will say a few words to end. However, I will get to 1982. This was just before The Dreaming was released. It was another intense July. Consider what happened three days before Bush turned twenty-four. Bush had performed live a few times after she completed The Tour of Life in 1979. T.V. appearances here and there. Her spot at Royal Rock Gala was fascinating. A rare live performance of The Wedding List. I don’t think enough people discuss that 1982 live performance. An unexpected high in her career. What happened on 27th July was an end to a pretty busy and varied month:
July 21, 1982
At 48 hours' notice Kate is asked to take David Bowie's place in a Royal Rock Gala before HRH The Prince of Wales in aid of The Prince's Trust. She performs Wedding List live, backed by Pete Townsend and Midge Ure on guitars, Mick Karn on bass, Gary Brooker on keyboards and Phil Collins on drums.
"The best moment by far was Kate Bush's number, a storming success..." (Sunie, Record Mirror)
July 27, 1982
The single The Dreaming is finally released, to excellent music press reviews saluting Kate's creative courage. The single is stifled, however, by the radio producers and presenters, particularly on BBC Radio 1, who will not play it. The plans for a twelve-inch version are aborted”.
Maybe not the happiest end to the month, a few days shy of her birthday in 1982, a single that she’d hoped would be well received and a chart success got off to a rocky start. As it was, The Dreaming was Bush’s lowest-placed single to that point.
There are other examples of Julys where Bush encountered transformative moments in her career. July 2014 was the month before Before the Dawn started. Her celebrated residency, the final preparations and touches were added. In June 1985, Hounds of Love was completed. It was released in September. August was when Running Up That Hill (A Deal with God) was released. The July was the bridge between Hounds of Love being completed and the first single coming out. That excitement and nervousness. On 30th July, 1988, Bush celebrates her thirtieth birthday by participating in an AIDS charity project involving some two-hundred celebrities. She serves as a shopkeeper for the day at Blazer's boutique. On 30th July, we celebrate Bush’s birthday. There will be so many social media posts. Fans sharing their love for this icon! What was the biggest and most important July in her career? 1978 when she was starting work on Lionheart? Maybe 1985 when there was this expectation before Hounds of Love came out. Think about what Bush was doing in July 1989. Bush completed recording The Sensual World that month. It seems like a few of her albums were completed in July. I wonder if anyone has their own favourite Kate Bush Julys. I do hope, what with it being July, that maybe Kate Bush has completed her eleventh studio album. Perhaps she will announce its release for later in the year. We can but dream! In the meantime, I wanted to wish Kate Bush a very happy birthday for 30th July. With her fanbase growing and expanding every year, a whole new generation are discovering her music. There is no doubt that this experience is…
IN THIS PHOTO: Kate Bush in 2014 during her Before the Dawn residency
A complete joy!