FEATURE: “She Knew Exactly What to Do” Kate Bush’s Babooshka and a Bold Evolution

FEATURE:

 

“She Knew Exactly What to Do”

PHOTO CREDIT: John Carder Bush

Kate Bush’s Babooshka and a Bold Evolution

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TO defend myself against those who will say…

PHOTO CREDIT: John Carder Bush

Kate Bush’s music had taken a leap before Babooshka was released as a single; to be fair, I take that point, but this was another big step from an artist who had made strident and significant leaps since The Kick Inside, her debut album, in 1978. The reason I am returning to Bush’s third album, Never for Ever, is that it turns forty on 7th September. I will focus more on the rest of the album a little later down the line, but I wanted to focus on its opening track and second single: the beguiling and bewitching Babooshka. Not too long ago, I penned a feature celebrating the fortieth anniversary of Breathing. This was the first single from Never for Ever, and it was released on 14th April (1980). Although Babooshka does not turn forty until 27th June, I have seen a few social media posts recently concerning Babooshka. There is a cool video – that I cannot see on YouTube – where Bush sings the song with an array of weird backdrops. Her dancing is fantastic, and it has given me a new love for a song that, until recently, I have not played much. I love all of Bush’s work, but I have been listening to other tracks on Never for Ever. Kate Bush has always been masterful when it comes to opening tracks, but I think Babooshka is one of her very best. It gets the album off to a flyer and, when you listen to the track and watch the video, we see this artist in a new light.

The first single from Never for Ever, Breathing, was a political song about a foetus observing nuclear war from inside the womb. Bush, as I have said before, did not dabble too much with political observation too much prior to 1980, and Never for Ever was a big development in terms of lyrical scope and confidence. Kate Bush produced the album alongside Jon Kelly. It was the first time she had co-produced one of her albums – she and Kelly co-produced the On Stage E.P. the year before. Babooshka reached number-two in the Australian charts; it got to number-five in the U.K. How many people could have seen Babooshka coming so soon after her debut album?! Whilst Wuthering Heights (The Kick Inside) and Wow were big hits and were/are unlike everything else, Babooshka remains one of Kate Bush’s most immediate and bold songs. Never for Ever is an album, as I will explain at some point, that gets overlooked and not written about in terms it deserves. Breathing is a phenomenal song, and it sort of blows you away with its emotion and heaviness. Army Dreamers, the third single from Never for Ever, was another political number (about young men being led to war); the reason Babooshka gets to me is the vocal delivery, the composition and video. I will explain more in a bit, but here is a bit of information on the song from the Kate Bush Encyclopaedia: 

“Song written by Kate Bush. Originally released as a single on 27 June 1980 and subsequently included on the album Never For Ever. According to Kate, the song chronicles a wife's desire to test her husband's loyalty. To do so, she takes on the pseudonym of Babooshka and sends notes to her husband in the guise of a younger woman - something which she fears is the opposite of how her husband currently sees her. In her bitterness and paranoia, Babooshka arranges to meet her husband, who is attracted to the character who reminds him of his wife in earlier times. The relationship is ruined only because of her own paranoia.

Kate performed 'Babooshka' in various European programmes, including Collaro (France), Countdown (Netherlands) and Rock Pop (Germany). Her performance of the song in a Dr. Hook television special remains the first, and is memorable for the costume she is wearing: on her the right side she resembles a staid Victorian lady in mourning dress; on the left side a glittering, liberated young woman in a silvery jumpsuit, with bright lightning-streaks painted down the left side of her face. Her figure is lit so that only the "repressed" side of her costume is visible during the verses of the song, and mainly the "free" side during the choruses”.

I think one of the reasons Babooshka was such a success is that it has the rawness and immediacy of a track like Breathing, but there is a lot of beauty and intrigue. To me, the composition is made by adding Fairlight CMI and balalaika. The balalaika adds a sense of the exotic and foreign, whilst the introduction of the Fairlight was a big revelation. At this point, Kate Bush was becoming firm friends with Peter Gabriel, who owned a Fairlight. She was fascinated by its potential. The breaking glass sound adds something strangely romantic and unique to Bush’s work. She would use the Fairlight extensively from Never for Ever on, but Babooshka is the first time it is really heard and takes her music in a new direction. With terrific backing vocals (by Paddy Bush and Gary Hurst), wonderful electric bass from John Giblin, and Bush commanding at the front, there is such richness and story right through Babooshka. I think Babooshka is one of Bush’s most assured and accomplished vocal performances to that date. She teases and beautifully moves through the verses; portraying so many emotions and bringing the lyrics firmly to life. Prior to Never for Ever, we heard a bit of Bush’s more guttural vocal side; Breathing was the first track where it really came to the fore. Listen to the chorus of Babooshka and that lovely growl and gravel that kicks the chorus right through the gears.

IN THIS PHOTO: Kate Bush in 1980/PHOTO CREDIT: Andy Phillips

After a chaotic 1978 and 1979 – two studio albums, constant promotion, a live tour and live E.P. among Bush’s duties -, she gained more production control on Never for Ever. Her work was becoming broader and more adventurous, and Babooshka is the sound of an artist reborn and truly inspired. Kate Bush talked to Countdown Australia in 1980 and discussed the song in more detail:

“It was really a theme that has fascinated me for some time. It's based on a theme that is often used in folk songs, which is where the wife of the husband begins to feel that perhaps he's not faithful. And there's no real strength in her feelings, it's just more or less paranoia suspicions, and so she starts thinking that she's going to test him, just to see if he's faithful. So what she does is she gets herself a pseudonym, which happens to be Babooshka, and she sends him a letter. And he responds very well to the letter, because as he reads it, he recognises the wife that he had a couple of years ago, who was happy, in the letter. And so he likes it, and she decides to take it even further and get a meeting together to see how he reacts to this Babooshka lady instead of her. When he meets her, again because she is so similar to his wife, the one that he loves, he's very attracted to her.

Of course she is very annoyed and the break in the song is just throwing the restaurant at him...  (...) The whole idea of the song is really the futility and the stupidness of humans and how by our own thinking, spinning around in our own ideas we come up with completely paranoid facts. So in her situation she was in fact suspicious of a man who was doing nothing wrong, he loved her very much indeed. Through her own suspicions and evil thoughts she's really ruining the relationship”.

I love the lyrics and the fact that it is not an ordinary love song or something commercial – something many of Bush’s peers were guilty of. This tale of deceit and suspicion is riveting. The composition sounds very male. Apart from a few higher-pitched notes, there is this lower-pitched vibe. The electric, fretless bass and the backing vocals firmly pushes away from the much more female and ethereal sounds of Bush’s work on The Kick Inside and Lionheart. Bush’s voice, indeed, seems more matured and lower than it did as recently as a year or two before Babooshka came out. It is the video that really takes the song over the top. Prior to Babooshka, Bush had already released these arresting and beautiful videos – Wuthering Heights, The Man with the Child in His Eyes and Breathing among them -, but Babooshka stands as one of my favourite videos from her.

In the video, Bush plays the role of the embittered and more timid wife; dressed in a black veil and standing beside a double bass (which represents her husband). She turns and plays with it, but when the chorus bursts through, Bush is transformed into this almost warrior-like character. The costume is sparse – a mix of the risqué/racing and empowered -, and her eyes are alive and bright. I think eyes, oddly, are part of Bush’s weaponry. Look at how open and expressive they are in the videos for Wuthering Heights and even Them Heavy People (from The Kick Inside; the track was released as a single only in Japan). In Babooshka, Bush’s facial mannerisms and her peerless eyes add their own dimensions and truths. That visual transformation from the verse into the chorus still shocks and amazes to this day. Almost forty years ago, this incredible video was being played, and I can only imagine how people reacted the first time they saw it! Although Bush would write better songs and more memorable videos, I think Babooshka was a bit of a watershed moment. Not only because we get to hear the Fairlight take flight: Babooshka (and the Never for Ever album) found Bush covering new ground and pulling more towards the sort of sound we would hear on The Dreaming (1982). In June, it will be forty years since Babooshka was released as a single – a few months after that, the public received Bush’s marvellous third album. To this very day, Babooshka remains…  

A staggering and truly important moment in her career.

FEATURE: Watching You Without Me: The Filmic Potential of Hounds of Love’s The Ninth Wave

FEATURE:

Watching You Without Me

PHOTO CREDIT: John Carder Bush

The Filmic Potential of Hounds of Love’s The Ninth Wave

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IN my latest feature relating to Kate Bush…

ALBUM COVER CREDIT: John Carder Bush

I am going to expand on an idea I proffered fairly recently regarding her albums Hounds of Love (1985) and Aerial (2005). Both albums have big anniversaries later this year, and both are the only albums of hers whose second sides/discs are suites. Whereas Aerial’s A Sky of Honey is a trip through a single day – with all the sounds, feelings and sights associated with a summer’s day starting and ending, and starting again -, Hounds of Love’s The Ninth Wave is almost the exact opposite: a woman’s struggle as she is adrift, alone at sea; not sure whether she will be rescued, as she fights against fear and defeat. On the first side of Hounds of Love, there are the singles and a more traditional structure – albeit it, one of the most impressive first sides of any albums of the 1980s! The second side, The Ninth Wave, features the following tracks: And Dream of Sheep (2:45); Under Ice (2:21); Waking the Witch (4:18); Watching You Without Me (4:06); Jig of Life (4:04); Hello Earth (6:13); The Morning Fog (2:34). As you can make out from some of the song’s titles, Bush’s heroine (her or a form of herself) is dreaming of sheep and being able to sleep; she then goes through this frightful terror and, near the end, finds the fortitude to keep going and survive – she is rescued at the very end, but we are not sure how or by whom.

I want to highlight why The Ninth Wave would make for a brilliant short film but, at the moment, I have come across an article that beautifully details each step of the suite:

 “According to Kate, the suite is about “…this person being in the water. How they’ve got there, we don’t know but the idea is that they’ve been on a ship and they’ve been washed over the side so they’re alone, in this water. Now I find that horrific imagery, the thought of being completely alone in all this water. And they’ve got a life jacket on with a little light so that if anyone should be traveling at night, they’ll see the light and know they’re there. And they’re absolutely terrified. And they’re completely alone at the mercy of their imagination. Which again, I personally find such a terrifying thing, the power of one’s own imagination being let loose on something like that. And the idea that, they’ve got it in their head that they mustn’t fall asleep. Because if you fall asleep when you’re in the water, I’ve heard that you roll over and so you drown so they’re trying to keep themselves awake.”

As the tiny battery-powered light on her life jacket shines like a beacon, our narrator struggles to stay awake. Of course she hopes to be found; she says that if rescuers see her racing white horses, a reference to the white caps of fast moving waves, they won’t think she is a buoy, a lifeless piece of ocean equipment.

PHOTO CREDIT: John Carder Bush

Surely they would recognize her. But there is a lovely contradictory idea in her wish both to stay awake and her wish to be weak, to fall asleep and dream of sheep—a realistic wish to be granted an easy way out of her dire situation. She wishes she had a radio to listen to something, anything, even something stupid, to keep her awake. This song has a lulling, tiny, precious quality about it, punctuated with little heartbreaking rallies of half-hearted optimism (on the sections “If they find me racing white horses,” and “I’d tune into some friendly voices…”) that belies the bleakness. The most startling moment of the song, tellingly, comes from the sudden dramatic roll at the word “engines.” The entirety of “The Ninth Wave” is sonically rich with many layers of sound effects, as we will soon hear, but they are never heavy handed or intrusive. In fact, they play like sound track excerpts from a filmed version. Here we have a somnolent broadcaster giving shipping information for vessels at sea, seagulls, and Kate’s real-life mother delivering a line that foreshadows the rest of the suite as well as having deep personal meaning, which Kate explained: “When I was little, and I’d had a bad dream, I’d go into my parents' bedroom round to my mother’s side of the bed. She’d be asleep, and I wouldn’t want to wake her, so I’d stand there and wait for her to sense my presence and wake up.

She always did, within minutes; and sometimes I’d frighten her—standing there still, in the darkness in my nightdress. I’d say, ‘I’ve had a bad dream,’ and she’d lift bedclothes and say something like ‘Come here with me now.’ It’s my mother saying this line in the track, and I briefed her on the ideas behind it before she said it.” It’s the familiarity of everyday life, the comforts of home, the things she can’t have that she wishes to lull her to sleep, the warm breath of mum saying “Come here with me now,” lulling like poppies…so she succumbs and enters a world of hallucinations and dreams that is the rest of her—and our—fateful experience lost at sea…”.

There are a lot of stages and steps that unfurl through The Ninth Wave; going from this unprecedented sense of isolation to the fatigue and then all but sort of giving up on rescue…before things start to turn. I am going to skip through a few phases of The Ninth Wave but, as you can see from the descriptions below, we are listening to something more similar to a film than a conventional set of songs: 

“Go to sleep little Earth.

After the NASA samples, we join our narrator floating in space like the Star Child in “2001: A Space Odyssey,” of the earth, but no longer attached to it, in fact freed from it. The tether has been cut. She is detached from her life and its meaning: there is an innocent, bemused approach as she plays a little game. She is so far from home, she can hold up one hand and block the planet from her field of vision…the earth is a toy. And we shift place, time, and point of view (as Kate so often does in her music) to our narrator driving home in a car at night, looking up at the sky, her loved one asleep on the seat beside her (a sweet, gentle, highly cinematic image, and all the more moving when we understand where our narrator currently is and the loss ahead), when she sees something bright streak across the sky. As she watches it shoot through the stars, she sings, amazed, “Just look at it go!” And what is “it?” Shooting star? Satellite? Space shuttle? A “little light?” If all time is simultaneous, has she glimpsed her own soul shooting past the planet? It is her own little light, a mind-boggling and heartbreaking idea…the cry in her voice when she sings this line indicates that she understands the meaning of this object, and its finality.

PHOTO CREDIT: John Glanville/AP

At this point, something very unexpected happens. An ethereal, arresting male choir sing a passage based on a traditional Georgian folk song from the Kakhetian region called “Tsintskaro.” It is a shocking transition, one that makes us hold our breath so as not to disturb this sudden, delicate, transcendent moment. Kate on the men’s chorus: “They really are meant to symbolize the great sense of loss, of weakness, at reaching a point where you can accept, at last, that everything can change.”

Our narrator, in full Overview Effect at this point, watches storms form and move to threaten the lives she sees below. She cries out to them in vain, all of them, the sailors, life-savers, cruisers, fishermen, anyone on or near the sea, to protect themselves. We hear in this section a few of the Irish instruments, bringing in echoes of meaning from the previous song “Jig of Life.” Here I am reminded of the idea of the Asian goddess Kuan-Yin, or the Buddhist idea of a Bodhisattva, a human who has attained ultimate awareness (Buddhahood) but motivated by compassion, refuses to leave this plane of reality for the benefit of all sentient beings. Our narrator, moved by the end of her own life, is now able to perceive the ephemeral nature of all creation. Everyone can be exposed to danger, everyone can suffer, everyone can—and will—die. This truth is universal. But she is unable to prevent or stop this truth. No one can.

PHOTO CREDIT: John Carder Bush

She then sings a passage that is full of several meanings. She says she was there at the birth, out of the cloudburst, the head of the tempest. This could be the storm that took her, or it could be, from her newly widened perspective of awareness, the start of life itself, the start of the universe. We were all there, we are all made of the matter from a singularity… we are all star dust. The murderer of calm is this physical reality itself. All that is born must die. Entropy exists. She understands this and cries out, “J’accuse.” Hence the ultimate compassion for this tiny little blue ball.

The piece ends with whale song, sounds of radar, and a very mysterious, arcane passage spoken in German which, when translated into English, means “Deeper, deeper, somewhere in the deep there is a light.” In German, the word “tiefe” can also mean “profound,” and I am reminded of the Latin phrase at the beginning of the Christian Psalm 130 “De profundis clamavi ad te:” “out of the depths I cry out to you.” In the depths of sorrow, in the endless well of suffereing, there is a light. Compassion is the light.

The Ninth Wave is evocative and scary but, as it seems like nobody can save Bush/the heroine, a light comes through the bleakness and fear:

And indeed, somewhere in the dark, there is a light. Our narrator has spent the night in open waters, battling for her life, and almost losing. But at dawn (first light), she is rescued. Perhaps someone saw, in the blue haze of early dawn, her “little light.” I always felt the vagueness of the lyrics to “The Morning Fog” could indicate that our narrator died and is reborn, reincarnated. But Kate herself has said that her narrative at this point and her intention with this song was that her heroine is rescued. Yet the tired but optimistic sound and simple, unadorned joy of this song gives us a sense of much more than a rescue. She has endured a life-changing event. She was born, died, and has been reborn to this world, to the people around her, those she loves. She is falling like a stone, as she says, from the spirit world back to the physical world and brings with her the ultimate compassion that has become a part of her psyche. She sees existence itself differently now. And we see it differently too, from sharing this harrowing journey with her.

The light

Begin to bleed,

Begin to breathe,

Begin to speak.

D'you know what?

I love you better now.

I am falling

Like a stone,

Like a storm,

Being born again

Into the sweet morning fog.

D'you know what?

I love you better now.

I'm falling,

And I'd love to hold you now.

I'll kiss the ground.

I'll tell my mother,

I'll tell my father,

I'll tell my loved one,

I'll tell my brothers

How much I love them”.

I recommend you look at the full article from the oh, by the way blog, as it perfectly illustrates how each song moves the story along and how we are seeing this truly epic and wonderful piece unfold. This is how The Ninth Wave sounds and feels on Hounds of Love. In Bush’s words, the notion of one being lost at sea is an anxiety we all have; when you are in that scenario, your imagination goes wild to allow you to keep going and adapt to the horror:

 “The Ninth Wave was a film, that's how I thought of it. It's the idea of this person being in the water, how they've got there, we don't know. But the idea is that they've been on a ship and they've been washed over the side so they're alone in this water. And I find that horrific imagery, the thought of being completely alone in all this water. And they've got a life jacket with a little light so that if anyone should be traveling at night they'll see the light and know they're there. And they're absolutely terrified, and they're completely alone at the mercy of their imagination, which again I personally find such a terrifying thing, the power of ones own imagination being let loose on something like that. And the idea that they've got it in their head that they mustn't fall asleep, because if you fall asleep when you're in the water, I've heard that you roll over and so you drown, so they're trying to keep themselves awake. (Richard Skinner, 'Classic Albums interview: Hounds Of Love'. BBC Radio 1, 26 January 1992)”.

There is a literary adaptation of The Ninth Wave which expands on Hounds of Love’s songs and does something I feel Bush was doing when she wrote the tracks: imagining what they would be like in terms of a novel or novella. Similarly, I also think Bush thinks in film terms when penning songs. I think, after Hounds of Love was released, there was a hope from Bush that The Ninth Wave could be something grander and more visual. Nearly thirty-five years after Hounds of Love was released, there has not been a short film or feature that gives light and cinematic body to The Ninth Wave. Whilst Aerial’s A Sky of Honey, I feel, would be perfectly accompanied by an animated film, The Ninth Wave demands something more in the way of a standard film – one with an epic set! Finally, nearly thirty years after The Ninth Wave was first heard, Kate Bush brought it to life on stage in Hammersmith (in 2014). The Ninth Wave appeared during the concert’s first act:

 “Act One

1.    "Lily"

2.    "Hounds of Love"

3.    "Joanni"

4.    "Top of the City"

5.    "Running Up That Hill (A Deal with God) (Extended)

6.    "King of the Mountain" (Extended)

The Ninth Wave

7.    Video Interlude – "And Dream of Sheep"

8.    "Under Ice"

9.    "Waking the Witch"

10. "Watching You Without Me"

11. "Jig of Life"

12. "Hello Earth"

13. "The Morning Fog".

I was not lucky enough to see her during her Before the Dawn residency – a lingering regret -, but any review that mentions The Ninth Wave being played out gives it praise. Because there is no DVD from the show, we can only imagine how The Ninth Wave translated to the stage after all of these years. I am going to, once more, use Graeme Thomson’s biography of Kate Bush as a guide, as he was in attendance and got to see this once-imagined suite of songs brought to life. During Before the Dawn, there was what was happening on stage, interspersed with filmed pieces – that showed the realities of a woman being lost at sea. The Ninth Wave began with a written piece by Bush and author David Mitchell called The Astronomer’s Tale. This was done to allow the stage to be set, and we learn, from a coastguard, that a distress signal was picked up from a vessel called Celtic Deep. The lights come up as the band and Chorus are inside the skeleton of a sunken ship. Bush appears on the screen at the back of stage singing And Dream of Sheep – filmed at Pinewood months earlier. Under Ice sees her return to the stage; the stage is made to look like the ocean, as Bush is buckled in a navy greatcoat. On screen, Bush remains the same (in terms of position), but she is swallowed and released by the trapdoor on stage – representing choppy and turbulent waters. Waking the Witch is a tarrying spectacle where Jo Servi plays the Grand Inquisitor, masked, as Bush struggles for air and screams out.

IN THIS PHOTO: Kate Bush during the Hounds of Love shoot in 1985/PHOTO CREDIT: Guido Harari

There is a pilot’s radio communication – written by Mitchell and voiced by Bush’s brother, Paddy -, saying that all on board Celtic Deep has been safely rescued bar one. Watching You Without Me features a comic look inside the Bush/woman’s household (on screen), as she and her son (played by her real-life son, Bertie) and husband (played by Bob Harms) play out a scene of domestic normality – a stark contrast to the lone heroine who dreams of once more being at home as she struggles to stay alive. Bush hovers behind her family ghost-like to sing the song as the house/building shakes side to side – as though Bush is haunting the house from the sea. Jig of Life is a turn to the more spirited and energised as, on stage, it is scored with Celtic rhythms and incredible musicianship. One of the best moments from Before the Dawn – and the closest thing to perfect cinema – was during Hello Earth where we see a large buoy bathed in red light; Bush tries to escape the waves (futile as it is) to be pulled back and down by the Lords of the Deep. A motionless Bush is carried from the stage/waves, carried down a ramp and into the audience. The procession stops near the first few rows of the audience as Bush is lifted in the air. A voice commands her to “go deeper”, at which point she opens her eyes and seemingly comes back to life; she is then led out of the side door to the auditorium as the crowd take it all in and catch their breath.

The buoy then slips away as the gloomy stage is now bathed in golden light, to signify the breaking of a new dawn. Rather than continue the concept and stay ion character during The Morning Fog, Bush returned to the stage and swayed and moved with the dancers. Bush almost gives thanks to her family and the audience in a moving and stunning piece of theatre. After an act of two district and hugely powerful halves, there was a twenty-minute interval so that the performers and musicians could breathe, and the audience could absorb what they had just seen. Although there are some missteps to the staged version of The Ninth Wave – some say the filmed piece of domestic disagreement and normality was a bit misjudged and poor; the limitations of the stage is not as seamless as what you can achieve through cinema/film, regarding switching between songs and sets -, most agreed that The Ninth Wave was one of the finest pieces of theatre seen at a gig. It is a tragedy that a DVD was not released but, as she explained to Matt Everitt in 2016 – when promoting the soundtrack of the residency -, she felt that, if a DVD were included with the album, people would discard the record and just watch the DVD. Bush wanted the experience and magic of The Ninth Wave to be reserved for those who were there.

IN THIS PHOTO: Kate Bush during her Before the Dawn residency in 2014/PHOTO CREDIT: Getty Images

I guess watching the songs play out would not elicit the same emotion as actually being in the theatre on the night(s). It is wonderful The Ninth Wave, finally, moved beyond Hounds of Love. I can imagine Bush was excited planning the routines and concept for the staged Ninth Wave; she would have been carrying it in her head for years! For the millions of people who were not fortunate enough to join her at one of the twenty-two dates in Hammersmith in 2014 will wonder just how brilliant The Ninth Wave looked and sounded! I suppose one, as I said, cannot get the same vibe from watching a filmed version of the performance compared to the first-hand account. I feel The Ninth Wave still begs for a cinematic or televisual treatment. One can imagine this was what Bush had in mind in 1985. She would produce a film/suite of songs with 1993’s The Line, the Cross and the Curve and, whilst it has some beautiful moments, it was a bit rushed and Bush has distanced herself from it. Because she was busy recording music after 1985, the time to film The Ninth Wave never materialised. 1993 was a busy and fraught year for her, so the possibility of realising The Ninth Wave was impossible. So many years down the line, and the vision of a woman/someone being adrift in the water and looking for salvation still seems important and frightening. Maybe Kate Bush would not play the heroine, but lots of people will re-examine The Ninth Wave when we celebrate Hounds of Love’s thirty-fifth anniversary in September.

I think a wonderful short film could be created that would bring life from The Ninth Wave’s songs that you do not get from listening to the album. I guess part of the potency comes from hearing The Ninth Wave with no images. Each listener has their own interpretation but, ever since I first heard The Ninth Wave, I have imagined it as a filmed piece that takes us inside the water; inside the mind of a woman yearning for safety and loved ones with no sense of rescue in sight. The Ninth Wave is one of the most spectacular and original suites of music ever recorded. I think so many people associate Hounds of Love with singles on the first side like Running Up That Hill (A Deal with God) and Cloudbusting; the contrasts we hear on Hounds of Love’s second side deserves just as much attention and dissection. I love how each track has a different sound and there is so much life and possibility in each. Yet, every song flows together and forms part of this amazing story! From literature through to the stage, The Ninth Wave has been presented and imagined. I think film and T.V. is somewhere Bush originally wanted to take the concept – or a longer music video -, and there are many possibility regarding The Ninth Wave on the screen. Maybe an actor could play Bush/the woman and mime to the songs; maybe she does not sing anything. When you have an album as vivid as Hounds of Love, you imagine how each song could be represented as a music video. No tracks from The Ninth Wave (obviously) were released as single in 1985, and there is that gap that could be filled. What a wonderful revelation it would be to see (the immaculate) The Ninth Wave brought…

ILLUSTRATION CREDIT: rosabelieve

TO the screen.

FEATURE: Out of the City, Into the Country, Then Out to the World: Kate Bush and the Importance of the Year 1983

FEATURE:

 

Out of the City, Into the Country, Then Out to the World

IN THIS PHOTO: Kate Bush captured in 1983/PHOTO CREDIT: Brian Griffin

Kate Bush and the Importance of the Year 1983

___________

IN this feature…

IN THIS PHOTO: Kate Bush in October 1983/PHOTO CREDIT: Sunday Mirror/Mirrorpix/Getty Images

I want to discuss an important time in Kate Bush’s career. 1983 was the year I was born (I was born in May) and, unbeknownst to me, this incredible artist was about to embark on decisions and life changes that would feed into her most successful album, Hounds of Love (1985). To understand why 1983 was so important, one needs to look at 1982’s The Dreaming. The album was released on 13th September, and it was the first album Kate Bush produced alone. One of the things one can say about The Dreaming is that it was uncommercial. The Dreaming (single) did not crack the top-forty; Sat in Your Lap finished outside the top-ten, whilst There Goes a Tenner did not even scrape into the top-seventy-five. Even though The Dreaming made the top-three in the album charts, it was clearly the biggest step away from the Kate Bush we knew in 1978 – when her debut album, The Kick Inside, was released. The album was certified silver, but it was her lowest-selling album to that point: ironically, Hounds of Love (her next album) was her highest-selling studio album. Having released two records in 1978 (Lionheart was her second release), embarked on a huge tour (Tour of Life) in 1979, and followed that with a brilliant third album, Never for Ever, in 1980, it is small wonder Bush wanted to take more control of her work! The fact she managed to release an album in 1982 at all was a minor miracle – today, one does not see artists take on so much demand and work!

That is not to say that Bush was unhappy with everything prior to The Dreaming - yet the album definitely marked an evolution. Bush was producing; the music was more experimental and demanding than anything she had put out. I will not go into too much detail regarding The Dreaming – suffice to say it was a very challenging time. It was a surprise for such an unconventional album to enter the charts at number-three! Clearly, it did resonate with a lot of people! The Dreaming was the first Bush album to enter the US Billboard Top 200, largely due to the rise of college radio there. I will talk more about her growth in the U.S., as she really started to plant some seeds in 1983. I also want to source from Graeme Thomson’s biography, Kate Bush: Under the Ivy. The Dreaming was a marked shift forward, and one suspects it was more where Kate Bush wanted to be at the start of her career in terms of sounds and scope. By the standard in the 1980s, The Dreaming did take a long time to come together and, with fairly poor sales (in their terms rather than what was actually achieved), EMI were a bit concerned. The fact Bush wanted to produce her next album definitely met with resistance and concern – how long would a follow up to The Dreaming take…and how much would it cost?

Reading page 197 from Thomson’s biography of Bush, it is interesting to see where the songwriter was in 1982. Bush had clearly immersed herself in recording and the world of the studio; somewhere that was “an inclement micro-climate, a hostile, self-contained ecosystem fuelled by smoke, chocolate, fast food – she was “lasting three months on Chinese takeaways during the last part of the album,” she (Bush) said”. Bush was not sleeping well and, this combined with a poor diet, meant that she was losing some of the discipline she had accrued during the busy period of 1978-1980. In June 1982, Bush holidayed in Jamaica with her family, but she was unable to unwind – the calm, sun and relaxation of the setting must have been jarring for someone who had been consecrated and sequestered in a small space for a long period! Bush was busy promoting The Dreaming by filming its videos, making personal appearances and generally going full-out.

IN THIS PHOTO: Kate Bush signing copies of The Dreaming/PHOTO CREDIT: Peter Still

From the end of 1982 until the summer of 1985, Bush was rarely seen in the public forum – at least in comparison to the previous few years of her career. She made the odd appearance here and there, but there was this important spell of recovery and rest that preceded 1983. “During her prolonged absence, there were mischievous media rumours of nervous breakdowns…” (page 198 (paperback edition) of Graeme Thomson’s Kate Bush: Under the Ivy); other sources remarked on her weight gain and disappearance from the public eye – not that Bush ever courted it at all! Now, we do not think twice when an artist takes a few years to follow up from one album; there was expectation that Bush would be right back to work and release something not long after The Dreaming – looking back at Hounds of Love, it is clear that period of a couple of years or so was just what was needed in order to create a masterpiece!

IN THIS PHOTO: Kate Bush looking on in 1982/PHOTO CREDIT: Steve Rapport Photography

One of the big changes that happened in 1983 was Bush’s diet. “Tea (up to 20 cups a day) chocolate and cigarettes have been her most enduring vices, but work has always been her addiction. It took her six months to recover from the experience of making The Dreaming” (page 199, Kate Bush: Under the Ivy). Bush, by her own admission, was a wreck and needed to slow down. She consulted her father, a doctor, who diagnosed stress and nervous fatigue. His advice was for her to rest. Having released an album and promoted it hard, if Bush had continued to work on a new album straight after The Dreaming, one wonders what a toll that would have taken. I will talk about commercial decisions of 1983 that benefited her career but, during 1983, Bush went to see films; she spent the summer with her boyfriend, Del Palmer (who was playing bass (and other instruments) for her up to that point; he was one of the engineers on Hounds of Love and remains her right-hand man to this day – the two met and began playing together in 1977; they started dating not that long after); she bought a VW Golf and drove herself, and she enjoyed cooking, space, and a much better diet. Largely subsiding on chocolate, tea and fast food through much of 1982, she did overhaul her eating habits in the period afterwards; she also took up dance instruction again – she was not dancing as often during 1980-1982 than she had been from 1978-1979. Whereas she was making The Dreaming in a dingy London studio through 1982 (and in 1980 and 1981), Bush built her own studio to professional specifications this time around.

One can imagine the scenes and sights whilst Bush and Palmer (largely) were making The Dreaming in a very small space. The intensity, experimentation and darker colours of The Dreaming were a world away from the natural world-influenced, brighter and happier sounds of Hounds of Love. 1983 was a very important and productive year for Bush. She and Palmer moved into a seventeenth-century farmhouse in the Kent countryside, which was not far from Central London and Wickham Farm (her family site in East Wickham, Welling). Bush described her new farmhouse thus: “I’m sure there’s a kind of force, a magnetic energy saying, ‘Come in, we’re meant for each other” (page 199, Kate Bush: Under the Ivy; quote source: The Times, 27th August, 1985). Maybe the romance of stumbling upon an idyllic farmhouse was slightly exaggerated, but the clean air of the country and the influence of nature and the open space was something Bush responded to very positively. In 1983, she spent a summer out of the house – something, as she said, “I didn’t do for several years” (page 200, Kate Bush: Under the Ivy; quote source: Fachblatt Musikmagazin, November 1985). The image of Kate Bush gardening and not toiling in the studio was a rare and welcomed sight! She had failed to ease into a balanced and rounded life since 1978. As Kate Bush: Under the Ivy explains (on page 200), Bush and Palmer’s relationship was more committed and, during a rare radio phone-in on 29th July, 1983 (the day before her twenty-fifth birthday), she revealed that Del was her boyfriend.

ART CREDIT: Noelle McClanahan Broughton

I can guess any domestic time she and Palmer shared prior to 1983 was quite short; meals were very samey and, largely, unhealthy…and there would be little time to enjoy time outside – although the hustle and grime of London is not especially beckoning! Bush had a London home in Eltham as a base, but she was not often found there. After 1979’s Tour of Life, she was more often found in the studio, so taking up dance again was a big step (no pun intended). Before the run-up to Hounds of Love, a lot of her dance routines were assembled on tour vans and in rushed moments. Now, she was getting g fit again and enjoying a more regular routine of dance. Not only did the smiling nature encourage songwriting and inspiration; physical movement played its part. The Dreaming was quite gloomy and raw; Hounds of Love is an album of brighter colours - as Graeme Thomson explains in Kate Bush: Under the Ivy: (Hounds of Love was) “decked out in greens, lights blues, dusky purple and silvers” (page 202). I will come to her professional pursuits of 1983 very soon but, in terms of harmony and comfort, it seems like the year was one for change. “For me, it’s like 1976”, she wrote to her fan club in the summer of 1983. “It was a particularly special year, when things were full of adventure…I feel in many ways that ’76 and this year linked it together for me” (page 202, Kate Bush: Under the Ivy; quote source: ibid). Bush returned to making music at East Wickham Farm, and she invested in a 48-track studio in the barn at the farm.

PHOTO CREDIT: Denis Oregan

She equipped her recording space with a Soundcraft mixing desk, two Studer A80 24-track machines, along with compressors, emulators and a Fairlight (taking influence from Peter Gabriel, who sort of introduced Bush to the ground-breaking technology years previous). Although there was a slight distance between Bush and her record label EMI by 1983, she was becoming more comfortable around technology – in no small part due to her new happiness and setting -, and she definitely wanted to produce. The idea of Bush producing another album alone after The Dreaming’s poor (ish) sales performance was not overly-welcomed by EMI – one of the first times Bush had faced real push and doubt from the label. By autumn of 1983, Bush had her studio completed, and there were not the same pressures she felt beforehand regarding cost and time schedules. Whereas studios like Abbey Road could charge £90 an hour, having her own studio was a huge money-saver and lifeline. If EMI were unhappy with Bush’s production ambitions and the fact a new album was not instantly on the cards, they could not object to her new-found happiness and autonomy – they would not have to spend quite so much money on Hounds of Love had Bush recorded it all at a professional studio. With a room that looked out on trees, birds and the countryside, Bush has a perfect view in which to dream and create some of the best music of her career. Kate Bush and Del Palmer worked up most of Hounds of Love between the summer and autumn of 1983.

Rather than discarding demos and working on final versions later, demos were kept and worked on at East Wickham Farm for the final versions. In the summer of 1983, Running Up That Hill (originally entitled A Deal with God; the title was changed, as the mention of ‘God’ was seen as blasphemous/controversial by religious organisations and bodies in the U.S. and, as Bush was looking for more exposure there, she begrudgingly changed the song’s title). Most of the remainder of Hounds of Love was written by the end of 1983. As Hounds of Love turns thirty-five in September, I think it is important to note Bush’s change of environment from 1983. I am not going to get into the blow-by-blow diary of Hounds of Love, but Bush worked up the twelve tracks from Hounds of Love and B-sides by the end of the year – the album itself was recorded between January 1984 – June 1985. Bush played her new tracks to Paul Hardiman (engineer) on 6th October, 1983, as he visited the newly-constructed farm studio for the first time. Hardiman engineered the first stages of Hounds of Love; sessions began on 4th November and, between 7th November and 8th December, they began working on backing tracks. When it came to transitioning from the fatigue of The Dreaming in 1982 (and the recording and writing in the months and years prior to that) to the germination and development of Hounds of Love in 1983, Kate Bush was a very different woman – healthier, happier, more confident and enjoying the benefits of country air, love and family.

IN THIS PHOTO: Kate Bush and some canine friends in an outtake from the Hounds of Love photo session/PHOTO CREDIT: John Carder Bush

Not only was Bush laying the foundations for Hounds of Love in 1983; there were a couple of different releases that arrived that year too. Before I mention them, take a listen to this interview here:

“In this 1983 interview Kate talks about the 1979 video to her UK concerts. The videos were released in the US in 1983 with the intention to help promote her music there and reflected performances of songs from her first two albums, The Kick Inside and Lionheart.

In the interview Kate talks about what inspires her to write and where the ideas come from and how she discovered dance which has become a feature of her live and recorded performance”.

Kate Bush’s eponymous E.P. arrived on 15th June, 1983 (you can check it out here; it was released by EMI in the United States to promote Bush, who was relatively unknown there at that time. It peaked at 148 in the US Billboard Pop Albums chart. The E.P. was also released in Canada, but with an extra song. The E.P. was in the U.S. press. "An excellent, if somewhat schizophrenic, introduction to British singer Bush" wrote Alex Cain in Pulse! (August 1983). J.D. Considine wrote in Musician, in September 1983: "An easy introduction, at the same time it introduces (...) a number of Kate Bush's failings". If the reviews were mixed, it was important to have a release for the North American market. Fans were aware of her there, but Hounds of Love was the first of her studio albums that made a big impression – The Dreaming reached 157 on the US Billboard 200; Hounds of Love reached 30 on the same chart.

In an interview with Brian Berry from Wireless in September 1983, we learn more about the E.P. and Bush’s feelings towards it:

“Capital/EMI America's latest attempt to bring Kate Bush's music to a wider audience is in the form of a "mini-album" simply titled, "Kate Bush". Kate hails from England and has been an international sensation since her first album, The Kick Inside, was released in 1978. However, in America her music has only been enjoyed by a small, but devoted cult following. The "mini-album" contains no new material, but rather it includes five songs previous [sic previously] available on three of her previous recordings. The album had been timed to coincide with a visit by Kate to the States last June. A massive promotion via the press had been planned. However, the visit was postponed due to transportation problems that arose. I asked Kate about the five songs and if she felt that they were fully representative of her work. "Quite honestly, I don't think I would have chosen those five. It has very much to do with the record company and what they see a market for. I did want "Sat In Your Lap" to be on there. It's also quite nice to get the French song on there 'cause I quite like that." The French song is a new version of "The Infant Kiss", which originally appeared in English on her third album Never For Ever. The French version, as it turned out, was targeted for the Canadian record market.

"I think there's so much aimed at the Canadian market where there's a French population and the song was especially done for the French people, so it made sense to put in on the Canadian version." The "mini" concept is something that Capital/EMI has had substantial success with in breaking new or unknown artists. Thomas Dolby, Missing Persons, and Duran Duran are but some of the acts that have been established through this approach. The record is lower priced and is appealing to a customer that may want to sample an artist's work. This is a welcome idea if it will help sell Kate's music to the masses”.

If Kate Bush is inessential in terms of her cannon, it was important to make her better-known to U.S. and Canadian audiences. The tracklist was as follows:

Side one

Sat in Your Lap

James and the Cold Gun (live, taken from the On Stage EP)

Ne t'enfuis pas (only on Canadian version)

Side two

Babooshka

Suspended in Gaffa

Un baiser d'enfant (French recording of The Infant Kiss)

The Single File video was also released in 1983 (a box-set was released in 1984). It contains all of her music videos, from Wuthering Heights, to There Goes A Tenner. The compilation was originally slated for release in April 1983 - it was then put back until June 1983. In the end, the video was released at the end of November. There was a strong poster campaign in London in support of this release too.

PHOTO CREDIT: Getty Images

Three personal appearances were planned in co-operation with the retailer, WHSmith: 7th December, 1983 in Cardiff; 8th December, 1983 in Kingston-upon-Thames, and 9th December, 1983 in London's Holborn Kingsway. The first one was aborted when Kate missed the train to Cardiff and then got on another one heading in the wrong direction: fortunately, the other two went ahead as planned. Although Bush was not gigging or releasing new material in 1983 – although The Dreaming’s Night of the Swallow was put out as a single on 21st November, 1983 –, she was busy preparing a new album and promoting a couple of releases to widen her popularity and push her music to new territories. In spite of the fact it is rarely talked about, 1983 was a busy and transformative year for Kate Bush - she began recording demos for Hounds of Love in January 1984. Few in the media knew what changes she was making and what was coming together in these relaxed and idyllic settings! I can understand why EMI were sceptical regarding Bush helming her fifth studio album but, as we know, that gamble paid off handsomely! In a Q Magazine interview of December 1993, Bush reacted to The Dreaming and her experiences with it:

"I look back at that record and it seems mad," she says now. "I heard it about three years ago and couldn't believe it. There's a lot of anger in it. There's a lot of 'I'm an artist, right!'" Fingers burned by the experience of The Dreaming, she decided that a studio of her own and a retreat into her domestic shell was a priority. Thus was ushered in a period of stability from whence came the enormously successful Hounds of Love and, in 1990 [1989], The Sensual World. These later records reflected her growing interest in the studio as a compositional tool and her growing desire to stay well out of the public eye”.

IN THIS PHOTO: Kate Bush photographed for The Dreaming in 1982/PHOTO CREDIT: Guido Harari

I can understand why, post-Hounds of Love, Bush felt that The Dreaming was her going a bit mad. Although, that said, Aristotle was very wise when it came to the subject of madness: “No great mind has ever existed without a touch of madness”. Although some corners of the media were not completely seduced by Kate Bush in 1983, I think a lot of people were discovering her music off the back of The Dreaming and the E.P. release in North America. Though 1983 was not the most important and game-changing year for Bush, I think it was a time when she made some huge decisions and embarked on the finest and most successful stage of her career. It is clear the creation of Hounds of Love was a very happy space. Bush, as this article explains – would take her time recording future albums and not burn herself out with promotion:

“We had lovely times,” says Haydn Bendall. “You walked through the garden into the kitchen: all the family’s business and conversations took place around this huge kitchen table. [Her brother] Paddy was always around, and the two dogs were there, Bonnie and Clyde, the hounds of love on the album’s cover. There were pigeons and doves all over the place, her dad smoking his pipe and her mum making sandwiches. It was idyllic.”

If The Dreaming had been uneasily ahead of its time, on Hounds Of Love Bush seemed effortlessly attuned to the mood music of the mid-’80s: big hair, slick technology, irresistible hooks married to an insistent rhythmic pulse. Melodic and diamond hard, it was a bewitching alchemy of lean pop classicism and intrepid, occasionally unhinged experimentation. Not only was it a superb artistic statement, it was cleverly constructed, front-loaded with the most accessible songs before introducing the more demanding “Ninth Wave” material.

Ever since, she has recorded new material at her own pace in her own studio, releasing it with increasingly little fanfare or promotion and then promptly vanishing again for lengthy intervals. She may now be a negligible physical presence in the pop firmament, but 25 years after its completion, Hounds Of Love still casts a magical spell, and having a hand in its creation remains a high watermark for all those involved”.

I have huge admiration for The Dreaming and the singles Kate Bush put out in 1982 but, clearly, she worked herself to the bone to get it made in her own image. The subsequent mixed reviews and poor sales (for the singles at least) must have dented her confidence somewhat. Other artists would have taken years to recover and toiled to make an album that was as personal and original as The Dreaming, but one which would sell better and find them back in the critical good books. Three years after The Dreaming was put out into the world, Bush delivered her most successful and well-received album. After a tough and tiring 1982, she was keen to revitalise and rejuvenate, not only as an artist but as a person. More relaxed, working at her own speed; a brighter, calmer and more inspired artist emerged – aided and augmented by the picturesque surroundings of her countryside residence. In a way, the year 1983 was the warm and promising spring…     

IN THIS PHOTO: Kate Bush as a nun in 1983/PHOTO CREDIT: Brian Griffin

AFTER a long and slightly cold winter.

FEATURE: A Groundbreaking Stage Revolution: Kate Bush’s Tour of Life

FEATURE:

 

A Groundbreaking Stage Revolution

IN THIS PHOTO: Kate Bush during the Tour of Life in Hammersmith in May 1979/PHOTO CREDIT: Max Browne

Kate Bush’s Tour of Life

___________

BETWEEN 2nd April and 14th May, 1979…

IN THIS PHOTO: Kate Bush during the Tour of Life in Hammersmith in May 1979/PHOTO CREDIT: Max Browne

Kate Bush embarked on the mighty Tour of Life. I am revisiting it again (I wrote a feature last year), as this is an aspect of Bush’s career that is not discussed much. I am going to bring in a couple of articles concerning her Tour of Life but, as recently as the start of the previous decade, people were talking about this extravaganza as a one-off; would she ever get back on the stage? Of course, in 2014, she shocked everyone but announcing a residency at in London – yet again, she produced this visual feast that was so different to any other live event. Though Bush was nervous about performing again, she managed to equal the genius of her Tour of Life with 2014’s Before the Dawn. Whilst some reviews of her first big live foray were not entirely glowing, there were plenty of people who witnessed the tour who were blown away. Maybe some of the sets and concepts lacked cohesiveness and were a bit too out-there; perhaps there was a sense of style over substance at times. Bush felt, prior to the Tour of Life, that many acts were simply turning up, playing their latest album, and then leaving the stage. Her tour broke moulds and boundaries when it came to explore what a Pop concert could be.

IN THIS PHOTO: Kate Bush during the Tour of Life in 1979/PHOTO CREDIT: Getty Images/EMI

Sure, artists like David Bowie were combining dance, theatre and music in a very original way, but Bush went one step further. Her ambitions were big, and her performances were exhilarating. She pioneered the now-ubiquitous head microphone (as she could not hold a microphone and dance/sing at the same time) and redefined what a live show could be. Before I move on, here is some detailed information regarding the Tour of Life and where it took Kate and her crew:

“The Tour of Life, also known as the Lionheart Tour or even the Kate Bush Tour, was Kate Bush's first, and until recently only, series of live concerts. The name, 'Tour of Life', was not coined until after its completion, with all promotional material referring to it simply as the Kate Bush Tour.

Consisting of 24 performances from Bush's first two studio albums The Kick Inside and Lionheart, it was acclaimed for its incorporation of mime, magic, and readings during costume changes. The simple staging also involved rear-screen projection and the accompaniment of two male dancers. The tour was a critical and commercial success, with most dates selling out and additional shows being added due to high demand. Members of the Kate Bush Club were provided with a guaranteed ticket.

The shows featured almost all the songs from Kate Bush's two albums, divided into three 'Acts', in the following order:

Act 1

Moving

Saxophone Song

Room For The Life

Them Heavy People

The Man With The Child In His Eyes

Egypt

L'amour Looks Something Like You

Violin

The Kick Inside

Act 2

In The Warm Room

Fullhouse

Strange Phenomena

Hammer Horror

Kashka From Baghdad

Don't Push Your Foot On The Heartbrake

Act 3

Wow

Coffee Homeground

Symphony In Blue

Feel It

Kite

James And The Cold Gun

Encore

Oh England My Lionheart

Wuthering Heights

IN THIS PHOTO: Kate Bush during the Tour of Life in Hammersmith in May 1979/PHOTO CREDIT: Max Browne

Tour dates

2 April 1979: Arts Centre, Poole (UK)

3 April 1979: Empire, Liverpool (UK)

4 April 1979: Hippodrome, Birmingham (UK)

5 April 1979: Hippodrome, Birmingham (UK)

6 April 1979: New Theatre, Oxford (UK)

7 April 1979: Gaumont, Southampton (UK)

9 April 1979: Hippodrom, Bristol (UK)

10 April 1979: Apollo Theatre, Manchester (UK)

11 April 1979: Apollo Theatre, Manchester (UK)

12 April 1979: Empire Theatre, Sunderland (UK)

13 April 1979: Usher Hall, Edinburgh (UK)

16 April 1979: Palladium, London (UK)

17 April 1979: Palladium, London (UK)

18 April 1979: Palladium, London (UK)

19 April 1979: Palladium, London (UK)

20 April 1979: Palladium, London (UK)

24 April 1979: Konserthuset, Stockholm (Sweden)

26 April 1979: Falkoner Theatre, Copenhagen (Denmark)

IN THIS PHOTO: Kate Bush during the Tour of Life in Hammersmith in May 1979/PHOTO CREDIT: Max Browne

28 April 1979: Congress Centrum, Hamburg (Germany)

29 April 1979: Theater Carré, Amsterdam (Netherlands)

2 May 1979: Liederhalle, Stuttgart (Germany)

3 May 1979: Circus Krone, Munich (Germany)

6 May 1979: Théâtre des Champs-Elysées, Paris (France)

7 May 1979: Mercatorhalle, Duisburg (Germany)

8 May 1979: Rosengarten, Mannheim (Germany)

10 May 1979: Jahrhunderthalle, Frankfurt (Germany)

12 May 1979: Hammersmith Odeon, London (UK)

13 May 1979: Hammersmith Odeon, London (UK)

14 May 1979: Hammersmith Odeon, London (UK)

On 24, 26, 28 and 29 April, In the Warm Room, Kite, Oh England My Lionheart, and Wuthering Heights were dropped from the set because Kate was suffering from a throat infection.

The 12 May concert had a very different setlist because this was a benefit performance 'In Aid Of Bill Duffield', featuring guest stars Steve Harley and Peter Gabriel.

'Fullhouse' was not performed on 13 and 14 May”.

I am not sure what preparation is needed for traditional live shows, but I know full well the major artists who tour arenas can spend months rehearsing and planning a show. I know there are artists who are quite-hands off when it comes to lighting, costume and every aspect of a show: Kate Bush, by contrast, was hugely involved with her first live tour, and it was a real labour of love for her. This NME article reveals Tour of Life’s scale and cost:

“Preparations for the dates, named The Tour Of Life, began in late December 1978, spending three months between January and March in intensive dance classes, choreographing the production.

With a cast of 13 dancers and musicians, plus a 40-strong behind-the-scenes crew, each show cost more than £10,000 a night to stage.

“People said I couldn’t gig, and I proved them wrong,” said Bush after gushing reviews for the tour”.

It is amazing watching video clips and the documentary about the Tour of Life; not just seeing how much effort was put in to achieve the final show, but the ecstatic reaction of the audiences. I cannot really understand any critic who gave the tour short shrift as, in 1979, the world had not realty seen a show like it – to be fair, few artists have matched the Tour of Life since then!

IN THIS PHOTO: Kate Bush during the Tour of Life in Hammersmith in May 1979/PHOTO CREDIT: Max Browne

I am fascinated learning about the months before the show and how hard Bush worked to do something completely different. Her debut album, The Kick Inside, was well-received and remains this remarkable album. She also released her second album in 1978, Lionheart. This was more rushed, as her label (EMI) wanted to capitalise on her success and, as such, she could not do justice to her potential and talent in such a short space. Although Bush wrote every song on her first two albums, she did not produce them; she felt like she was more part of the machine; a spectator rather than an artist taking control and releasing an album in her own vision. The Tour of Life was a chance, not only to embark on her first tour, but to create something where she had more say and direction. Louder Sound talk about the sheer effort Bush expended realising her dream:

“But in many other respects, the tour was utterly grounded in reality. The singer spent six months beforehand working herself to the bone as she attempted to forge a brand new model of what a live show could be, then another two months doing the same as she took it around Britain and Europe. And it was hit by tragedy when lighting engineer Bill Duffield was killed in an accident after a warm-up show, his death almost bringing the whole juggernaut to a halt before it had even started.

But all that was in the future when the idea for the tour was conceived. Ironically, Bush herself was the first to admit that there was no need for her to do it. “There’s no pressure,” she said in 1979. “But I do feel that I owe people a chance to see me in the flesh. It’s the only opportunity they have without media obstruction.”

IN THIS PHOTO: Kate Bush in 1979/PHOTO CREDIT: EMI

EMI were unsure what the show would involve, so the costs were reportedly split between the label and Bush herself. In return, they got an artist who threw everything into her biggest endeavour so far.

“She was very determined about how her music was presented and performed – that was pretty obvious from her first album,” says Southall. “So no one saw any reason to step in and stop it. The rock’n’roll story was that you put singles out, you put albums out, you went on Top Of The Pops, you toured. But she wasn’t prepared to do the conventional thing.”

In fact no one realised just how unconventional it would be – with its choreography, dancers, props, multiple costume changes, poetry and in-house magician, there was no precedent with which it could be compared. 

On an ever-shifting stage of which only a central ramp was the sole constant physical factor, Bush was a human conductor’s baton leading the entire show. As the scenery shifted through the opening Moving, Room For The Life and Them Heavy People, so did the costumes – and the atmosphere.

IN THIS PHOTO: Kate Bush during the Tour of Life in Hammersmith in May 1979/PHOTO CREDIT: Max Browne

“I saw our show as not just people on stage playing the music, but as a complete experience,” she later explained. “A lot of people would say ‘Pooah!’ but for me that’s what it was. Like a play.”

Indeed it was – or perhaps several plays in one. On Egypt, she emerged dressed as a seductive Cleopatra. On Strange Phenomena, she was a magician in top hat and tails, dancing with a pair of spacemen. Former single Hammer Horror replicated the video, with a black-clad Bush dancing with a sinister, black-masked figure behind her, while Oh England My Lionheart cast her as a World War II pilot.

Like every actor, she was surrounded by a cast of strong supporting characters. As well as dancers Stewart Avon Arnold and Gary Hurst, several songs featured magician Simon Drake, who performed his signature ‘floating cane’ trick during L’Amour Looks Something Like You. And then there was her brother, John Carder Bush, who recited his own poetry before The Kick Inside, Symphony In Blue (fused with elements of experimental composer Erik Satie’s Gymnopédie 1) and the inevitable encore, Wuthering Heights.

IN THIS PHOTO: Kate Bush during the Tour of Life in Hammersmith in May 1979/PHOTO CREDIT: Max Browne

But at the heart of it all was Bush, whirling and waving, reaching for the sky one moment, swooping to the floor the next. Occasionally she looked like she was concentrating on what was coming next. More often, she looked lost in the moment.

“When I perform, that’s just something that happens in me,” she later said. “It just takes over, you know. It’s like suddenly feeling that you’ve leapt into another structure, almost like another person, and you just do it”.

I have selected a few passages from that article, because it highlights a few things about Kate Bush and the Tour of Life. For one, she was not a conventional artist who was going to do things in the traditional manner. She was (and is) a passionate and ambitious artist who was not going to be defined and limited by what came before. The fact that she invested so much of her own money into the tour showed just what it meant. Performance was a release and something hugely freeing for Bush. The fact she did not do another huge run of shows like the Tour of Life until 2014 is not because she disliked the experience. The Tour of Life was exhausting and involved a lot of travel; it took huge preparation, and she was eager to get down to recording albums as the tour ended (she was talking about the possibility of another big show/tour in 1993, but it never materialised). Forty-one years since she took this incredible spectacle around Europe, people are still referencing it as a groundbreaking and landmark event. It is almost a tragedy Bush never toured again after 1979 (Before the Dawn was a residency), but I can understand her desire to record and focus more on the studio. Kate Bush is a truly unique artist, and the epic Tour of Life is a live experience…   

IN THIS PHOTO: Kate Bush during the Tour of Life in Hammersmith in May 1979/PHOTO CREDIT: Max Browne

LIKE no other.

FEATURE: Kate Bush: Beautiful Phenomena: Turning the Pages of Gered Mankowitz’s WOW! and Guido Harari’s The Kate Inside

FEATURE: 

Kate Bush: Beautiful Phenomena

IN THIS PHOTO: A sample photographic extract from Gered Mankowitz’s WOW!

Turning the Pages of Gered Mankowitz’s WOW! and Guido Harari’s The Kate Inside

___________

ONE can forgive…

PHOTO CREDIT: Guido Harari

another Kate Bush feature so close to the last one. Whilst my last feature related to her track, Breathing, turning forty, this is more of a general appreciation. Actually, that is slightly off the mark; there is a timeliness. I have written before about Kate Bush in front of the camera. I have Kate: Inside the Rainbow, which is a collection of photos and notes from her brother, John Carder Bush. That book was released in 2015, and you can buy it here. Carder Bush was interviewed about the book, and it is a fantastically personal and revealing look at a musical genius from childhood to the current time. I think it is amazing there are several photographic collections and books dedicated to Kate Bush. Clearly, there is something about her that drew photographers in and made for incredible collaborations. I – like all of Bush’s fans – have been waiting Gered Mankowitz’s book, Kate Bush: Symphony of You. It was due last year (I am not sure why the release was delayed), and it is a collection of photographs that many people have not seen:

“From the blurb: “Symphony of You is a complete celebration of Kate Bush – her music, her look, her impact, her creativity. Showcasing hundreds of Gered Mankowitz’s breathtaking photographs from the early years of Kate’s career, the majority of the images in this book have never been seen outside of the author’s own private works. The book also features essays from authors across a number of disciplines – from best-selling novelists and award-winning musicians to academics – offering their opinions on how Kate has shaped the cultural landscape. Symphony of You is a truly special collection, and a homage to a unique artist”

IN THIS PHOTO: Guido Harari (left) with Kate Bush and Lindsey Kemp/PHOTO CREDIT: Guido Harari

You can pre-order the book, and I am not sure whether the coronavirus crisis will delay the release date in September – one hopes not. Looking at the Kate Bush News website, and there has been this whisper of another possible book emerging:

“Also in the works is a new book by photographer Max Browne, no publishing date yet. He took some great photos of Kate on her 1979 tour – see examples at his site here”.

Look at Max Browne’s website here that includes some gorgeous shots of Bush as she performed on that ground-breaking 1979 tour. I would love to see a photo book, as her Tour of Life was such a visual feast; this young performer creating something magnificent on stage. I will come to a Gered Mankowitz book that I yearn to own – I think the upcoming book from him is sort of a reduced and smaller version of the one I will highlight…it will all make sense. I am writing this feature as Kate Bush, more than most artists who have ever come, manages to steal the heart when she is being photographed. The fact that there are books with images of her shows that, truly, she had this magnetic quality. Look online for images of her, and one is smitten and intrigued by the sheer range of images from 1978 through to 2011. There are two very important – and mighty expensive – volumes of photography that I wanted to highlight; it is a sense of Bush being turned into works of art.

PHOTO CREDIT: Guido Harari

I love a normal hardback book of photographs, and Kate Bush: Symphony of You will be a real treat for fans of Kate Bush and newcomers alike. The Kate Inside is Guido Harari’s photos of Bush from 1982-1993 (that covers the release of The Dreaming (1982), Hounds of Love (1985), The Sensual World (1989), and The Red Shoes (1993). You can check out the Facebook page that gives more details about the book/project; this is something that so many fans want to possess. Not only do we get these rare and incredible photos documenting an artist who was, in the period between 1982-1993, one of the most in-demand and popular artists in the country. Go to the Wall of Sound Gallery, and one can marvel:

“The Kate Inside, Guido Harari’s lavish tribute to one of the world’s greatest music geniuses, is finally happening to ya!

As you know, Guido’s collaboration with Kate Bush spans from 1982 to 1993. During that period he was invited by Kate to shoot her official press photos for landmark albums like Hounds Of Love, The Sensual World and The Red Shoes, including a completely never-before-seen reportage on the set of Kate’s film The Line, The Cross & The Curve.

Accompanied by Guido’s own commentary, The Kate Inside is packed with over 300 photographs from his extensive Kate Bush archives. They include all of Guido’s classic images of Kate, a wealth of outtakes, contact sheets, unseen photographs and other materials (including test Polaroids and personal notes by Kate) that are showcased here for the first time.

Such an expensive project has been made possible by a crowdfunding we’ve launched from this website in September 2015. The campaign was successfully completed on March 31, 2016. Our heartfelt thanks have gone to everyone who believed in our project: their names are featured in a special "Acknowledgments" section in the book.

THE BOOK

DELUXE EDITION (copies 1-350) - 520€

REGULAR EDITION (copies 351-1500) - 120€

The Kate Inside is a limited edition book of 1500 copies worldwide. It's available both as a Deluxe Edition (copies numbered 1-350, signed by Guido Harari and Lindsay Kemp) and a Regular one (copies numbered 351-1500, signed by Guido).

The 240 pages hard-bound book measures an awesome 29x39cm (11"x15" ca) and has been printed on heavy-weight paper and bound by Grafiche Milani, the master printers in Milano who print luxurious editions for many major international publishers.

THE DELUXE EDITION

The Deluxe Edition is limited to the first 350 copies, all personally signed by both Guido and Kate’s legendary mentor Lindsay Kemp, who has also written a special foreword for the book.

Presented in a solander slip case, the Deluxe feature extra pages!

It also includes a 24x30cm (10"x11") signed/numbered fine art pigment print (unique to this edition and unavailable elsewhere) as well as a set of 8 replica Polaroids (14x18cm/5,3"x7,3", unsigned and non editioned). These are replicas of the actual Polaroids used by Guido with Kate on the 1985 and 1989 shoots and have never been seen before. They are only available as part of the Deluxe Edition”.

PHOTO CREDIT: Guido Harari

The book is expensive, yes, but I have been seriously considering! One can get some of the photos online, but it is not the same as seeing the image large and in a book; the physical sensation of holding these images. Between 1982-1993, Bush transformed from this artist near her peak in 1982 (on The Dreaming) to her apex, Hounds of Love; into the rather difficult 1993 – The Red Shoes did not receive as much as love as it deserves…and the film, The Line, The Cross & The Curve, received some negative feedback (in addition, Bush broke up with her long-time boyfriend, Del Palmer, and her mother died (on 14th February, 1992). Kate Bush gave plenty of interviews during the time period Harari explores in his book, but there is something about photography that tells its own story – the whole story, as it were. Great volumes like The Kate Inside can be treasured and kept; it is almost like the photographic equivalent of vinyl. Rather than streaming through tracks, vinyl offers something real and more substantial. Likewise, a book of photographs is a wonderfully rich and engrossing thing; one can leaf through the pages, look at the images and imagine the scenes and conversations around the photo. There is another equally-impressive Kate Bush photographic monument that I am keen to own. Although Guido Harari’s The Kate Inside and Gered Mankowitz’s WOW! are not brand-new, they are both available and as relevant as ever! I am not sure whether Mankowitz’s Symphony of You will feature photos from WOW!, but I will be interested to see.

PHOTO CREDIT: Gered Mankowitz

The period between 1978-1979, I think, is one of the most formative and important when we think of Kate Bush. Bush released The Kick Inside, her debut album, in 1978, and quickly followed that up with Lionheart later that year – and album that was not received as fondly. Bush then took her Tour of Life on the road in 1979. That period of less than two years was a frantic one for an artist who captured the curiosity of the world and was exploring just where her incredible passion and gift could take her. Whilst one can peruse WOW!’s photos online, the actual book itself is a work that is made with love and real commitment: 

 “WOW! Kate Bush by Gered Mankowitz features the very best work from Gered Mankowitz’s incredible 1978 / 1979 archive of Kate Bush photographs, with the majority of photographs previously unpublished. Each copy is personally signed by Gered Mankowitz.

As with all previous Ormond Yard Press volumes, it is a book on a spectacular scale: a hardcover volume housed in its own printed slipcase and measuring 24 inches high x 18 inches wide (60x45cm) when closed, 24 x 36 inches (60 x 90cm) when open, with 96 pages of photographs. The physical scale may be large, but the edition size for WOW! is reassuringly small – just 750 individually signed and numbered copies are available to collectors worldwide.

WOW! is in stock and shipping now

The final copies of WOW!  to complete the edition are in stock

Quantities are limited so if you do want one, we recommend you put your order in to avoid disappointment.

WOW! costs £ 395 (plus overseas shipping if required.)

PHOTO CREDIT: Gered Mankowitz

Why should you buy this book?

“Kate was a wonderful subject and I worked with her over several sessions throughout 1978 and into 79. She was always a delight and an inspiration to work with. I am immensely proud of the work I have done with her and will always be grateful to have been associated with such a gifted artist from the very beginning of her long and important career. I am tremendously excited to be launching WOW! and hope that it excites you too”  Gered Mankowitz

WOW! is a book on a spectacular scale: an ultra-large-format 96 page limited edition hardcover which measures 24 inches high x 18 inches wide (60x45cm) when closed. When the book is open, a double page spread measures 24 inches high by 36 inches wide (60cm x 90cm). The physical size of WOW! may be large, but the edition size is reassuringly low. Just 750 are being offered for sale worldwide.

WOW! includes approximately 250 images, and contains the very best material from Gered Mankowitz’s archive of Kate Bush photographs. The vast majority of photographs are previously unpublished. The book is housed in a handsome printed slipcase, and each copy is personally signed by Gered.

WOW! defies the normal ‘coffee table’ convention. Much larger than a traditional coffee table volume, it is slim and elegant at the same time. WOW! is housed in a beautiful custom slipcase which reproduces the front and back book cover art. All our publications seek to redefine the book as more than just a book – and as a piece of art in its own right. With this in mind, the cover of the book and slipcase have been deliberately left free of text so that nothing detracts from the power of the images.

PHOTO CREDIT: Gered Mankowitz

Why is this book important?

Why is this book important? Because something revelatory happens when a photograph is presented in a very large format like this. Hidden details come to light, and the power and impact of the image are magnified exponentially. Unless you go to a gallery and see a large format print on the wall, you can’t experience this. WOW! is like an entire art gallery exhibition that you get to take home and keep forever.

Our publishing arm, Ormond Yard Press, was established to bring to life a carefully curated series of spectacular large format limited edition photography books and has an express, and quite literal aim, of bringing you the bigger picture.

Each of our books focuses on a key moment or personality in the history of popular culture, and showcases the work of a photographer at the very top of his or her profession. We wanted to give these subjects the epic treatment they deserved, in a physical scale that was missing from traditional photo book publishing. 

PHOTO CREDIT: Gered Mankowitz

WOW! facts and figures

This ultra-large-format book measures a staggering 18 x 24 inches (45 x 60cm) when closed, and 36 x 24 inches (90 x 60cm) when open.

WOW! has 96 large format pages, with approximately 250 stunning black and white and colour photographs, reproduced in sizes up to 24×36 inches (60x90cm), together with an introductory essay by Gered Mankowitz, and is limited to 750 individually signed and numbered copies worldwide.

WOW! is housed in a custom protective slipcase, with front and back cover artwork showing two of Gered’s best loved photographs of Kate Bush.

An optional acrylic slide-in slide-out wall unit allows you to display WOW! on your wall”.

Whilst WOW! is another quite expensive book, it is worth owning if you are a fan of Kate Bush. I might have to choose between WOW!, and The Kate Inside when it comes to the big-money purchase, but I love how there are two works that catalogue different time periods in Kate Bush’s career. Some fans have bought WOW! - and the excitement of owning the book must be immense! Whilst we might see another Mankowitz book of Bush photographs in the autumn, there are these incredible works out in the ether already.

PHOTO CREDIT: Guido Harari

To finish off, I want to bring in an interview The Big Issue conducted with Mankowitz in 2014, as he promoted the collection of photos that he took of Bush between 1978-1979. Mankowitz discusses the shoot for the Wuthering Heights – and a famous leotard shot -; but he talks about Bush’s magnetism and sense of allure:

“She could just look at the camera you would melt. You sense that she was really special and felt Wuthering Heights was going to be a big hit and I know that EMI was going to really get behind it. What nobody knew was how huge she would be and how important.

I had worked with a lot of people who had become incredibly successful for one reason or another – The Rolling Stones, Jimi Hendrix, who had that same charisma and presence as Kate, as did Annie Lennox and Suzi Quattro. What you recognise is talent and charisma but that doesn’t necessarily turn into longevity.

We know you’re going to move from one single, one album to the next and hope that the artist and everything in their support structure around them is going to remain intact and supportive, and that the artist will build a fan base that is solid enough to support them.

The one thing that was very clear was here was a very individual and unique special artist. There’s always terrible pressure on people especially if your first record is a huge hit. I don’t think that any of her records have been as big as Wuthering Heights but she’s big enough, talented enough and clever enough not to be overwhelmed by the success.

IN THIS PHOTO: Kate Bush captured during the Wuthering Heights shoot in 1978/PHOTO CREDIT: Gered Mankowitz

She would appear to be completely in control of her career, and she’s managed to maintain her privacy. When she makes an appearance [in public] she’s thought about it, and considered it, and the response to it is always huge.

The one picture that in a way is inescapable is the pink leotard Wuthering Heights picture. It’s one of those pictures that become iconic and represents so much, and that doesn’t happen very often. It has a life of its own and it has energy. I think it’s a beautiful portrait of a very beautiful young woman.

There is no doubt about Kate Bush’s popularity and appeal from a photographic viewpoint. I think we often discuss Bush in terms of the music and her videos, but there are few articles shored up that spotlight photos of her and how stunning her photoshoots are. I have written a couple of articles, but as I am so enamoured of these vast works by Guido Harari and Gered Mankowitz (you can see some photos here). I wanted to talk about them and reiterate what a transfixing presence Kate Bush is when she is away from the music and giving us these iconic and memorable images. If you want a deeper understanding of Kate Bush, I would recommend The Kate Inside, and WOW! They might seem pricey – you get good value for money – but, as they are these illustrative and passionate photographic collects concerning one of music’s most original and beloved artists, I think they are…

WORTH the investment..

FEATURE: A Foetus's Perspective of Nuclear Holocaust: Kate Bush’s Breathing at Forty

FEATURE:

 

A Foetus's Perspective of Nuclear Holocaust

Kate Bush’s Breathing at Forty

___________

THERE is never any shortage of…

Kate Bush-related things to explore and, in the coming weeks, I have a few things to tick off the list. Right now, an important song of hers is turning forty. Breathing was released on 14th April, 1980, and it is from her album, Never for Ever. Some might query why Breathing is such an important work. Bush has songs in her cannon that are more celebrated and finer – including Wuthering Heights, and Running Up That Hill (A Deal with God) -, but there was this very noticeable and important growth that occurred in 1980. What propelled this shift? Well, Kate Bush is an artist who always likes to move and never likes to repeat herself. After Lionheart in 1978 – her second album -, and the Tour of Life of 1979, there was this feeling of taking a step in a new direction. Her first two albums, The Kick Inside (1978), and Lionheart, are defined by a very distinct vocal sound and musical texture. Bush’s voice, for the most part, is agile and high-pitched; she has this romantic, seductive quality, and most of her songs concerned the personal rather than the political. Sure, right from her debut album, she was writing songs that went way beyond matters of the heart. Look at The Kick Inside’s Wuthering Heights, Them Heavy People, and The Kick Inside, for instance – between the three tracks, she ticks off classic literature, spirituality/spiritual teachers, and incest. Bush has never been afraid to let her imagination roam, and her songwriting is among the most original ever committed to tape.

Whilst she was certainly unique and broad in terms of themes, her first couple of albums featured little in the way of political songs; numbers that were symphonic and raw. Whilst there is no single reason why Bush wrote Breathing, I think there was a sense of tension in the air that there was going to be nuclear destruction. I will talk about the song’s meaning and details soon but, not only did she write Breathing for Never for Ever; Army Dreamers concerns young soldiers, barely out of school, being sent to die. Whilst that song features quite high-pitched vocals (Bush imitating an Irish accent), Breathing is a completely different thing. Vocally, one can notice a slight move away from the more theatrical and gymnastic sounds of The Kick Inside , and Lionheart. Breathing features, in my view, one of Bush’s best-ever vocals. Symphonic, utterly engrossing and compelling, it is almost a transformation of the girl into a young woman. I think many people in the press considered Bush to be a bit hippy-dippy, airy-fairy; maybe a bit naïve and wide-eyed – someone who was very different to a lot of her Rock and Punk peers. Of course, this sort of patronising attitude was not the reason Bush included a song like Breathing into an album. That idea of Bush as this ingenue who was a bit out-there and not too serious…that must have hit her quite hard.

IN THIS PHOTO: Kate Bush shot by Andy Phillips in 1980

I want to source an interview from NME of 1979, where Danny Baker met Kate Bush. I think, in the years since the interview was published, Baker has distanced himself somewhat; he wanted to make the people at NME laugh and, to his credit, there is a jocularity and sense of confrontation that is refreshing – most interviews with Kate Bush were very well-mannered and samey. I want to source a few extracts from the interview – which was published on 20th October, 1979 – not very long before Breathing was recorded over a few days in early-1980:

“Asking a few more questions, I begin to realise that this isn't the kind of stuff that weekloads of Gasbags [NME letters page] are made of. I'm searching for a key probe, but with Kate Bush – well, there's not likely to be anything that will cause the 12-inch banner-headline stuff, is there now? I recall Charlie Murray's less than enthusiastic review of her Palladium shows, which were apparently crammed with lame attempts to "widen" the audience's artistic horizons – y'know, lots of people dressed as violins and carrots an' that. CSM reckons it was one of the most condescending gigs in the history of music. Kate had read the review, but she didn't break down.

Well, that certainly seems a worthwhile thing to do, all right, although it has in fact been done before. Y'see, occasionally Kate allows the poet and all-round Tyrannosaurus Rex dreamer to slip out, a sucker for Lord of the Rings. For a start I have cut about a hundred "wows" and "amazings" from her speech. She talks at length about how important she feels it is to be "creating" all the time, and when I asked her if she looked to the news for any song inspiration I got this curious answer:

"Well, whenever I see the news, it's always the same depressing things. War's hostages and people's arms hanging off with all the tendons hanging out, you know. So I tend not to watch it much. I prefer to go and see a movie or something, where it's all put much more poetically. People getting their heads blown off in slow motion, very beautifully."

IN THIS PHOTO: Kate Bush in May 1979/PHOTO CREDIT: Mirrorpix

She grins broadly again. Kate is an artist through and through, seeing the world as a crazy canvas on which to skip. Her outrageous charm covers the fact that we are in the midst of a hippy uprising of the most devious sorts. I approach her on the question of being a woman in pop music once more”.

You can read the full interview, but there is a sense that Baker had little respect for Bush’s music at the time. I am not suggested this interview was what compelled Bush to ‘get serious’, but some corners of the press had a very particular impression of who she was and how deep her music was. Breathing is the lead single from her third album. Bush released Breathing as the first single from the album, which signals that she wanted to send out a big message straight away. Army Dreamers, the other big political-minded track, was released as the third single – the more commercial Babooshka was the second single from the album. Whilst there are tracks on the album that are a bit more accessible and ‘commercial’ (if that is the most fiting word) – such as The Wedding List, and Violin, I love the fact that Breathing was the first single from Never for Ever – quite a big change from Wuthering Heights (her iconic debut single) and Hammer Horror (the lead single from Lionheart). 

IN THIS PHOTO: Kate Bush circa 1980

Breathing concerns nuclear war as seen from the perspective of a foetus. The foetus cannot hear or see the bombs, but he/she knows that their life might be terminated as his/her mother is breathing in radioactive air – “Outside/Gets inside/Through her skin/I've been out before/But this time it's much safer in”. Bush’s lyrics are always extraordinary, but the way she delivers “Breathing/Breathing my mother in/Breathing my beloved in…”, is a mix of the soothing-cum-haunting. Whilst those lines are the mantra and most devastating part of the song, there are other lines that catch my ear. “We've lost our chance/We're the first and the last, ooh/After the blast/Chips of plutonium/Are twinkling in every lung” is so evocative and striking! In terms of her vocals, I think this is the first real high point after Wuthering Heights for Bush. Her band are incredible and give her exceptional support. Breathing featured: drums: Stuart Elliott; fretless bass: John Giblin; Fender Rhodes: Max Middleton; electric guitar: Alan Murphy, Brian Bath; Prophet: Larry Fast; percussion: Morris Pert; backing vocals: Roy Harper. The backing vocal from Roy Harper is especially stirring and impactful – Bush provided her vocals to Harper’s 1980 album, The Unknown Soldier. In terms of explaining Breathing and its background, Kate Bush gave some explanations in the press. When speaking with Keyboard in 1985, she said the following: 

"'Breathing' is about human beings killing themselves. I think that people smoking is one of those tiny things that says a lot about human beings. I mean, I smoke and enjoy it, but we smoke and we know it's dangerous. Maybe there's some kind of strange subconscious desire to damage ourselves. It would seem so if you looked back through history, wouldn't it?"

Bush was worried at the time that Breathing was quite negative and heavy; that it was a bit real and might not be as popular and widely-played as previous singles like Wow (the second single from Lionheart). Rather than the foetus/embryo reflecting on the present (1980), Bush saw it more as a vision from the future; a spiritual embryo that gives warning about what could happen to the world if things continue as they are. Although Breathing only charted as high as number-sixteen in the U.K., I think the track is hugely important. Look at what is happening now and the position we are in. Whilst we are not threatened with nuclear war, it is a very scary time, and I think Breathing sounds as relevant today as it did in 1980. I want to bring in a few extracts from the Kate Bush Encyclopaedia that pertain to Breathing:

“The track includes spoken words describing the flash from a nuclear bomb. The exact words - which are missing from the artwork on the album - are: "In point of fact it is possible to tell the Difference between a small nuclear explosion and a large one by a very simple method. The calling card of a nuclear bomb is the blinding flash that is far more dazzling than any light on earth - brighter even than the sun itself - and it is by the duration of this flash that we are able to determine the size of the weapon…

After the flash a fireball can be seen to rise, sucking up under it the debris, dust and living things around the area of the explosion, and as this ascends, it soon becomes recognisable as the familiar 'mushroom cloud'. As a demonstration of the flash duration test let's try and count the number of seconds for the flash emitted by a very small bomb; then a more substantial, medium-sized bomb; and finally, one of our very powerful, 'high-yield' bombs".

“'Breathing' is a warning and plea from a future spirit to try and save mankind and his planet from irretrievable destruction. (Kate Bush Club newsletter, September 1980)”.

“From my own viewpoint that's the best thing I've ever written. It's the best thing I've ever produced. I call that my little symphony, because I think every writer, whether they admit it or not, loves the idea of writing their own symphony. The song says something real for me, whereas many of the others haven't quite got to the level that I would like them to reach, though they're trying to. Often it's because the song won't allow it, and that song allowed everything that I wanted to be done to it. That track was easy to build up. Although it had to be huge, it was just speaking - saying what had to be put on it. In many ways, I think the most exciting thing was making the backing track. The session men had their lines, they understood what the song was about, but at first there was no emotion, and that track was demanding so much emotion. It wasn't until they actually played with feeling that the whole thing took off. When we went and listened, I wanted to cry, because of what they had put into it. It was so tender. It meant a lot to me that they had put in as much as they could, because it must get hard for session guys. They get paid by the hour, and so many people don't want to hear the emotion. They want clear, perfect tuning, a 'good sound'; but often the out-of-tuneness, the uncleanliness, doesn't matter as much as the emotional content that's in there. I think that's much more important than the technicalities. (Kris Needs, 'Fire In The Bush'. Zigzag (UK), 1980)”.

IN THIS PHOTO: Kate Bush circa 1980

“There was a point in people's lives when the imminent prospect of war was scaring the shit out of them, and that resulted in a lot of anti-war songs. At that time it was worthwhile. When I wrote 'Breathing' it seemed like people were sitting waiting for a nuclear bomb to go off. Nuclear power seemed like... Someone was getting set to blow us up without our consent. I felt I wanted to write a song about it. If it was something that was bothering so many people then yes, I think it was worthwhile. Songs or films or little individuals don't do anything on a big level. Big things need bigger things to change them (Richard Cook, 'My Music Sophisticated? I'd Rather You Said That Than Turdlike!'. NME (UK), October 1982)”.

I do think the pre-Hounds of Love period is very underrated. Bush was exceptional from the start, but I think Breathing, and Never for Ever marked a turning point. The video, too, in an extraordinary thing – from an artist who always put her all into her videos. When Breathing turns forty on 14th April, I do hope it gets some airplay, and more people discover the song. It is one of Kate Bush’s many gems, and I felt it only right to mark its fortieth anniversary. Listening to Breathing, it is clear that the power, relevance and beauty of the song will…  

IN THIS PHOTO: Kate Bush photoed at the British Rock and Pop Awards on 26th February, 1980/PHOTO CREDIT: Mirrorpix

NEVER fade.

FEATURE: Director’s Cuts: Is There Material in the Kate Bush Vault Yet to See the Light of Day?

FEATURE:

 

Director’s Cuts

IN THIS PHOTO: Kate Bush in an outtake from the Lionheart (1978) cover shoot/PHOTO CREDIT: Gered Mankowitz/COVER CONCEPT: John Carder Bush

Is There Material in the Kate Bush Vault Yet to See the Light of Day?

___________

MAYBE that question sounds…

IN THIS PHOTO: Kate Bush in a shot from the Director’s Cut (2011) session/PHOTO CREDIT: John Carder Bush

a bit accusatory, but I do wonder whether, at a time when there are a lot of big artists holding back album releases, there is material in the archives that fans would eat up! Normally, when a big album anniversary comes along, an artist will put out a remastered version with some outtakes or demo versions. I am not sure whether any scheduled anniversary releases this year will go ahead. I know Radiohead’s Kid A turns twenty later in the year, but they have their website/public library which gives one access to so many cool videos, interviews and other Radiohead bits. I have written about the delectable, Kate Bush and the fact that two of her albums have big anniversaries this year: Never for Ever turns forty in September; Hounds of Love is thirty-five in the same month. Both albums are hugely important, and I know there are fans out there who would love to hear some demo versions. If one looks online, you can see some early outtakes and outtakes/footage from her Tour of Life in 1979 (and here). I know there are some demos in various different states, and some early versions can be accessed. I found a Babooshka (from Never for Ever) demo, whilst there are some rare treats I have not seen before. Bush is an artist who does not look back that often, but she did release The Other Sides in 2018 - which combined B-sides and cover versions.

IN THIS PHOTO: Kate Bush (and hounds) in an outtake from the Hounds of Love cover shoot in 1985/PHOTO CREDIT: John Carder Bush

It is a wonderful collection, and a rare chance for people to own these songs. This Woman's Work: Anthology 1978–1990, released in 1990, included some tracks not available on her studio albums to that point, and one has to wonder what else remains. Some will say that releasing every half-formed idea and scrap is creatively worthless, and there is a reason these tracks remain hidden. I know Kate Bush spends a lot of time putting albums together, and so many of these well-loved songs would have gone through multiple takes. Hounds of Love’s The Big Sky was a completely different song at the start to the end! Although Kate Bush herself claims not to be a perfectionist, many of her songs would have gone through so many different takes until she was happy. If there was ever an artist who will have a lot of different versions of songs in the archive, then it is Kate Bush! Maybe there will be some anniversary releases in September of Never for Ever and Hounds of Love but, as things are unsure right now, maybe any plans will be on hold – the same goes for any whisper of an eleventh studio album. I think what is online in terms of demos and outtakes is interesting, and there are so many songs that catch your ear and draw you in. The sound quality is not overly-great, so it would be interesting if these intriguing and important recordings were brought out on vinyl or C.D.

IN THIS PHOTO: Kate Bush and Michael Hervieu in a still from the video shoot of Running Up That Hill, 1985/PHOTO CREDIT: John Carder Bush/VIDEO DIRECTOR: David Garfath

Some might claim a release like this would only appeal to the die-hard Kate Bush fans, but I think it is a terrific way to draw in new support; let people know that she is much more than the singles one hears on the radio – her legacy tends to be compacted to about four of five well-known songs. Bush is an album artist who wants people to hear complete works, rather than people skipping tracks. As much as I love her studio works, I am interested hearing where the songs started life! Maybe we do not need to hear demos and outtakes from all of her albums, but there is that fascination regarding what is left; what we might not have heard and would be wonderful to experience! In the same way as one got a new appreciation for The Beatles’ Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band, The Beatles (‘The White Album’) and Abbey Road when remastered editions were released with demos and rarities in 2017, 2018 and 2019 respectively to mark their fiftieth anniversaries, I would love to see a new edition of Never for Ever, The Dreaming, Hounds of Love, or Aerial with some extras; maybe some early versions and outtakes that would add something extra-magical. There was an unofficial album release of rarities in 2000, and, although I would love to buy a record of demos across her career, I believe some demos of early songs were made available to the public via bootleg releases in 1982:

“In 1972 and 1973 Kate recorded several tapes of songs. Reports vary about the amount of songs that were recorded, but there must have been dozens. 20 to 30 of these songs were presented via Kate's brother John Carder Bush's friend Ricky Hopper, first without success to record companies.

IN THIS PHOTO: Kate Bush in 1993/PHOTO CREDIT: Guido Harari

Ricky Hopper then presented the songs to David Gilmour. Gilmour noticed her talent, but also the bad tape recorder quality. This led to one or more recording sessions with David Gilmour present, but with a better recorder. According to Kate: "Absolutely terrified and trembling like a leaf, I sat down and played for him."

At Gilmour's insistance, another recording session took place in the summer of 1973, at Gilmour's farm with two band members from Unicorn: drummer Peter Perrier and bassist Pat Martin, and Dave Gilmour on electric guitar. According to Gilmour, ca. 10-20 songs were recorded. This tape definitely made it to EMI Records. One of the songs recorded during this session was Passing Through Air, which ended up on the B-side of the single Army Dreamers in 1980.

Then, in June 1975, David Gilmour booked a professional studio (AIR London), brought Andrew Powell to arrange and produce the songs and hired top musicians to back Kate. They recorded The Man With The Child In His Eyes, Saxophone Song and Maybe. This tape finally was Kate's breakthrough at EMI. The first two songs from this session appeared on The Kick Inside. With the three demo songs in hand, a recording deal is much discussed between Kate, her family, Gilmour and EMI. In July 1976 it finally comes together: Kate gets £3000 from EMI Records and a further £500 to finance her for a year of personal en professional development.

IN THIS PHOTO: Kate Bush captured by Guido Harari

During that year, Kate makes two further demo tapes. It is believed that from these dates many tracks were eventually released into the public via a radio broadcast in 1982 and various 'bootleg' singles and albums”.

I guess we do not see as much bootlegging as we used to and, if Bush is putting out material in the future, she might want to focus on the new. At a time when there is a bit of delay and re-shifting, I think an unexpected release of demos and rarities would be a great idea. I think other artists, either online or physical releases, will put out some of their lesser-heard back catalogue whilst we wait to get back to normal. Every time I hear a Kate Bush album, you just know the songs have gone through a lot of change; Bush searching for that perfect take – not all of the songs, but a lot of them. Perhaps she would feel uneasy putting out material that is not album-worthy or ‘finished’. It is a hard one to debate, but I just know there is magic and some awesome version of her studio tracks that so many would welcome. Let’s hope, as I keep saying, there is something new from Kate Bush in the future, as it would be a shame to think 2011’s 50 Words for Snow is her final studio album. A treasure trove (or single album) of some Kate Bush gold-dust would be…   

PHOTO CREDIT: Gered Mankowitz

SUCH a thrill.

FEATURE: Sat in Your Lap: Albums, Songs, Books and Videos: The Kate Bush Collection

FEATURE:

 

Sat in Your Lap

IN THIS PHOTO: Kate Bush during filming of The Line, the Cross and the Curve in 1993/PHOTO CREDIT: Guido Harari

Albums, Songs, Books and Videos: The Kate Bush Collection

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WHILST I am writing a bit more…

IN THIS PHOTO: Kate Bush at her home in September 1978/PHOTO CREDIT: Getty Images

than I normally would, I am going to include more Kate Bush features. Rather than pretend that I am going to limit my Kate Bush posts – and ensure there are not too many -, I feel there are relevant things to discuss and uncover. I have looked at Bush’s back catalogue before and pointed you in the direction of her best work. Today, I thought I would list her essential albums; the most underrated, and my personal favourite. I will also end with a complete playlist but, before, there are a few books that I can recommend - in addition to pointing to the very best Kate Bush videos. This is a little more expansive than previous, similar Bush pieces - to guide new fans and the diehards to avenues they might not have explored before. If you have some time and are not sure where to start with Kate Bush, I have focused down to the essential bits and bobs. Have a look and spend some time exploring…

IN THIS PHOTO: Kate Bush shot for the Babooshka single in 1980/PHOTO CREDIT: John Carder Bush

AN absolute icon.

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Must-Own Albums

The Dreaming

Release Date: 13th September, 1982

Label: EMI (U.K.)

Length: 43:25

Buy: https://www.amazon.co.uk/Dreaming-2018-Remaster-VINYL/dp/B07HQ14CLD/ref=sr_1_1?crid=1RBVTN6XM78HO&keywords=kate+bush+the+dreaming&qid=1585139846&sprefix=kate+bush+the+dreas%2Caps%2C183&sr=8-1

Standout Tracks: Sat in Your Lap/Suspended in Gaffa/Get Out of My House

Key Cut: Houdini

Review:

“The Dreaming was the real game-changer. Back in 1982, it was regarded as a jarring rupture. "Very weird. She’s obviously trying to become less commercial," wrote Neil Tennant, the future Pet Shop Boy, still a scribe for Smash Hits. He echoed the sentiments of the record-buying public. Even though the album made it to number three, the singles, apart from 'Sat In Your Lap', which got to 11 a year before, tanked. The title track limped to number 48 while 'There Goes A Tenner' failed to chart at all. It was purportedly the closest her record label, EMI had come to returning an artist’s recording. Speaking in hindsight, Bush observed how this was her "she’s gone mad" album. But The Dreaming represents not just a major advance for Bush but art-rock in general. Its sonic assault contains a surfeit of musical ideas, all chiselled into a taut economy.

And like that modernist masterpiece, The Dreaming glimpses at a very metropolitan melancholy. Bush would never make an album in London again, a city she felt had an air of dread hanging over it’. 'All The Love', a forlorn musical sigh, features percussive sticks imitating Venetian blinds turning shut. It climaxes with messages from Bush’s actual malfunctioning answerphone: all very modern alienating devices, straight from the same world of Bowie’s 'Sound & Vision'. This was after all, the year Time magazine voted the computer as person of the year. Palmer’s ECM-like drowsy bass almost sobs with regret.

Throughout The Dreaming, sound speaks. 'All The Love' is subdued relief. But its constituent parts hover desolately in the mix, pitching a ‘lack of love’ song with a choirboy, somewhere between Joni Mitchell’s road trip jazz on 'Hejira' and the void of Nico’s 'The End'. Full of space & loneliness” – The Quietus

Hounds of Love

Release Date: 16th September, 1985

Label: EMI (U.K.)

Length: 47:33

Buy: https://www.amazon.co.uk/Hounds-Love-2018-Remaster-VINYL/dp/B07HQ352CN/ref=sr_1_1?crid=1NCVDFW9MSB6I&keywords=kate+bush+hounds+of+love+vinyl&qid=1585139872&sprefix=kate+bush+hounds%2Caps%2C166&sr=8-1

Standout Tracks: Running Up That Hill (A Deal with God)/Cloudbusting/Hello Earth

Key Cut: The Big Sky

Aerial

Release Date: 7th November, 2005

Label: EMI (U.K.)

Length: 79:58

Buy: https://www.amazon.co.uk/Aerial-2018-Remaster-VINYL-Kate/dp/B07HPYHL17/ref=sr_1_1?keywords=kate+bush+aerial+vinyl&qid=1585139893&sr=8-1

Standout Tracks: King of the Mountain/How to Be Invisible/Nocturn

Key Cut: Mrs. Bartolozzi

Review:

“Domestic contentment even gets into the staple Bush topic of sex. Ever since her debut, The Kick Inside, with its lyrics about incest and "sticky love", Bush has given good filth: striking, often disturbing songs that, excitingly, suggest a wildly inventive approach to having it off. Here, on the lovely and moving piano ballad Mrs Bartolozzi, she turns watching a washing machine into a thing of quivering erotic wonder. "My blouse wrapping around your trousers," she sings. "Oh, and the waves are going out/ my skirt floating up around my waist." Laundry day in the Bush household must be an absolute hoot.

Aerial sounds like an album made in isolation. On the down side, that means some of it seems dated. You can't help feeling she might have thought twice about the lumpy funk of Joanni and the preponderance of fretless bass if she got out a bit more. But, on the plus side, it also means Aerial is literally incomparable. You catch a faint whiff of Pink Floyd and her old mentor Dave Gilmour on the title track, but otherwise it sounds like nothing other than Bush's own back catalogue. It is filled with things only Kate Bush would do. Some of them you rather wish she wouldn't, including imitating bird calls and doing funny voices: King of the Mountain features a passable impersonation of its subject, Elvis, which is at least less disastrous than the strewth-cobber Aussie accent she adopted on 1982's The Dreaming. But then, daring to walk the line between the sublime and the demented is the point of Kate Bush's entire oeuvre. On Aerial she achieves far, far more of the former than the latter. When she does, there is nothing you can do but willingly succumb” – The Guardian

The Underrated Treasure

Never for Ever

Release Date: 7th September, 1980

Label: EMI (U.K.)

Length: 37:16

Buy: https://www.amazon.co.uk/Never-Ever-2018-Remaster-VINYL/dp/B07HQ7HW19/ref=sr_1_1?crid=3VHQMLQCPOIQW&keywords=kate+bush+never+for+ever+vinyl&qid=1585139919&sprefix=kate+bush+never+f%2Caps%2C157&sr=8-1

Standout Tracks: All We Ever Look For/The Wedding List/Breathing

Key Cut: Babooshka

Review:

“If you think about it, Kate Bush could have gone in any direction after promoting Lionheart. Her second album had some high points and some cute vocal deliveries but ultimately came up short in quality. Kate's third album could have been another decline in quality. It could have just been Kate treading water with more adorable pop singles. Instead, the follow up was an important step into new territory. Never For Ever shows Kate Bush at a much more mature stage. While Lionheart had embraced maturity quite well in comparison to The Kick Inside, it didn't help Kate break out of her cute pop singer shell. Most people were still infatuated with her first single, Wuthering Heights. A new direction was something Kate needed to assert. She managed to do that just enough with Never For Ever.

The album features plenty of single worthy pop hits as usual but does offer much more collectively. Babooshka and Army Dreamers are examples of Kate exercising more of her descriptive lyrical style. On this record, Bush explores more concepts in her lyrics than previously. It's easy noticing the lyrical contrast with the album's opening and closing tracks. The opener, Babooshka is about a distrustful wife who ruins her marriage through seducing her husband under a pseudonym. The closer, Breathing finds Kate writing about her nervous actions through a more Bowie influenced style. From this point, Kate Bush adds even more variety to the mix. Musically, Never For Ever naturally expands thanks to a more layered sound. The album features a vibrant mix of wet fairlight synths, pianos, fretless bass and layers of strings. The performances of the album fit smoother than on previous records as Bush goes for a more varied final product.

Kate's third solo album was no masterpiece but a fascinating and necessary step in her discography. Bush's writing had finally evolved enough to the point where she could write without relying too much on image or style. Whether it's experimenting with her remarkable vocal range, creative arrangements, or vivid lyrics, Never For Ever shows Kate Bush improving in all the right ways” – Sputnik Music

My Favourite Kate Bush Album

The Kick Inside

Release Date: 17th February, 1978

Label: EMI (U.K.)

Length: 43:13

Buy: https://www.amazon.co.uk/Kick-Inside-2018-Remaster-VINYL/dp/B07HPZWG1R/ref=sr_1_1?crid=EJGS2R8KCB2Q&keywords=kate+bush+the+kick+inside+vinyl&qid=1585139947&sprefix=kate+bush+the+kick+vinyl%2Caps%2C166&sr=8-1

Standout Tracks: Moving/Strange Phenomena/The Man with the Child in His Eyes

Key Cut: Wuthering Heights

Review:

“She only fails to make a virtue of her naivety on “Room for the Life,” where she scolds a weeping woman for thinking any man would care about her tears. The sweet calypso reverie is elegant, and good relief from the brawnier, propulsive arrangements that stood staunchly alongside Steely Dan. But Bush shifts inconsistently between reminding the woman that she can have babies and insisting, more effectively, that changing one’s life is up to you alone. The latter is clearly where her own sensibilities lie: “Them Heavy People,” another ode to her teachers, has a Woolf-like interiority (“I must work on my mind”) and a distinctly un-Woolf-like exuberance, capering along like a pink elephant on parade. “You don’t need no crystal ball,” she concludes, “Don’t fall for a magic wand/We humans got it all/We perform the miracles.”

The Kick Inside was Bush’s first, the sound of a young woman getting what she wants. Despite her links to the 1970s’ ancien régime, she recognized the potential to pounce on synapses shocked into action by punk, and eschewed its nihilism to begin building something longer lasting. It is ornate music made in austere times, but unlike the pop sybarites to follow in the next decade, flaunting their wealth while Britain crumbled, Bush spun hers not from material trappings but the infinitely renewable resources of intellect and instinct: Her joyous debut measures the fullness of a woman’s life by what’s in her head” – Pitchfork

Stunning Books

The Photo Collection: Kate: Inside the Rainbow

Release Date: 22nd October, 2015

Author: John Carder Bush

Publisher: Little, Brown Book Group

Buy: https://www.waterstones.com/book/kate/john-carder-bush/9780751559903

Synopsis:

“KATE: Inside the Rainbow is a collection of beautiful images from throughout Kate Bush’s career, taken by her brother, the photographer and writer John Carder Bush. It includes outtakes from classic album shoots and never-before-seen photographs from sessions including The Dreaming and Hounds of Love, as well as rare candid studio shots and behind-the-scenes stills from video sets, including ‘Army Dreamers’ and ‘Running Up that Hill’.

These stunning images will be accompanied by two new essays by John Carder Bush: From Cathy to Kate, describing in vibrant detail their shared childhood and the early, whirlwind days of Kate’s career, and Chasing the Shot, which vividly evokes John’s experience of photographing his sister” – Kate Book

The Biography: Under the Ivy: The Life & Music of Kate Bush

Release Date: 11th April, 2012

Author: Graeme Thomson

Publisher: Omnibus Press

Buy: https://www.waterstones.com/book/under-the-ivy/graeme-thomson/9781780381466

Synopsis:

“The first ever in-depth study of Kate Bush's life and career, Under The Ivy features over 70 unique and revealing new interviews with those who have viewed from up close both the public artist and the private woman: old school friends, early band mates, long-term studio collaborators, former managers, producers, musicians, video directors, dance instructors and record company executives. It undertakes a full analysis of Bush's art. Every crucial aspect of her music is discussed from her ground-breaking series of albums to her solo live tour, her pre-teen poetry and scores of unreleased songs. Combining a wealth of new research with rigorous critical scrutiny, Under the Ivy offers a string of fresh insights and perspectives on her unusual upbringing in South London, the blossoming of her talent, her enduring influences and unique working methods, her rejection of live performance, her pioneering use of the studio, her key relationships and her gradual retreat into a semi-mythical privacy” – Waterstones

The Lyrics: Kate Bush: How To Be Invisible

Release Date: 6th December, 2018

Author: Kate Bush/David Mitchell (foreword)

Publisher: Faber & Faber

Buy: https://www.waterstones.com/book/how-to-be-invisible/kate-bush/9780571350940

Synopsis:

“Ivor Novello winner Kate Bush has long forged her love of literature with music. From Emily Brontë through to James Joyce, Bush has consistently referenced our literary heritage, combined with her own profound understanding of language and musical form.

How to Be Invisible: Selected Lyrics draws from her superlative, 40-year career in music. Chosen and arranged by Kate Bush herself, this very special, cloth-bound volume will be the first published collection of her work.

Accompanying the collection is an expansive introduction from Cloud Atlas author David Mitchell. ‘For millions around the world Kate is way more than another singer-songwriter: she is a creator of musical companions that travel with you through life,’ he said. ‘One paradox about her is that while her lyrics are avowedly idiosyncratic, those same lyrics evoke emotions and sensations that feel universal” – Waterstones

The Useful Addition: Homeground: The Kate Bush Magazine: Anthology One: Wuthering Heights to The Sensual World

Release Date: 10th March, 2013  

Authors: Krystyna Fitzgerald-Morris (editor), Peter Fitzgerald-Morris (editor), Dave Cross (editor)

Publisher: Crescent Moon Publishing

Buy: https://www.waterstones.com/book/homeground/krystyna-fitzgerald-morris/peter-fitzgerald-morris/9781861714800

Synopsis:

“HOMEGROUND: THE KATE BUSH MAGAZINE: ANTHOLOGY ONE: 'WUTHERING HEIGHTS' TO 'THE SENSUAL WORLD'

HomeGround is a magazine devoted to Kate Bush (born in 1958), a British pop star best-known for hits such as 'Wuthering Heights', 'Wow', 'Hounds of Love' and 'Running Up That Hill'.

This book is pure heaven for music fans. The HomeGround anthology includes material inspired by all periods of Kate Bush's musical progression. It is a book about the reaction to her work and how her unique music has touched the lives of so many people.

This is a unique book, a labour of love for hundreds of music fans who have contributed to HomeGround over its thirty-year existence. The book includes an enormous amount of information about Kate Bush, accounts of every release, album, single, pop promo and appearance, as well as memories and accounts of music fandom (such as conventions, meetings, hikes, stage door encounters and video parties). It also includes material on many other pop acts and events. It features poetry, stories, letters, reviews, interviews, memoirs, cartoons, drawings, paintings and photographs.

This is the first book of a two volume set, totalling over 1200 pages. The first book covers Kate Bush's career from 'Wuthering Heights' to 'The Sensual World' (from the late 1970s to the late 1980s). The second book runs from 'The Red Shoes' album to the present day.

The first issue of HomeGround appeared in 1982, four years after Kate Bush's dramatic debut with 'Wuthering Heights'. Starting with an ancient manual typewriter, and a pot of glue paste, the editors mounted articles on recycled backing sheets and added hand-drawn artwork to fill the gaps. The first issue was photocopied, the pages hand-stapled together and twenty-five copies were given away to fans they knew. Only later did they discover the magic of word processing, and desktop publishing.

From those beginnings HomeGround became a cornerstone of the 'Kate-speaking world', the editors going on to organise four official fan events at which Kate Bush and members of her family and band appeared, arrange at Bush's request a team of fans to be extras in two of her videos and organise informal fan gatherings at Glastonbury and Top Withens, the storm-blown ruin on Haworth Moor. Years before the internet, HomeGround became a place where fans could discuss Bush's music, and a place where they could publish creative writing and artwork that music inspired” – Abe Books

The Podcast

Who They Are: The Kate Bush Fan Podcast

Official Website: https://katebushnews.libsyn.com/

About: “A show for fans of the music artist Kate Bush put together by the people behind www.katebushnews.com and HomeGround Magazine! Chat, interviews, reviews and more on all things Kate and her amazing work” (The Kate Bush Fan Podcast)

Twitter: https://twitter.com/katebushnews

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/katebushnews

Her Finest Videos

The Definitive Playlist

FEATURE: A New Lodger: Might We See a Collaboration Between Kate Bush and Tony Visconti?

FEATURE:

A New Lodger

IN THIS PHOTO: Kate Bush captured by Pierre Terrasson in 1982

Might We See a Collaboration Between Kate Bush and Tony Visconti?

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AS a lot of my features…

IN THIS PHOTO: The iconic producer Tony Visconti/PHOTO CREDIT: Cindy Ord/WireImage for NARAS

over the coming weeks are a reaction to the ongoing coronavirus situation, I wanted to break things up with other subjects. I realise that I have published a few Kate Bush-related features this year, but there is a possible collaboration in the air. I have been listening to BBC Radio 6 Music – like I do every day -, and it was revealed that Tony Visconti might be working with Bush - the two have been talking at the very least! This rumour has not been substantiated, so it might be the case that Visconti and Bush have been chatting and nothing else will come from it. The possibility of the two working together has got some wondering whether Bush might be about to signal the release of an eleventh studio album – perhaps there is a Visconti-led album that would feature the vocals of Kate Bush? There are a couple of reasons why I wanted to follow up on a possible Bush-Visconti partnership. Whilst most artists are not thinking of releasing an album at this time, Bush has traditionally put out her studio albums between September and December. It would not be inconceivable to think there is an album coming later in the year, but I wonder whether Visconti might be producing. From 1982’s The Dreaming on, Bush has handled production duties herself. That said, Bush did consider working with a big producer after 1980’s Never for Ever. Kate Bush and Jon Kelly co-produced Never for Ever, but Bush wanted to take a different approach for her fourth studio album.

Whilst re-reading Graeme Thomson’s Under the Ivy: The Life and Music of Kate Bush, pages 178-179 caught my eye. Tony Visconti is one of the greatest producers ever, and he has worked with artists such as T. Rex and Iggy Pop. It is his work with David Bowie that must people reference when highlighting his genius. Visconti co-produced most of Bowie’s stunning work during the Seventies, and he also co-produced (with Bowie) Scary Monsters (and Super Creeps) in 1980. According to Visconti’s recollection – somewhat vague by his own admission! – he and Bush were speculating working together. During the making of David Bowie’s 1979 album, Lodger, he was listening to Kate Bush’s (underrated) album, Lionheart (1978). Picking up something hugely powerful and interesting from the record, he wrote Bush a letter from his hotel room in Montreux. It was about a year or so after that letter was sent when Visconti received a phone call from Bush. The two met up with a real possibility of a working partnership – whether Visconti was in Bush’s mind to co-produce her next album or work on it in some form? Before their lunch meeting, Visconti worked up an astrological chart for Bush – he had been a dabbler for over a decade and, of course, this was the sort of thing that would have engaged and appealed to Kate Bush! They met at a restaurant near Bush’s studio in the West End (Bush recorded Never for Ever at Abbey Road Studios and AIR Studios, London). At this time, it must have been after Never for Ever but before The Dreaming, as Bush went on to record the latter album solo.  

Whilst the two lunched together, they discussed Bowie and Bush took Visconti to play him a couple of songs – presumingly a couple of tracks from Never for Ever. Humourlessly, Visconti’s most vivid recollection from that studio time was the sight of Bush leaning on the back of a chair. Visconti was on the sofa behind her and was distracted by her bottom swaying near his face – he admitted that he must of loved the music but, understandably, there was something more pressing on his mind at the time! There was a huge amount of affection between the two. Bush was blown away by how accurate Visconti’s astrological chart was. Bush phoned him later to say that she was going to produce her next album alone but, sweetly, said that there is no other producer she would rather work with (than Visconti). Although Visconti did not work on The Dreaming, one can hear the influence of Bowie/Visconti’s production on songs like Sat in Your Lap. David Bowie – alongside artists such as Bryan Ferry and Pink Floyd – was a hero of Bush’s. As we can see in this article from last year, Bowie was present in Kate Bush’s heart very early in her career:

“Another day and another reason we love Kate Bush. In this rare recording which has just surfaced to us online, Kate, back in 1975, gives a few words on her unreleased song ‘Humming’, a track which is widely assumed to be about the legendary David Bowie. Listen back to the song below:

In the bootleg clip, clearly recorded from somebody’s FM radio, a reserved and shy Bush talks about the clip as if it is the worst song ever. Written when she was 15 the song is fairly naive in construction but still holds all the values as Bush’s later work. The real naivety comes from the song’s subject matter: Kate Bush’s hero, David Bowie. 

Prior to it’s release in 2018 as an extra on a bumper vinyl box set, the song was floating around the airwaves known as ‘Maybe’ or even ‘Davy’. The latter of which a clear nod to the beginning of Bowie as Davy Jones. The track pays homage to the flame-haired alien from outer space, not through the music (which is actually more akin to Bush’s other hero Elton John) but through her wondrous, cheeky and very intelligent lyrics.

The track comes from a very exciting period for David Bowie. He had ditched the long-haired hippy vibe of Hunky Dory and was instead intent on establishing his incarnation Ziggy Stardust. The rock world was taken aback by the transformation and his output and it’s no wonder when people like Kate were caught up in his wake. Kate was even standing solemnly when at the Hammersmith Apollo in 1973 Bowie killed off his alter-ego Ziggy.

In fact, we’d go as far to say as that the song is about this very moment. The yearning in Bush’s lyrics, coupled with the song’s love-letter qualities, send a message of missing somebody special. Written at the age of 15, just a year after Ziggy was sent back up into outer space, it makes sense that a heartbroken Bush would pen a song for the moonage daydreamer.

It’s a wonderful song which not only is given an extra kick of gravitas by the small and sweet intro she gives the song on the radio but with it’s latest release in 2018, is given a modern face-lift. Kate Bush is very shy about most personal things in her life but she wasn’t shy about Bowie. Below is the message she wrote for David upon hearing of his passing. Below that is the two versions of the song ‘Humming’ or as we prefer to call it ‘Davy’.

IN THIS PHOTO: David Bowie shot in 1975 by Steve Schapiro

“David Bowie had everything. He was intelligent, imaginative, brave, charismatic, cool, sexy and truly inspirational both visually and musically. He created such staggeringly brilliant work, yes, but so much of it and it was so good. There are great people who make great work but who else has left a mark like his? No one like him.

I’m struck by how the whole country has been flung into mourning and shock. Shock, because someone who had already transcended into immortality could actually die. He was ours. Wonderfully eccentric in a way that only an Englishman could be.

Whatever journey his beautiful soul is now on, I hope he can somehow feel how much we all miss him”

There is no telling how hard Bowie’s death in 2016 hit her. This article from 2016 shed some light on the answer to that particular query:

“After an extended period of self-imposed media exile, the past months have seen Kate Bush offer more of herself to the public than she has for years. In a recent chat with Fader she opened up about her love and respect for David Bowie.

While she admitted that she doesn't really listen to contemporary music, she revealed how moved she was by the legend's final album. "One of the most powerful things that I heard recently was Blackstar by Bowie...I thought it was beautiful. Very moving of course, but I think one of the best things he's ever done."

IN THIS PHOTO: Tony Visconti and David Bowie

Following Bowie's death, the Hounds of Love singer spoke to The Guardian about their relationship saying: "He created such staggeringly brilliant work, yes, but so much of it and it was so good. There are great people who make great work but who else has left a mark like his? No one like him."

10 months on from his passing she adds, "He was one of my great heroes when I was growing up. He was such a brave artist, so unusual, and I loved his music...But I just sort of admired what he achieved creatively." When pressed over their dual ability to challenge traditional expectations of gender she continues, "I think when I'm working creatively, I don't really think of myself of writing as a woman. I just think of writing as me, as a person, if that makes sense"

I think Tony Visconti is a huge part of what made Bowie successful. One can drawn comparisons between Bush and Bowie in terms of their ever-changing art and image; the way they go beyond the ordinary and take music to new places. When speaking with Matt Everitt (of BBC Radio 6 Music) in 2016, she stated that this was not the end of her career – Everitt asked if this was a full stop in her career: “No, I don’t think so. I think it’s just a rather big comma”. Everitt was speaking with Bush to promote the album release of Before the Dawn - Bush returned to the stage after thirty-five years in a hugely celebrated and triumphant residency at the Eventim Apollo in 2014.

2011’s 50 Words for Snow was her last studio album and, since then, she has returned to the stage, remastered and released her back catalogue – including vinyl sets contained rarities and B-sides – and released her first book of lyrics. Maybe Bowie’s death – and the impact of 2016’s Blackstar – sparked something in her. Visconti co-produced that with Bowie, so this might have got her thinking about new work and injecting some of Visconti’s magic into her music. Kate Bush is an artist who has gained more control of her music since her debut album. She was in control of production by 1982, and she started directed her own videos from 1985’s Hounds of Love – although she has worked with other directors and creative since. She (amicably) parted company with EMI and set up her own label, Fish People, in 2011 - the label's first release was Director's Cut, quickly followed by re-releases of The Dreaming, Hounds of Love, The Sensual World, The Red Shoes, and Aerial. Later in 2011, Fish People released 50 Words for Snow. Nearly nine years after that album, one would not be surprised to find Bush looking for a collaborator. Although Bush has been alone in the producer’s chair for nearly four decades, I feel that lunch meeting with Visconti, tied with her life-long affection of David Bowie could lead to a new project. As I said at the start…the BBC Radio 6 Music discussion I heard was brief and there was a sort of whisper that Visconti and Bush were going to unite.

Any project involving the two of them would be a dream. Four years after David Bowie’s death, maybe Bush will contribute to a tribute album. The thought, though, of a new Bush studio album holds more allure. 50 Words for Snow is an album that mixed Jazz and Art Pop together. Bowie’s 2011 swansong fused Art Rock, Jazz, and Experimental Rock. It is understandable that the epic and emotional Blackstar resonated in Bush; it is no shock to think that her and Visconti have been discussing future work. I think we all need some good news right now but, without knowing whether there is a new album coming, it is all scuttlebutt. There has been this decades-lasting bond and understanding between Tony Visconti and Kate Bush. The two are both geniuses, and I am surprised they have not worked together on something big before! Visconti actually name-checked Bush in a speech at SXSW in 2016 (“…Visconti concluded that the music industry needed to be more adventurous when looking for new artists. “Look at those freaks out there, the really weird ones, because that’s what the public wants to hear,” he said. He added that labels need to spend time nurturing talent, citing the example of Kate Bush, who was developed over several years by EMI before she released her first single”). So many people are excited when there is mention of Kate Bush - me included -, so it is only natural to look forward and wonder what might be coming – if anything at all. It has been a tough couple of weeks, and things are going to be pretty rough for a while longer. I think the world would open its arms to news of a Bush-Visconti blend. Although the legendary producer was not involved in the making of The Dreaming, a collaboration with the iconic Kate Bush nearly forty years after that album’s release…    

IN THIS PHOTO: Kate Bush in 1979/PHOTO CREDIT: Gered Mankowitz

WOULD be a dream come true!

FEATURE: WOW! Through the Lens: The Captivating Kate Bush

FEATURE:

 

WOW!

IN THIS PHOTO: Kate Bush shot for the U.S. release of The Kick Inside’s album sleeve session in March 1978 (EMI America had rejected the original cover)/PHOTO CREDIT: Gered Mankowitz 

Through the Lens: The Captivating Kate Bush

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EVEN though I have written about…

PHOTO CREDIT: Gered Mankowitz 

Kate Bush and her image before, I have been thinking about a book that has been delayed for a while now. Kate Bush: Symphony of You is a book I am dying to buy because, as Waterstones write, it is a must for fans and newcomers alike:

“Symphony of You is a complete celebration of Kate Bush - her music, her look, her impact, her creativity. Showcasing hundreds of Gered Mankowitz's breathtaking photographs from the early years of Kate's career, the majority of the images in this book have never been seen outside of the author's own private works. The book also features essays from authors across a number of disciplines - from best-selling novelists and award-winning musicians to academics - offering their opinions on how Kate has shaped the cultural landscape. Symphony of You is a truly special collection, and a homage to a unique artist”.

There are a couple of other invaluable photo resources/books that I want to point to. The reason I am writing about Kate Bush photographs and her incredible allure is because, when people write about her, there are aspects overlooked. People talk of the music and the incredible voice; they mention Bush’s image, but how many concentrate on that hypnotic sense of connection and soul-baring? There are Kate Bush photo collections available but, the more I research her, the more I think about photos and image. There is something about Bush that sets her aside from other artists.

IN THIS PHOTO: A press shot for Bush’s 2011’s album, Director’s Cut/PHOTO CREDIT: John Carder Bush

Even if a musician entrusts a great photographer, they (the photographer) do not always manage to tease something extraordinary from their subject. Right from the start of her career, Bush has oozed something extraordinary and breath-taking. There was a Pink Leotard series for Wuthering Heights shot in January 1978. The intended image for the single was not used. The photo from Gered Mankowitz does capture a young artist who looks sensual, relaxed, yet intriguing. Maybe it was because the photo showed Bush’s nipples, or maybe it was deemed inappropriate – in the end, a modification of The Kick Inside’s design was used as the cover for Wuthering Heights. From her teenage years, Bush has drawn the lens and captured the heart. She can naturally evoke this incredible aura and power that few other artists can rival. One can see Bush’s best images online, but there are people who will want to see her best photos collected together. Although expense, WOW! by Gered Mankowitz is a collection of photos from 1978/1979 that highlights this incredible new artist whose looks and images were integral to her music. For more information regarding Mankowitz’s photos, see here:

“WOW! Kate Bush by Gered Mankowitz features the very best work from Gered Mankowitz’s incredible 1978 / 1979 archive of Kate Bush photographs, with the majority of photographs previously unpublished. Each copy is personally signed by Gered Mankowitz.

PHOTO CREDIT: Gered Mankowitz 

As with all previous Ormond Yard Press volumes, it is a book on a spectacular scale: a hardcover volume housed in its own printed slipcase and measuring 24 inches high x 18 inches wide (60x45cm) when closed, 24 x 36 inches (60 x 90cm) when open, with 96 pages of photographs. The physical scale may be large, but the edition size for WOW! is reassuringly small – just 750 individually signed and numbered copies are available to collectors worldwide”.

Whether it is a single or album cover, or a photo-shoot, there is never anything ordinary regarding Kate Bush! Another important collection of photos is Kate: Inside the Rainbow by John Carder Bush – Kate’s older brother. You can buy it here - and it is a vital documentation of Bush from childhood to 2011:

“KATE: Inside the Rainbow is a collection of beautiful images from throughout Kate Bush’s career, taken by her brother, the photographer and writer John Carder Bush. It includes outtakes from classic album shoots and never-before-seen photographs from sessions including The Dreaming and Hounds of Love, as well as rare candid studio shots and behind-the-scenes stills from video sets, including ‘Army Dreamers’ and ‘Running Up that Hill’.

These stunning images will be accompanied by two new essays by John Carder Bush: From Cathy to Kate, describing in vibrant detail their shared childhood and the early, whirlwind days of Kate’s career, and Chasing the Shot, which vividly evokes John’s experience of photographing his sister.

A beautiful, full-colour coffee-table hardback with a quarter-bound linen cover and head and tail bands

Includes more than 250 stunning rare and unpublished black and white and colour photographs, taken between 1964 and 2011”.

IN THIS PHOTO: Bush shot by Gered Mankowitz for the Wuthering Heights session in 1978

There are articles about the book here and here, and I suggest anyone who wants to see how an artist can truly stagger and stun the senses buy the book. Maybe it is the brother-sister bond, but one looks at the shots through Kate: Inside the Rainbow, and your heart sort of melts. Perhaps it is that smile or the way Bush can connect with the camera, but I feel Bush’s style and visual engagement is as crucial as her music. So many artists do not really connect their image to their music, but in Bush’s case, the two are interconnected. One only needs to watch her videos and see photos of her on tour to realise here was a woman who understood the importance of art. It is hard to put into words, but I was drawn to Kate Bush because of her videos and how different she was to anyone else. From Wuthering Heights and early singles to her promotional images for 50 Words for Snow, there is nobody like her! It is rare to gravitate towards an artist because of how they connect with the camera, and how they can embody different characters and guises through the years. Maybe David Bowie is the other great artist who has a similar gravitas and genius.

IN THIS PHOTO: Kate Bush in 1989/PHOTO CREDIT: John Carder Bush

I know Kate Bush: Symphony of You is mooted for an autumn release, and I will be snapping up the book! Bush’s music tells us a lot about her, but I think photos reveal new sides to her. She always seems so confident and effortless in front of the camera; she has that ability to switch between shy and assured; to assume these different personas but, beneath it all, remain this unique and endlessly inspiring person. I would compel people to buy books like Kate: Inside the Rainbow, as every picture tells a story. One can see the change and growth of this fantastic person who, very early in her career, was making hearts skip and standing out from the pack. I am not sure what the future holds for Bush and her music – and whether she will ever release another album -, but I am spending a lot of time revisiting her videos and photos. I have not even mentioned her videos, but maybe that will be for another feature! They are always fabulous and like these mini-films that engage the senses and tell these wonderful stories. There is so much I love about Kate Bush, but her affinity to amaze without saying a word is very high up the list. For over four decades, she has amazed and wowed people in so many different ways. If you think you understand and connect with Bush through her music, you get yet more layers and beauty when you encounter her…

PHOTO CREDIT: Guido Harari

THROUGH the lens.

FEATURE: All We Ever Look For: Might We See Some Kate Bush Anniversary Releases This Year?

FEATURE:

All We Ever Look For

IN THIS PHOTO: Kate Bush shot for the cover of Never for Ever’s second single, Babooshka, in 1980/PHOTO CREDIT: John Carder Bush

Might We See Some Kate Bush Anniversary Releases This Year?

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ALTHOUGH we have to wait until the…

IN THIS PHOTO: Kate Bush photographed by her brother, John Carder Bush, in 1980

autumn to mark the anniversaries of two of Kate Bush’s finest albums, it has me returning to that subject of re-releases and anniversary editions. I have written about a couple of albums that are celebrating anniversaries ext week: Led Zeppelin’s Physical Graffiti is forty-five tomorrow (24th), whilst Tears for Fears’ Songs from the Big Chair is thirty-five the following day. Of course, on 8th May, we mark fifty years of The Beatles Let It Be – the final album to be released from The Fab Four. Kate Bush is not one for retrospection but, through her career, there have been occasions where she has revisited the past. When she produced her Hammersmith residency, Before the Dawn, in 2014, she performed songs from past albums – most taken from Hounds of Love (1985) and the exceptional Aerial (2005). In 1986, The Whole Story was released – it was a greatest hit package that I remember seeing (there was a VHS version) when I was young. She re-released her back catalogue in 2018 and released vinyl sets that collated her work for fans and newcomers. The same year, she brought out a book of lyrics; collating some of her most memorable tracks in a lovely edition. Bush has always been one for looking forward and doing something new but I wonder, as we await a possible eleventh studio album -, there are going to be many who would like to see anniversary editions of two fabulous albums. Never for Ever was released on 8th September, 1980 whilst her big smash, Hounds of Love, was released on 16th September, 1985 (also, Aerial, is fifteen on 7th November).  

Both are important albums for different reasons. Never for Ever was released during a busy time for Kate Bush. She released her first two albums in 1978 – The Kick Inside and Lionheart -, and then went to do her Tour of Life in 1979. There was so much attention her way and huge expectations. Whilst Lionheart did not perform as well as The Kick Inside – the label rushed her into a second album and she there was not a song as big as Wuthering Heights on Lionheart (although Wow came close) -, the Tour of Life was a sensation, and Bush could have taken some time out to rest and plan her next moves. Instead, she delivered Never for Ever in 1980; how many artists can release three studio albums and a huge tour in the space of just over three years?! In my view, Never for Ever is Bush’s most-underrated album. With three huge singles – Breathing (14th April, 1980), Babooshka (27th June, 1980), and Army Dreamers (22nd September, 1980) – released, the album went to number one in the U.K.  – it was the first ever album by a British female solo artist to top the U.K. album chart, as well as being the first album by any female solo artist to enter the chart at number one. It is not a surprise that Never for Ever was so successful, given the way people reacted to her Tour of Life and (an album) that boasted songs like Babooshka, All We Ever Look For and The Wedding List.

Also, this was the album when a more political tone was coming into her music. Breathing is from the perspective of a fetus who is aware of nuclear war outside the womb; Army Dreamers concerns the waste of young lives who are sent to war to die. The mix of the more accessible tracks and those with a bigger message made it Bush’s most complete and lyrically varied album to that date. Although Bush is not a perfectionist – she has said so herself -, she is someone who makes sure songs are right, and that can often mean doing multiple takes to get the right sound. Bush was only twenty-two years old when Never for Ever was released, and I listen back almost forty years later and marvel at the sheer scope, confidence, and quality of the record. Maybe the inclusion of more political songs stemmed from a (patronising) interview Bush was subjected to by Danny Baker back in 1979 where there was an impression (from Baker) that Bush was nothing more than a fluffy Pop artist; someone who was a bit hippy-dippy and lacked seriousness. Regardless, Never for Ever is a remarkable album, and you just know there are alternate takes and little gems that are in the Kate Bush vault. I realise Bush has released remastered sets that includes original studio albums and some rarities. Fascination regarding her work continues, and I think Never for Ever’s fortieth later in the year warrants celebration and new inspection. It was a new phase in her career, and she would shift directions two years later when releasing The Dreaming.

I am not sure how many alternate takes and tracks there are left in the archives, but there are B-sides that could be included onto the original album. Some might say the fact we have Never for Ever in remastered form means that, two years from that, it might not be a necessary release. Like The Beatles and other bands that have seen classic albums released with extras on their anniversary, it is a rare chance for fans to get a more detailed insight into the creation of an album; to hear early versions of huge songs and little snippets from the studio. Nearly forty years after the release of Bush’s third studio album, it still sounds unlike anything else. The same can be said for her fifth studio album, Hounds of Love. Released in 1985, it is widely considered to be her finest album. It received tremendous and impassioned reviews when it was released, and is her most accomplished work. With The Ninth Wave second side to the album – the story of a woman out at sea and waiting to be rescued – to the more accessible first half, Hounds of Love is a masterpiece. Only twenty-seven when Hounds of Love was released, it is another album of extraordinary ability and depth from an artist so young. After the rather stressful process of recording The Dreaming, Bush needed to make some changes.

That album was her most experimental to date, and her record label, EMI, were a bit disappointed by its relatively poor sales and the fact it took her two years to release another album after Never for Ever – now, two years seems a pretty quick turnaround! In 1983, Bush discovered a fantastic space in the countryside that allowed her to move out of London; she found this wonderful barn/facility that she turned into her own studio and, with her boyfriend, Del Palmer (her engineer and long-time friend and performer), and family close, it was a hugely happy and productive time. Songs like Running Up That Hill, Cloudbusting and Hounds of Love are instantly recognisable; The Ninth Wave is this engrossing and wonderfully rich series of songs charting the isolation of a woman at sea who, happily is rescued as she sees all of her hope fade away. Hounds of Love is considered one of the 1980s’ best albums, and it has not had an anniversary release yet. Maybe a thirty-fifth anniversary is not that important but, consider the fact Tears for Fears have released a thirty-fifty anniversary set for the less-adored Songs from the Big Chair, and it makes me wonder whether Bush or EMI will dip into the vault and bring out a Hounds of Love special. It is a wonderful record that Bush is very proud of and counts as one of her all-time favourite releases – I think 2005’s Aerial remains at the top of her list.

When it comes to reviews, one would be pushed to find one that is anything less than glowing and radiantly positive. This is AllMusic’s take on Kate Bush’s 1985 masterwork:

“Kate Bush's strongest album to date also marked her breakthrough into the American charts, and yielded a set of dazzling videos as well as an enviable body of hits, spearheaded by "Running Up That Hill," her biggest single since "Wuthering Heights." Strangely enough, Hounds of Love was no less complicated in its structure, imagery, and extra-musical references (even lifting a line of dialogue from Jacques Tourneur's Curse of the Demon for the intro of the title song) than The Dreaming, which had been roundly criticized for being too ambitious and complex. But Hounds of Love was more carefully crafted as a pop record, and it abounded in memorable melodies and arrangements, the latter reflecting idioms ranging from orchestrated progressive pop to high-wattage traditional folk; and at the center of it all was Bush in the best album-length vocal performance of her career, extending her range and also drawing expressiveness from deep inside of herself, so much so that one almost feels as though he's eavesdropping at moments during "Running Up That Hill." Hounds of Love is actually a two-part album (the two sides of the original LP release being the now-lost natural dividing line), consisting of the suites "Hounds of Love" and "The Ninth Wave."

The former is steeped in lyrical and sonic sensuality that tends to wash over the listener, while the latter is about the experiences of birth and rebirth. If this sounds like heady stuff, it could be, but Bush never lets the material get too far from its pop trappings and purpose. In some respects, this was also Bush's first fully realized album, done completely on her own terms, made entirely at her own 48-track home studio, to her schedule and preferences, and delivered whole to EMI as a finished work; that history is important, helping to explain the sheer presence of the album's most striking element -- the spirit of experimentation at every turn, in the little details of the sound. That vastly divergent grasp, from the minutiae of each song to the broad sweeping arc of the two suites, all heavily ornamented with layered instrumentation, makes this record wonderfully overpowering as a piece of pop music. Indeed, this reviewer hadn't had so much fun and such a challenge listening to a new album from the U.K. since Abbey Road, and it's pretty plain that Bush listened to (and learned from) a lot of the Beatles' output in her youth”.

It is a remarkable album, and people are still hugely moved by Hounds of Love. It is great that one can buy Hounds of Love on vinyl – it was hard to get a new copy before 2018 -, and I play the album now and then. I would love to see whether there are alternative versions of the tracks from the album.

Like Never for Ever five years before, I can imagine Bush and her musicians/engineer working through these songs before the finished version came about. I know for a fact one of the singles from Hounds of Love, The Big Sky, started out completely differently, and it was a struggle getting the song from where it started to where it ended up. I think a thirty-fifth anniversary edition of Hounds of Love could include alternate takes/early versions, some snippets of reviews around the time the album was release, in addition to the original album and B-sides. It would expand on what is already out there and give people a chance to experience this legendary album in a new light. As I keep saying, I am not sure what Bush’s plans are this year and whether there is a new album being worked on. Even if she is releasing something later this year, I do think there is a demand and genuine space for anniversary editions of two of her best albums. Bush has shown that she is not adverse to looking back, and I don’t think she would be repeating herself if Never for Ever got a special edition to mark its fortieth, and Hounds of Love’s thirty-fifth was celebrated with a new set. I, and so many other music fans, love that studio process and wondering how these immense songs began and how they changed through the recording process. Never for Ever and Hounds of Love arrived five years apart, but they are extremely different alums that arrived, in a way, after intense periods in Bush’s life – Never for Ever after touring and a relentless first couple of years; Hounds of Love followed the busyness and draining (but exceptional) The Dreaming. 1980’s Never for Ever and 1985’s Hounds of Love are two remarkable albums from…

IN THIS PHOTO: Kate Bush captured in 1985/PHOTO CREDIT: Guido Harari

A true genius.

FEATURE: Her Sensual World: Kate Bush’s Language of Love

FEATURE:

 

Her Sensual World

PHOTO CREDIT: John Carder Bush

Kate Bush’s Language of Love

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WE are heading closer to Valentine’s Day…

IN THIS PHOTO: Kate Bush photographed on 23rd October, 1983/PHOTO CREDIT: Sunday Mirror/Mirrorpix/Getty Images

and I have been thinking about Kate Bush’s music. I have written a fair few features about her, but I don’t think, if I remember rightly, I have ever really talked about her sensuality and sexuality. One of the most affecting things about her music is its honesty and openness. Even on her debut, The Kick Inside, Bush was writing about desire, sex, and love in a very arresting and uninhibited way. It is one of the reasons I love that album as much as I do. Bush’s take on love, even as a teenager, was never of someone scornful and judgmental. One would be hard-placed to name many modern artists whose music has the same balance of sensuality, positivity and depth. I am reminded of a song like The Man with the Child in His Eyes. It is about a man having that innocence and child-like curiosity; Bush songs in a very impassioned and committed way. It was about her then-boyfriend, Steve Blacknell, and right throughout The Kick Inside, we hear this young woman exploring love and sex in a very positive way. Not only was Bush hopeful and lacking in any resentment, she could describe lust and attraction like nobody else. Phrases like “You came out of the night/Wearing a mask in white colour” (from L'Amour Looks Something Like You) is a superb image; Feel It is a gorgeously-delivered song where Bush sings: “Here comes one and one makes one/The glorious union, well, it could be love/Or it could be just lust but it will be fun/It will be wonderful”.

Whilst Bush would write more complex love songs later in her career, that combination of her angelic, arresting voice and the way she describes longing and affecting…it is like no other artist! I am not saying a positive outlook on love is rare – as plenty of artists have written songs that are hopeful -, but Bush has rarely penned a line where she scolds her lover or talks about the cruelty of love. Maybe some of her expressions and lyrics on The Kick Inside – “My heart is thrown to the pebbles and the boatmen/All the time I find I'm living in that evening/With that feeling of sticky love inside” from L'Amour Looks Something Like You veers from the poetic to the explicit in a manner of seconds – are not overly-sophisticated and, at times, they bordered on the explicit. The Kick Inside turns forty-two on 17th February, and I have been revisiting it quite a bit. When a then-teenage Bush sings of desire and sex, It does not sound like her contemporaries – rather juvenile and commercial -, but more like an older soul; one who has greater wisdom and curiosity and, with it, a much more interesting take on love and romance. Bush’s debut album came at a time when Punk was all the rage and, with very few comparisons out there, her songwriting was a breath of fresh air. I want to quote from Laura Snapes’ review of The Kick Inside where she discusses Bush’s musical urges and the way her writing/mindset differed from artists of the time:

“Besides, Bush had always felt that she had male musical urges, drawing distinctions between herself and the female songwriters of the 1960s. “That sort of stuff is sweet and lyrical,” Bush said of Carole King and co. in 1978, “but it doesn’t push it on you, and most male music—not all of it, but the good stuff—really lays it on you. It’s like an interrogation. It really puts you against the wall and that’s what I’d like my music to do. I’d like my music to intrude.”

But provocation for its own sake wasn’t Bush’s project. EMI not pushing her to make an album at 15 was a blessing: The Kick Inside arrived the year after punk broke, which Bush knew served her well. “People were waiting for something new to come out—something with feeling,” she said in 1978. For anyone who scoffed at her punk affiliation—given her teenage mentorship at the hands of Pink Floyd’s Dave Gilmour and her taste for the baroque—she indisputably subverted wanky prog with her explicit desire and sexuality: Here was how she might intrude. The limited presence of women in prog tended to orgasmic moaning that amplified the supposed sexual potency of the group’s playing. Bush demanded pleasure, grew impatient when she had to wait for it, and ignored the issue of male climax—rock’s founding pleasure principle—to focus on how sex might transform her. “I won’t pull away,” she sings almost as a threat on “Feel It,” alone with the piano. “My passion always wins.”

What made Bush’s writing truly radical was the angles she could take on female desire without ever resorting to submissiveness. “Wuthering Heights” is menacing melodrama and ectoplasmic empowerment; “The Saxophone Song”—one of two recordings made when she was 15—finds her fantasizing about sitting in a Berlin bar, enjoying a saxophonist’s playing and the effect it has on her. But she is hardly there to praise him: “Of all the stars I’ve seen that shine so brightly/I’ve never known or felt in myself so rightly,” she sings of her reverie, with deep seriousness. We hear his playing, and it isn’t conventionally romantic but stuttering, coarse, telling us something about the unconventional spirits that stir her”.

PHOTO CREDIT: Trinity Mirror/Mirrorpix/Alamy

Bush was an artist who did not just write about relationships and love. A lot of modern artists could learn something from Bush when it comes to lyrics variety and imagination but, when she did put passions in the spotlight, she was always unique, original and engaging. Lionheart’s Don't Push Your Foot on the Heartbrake uses images of a vehicle and a slippery road to describe a woman (Emma) losing her flame. In the Warm Room begins with the evocative and stunning opening verse: “In the warm room/Her perfume reaches you/Eventually you'll fall for her/Down you'll go/To where the mellow wallows”. Some people – idiots – scoff at Bush’s gymnastic vocals and lyrics, thinking they are a bit ridiculous and hippy-dippy. Even from her first album, Bush was writing lines that took love away from the cliché and heartbroken to new realms and heights. I was actually going to write a feature about the song, Breathing, as it turns forty on 14th April; a gem of a song from Never for Ever (1980), it is a moment where Bush embraced the political in a way she had never done before. I digress. Running Up That Hill (A Deal with God) from Hounds of Love (1985) is about Bush trading shoes/bodies with a man so they could see what the other goes through and, in doing so, have a greater understanding of one another.

It is almost Valentine’s Day and, on the radio, we will hear a slew of classic love songs that, whilst good, are riddled with clichés, hyperbole and, often, negativity. I have only mentioned a few of Kate Bush’s great songs but, on every occasion, she wrote something original and different to what came before. I have mentioned how Bush rarely wrote anything judgmental and bitter; she has a very positive attitude towards men and, when it comes to love, she could blend incredible poetry with racy images without losing focus. Bush’s voice is, obviously, very beautiful and varied, but few people mention her way with words when it comes to matters of the heart. If you are not a fan of Valentine’s Day or the usual kind of love song, spend some time investigating Kate Bush’s music and one will find something much more immersive and intriguing. Her incredible lyrical approach and majestic voice is a stunning blend that overpowers the heart and mind. I think a lot of songs that deal with love and relationships leave a bitter taste and can be quite forlorn. Even when Bush has lost love and is looking around for meaning – “Every day and night I pray/And pray that you will stay away forever/It's so hard for love to stay together/With the modern Western pressures” (Between a Man and a Woman, The Sensual World), there seems to be this hope; something the listener can take away or, at the very least, a set of lyrics that is miles removed from anything anyone else is doing. Bush is a masterful lyricist and is someone who can talk of war and loss as memorably as desire and passion. When it comes to matters of the heart and soul (and loins), Kate Bush is…

ONE of the all-time greats writers.

FEATURE: Inspired by the 1967 BBC Mini-Series… Kate Bush’s Incredible Debut Single, Wuthering Heights, at Forty-Two

FEATURE:

Inspired by the 1967 BBC Mini-Series… 

IN THIS PHOTO: Kate Bush in 1978/PHOTO CREDIT: Gered Mankowitz

Kate Bush’s Incredible Debut Single, Wuthering Heights, at Forty-Two

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MAYBE a forty-second anniversary…

is not worth covering but, as Kate Bush is entering her sixth decade as a recording artist, I wanted to look back at her almighty and utterly unique debut single. Wuthering Heights was originally slated for a November 1977 release, but it was delayed until 20th January, 1978. Bush wanted to change the sleeve design and was not happy with it and, also, there were huge Christmas singles like Wings’ Mull of Kintyre – that was released on 11th November, 1977 and was a huge hit. I will come to my thoughts and particular experiences of the song soon but, before moving on, here is some background and information about Wuthering Heights courtesy of the Kate Bush Encyclopedia:

“Song written by Kate Bush, released as her debut single in January 1978. She wrote the song after seeing the last ten minutes of the 1967 BBC mini-series based on the book ‘Wuthering Heights’, written by Emily Brontë. Reportedly, she wrote the song within the space of just a few hours late at night. The actual date of writing is estimated to be March 5, 1977.

Lyrically, "Wuthering Heights" uses several quotations from Catherine Earnshaw, most notably in the chorus - "Let me in! I'm so cold!" - as well as in the verses, with Catherine's confession to her servant of "bad dreams in the night." It is sung from Catherine's point of view, as she pleads at Heathcliff's window to be allowed in. This romantic scene takes a sinister turn if one has read Chapter 3 of the original book, as Catherine is in fact a ghost, calling lovingly to Heathcliff from beyond the grave. Catherine's "icy" ghost grabs the hand of the Narrator, Mr Lockwood, through the bedroom window, asking him to let her in, so she can be forgiven by her lover Heathcliff, and freed from her own personal purgatory.

The song was recorded with Andrew Powell producing. According to him, the vocal performance was done in one take, "a complete performance" with no overdubs. "There was no compiling," engineer Kelly said. “We started the mix at around midnight and Kate was there the whole time, encouraging us… we got on with the job and finished at about five or six that morning." The guitar solo that fades away with the track in the outro was recorded by Edinburgh musician Ian Bairnson, a session guitarist.

Originally, record company EMI's Bob Mercer had chosen another track, James And The Cold Gun as the lead single, but Kate Bush was determined that ‘Wuthering Heights’ would be her first release.  She won out eventually in a surprising show of determination for a young musician against a major record company, and this would not be the only time she took a stand against them to control her career.

The release date for the single was initially scheduled to be 4 November 1977. However, Bush was unhappy with the picture being used for the single's cover and insisted it be replaced. Some copies of the single had already been sent out to radio stations, but EMI relented and put back the single's launch until the New Year. Ultimately, this proved to be a wise choice, as the earlier release would have had to compete with Wings' latest release, ‘Mull of Kintyre’, which became the biggest-selling single in UK history up to this point in December 1977.

‘Wuthering Heights’ was finally released on 20 January 1978, was immediately playlisted by Capital Radio and entered their chart at no. 39 on 27 January. It crept into the national Top 50 in week ending 11 February at No.42. The following week it rose to No.27 and Bush made her first appearance on Top of the Pops ("It was like watching myself die", recalls Bush), The song was finally added to Radio One's playlist the following week and became one of the most played records on radio. When the song reached number 1, it was the first UK number 1 written and performed by a female artist.

For those who were growing up in the late-1970s, hearing an artist like Kate Bush on the radio would have been mind-blowing! Punk was still raging in 1978 and, when you look around the scene forty-two years ago, there was nothing on the same planet as Kate Bush! Sure, there were talented female songwriters, but Bush’s voice, sound and look was very much her own. A debut single concerning a classic novel (it was published in 1847 and written by Emily Brontë) is not the most conventional of things and, in 2020, it would still be considered rare! Also, although there are plenty of artists inspired by Kate Bush, if Bush arrived fresh today, I still think we would be mesmerised. My discovery of the song happened when I was a child when I saw Wuthering Heights’ video; it would have been on the ‘best of’ VHS, The Whole Story.

It was not the first of her videos I saw – that would be Them Heavy People; also from her debut album, The Kick Inside (1978) -, but I was mesmerised the first time I saw the Wuthering Heights video. Two music videos were created for the song. In one version, directed by Nick Abson, Bush dances on Salisbury Plain while wearing a red dress. It was filmed before the intended November 1977 release date. In the second version, directed by Keef, Bush is seen performing the song in a dark room filled with mist while wearing a white dress. It was the U.K. video of her in the white dress that I saw – and the preferable of the two. Although Bush, when talking about the choreography, said she was inspired by Lindsay Kemp – she attended dance lessons Kemp held in Covent Garden; she was drawn to dance due to Kemp’s Flowers (Kemp’s free interpretation of Jean Genet’s novel, Our Lady of the Flowers, with Kemp playing the central role of Divine, a transvestite transcending gender in a world of criminals, whores and angels) -, the choreography credit should have gone to Robin Kovac (or most of it). Bush did mention in interviews the influence of Lindsay Kemp but, learning of Kovac’s sense of exclusion, Bush wrote her an apology letter and mentioned her in some big interviews. The marriage of the simple-yet-compelling video with the song is amazing. Bush, wide-eyed and entranced, created a video that still seems alien and utterly beguiling all these years later. Whilst she created more developed and sophisticated videos – and looked back with a modicum of embarrassment at early videos like Wuthering Heights -, the song itself is, in my mind, the best debut single ever.  

My favourite album ever is The Kick Inside, and I play Wuthering Heights and still have the same response I did as a child: disbelieving of this pure and gorgeous sound and highly unusual song. In 2019/2020, there has not been a debut single as powerful and original as Wuthering Heights. Written by an eighteen-year-old Bush in March 1977, I can imagine her with the window open as the night held silent. The fact Bush wrote the song so quickly and naturally amazes me. To have that sort of talent and unorthodox creative inspiration so young is inspiring. Wuthering Heights is the most-streamed song of Bush’s and remains her most notable track; it is her signature and, in my view, is more nuanced and staggering than some of her later hits like Running Up That Hill (A Deal with God) and Cloudbusting – both from 1985’s Hounds of Love. Although a remixed version featuring rerecorded vocals was included on the greatest hits album, The Whole Story, the original is still the superior version (why re-record a perfect vocal performance?!). On 20th January (Monday), I do hope radio stations play it and, if you are unfamiliar with the song or have not heard it for a while, make sure you do! Radio stations do play Kate Bush’s music but, as I have said before, many focus on a few songs from Hounds of Love and do not dig any deeper.

IN THIS PHOTO: Kate Bush in 1978/PHOTO CREDIT: Patrick Harbron

Wuthering Heights is where it all began, and it introduced the world to an artist who is practically a national institution; she has gone beyond the level of a national treasure and is almost a deity to some. The word ‘unique’ is bandied about so often, and it usually is misjudged in many cases. When we call Kate Bush unique, nobody can argue against it. She has evolved and produced stunning album after stunning album since 1978 and, although her latest album, 50 Words for Snow, was released in 2011, I am hopeful an eleventh studio album will arrive in the next year or two. Wuthering Heights scored high in charts around the world - Australia: 1, Belgium: 6; France: 14, Germany: 11; Ireland: 1, Italy: 1; Netherlands: 3, New Zealand: 1 and Switzerland: 8 – and features a truly incredible performance from Bush and her band. With some legendary shredding from Ian Bairnson – whose impassioned notes take the song over the horizon –, Wuthering Heights mixes the heavenly highs of Bush’s voice with the electricity and intensity of the guitar. Before wrapping up, I want to return to the Kate Bush Encyclopedia and a quote relating to Wuthering Heights:

“When I first read Wuthering Heights I thought the story was so strong. This young girl in an era when the female role was so inferior and she was coming out with this passionate, heavy stuff. Great subject matter for a song.

I loved writing it. It was a real challenge to precis the whole mood of a book into such a short piece of prose. Also when I was a child I was always called Cathy not Kate and I just found myself able to relate to her as a character. It's so important to put yourself in the role of the person in a song. There's no half measures. When I sing that song I am Cathy.

(Her face collapses back into smiles.) Gosh I sound so intense. Wuthering Heights is so important to me. It had to be the single. To me it was the only one. I had to fight off a few other people's opinions but in the end they agreed with me. I was amazed at the response though, truly overwhelmed “ - Kate’s Fairy Tale, Record Mirror (U.K.), February 1978.

Over forty years after its release, Kate Bush’s debut single is instantly recognisable, magical and out of this world. I am not sure whether she is releasing a new album this year, but no matter. Bush’s back catalogue is finding new fans all of the time and there is so much to enjoy. When it comes to songs that knock you sideways, they don’t come…

MUCH better than Wuthering Heights.

FEATURE: All the Love: A Kate Bush Podcast

FEATURE:

 

All the Love

PHOTO CREDIT: Guido Harari 

A Kate Bush Podcast

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WHILST this is the second article this week…

 IN THIS PHOTO: Kate Bush attends a record signing at Virgin Megastore on Oxford Street, London in September 1982 for her album, The Dreaming/PHOTO CREDIT: Getty Images

that serves my own desires and aspirations, there is a wider point to both. When talking about Desert Island Discs on Wednesday and which songs I would choose if I ever made it onto the show (the chance of that happening is practically zilch), I was interested in the music we remember and how songs can link us to particular moments in life. Why do we keep certain tracks close and what separates the very best from the rest? It is interesting to wonder, and I think all of us would jump at the chance to discuss the songs that mean the most to us on the radio This will definitely be my last Kate Bush-related feature of the year, because I am aware that I have published more than my fair share this year! I think the big goal for next year is going to be getting a podcast together. Maybe it will not be fully where I want it to be, but I would definitely like to be closer to having a finished product. I have toyed with the idea of a music podcast that dissects certain genres and years because, when you look at the music podcasts available on the market, there are few that do that. Maybe that is a bit general, but I do feel like there is a lack of genuine breadth and variation on most radio stations. That might be something I’ll put out in years to come.

 PHOTO CREDIT: @austindistel/Unsplash

Right now, there is that one dream: a Kate Bush project. I am working on an idea for a T.V. documentary but, as that requires a production company and a lot more planning, it does take quite a while to make that happen – there are few production companies who make music documentaries, so it is a very gradual process. I have written about great music podcasts that dissect albums and go into real details. I do not think there are enough podcasts that shine a light on an artist’s back catalogue or look at albums in a lot of depth. One artist whose albums warrant serious exploration and unpacking is Kate Bush. Radio stations, as I keep saying, are culpable of playing the same songs of hers over and over. One would be forgiven for thinking the tracks we hear is all she has recorded, or they are the only tracks worth listening to. I hope stations are more broad-minded regarding Bush’s music in the future as a lot of her songs do not get played. It is a real shame, as Kate Bush is one of the greatest songwriters who has ever lived; so varied, extraordinary and original. The purpose of this feature is two-fold: to wonder why there are so few Kate Bush podcasts available and look at the rise of podcasts in general. I can understand why so many people are starting their own podcasts. One is free to discuss what they want, and it means everyone has a voice.

The barriers I have regarding podcasts relate to cost and space. If you want to a great-sounding podcast with a professional feel, it can be a bit expensive. There are great how-to guides if you want to know how to put a podcast together. There are also guides out there that tell you what equipment you need for a podcast. Whilst it would be relatively easy to set up a podcast, I always worry about the cost; not just the initial layout, but the ongoing cost when it comes to guests and song clearance. Above all of that is the urge to give proper respect and focus to an artist who continues to amaze and captivate, over forty since her debut single. There are some great Kate Bush podcasts out there, but I don’t think there is anything that properly dives into her albums with guest contributions; looks inside the songs and discusses her life and evolution. When it comes to ambitions, I usually take an idea as far as I can and, if too much time passes, I put it aside. When it comes to Kate Bush, the flame has not died down. Countless musicians name her as an influence and there is still nobody in the industry like her. Her music is endlessly fascinating, and I think a few of her albums are very under-explored and underrated. Even though Kate Bush has not released an album since 2011, you know there will be another album coming; what she has already put out into the world is so spellbinding and interesting. I am hoping to get some interest from production companies and podcast specialists, as I am sort of starting from the ground up and do not have previous podcast experience – even though I have plenty of knowledge and passion when it comes to Kate Bush. I will make the rest of my posts this week less me-centric, but I am looking forward to 2020 and moving in a slightly new direction. One of my goals is to make a Kate Bush podcast (called All the Love, named after a song from her album, The Dreaming) something…      

 PHOTO CREDIT: @farber/Unsplash

Of a reality.

FEATURE: A White Dress and Mist to the Sword-Wielding Alter Ego: Kate Bush, The Early Years: 1978-1980

FEATURE:

 

A White Dress and Mist to the Sword-Wielding Alter Ego

IN THIS PHOTO: Kate Bush in 1978/PHOTO CREDIT: Getty Images 

Kate Bush, The Early Years: 1978-1980

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THE reason for writing this feature (if one were needed)…

IN THIS PHOTO: Kate Bush during her Tour of Life in 1979/PHOTO CREDIT: Getty Images

is to highlight a period of Kate Bush’s career that often gets overlooked in favour of her activity around Hounds of Love (1985) - or the transition from The Dreaming in 1982 to that landmark record. I have a lot of respect for Kate Bush’s entire career and, whilst Hounds of Love is a masterpiece that was recorded when she was in a very happy and calm space, I am intrigued to look at where it all started: a wide-eyed and beguiling teenager whose debut album, The Kick Inside, arrived in 1978 and was like nothing that came before – it remains this peculiar and stunningly beautiful album that has no equals or soundalikes. I am not simply going to cover her work from The Kick inside to Never for Ever (1980) and just leave things there. What I wanted to highlight is how Bush sort of started out; how she changed from this unique-if-misunderstood artist right at the start to one who, by 1980, was in the production chair and only two years away from The Dreaming – an album she produced solo and, whilst it divided critics, it remains underrated and hugely important. With any great artist, there are the early and later years. They are distinct and provide contrast. I prefer the work of The Beatles from 1963-1965, whereas many feel their greatest work was recorded between 1966-1969. I guess it depends on what you look for in music and what age you were when you discovered that artist.

There is a definite split between Kate Bush prior to 1980 and where she moved from The Dreaming and into Hounds of Love. A third revolution occurred when she released Aerial (after a twelve-year gap) in 2005. If, like The Beatles, Kate Bush came into her own and produced her most complete and bold work by 1982, I feel the first three years of her career (she recorded music before 1978, but I am taking the start of her career as the moment Wuthering Heights was released in January 1978). I guess part of my motivation for writing this is the fact a lot of radio stations play Kate Bush songs from Hounds of Love and tend not to venture too far beyond that. Whilst her 1985 album is a vital work, look at how she started out and the variety of her music. Of course, when it comes to debut singles, they do not come as majestic and original as Wuthering Heights. Many might argue there have been finer debut singles – although none come to mind! –, but there are few songs that arrest the senses like Wuthering Heights. In terms of the biggest changes between the early Kate Bush albums and the later works, one can say she became more confident and took more control of her work. Some dismiss albums like The Kick Inside as being very high-pitched and quirky; Bush as this very wide-eyed singer who was easy to parody and overlook.   

I can appreciate there was a distinct sonic and musical shift that happened after Never for Ever, but I love her early sound and how gorgeous it is. The Kick Inside, back in 1978, received some positive reviews, but there were those who did not know what to make of Bush. Many felt Wuthering Heights the best she would do and she was this one-hit wonder. The Kick Inside is my favourite album ever because it is a hugely positive, intriguing and deep album. Bush, still a teenager, sounds so alive and ambitious in every track. She writes about love, but she does it in a very different way to her peers. The Kick Inside is a very sexual album with sensuality and poetry. There are some fantastic female songwriters around today, yet I feel few have the same brilliance and insight as Bush. The Kick Inside is a very feminine album and one that contains little negativity. So many songwriters, when discussing love, are accusatory and anxious; they point fingers and rake over broken glass. Not only does The Kick Inside – and most of Bush’s work – paint men in a very positive light, but her use of language and imagery is stunning. In their review of The Kick Inside, Pitchfork unpicks some of the songs’ key moments and how Bush’s extraordinary voice brings to life her songs:

“The louche “L’Amour Looks Something Like You” treads similarly brazen territory though lands less soundly. She fantasizes about “that feeling of sticky love inside” as if anticipating a treacle pudding, and there is an unctuous gloop to the arrangement that makes it one of the album’s least distinctive songs.

More complex desires tended to elicit her more inherently sensual and accomplished writing. “Moving,” her tribute to dance teacher Lindsay Kemp, is so absurdly elegant and lavish that its beauty seems to move Bush to laughter: There is deep respect in her admiration for him, in concert with piercing operatic notes and impish backing vocal harmonies that sound like they should have been handled by a chorus of Jim Henson creations. “You crush the lily in my soul” as an awed metaphor for the timidity of girlhood gone away is unimpeachable.

What made Bush’s writing truly radical was the angles she could take on female desire without ever resorting to submissiveness. “Wuthering Heights” is menacing melodrama and ectoplasmic empowerment; “The Saxophone Song”—one of two recordings made when she was 15—finds her fantasizing about sitting in a Berlin bar, enjoying a saxophonist’s playing and the effect it has on her. But she is hardly there to praise him: “Of all the stars I’ve seen that shine so brightly/I’ve never known or felt in myself so rightly,” she sings of her reverie, with deep seriousness. We hear his playing, and it isn’t conventionally romantic but stuttering, coarse, telling us something about the unconventional spirits that stir her”.

Many state Bush went on to make better music; you cannot argue against the sheer unexpectedness and affect her debut album has. It was different to anything around. Bush did not want to copy songwriters like Carole King, feeling they were too dramatic and dependent on heartbreak. Bush arrived with a different attitude, a staggeringly agile voice and songs that have remained hugely popular to this day.

IN THIS PHOTO: Kate Bush in 1978/PHOTO CREDIT: Getty Images

Albums like The Kick Inside cannot be defined by songs like Wuthering Heights and The Man with the Child in His Eyes. The latter is an observation by Bush that a lot of men have a sense of childhood locked inside them; that they retain a sense of innocence, despite their older years – an amazing observation, considering she was thirteen when she wrote the song! I do think there are tracks on The Kick Inside that many people have not heard that warrant greater exposure. Aside from Wuthering Heights, there is this mesmeric Strange Phenomena and the gorgeous Feel It; the swoon and skip of Oh to Be in Love and The Kick Inside – a brilliant finale about incest and suicide. Look around at the most daring and original songwriters today and few have matched Bush when it comes to her fearlessness and range. Lionheart was released late in 1978 and, so soon after The Kick Inside, it is inevitable that the album would not soar as high and make the same impact. Wuthering Heights hit number-one – making Bush the first British female artist to have a self-written number-one song -, and The Kick Inside hit the top-five in many countries. Again, Lionheart is an album that does not get a lot of praise and anything like the same focus Hounds of Love receives. Yes, there are weaker moments on Lionheart, but songs such as Symphony in Blue rank alongside Bush’s best-ever moments.

By 1985, the Pop landscape had changed. Artists like Madonna were making Bush’s most sensual moments seem almost tame. In the late-1970s, Punk was still raging and Bush was this bolt out of the blue. She had critics on board by Hounds of Love but I do think her earliest work requires retrospection and fresh appreciation. Lionheart has some flawed moments, but Wow, Kashka from Baghdad and Don't Push Your Foot on the Heartbrake are remarkable works. If Kate Bush’s music changed and grew after 1980, her visual flair was there from the start. Maybe the video to Wuthering Heights seems quite basic, but it is striking, classic and perfect – it fits wonderfully with the song. Lionheart’s Wow is another gem that is backed by an incredible video – Bush beguiling and enraptured throughout. With every album came new confidence and achievements. Bush set to work on her Tour of Life (or The Tour of Life) not long after Lionheart as released, and it began its life on stage on 2nd April, 1979. There is no doubt Bush’s experiences planning and executing her Tour of Life bled into her future work and the fact she did not want other people producing her work. That incredible tour redefined what a live Pop/Rock show could be. Her incredible songs were brought fully to life with these physical, eye-opening routines and theatrical flair. The Tour of Life remains a marvel where Bush let her fevered imaginations and ambitions flower and bloom.

Bush, even by 1979, was in a league of her own and turning into this star. 1980’s Never for Ever was the last album where Bush had a co-producer – she worked alongside Jon Kelly and she would take what she learned on Never for Ever into The Dreaming. Whilst The Kick Inside and Lionheart are undermined when it comes to great songs for radio exposure, Never for Ever remains the most neglected. In only a couple of years, Bush had transformed from this almost girl-like figure we saw dancing gracefully in the Wuthering Heights video. On Never for Ever, she evolved artistically and visually. In the video for Babooshka – the album’s lead single of April 1980 -, we saw two sides to Bush. The song talks about a wife and her desire to test her husband's loyalty. In order to do so, she takes on the pseudonym of ‘Babooshka’ and sends notes to her husband in the guise of a younger woman - something which she fears is the opposite of how her husband currently sees her. Babooshka arranges to meet her husband, who is attracted to the character who reminds him of his wife in earlier times. In the video, Bush transforms from a woman in a veil spinning a double bass to this vixen who is wild-eyed and revealing. The fact that Bush was scantily-clad for that video would not shock people who read her lyrics, but her videos up until that point were relatively chaste and less revealing.

 IN THIS PHOTO: Kate Bush in a promotional photo for the single, Babooshka (1980)/PHOTO CREDIT: John Carder Bush

Bush wanted to her videos to reveal the essence and true potential of the songs. This visual boldness and ambition was another reason why she stood out in the 1970s and 1980s. At the turn of the decade, Bush was still relatively new; the Pop market was fairly bland and there was nobody like her around. Whilst I will always prefer The Kick Inside, it is clear Bush was producing some truly outstanding material on Never for Ever. With greater production responsibility, Bush was becoming more experimental in the studio. I know The Dreaming and Hounds of Love have some incredible tracks, but listen to All We Ever Look For, Egypt and The Infant Kiss and how wonderful they sound. One hardly hears them on the radio and, even as a huge fan of Bush, I do not listen enough to these tracks. The complexity and beauty of Bush’s voice, teamed with her poetic and hugely intelligent lyrics sound fresh and original today – even though countless artists are inspired by Bush. Bush started moving in a more political direction by 1980. The last two songs on the album, Army Dreamers and Breathing, were, perhaps, a reaction to the feeling from the press that Bush was quite flighty, insubstantial and lacking in seriousness. That was not the feeling from a lot of critics, but there were some who highlighted Bush’s spiritual and mystical side; wondering whether there was any depth beneath the skin.

Two years before The Dreaming would see Bush holler down in the studio and produce her most varied and challenging album, she was showing seeds of what was to come. I can understand why a lot of fans and critics gravitate towards albums such as The Dreaming and Hounds of Love. Her voice grew deeper and more masculine, her songwriting became more enterprising and she won enormous kudos. I respect that, but I love those first few years; where Bush was starting out and seducing the public. It is more than forty years since Bush put out her debut album, The Kick Inside, and it knocks me back! Lionheart is an underrated album with ample promise, whilst Never for Ever is the sound of a young artist coming into her own. Not only did the music grow stronger and more adventurous, but look at her music videos and visual side. It is clear Kate Bush is unique and remains unparalleled, but look around the Pop landscape of today and I wonder whether we will ever see anyone with half of her magic and genius. I think things have become too safe and predictable so, now more than ever, I think music fans, artists and radio stations should pay more attention to Bush’s oeuvre from 1978-1980. There are some rougher moments, for sure, but there is also so much beauty, firepower and unbelievable songwriting! Kate Bush would hit her commercial peak by 1985, but seeing her first steps and moves in the music industry is…    

TRULY inspiring to watch.

FEATURE: A Change of Season: Kate Bush’s 50 Words for Snow

FEATURE:

 

A Change of Season

Kate Bush’s 50 Words for Snow

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ON 21st November…

 IN THIS PHOTO: Kate Bush in a promotional image for 50 Words for Snow/PHOTO CREDIT: John Carder Bush

it will be eight years since Kate Bush released her last studio album, 50 Words for Snow. That word, ‘last’, is ambiguous: maybe ‘previous’ is the right word. We don’t know whether 50 Words for Snow is going to be the last-ever Bush album. One assumes not but, before I move on to look at this incredible album, it is worth noting the time period between 2011’s release and now. Many were not sure whether Bush would release an album following 1993’s The Red Shoes. That period of her life was successful, but there was a slight downturn in critical favour. The Red Shoes has some great moments, but it is one of her less-popular albums. She lost her mother in 1992 and split from her long-term boyfriend, Del Palmer (who has worked with her since before her debut in 1978 and is her engineer to this day). It was a tough time and a lot of people who were proclaiming her a genius in 1985 (when she released Hounds of Love) had changed her tune. Such was the intensity of expectation and pressure, that feeling that she might have quit music for good was understandable. Two beautiful seasons arrived over a six-year period. Aerial of 2005 was that ‘comeback’ after a twelve-year gap. Between the time The Red Shoes came out in 1993 and Aerial was released in 2005, not a huge amount had come from Kate Bush in terms of music.

 IN THIS PHOTO: Kate Bush in 2005/PHOTO CREDIT: Trevor Leighton/National Portrait Gallery, London

Family commitments, it seemed, were her priority. She had her son, Bertie, in 1998, and was enjoying life as a mum. She was awarded a Q Award in 2001 as Classic Songwriter; she won an Ivor Novello for Outstanding Contribution to Music in 2002 and was seen here and there. Aerial’s arrival in 2005 was surprising for a couple of reasons. Having her back in music after twelve years was a shock and, in typical understated fashion, there was not the same cavalcade of tweets and announcements you’d get from moist artists. Bush put out this wonderful double album and gave a few interviews. It was a relief having her back after all this time. The other shock was the sheer quality and scope of the album. Few would have expected such a coherent, wondrous and immersive album following 1993’s The Red Shoes. Like Hounds of Love, there is a more conventional half and a concept half. The first, A Sea of Honey boasts the single, King of the Mountain, and a typically wonderful and original array of material. The second half, A Sky of Honey, is a suite of songs that acts like a single piece. It is, essentially, the experience of a single summer’s day, starting from one morning and going right through to the next. I associate Aerial with warmth and maternal pride; the dawning of summer and pure tranquility. Aerial is a gorgeous album and one that Bush counts as her favourite.

Many were not expecting an album to come quickly after the labours of Aerial – there was a six-year gap between Aerial’s dawning and a new album arriving. Kate Bush did something in 2011 that she has not done since 1978: she released two studio albums! In interviews (when she came to promote 50 Words for Snow), Bush revealed how amazed she was to have completed two albums in a year. Released in May, 2011, Director’s Cut is a collection of songs reworked by Bush; four tracks from The Sensual World and seven from The Red Shoes. 1989’s The Sensual World has just turned thirty and, whilst it is a great album, perhaps nothing will match Hounds of Love in terms of popularity and impact. Director’s Cut was a chance to improve some of the songs Bush was displeased about; give them more room to breathe and open up – the production of The Red Shoes especially is quite edgy and modern; Bush’s production sound prior to that was very different. Few expected another album so soon after Director’s Cut but, by November, a second was in the world: the gorgeous and sublime 50 Words for Snow. One can only imagine how busy Bush was in 2010 and 2011. Not only was she re-recording some of her older songs and having to get into that headspace; at the same time, she was imagining this completely different album. 50 Words for Snow is almost like winter to Aerial’s summer.

It has been six years since Aerial, so one could understand why Bush wanted to move in a different direction, sonically and thematically. One could definitely see similarities between Aerial and 50 Words for Snow. Both albums take more time to explore songs. Aerial’s two discs meant Bush could put traditional singles alongside a suite of songs that had this arc of a summer’s day. Aerial only contains seven tracks but they are longer and deeper than anything Bush had created to that point. At 6:49, Among Angels is the shortest track; Misty runs at over thirteen minutes. In terms of sound, Bush explored a more wintry, Jazz-tinged soundscape. With Steve Gadd providing pulsing grooves and some exceptional drumming, the cast of musicians (and guests like Stephen Fry (who can be heard on the title track) and Elton John (who duets on Snowed in at Wheeler Street) on 50 Words for Snow brought a combination of Jazz and Chamber Pop to the fore. The album is not packed with singles or sounds anything like what Bush had released before. Inspired by the myth that Eskimos have fifty words for snow, it is fascinating to dive into these songs; some of the most immersive and scenic tales Bush had ever laid down. If records like Hounds of Love are noted for big sounds and a certain intensity, 50 Words for Snow is more minimalist and contains fragmented narratives. Bush features on all the songs, but I think there is greater emphasis on the mood of the songs and compositions rather than the vocals.       

 IN THIS PHOTO: Kate Bush in a promotional shot for Director’s Cut/PHOTO CREDIT: John Carder Bush

If Hounds of Love is the benchmark and peak of Bush’s career (many would agree with that), then one could put Aerial and 50 Words for Snow pretty close by. Both of her more recent albums scored huge reviews and gained her back a lot of love and praise following The Red Shoes – maybe the time away was what she needed in order to reboot and refocus. Reviews for 50 Words for Snow were universally positive. In this review from Pitchfork, they talk about Bush’s exceptional songcraft and musicianship:  

“But Bush continues to infuse her narratives with a beguiling complexity while retaining some old-school directness. Because while most of this album's songs can be easily summarized-- "Snowflake" chronicles the journey of a piece of snow falling to the ground; "Lake Tahoe" tells of a watery spirit searching for her dog; "Misty" is the one about the woman who sleeps with a lusty snowman (!)-- they contain wondrous multitudes thanks to the singer's still-expressive voice and knack for uncanny arrangements. And mood. There's an appealing creepiness that runs through this album, one that recalls the atmospheric and conceptual back half of her 1985 masterpiece Hounds of Love.

While much of 50 Words for Snow conjures a whited-out, dream-like state of disbelief, it's important to note that Bush does everything in her power to make all the shadowy phantoms here feel real. Her best music, this album included, has the effect of putting one in the kind of treasured, child-like space-- not so much innocent as open to imagination-- that never gets old.

"I have a theory that there are parts of our mental worlds that are still based around the age between five and eight, and we just kind of pretend to be grown-up," she recently told The Independent. "Our essence is there in a much more powerful way when we're children, and if you're lucky enough to... hang onto who you are, you do have that at your core for the rest of your life".

Having put out such a fantastic and nuanced album into the world, it is small wonder there were so many effusive and passionate reviews. In their assessment, The Independent had this to say:

“At 14 minutes, "Misty" is the longest track, with Steve Gadd's jazzy drumming swirling around the fairy-tale love-tryst between a woman and a snowman, whose inevitable dissolution is evoked in watery slide-guitar akin to a valiha. The empathy between human and non-human extends further in "Wild Man", where the search for a yeti is sketched with the geographical accuracy of an actual Himalayan expedition, Bush's softly voiced verses punctuated by more urgent refrains urging the beast's escape – its capture would mean death for the abominable snowman of myth and legend, now reduced to mere flesh and bone.

Elton John duets on "Snowed in at Wheeler Street", in which a pair of immortal, time-travelling lovers snatch a momentary erotic interlude under the cover of a blizzard, already regretting their inevitable separation as they each track their way through history: "Come with me, I've got some rope, I'll tie us together," sings Bush, as if they were emotional mountaineers. "I don't want to lose you, I don't want to walk into the crowd again."

But it's "50 Words for Snow" itself which offers the most engaging, genial development of the album's wintry theme, its scudding groove assailed by chilly wind as Stephen Fry enunciates the terms – mostly made-up by Bush herself – with quiet relish: "Eiderfalls... Wenceslasair... Vanillaswarm... Icyskidski...", while she stands on the sideline, occasionally jumping in to cajole him, like a coach boosting her player's morale. It's a fitting climax to a seasonal offering that manages to evoke the essential spirit of winter while avoiding all the dog-eared clichés of Christmas albums – or indeed, any overt mention of that particular fairy story. Which is some achievement”.

Not only was 50 Words for Snow a terrific album that, as with all of her albums, took Bush to new places; its creator was very generous with interviews! She had given a few interviews for Aerial and Director’s Cut, but she was incredibly forthcoming and open regarding promotion for 50 Words for Snow. Not only did she invite BBC Radio 4 and BBC Radio 6 Music to speak; she was giving interviews for the press and international radio. I have included a couple of interviews in this future - but have a look on YouTube and you can hear Bush chatting with so many difference sources. Although a lot of the questions and answers are the same – one would have hoped interviewers would be a bit more imaginative with some of their lines of inquiry -, it was great to hear Bush so engaged and positive about her work.

 IN THIS PHOTO: Kate Bush in 2011/PHOTO CREDIT: John Carder Bush

In this feature from The Quietus, they look back at an interview Bush provided them when promoting 50 Words for Snow:

“So Aerial is full of images of clear skies, still water, warm days and it’s full of the bustle of family life and an easy domesticity. 50 Words For Snow is a similarly beautiful album but there is a chill to it - it lacks the warmth of its predecessor. I wondered if it represented another switch from an autobiographical to a narrative song writing approach?

KB: Yeah, I think it’s much more a kind of narrative story-telling piece. I think one of the things I was playing with on the first three tracks was trying to allow the song structure to evolve the story telling process itself; so that it’s not just squashed into three or four minutes, so I could just let the story unfold.

Had you always wanted to do 50 Words For Snow or were you just on a roll after Director’s Cut?

KB: No, they were both records that I’d wanted to do for some time. But obviously I had to get Director’s Cut done before I could start this one... Well, I guess I could have waited until next year but this record had to come out at this time of year, it isn’t the sort of thing I could have put it out in the summer obviously.

Did the snow theme come from an epiphany or a particular grain or idea? Was there one particular day when you happened to be in the snow…

KB: No. I don’t think there was much snow going on through the writing of this… it was more to do with my memories of snow I suppose and the exploration of the images that come with it”.

The snow has melted and, nearly eight years after its release, we await the next movement from Kate Bush. She has not been idle since 2011. In 2014, she performed a sold-out residency at the Eventim Apollo, Hammersmith to rapturous reviews – it was the first time Bush had performed on such a scale since 1979. Before the Dawn was a huge smash, and Bush followed that in 2018 with the release of a book of lyrics, How to Be Invisible, and re-releasing her albums on vinyl (including great box-sets with rarities and B-sides). There is the odd smatter of activity and news regarding Bush; we await a new album and wonder what comes next. That was another reason for this feature: as of today’s date (20th October, 2019), this is the second-longest gap between albums. Maybe 2020 will bring new music; perhaps it will be a few more years. Not only is there anticipation because Bush’s music is a wonderful thing; 50 Words for Snow is unique and an album that sounds utterly wonderful whatever time of the year you experience it. I feel there will be more material from Kate Bush. In November, we celebrate the anniversaries of Aerial (which is fourteen on 7th) and 50 Words for Snow (eight on 21st). Perhaps the next Kate Bush album will be another autumn release. Who knows?! Her sheer unpredictability and grounded nature is rare in the music; you just know Bush is always thinking about music and working on something! Whilst it is a myth there are fifty words for snow in the Eskimo language, there are many more than fifty words of love we can apply to Kate Bush. And that, now and forever, is most certainly…

NO myth!

FEATURE: The Whole Story? Why Now Is the Time for Another Kate Bush Greatest Hits Collection

FEATURE:

 

The Whole Story?

PHOTO CREDIT: Clive Arrowsmith 

Why Now Is the Time for Another Kate Bush Greatest Hits Collection

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THIS is not just me…

 PHOTO CREDIT: John Carder Bush

finding any excuse to write another Kate Bush feature (although I don’t need much of a reason!). Whilst the world awaits Bush’s eleventh studio album – whenever that might be -, I do think it is a perfect time for another Kate Bush greatest hits package. Not only is The Sensual World thirty on 17th October – as we celebrate her classic albums, inevitably, we will cast our mind to her work in general and fondly remember -, but Bush has only really put out a couple of packages that collated her best tracks. The Whole Story was released way back in 1986 and was intended to capitalise on the commercial success Bush enjoyed following Hounds of Love’s release the previous year. The Other Sides was released this year and, as the title suggests, is a collection of B-sides and non-album songs fore the most part. Last year, we did get box-sets that not only included her studio albums but dd give us these B-sides and cover versions. It is wonderful we have the original albums in the world, and we can get hold of all Bush’s work in gloriously remastered condition! I never thought she would put her albums back out and, prior to last year, there were some albums that were not available on vinyl or were expensive to buy. I do think there are many coming to Bush’s work now who might want a narrower representation of her work.

Sure, everyone should consume as much of Bush’s work as possible but, with vinyl so expensive to buy, I do worry a lot of people are missing out. I think 1986’s The Whole Story was the best first musical autobiography but, as thirty-three years has past since then, a revision and update would be fitting. Consider the fact that Bush’s work has evolved since 1986 and she has released a lot of great material since. Some might claim that, as we are not streaming mostly, can’t we just get her music online and compile our own ‘Kate Bush’s greatest hits’?! That point is valid, yet I think a physical product that one can carry around and keep is much more special and less subjective. I do think, in terms of vinyl, we might be limited to about twenty tracks at the most, so it would be a squeeze narrowing things down. Even so, I think you could put out a pretty healthy spread that would be career-spanning and please most fans. Over ten studio albums, you’d roughly get two tracks per album. I think you could extend it to a four-vinyl, twenty-four track collection and not price people out. You’d imagine Wuthering Heights and The Man with the Child in His Eyes would be shoe-ins from The Kick Inside (1978); Wow from Lionheart (1978) and Babooshka, Army Dreamers and Breathing from 1980’s Never for Ever. There are familiar selections there and, to be fair, these tracks appear on other compilations.

Even as an ardent fan, I would buy a new greatest hits, because I think it would be fascinating seeing a track from 50 Words for Snow (2011) stacked up against one from The Kick Inside. Perhaps a further retrospective would encourage Bush to bring out a new studio album! I do think we will see new material from Bush in the next year or two, but there is an opportunity to bring Bush’s music to fresh ears; give her fans a collection of her best material. I can appreciate people saying that, when it comes to Bush, her albums are so rich and stunning that one could not break them up and it is impossible to distill her essence to a greatest hits package. Rather than see the endeavour as commercial, it is more a chance to put out a stunning body of work that shows how extraordinary Bush is; how she has captivated us and put out some of the most affecting music ever. Bush received a CBE in 2013 but, as I have argued in another feature, why has she not been made a Dame?! It seems an extraordinary oversight considering Bush’s career spans five decades. Lesser names have been made a Dame and I do think those in power – who can decide who is made a Dame – forget just how important and phenomenal Kate Bush is; what she has given to music and how inspirational her music is.

I do think some forget how many artists owe a debt to Bush and how unique she (Bush) is. We have all her albums out into the world, but a 2020 release of her essential songs – whether twenty-four tracks or a few more -, would underline and emphasise Bush’s brilliance and raw talent. When it comes to the brilliance of Kate Bush, one must look beyond the music itself. It is clear her visual aesthetic has inspired others; her sense of ambition and the boldness of her lyrics has changed the landscape of Pop. I do think a new greatest hits collection of Kate Bush’s work would help influence a whole new generation of artists coming through. I found this article from 2014, where Bush’s brilliance is celebrated. CHVRCHES’ valiast, Lauren Mayberry, talks about Bush’s influence on her and others:

“Yes, Bush has a distinctive aesthetic but this is another part of her as a performer – a furtherance of her art, rather than a tool to sell records as is, and has been, the case for many less talented artists. And talent Bush has. By the bucket. Her vocal – admired by nerdy singer types such as myself for its four-octave range – is instantly recognisable, beautiful, strong and cited as an influence by artists from Björk to Florence Welch. Her lyrics are deep, thoughtful, sometimes completely mad (she may well be the only artist to have reached the Top 20 with a song about James Joyce's Ulysses) but always idiosyncratic.

PHOTO CREDIT: John Carder Bush 

I have found in this industry that outside observers – be they label bods, critics or the public – often have a very strong idea of what they think you should be doing. It covers everything from what one should and should not discuss in interviews to how to dress, how to sing, what to sing about and how to perform. It is endless, but you have to drown it out. Bush is one of the many performers who taught me that being whoever and however you want to be is the most genuine thing that any artist can be. Just make sure that vision is completely yours, and protect it with everything you've got”.

There are a lot of people around the world asking whether we will get another Kate Bush album; whether it will be in the next year or so, or whether we will need to wait a bit longer. Even as we pine and speculate, the appetite and love of her existing music is so strong. I do think there are a lot of people either fresh to Bush’s music or not aware of its width and variety. I think a fresh greatest hits package would bring more people in and demonstrate just how consistent and original Bush is. In any case, one can find her music on Spotify, and I would encourage people buy her albums on vinyl. To listen to her music is to be taken away and transported into the song itself. There is no other musical experience like it and, since 1978, Bush has stood out on her own! You never know when an album will arrive and what Kate Bush is up to. You can bet your bottom dollar she is working on something but, as we well know, one never knows…

WHAT will come next.

FEATURE: This Woman’s Work: Kate Bush’s The Sensual World at Thirty

FEATURE:

 

This Woman’s Work

PHOTO CREDIT: John Carder Bush 

Kate Bush’s The Sensual World at Thirty

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ON 16th October, it will be thirty years…

 IN THIS PHOTO: Kate Bush in 1989/PHOTO CREDIT: John Carder Bush

since Kate Bush’s The Sensual World came into the world. In some ways, it was a bit of an odd album. Four years after her defining moment, Hounds of Love, The Sensual World came out. It is a very different record and one that did not receive the same sort of praise as its predecessor. There are a few things that define The Sensual World and its beauty. Backing vocals on Never Be Mine, Rocket’s Tail and Deeper Understanding feature the Trio Bulgarka, and I think The Sensual World features some of Bush’s most affecting work. I think there was a bit of disappointment due to the fact The Sensual World does not have the same stride as Hounds of Love. There are relatively few standout singles on the album – The Sensual World and This Woman’s Work are exceptional tracks but are very different to Cloudbusting and Running Up That Hill (A Deal with God). If Hounds of Love was a more instant, commercial album – albeit it, one whose second side is a conceptual suite -, The Sensual World is, in some ways, more romantic and deep. There is a definite tonal shift between the albums and I think a lot of people overlook The Sensual World. It is not her best album, but it is one that sounds brilliant thirty years later; so many fantastic moments that highlight why Kate Bush is one of the greatest songwriters ever. Hounds of Love set such a high benchmark and was a real peak for her.

Not willing to stand still and produce the same album, The Sensual World took her music forward. If Hounds of Love’s tracks are more instant and accessible, I think The Sensual World’s tracks unfurl over time and reward great investigation. The Sensual World is thirty very soon and I do think it deserves to find a new audience. Maybe, in 1993, Bush’s golden touch was starting to fade a little – The Red Shoes is considered one of her weaker albums. The Sensual World, far from being weak or inferior to Hounds of Love, in fact, is a hugely nuanced album. Yes, there are a few weaker tracks but the best moments – such as The Sensual World and Deeper Understanding – are among her very best. In this article from Classic Album Sundays, it is clear Bush was in a league of her own in the 1980s:

“By the middle of the 1980s Kate Bush had reached the apex of her career with Hounds of Love. The album featured the most powerful and intriguing songs of her discography thus far, demonstrating just how incredible her sonic storytelling had become. Resisting the frenetic pace of a typical major label release schedule, Bush would spend another four years crafting her followup, with only sporadic singles and collaborations bridging the commercial gap. She found inspiration in the literary world again, scouring the pages of James Joyce’s landmark 1920s novel Ulysses to find Molly Bloom’s closing monologue, in which the character steps from the pages of the book and revels in the real world. Bush was delighted to find that the rhythm and sound of the words fit perfectly with the music she had been working on.

This revelation was frustrated by the intractability of Joyce’s estate, which repeatedly refused Bush permission to use the words as her lyrics on ‘The Sensual World’. She was forced to rebuild from the ground-up, writing new passages that captured the same breathless energy as Bloom’s soliloquy.

Unlike previous albums, The Sensual World did not follow a single conceptual arc. Instead each track illustrated a vignette, written from the perspectives of far more ordinary people than had previously featured in her songs. The allegories were still vivid and fantastical but at the heart of each story was the existential crises that we all face at some point in our lives. On songs such as ‘Heads We’re Dancing’, Bush deploys her dark sense of humour to imagine a young girl who is charmed onto the dance floor by a man she later learns is Adolf Hitler. The song was inspired by a friend who had spent the evening in the company of a captivating man they later found out to be “father of the atomic bomb” Robert Oppenheimer. Although somewhat ridiculous on the surface, the song speaks to something very real: can you ever really trust your own judgement? And if not, what does that say about you?”.

I love all of Kate Bush’s albums but there is something about The Sensual World that digs deep and hits the heart. Listen to a track such as The Fog and all the expressions and things happening. It is grand, beguiling and busy; Reaching Out is emphatic and passionate whilst Rocket’s Tail sweeps you up and takes your mind somewhere else.

The Sensual World has some truly sensual, raw and extraordinary moments. This feature we get a track-by-track guide from Bush and some truth about the album:

“"On this album there's more of me in there in a more honest way than before and yet, although some of it is me, the songs aren't about me. It's this kind of vague mish-mash of other people and yourself, bits of films, things you've heard, all put together in a mood that says a lot about me at this time.

"A lot of people will think these songs are about me. I've always had that and like, with 'Deeper Understanding', people react immediately saying, 'Is this autobographical? So you're into computers now? So you spend all night on computers?' People immediately switch on to the mechanicalness. It's a song about computes so she must be into computers!"

I think all the great albums deserve attention on big anniversaries. The Sensual World, I feel, is overlooked and does not get the same applause as albums like Hounds of Love and The Dreaming. If you have not bought a copy of the album then grab one and let the songs take you away. When the album was released, The Sensual World got praise. As I said, there was a sense of disappointment and doubt. Retrospective reviews have been ore effusive and, perhaps, we needed to see the years pass before The Sensual World truly sunk in. Pitchfork’s recent review is balanced and gets to the heart of the songs:

“There’s no Hounds-style grand narrative thread on The Sensual World. Bush likened it to a volume of short stories, with its subjects frequently wrestling with who they were, who they are, and who they want to be. She was able to pour some of her own frustrations into these knotty tussles: She found it more difficult than ever to write songs, couldn’t work out what she wanted them to say, and hit roadblock after roadblock.

PHOTO CREDIT: John Carder Bush 

The 12 months she spent pestering Joyce’s grandson were surpassed by the maddening two years she spent on “Love and Anger,” which, fittingly, finds her tormented by an old trauma she can’t bring herself to talk about. But by the end, she banishes the evil spirits by leading her band in something that sounds like a raucous exorcism, chanting, “Don’t ever think you can’t change the past and the future” over squalling guitars.

Even its most surreal songs are rooted in self-examination. “Heads We’re Dancing” seems like a dark joke—a young girl is charmed on to the dancefloor by a man she later learns is Adolf Hitler—but poses a troubling question: What does it say about you, if you couldn’t see through the devil’s disguise? Its discordant, skronky rhythms make it feel like a formal ball taking place in a fever dream, and Bush’s voice grows increasingly panicky as she realizes how badly she’s been duped. As far-fetched as its premise was, its inspiration lay close to home: A family friend had told Bush how shaken they’d been after they’d taken a shine to a dashing stranger at a dinner party, only to find out they’d been chatting to Robert Oppenheimer.

PHOTO CREDIT: Getty Images

She didn’t need to prove her own steeliness to anyone, especially the male journalists who patronized her and harped on her childishness as a way of cutting her down to size. Instead, The Sensual World is the sound of someone deciding for themselves what growing up and grown-up pop should be, without being beholden to anyone else’s tedious definitions.

It gave her a new template for the next two decades, inspiring both the smooth, stylish art-rock of 1993’s The Red Shoes and the picturesque beauty of 2005’s Aerial. Like Molly Bloom, Bush had set herself free into a world that wasn’t mundane, but alive with new, fertile possibility”.

I am excited by the upcoming anniversary of The Sensual World and I hope radio stations dig deep and play some of the lesser-heard tracks from the album…in addition to the more popular tracks like This Woman’s Work. After thirty years, The Sensual World…

STILL sounds completely amazing.

FEATURE: Symphony in Blue: Why Radio Stations Need to Look Past Kate Bush’s Hits and Dig Deeper

FEATURE:

 

Symphony in Blue

IN THIS PHOTO: Kate Bush/PHOTO CREDIT: Gerard Mankowitz 

Why Radio Stations Need to Look Past Kate Bush’s Hits and Dig Deeper

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THIS feature applies to other artists…

 PHOTO CREDIT: Chris Walter - WireImage/Getty Images

but it is especially true of Kate Bush! One does her music on the radio from time to time and, whilst it is really nice when a song of hers is played, you do tend to find the same ones feature. I listen to BBC Radio 6 Music most of the time and, when they play a Kate Bush track, it is usually from Hounds of Love. There is no problem with that! The album turns thirty-four on 16th September and it is the critical darling. The songs the station play tend to be the bigger hits from the first side – Hounds of Love, Cloudbusting and Running Up That Hill (A Deal with God). They are well-known songs, and all defined by a certain energy. They are successful and recognisable, but I wonder why tracks such as The Big Sky (on the first side) and tracks from The Ninth Wave (the conceptual, second side of the album) are not played more. Maybe getting away from the album altogether is a better idea because, like many stations, there is a reliance on it. Stations are pretty broad regarding legends such as David Bowie, The Beatles and Joni Mitchell but, when it comes to Kate Bush, there is a certain fear. Sure, Wuthering Heights and The Man with the Child in His Eyes (The Kick Inside); you’ll hear Wow (Lionheart) now and then; maybe Babooshka and Army Dreamers (Never for Ever); perhaps This Woman’s Work (The Sensual World) will come up. Bush has released ten studio albums – her last/most-recent, 50 Words for Snow, in 2011 – and there is plenty of great material on each record!

I do think every iconic and inspirational artist deserves having as many of their songs played on radio as possible. Whilst it not possible to play every single track from Kate Bush – not all her tracks will go down a storm -, I do wonder why radio stations tend to focus their energies on particular albums/songs. Even from The Kick Inside (her 1978 debut), there are songs that do not get aired often – including Moving and Room for the Life. Lionheart opens with the majestic Symphony in Blue and contains the stunning Kashka from Baghdad. Delius (Song of Summer), The Wedding List and The Infant Kiss from Never for Ever do not get a showing. The Dreaming is a divisive album but, unlike most artists, the tracks are at least interesting and original! It seems radio gravitates towards hits and so, in the case of The Dreaming, we never hear Leave It Open, Night of the Swallow or Houdini played – a song, I contest, that is one of her very best! Though Hounds of Love is well represented – a little too much so in the case of some stations! -, the second side does not get the same love as the hits-packed first half. Life post-Hounds of Love is not exactly fruitful in terms of airplay! The Sensual World turns thirty on 16th October and it seems like the perfect excuse for stations to dust off the record and play some of its tracks - one doubts whether that will happen!

Even though albums like The Sensual World and 1993’s The Red Shoes divide people, both contain some incredible songs – I especially think The Sensual World is underrated and gets some unfair stick. Moments of Pleasure and Rubberband Girl are great tracks we should hear more of and, when you cast forward to 2005’s Aerial and 2011’s 50 Words for Snow, between them, there are tracks that have not been played on the radio…but they definitely have legs! Kate Bush is that classic albums artist that, like The Beatles and other acts who cannot be reduced to singles, sees only a selection of her songs played. She will not be too bothered herself. She has said in interviews how she does not listen to her old stuff and rarely hears her music on the radio. So many of us consume music through streaming and that creates its own issues. Those unfamiliar with Kate Bush’s catalogue will play the most-played tracks from Spotify – including Hounds of Love and Wuthering Heights – and might not necessarily delve any further. So many of us are guided by radio and, if they only play a small selection of her tracks, how many of us are going to spend some time with her albums as a whole?! There are articles like this that rank her songs and order her singles but, again, there are notable omissions when it comes to radio playlists!

I am not the only one who has noticed a ‘preference’ when it comes to Kate Bush’s songs: when I post (online) why stations focus heavily on certain tracks, it does garner reaction. Bush’s albums are so rich with variation, emotion and story; so many tracks that buckle the knees are, sadly, reserved for those who know where to look or have her albums. Any Kate Bush airtime is wonderful – one must not grumble! – but, by playing the same tracks, it suggests they are the only ones worth hearing. It is something I have noticed across the big BBC stations and so many of the big players. Maybe independent stations are more adventurous and wide-ranging, but they are an exception. In fact, even when we think of huge artists like The Beatles and Bob Dylan, are their albums opened up and played? I understand radio stations are in a hard position: they need to play what is popular (i.e., a hit) and they might not necessary be au fait with an artist to make suggestions that deviate from the well-trodden path. Maybe there is a wider issue where stations are a little skeptical about playing album tracks, in case people turn their noses. Sure, if we hear a song like Running Up That Hill (A Deal with God), it resonates and makes us feel happier, but there is something a little depressing hearing the same songs played over and over.   

As the world awaits an eleventh studio album from Bush – there are no plans; but let’s hope something comes next year, perhaps -, it would be a welcomed treat hearing more of Bush’s music featured on the radio (in terms of variation and breaking from the norm). I was hooked on Bush’s music very young and explored her albums from then on but, as I said, as so many of us are using streaming services rather than buying music; do we just skim through albums or play songs we are more familiar with? Kate Bush’s lyrics are so revered and extraordinary; her voice and music are unique…so many great songs are not seeing the light of day. I keep saying how something is better than nothing; it would be worse if no Kate Bush music was played (rather than just singles and bigger hits) and, in fact, stations like BBC Radio 6 plays Kate Bush pretty regularly. Every year, we celebrate her album anniversaries and laud a songwriting genius. Only a small percentage of her tracks get played on the radio, and I do hope that changes soon. There is no real expert knowledge needed: Bush is a surprisingly engaging artist and there are few of her songs that lack appeal – maybe some of the longer numbers from 50 Words for Snow would be naturally excluded. I will end things here but, going forward, I would make a plea to radio stations to be bolder when it comes to Kate Bush. Sure, play the hits but also consider tracks such as Houdini, Symphony in Blue and Mrs. Bartolozzi (from Aerial); maybe a blast of The Big Sky or Get Out of My House (The Dreaming). When you do immerse yourself into Kate Bush’s vivid and eclectic world, you’ll find that waiting for you are some truly…

FANTASTIC revelations.

FEATURE: The Underrated Gem, the Experimental Fever Dream and the Critical Favourite: Three Brilliant Kate Bush Albums Celebrating Anniversaries in September

FEATURE:

 

 

The Underrated Gem, the Experimental Fever Dream and the Critical Favourite

IN THIS PHOTO: Kate Bush in an outtake from the Hounds of Love cover shoot (1985)/PHOTO CREDIT: John Carder Bush 

Three Brilliant Kate Bush Albums Celebrating Anniversaries in September

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THE good thing about Kate Bush…

 IN THIS PHOTO: Kate Bush in 1982/PHOTO CREDIT: Guido Harari

is that all of her albums remain fascinating; every anniversary allows us to a chance to explore an album from a new angle. As most of her albums are released at the end of summer through to winter, there is a long stretch where we do not get to mark anniversaries. It has been a fairly quiet period regarding Kate Bush news: she has popped up here and there but nothing in the way of fresh material. Many celebrated her birthday a few weeks back (30th July) and we are all awaiting the moment a new album is on its way – one hopes it is not too long! September and November are months, clearly, that suit Kate Bush in terms of album releases. I shall talk about the November-released albums in a couple of months but, ahead of the thirty-ninth anniversary of Never for Ever on 8th September, I want to celebrate a trio of records with very different sounds. We have the underrated and brilliant Never for Ever; the more divisive and bold The Dreaming and the critical favourite, Hounds of Love. Here, with reviews, background and choice songs, are three remarkable Kate Bush albums we get to...

IN THIS PHOTO: Kate Bush in 1980/PHOTO CREDIT: Andy Phillips/Getty Images

RE-EXPLORE next month

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Never for Ever

COVER DESIGN: Nick Price

Release Date: 7th September, 1980

Label: EMI

Producers: Jon Kelly/Kate Bush

Background:

Production on Never for Ever began after Kate Bush’s 1979 tour and it was her second step into production – she helped produced the On Stage E.P. and her curiosity was growing. Alongside Jon Kelly, Bush delivered an album that was more experimental and personal than her previous two (The Kick Inside and Lionheart of 1978) and, as you can tell on the record, the songs are more eclectic and daring. This sense of expansion and variety would augment and go in different directions on The Dreaming (1982) but, as an album, Never for Ever is hugely underrated and under-explored. Never for Ever was Kate's first number-one album. It was also the first ever album by a British female solo artist to top the U.K. album chart, as well as being the first album by any female solo artist to enter the chart at the top spot.

Reviews:

“When it came out in 1980, Never For Ever, was the most expansive and conceptual work that Bush had released. It is suitably Floydian in parts, unsurprising given the early mentorship that Bush received from Pink Floyd guitarist Dave Gilmour. That influence seldom dilutes the impact of Kate’s distinctive voice. This is an album where Kate Bush, as songwriter, really shines through; It often feels like an aural storybook, creating a rich tapestry of tales drawn from the annals of history, art, and popular culture. From her imagining the final years of composer Frederick Delius’ life in Delius to retelling the 1961 Brit horror film The Innocents in Infant’s Kiss, Bush’s lyrics bring a new and deeply personal perspective to old tales.

It’s an album of many strong moments. Babooshka, the record’s most well-known song, has lost none of its initial impact. Its compelling, understated, piano-driven verses contrast magnificently with the explosive, bombastic choruses, which affirm Bush’s status as one of the great voices of her generation. The Wedding List and the riotous, pseudo hard-rock of Violin are slyly witty and immaculately constructed. But it is the closing one-two punch of Army Dreamers and Breathing that is Never For Ever’s undoubted highlight. The former, a song about a mother wrestling with the guilt she feels over a soldier son’s death is sparsely arranged, with Bush’s understated vocal delivery proving particularly powerful.

37 years after its release, Never For Ever still shines as a catalytic moment for Kate Bush. It’s a fact reflected in the record’s phenomenal sales achievements; it was the first solo album by any female solo artist to enter the UK charts at number 1 and it stayed in the UK top 75 for a total of 23 weeks. But it’s not just the sales that make Never For Ever special. Powerful and compelling, displaying incredible maturity from the-then 23-year-old, it set Bush up for a string of classics – The Dreaming, Hounds of Love, The Sensual World – that are amongst the greatest albums of the 1980s. It’s because of the acclaim of those successive records that Never For Ever is often overlooked. It shouldn’t be though; it’s a forgotten classic, fully deserving of re-evaluation” – Alec Plowman

“The album features plenty of single worthy pop hits as usual but does offer much more collectively. Babooshka and Army Dreamers are examples of Kate exercising more of her descriptive lyrical style. On this record, Bush explores more concepts in her lyrics than previously. It's easy noticing the lyrical contrast with the album's opening and closing tracks. The opener, Babooshka is about a distrustful wife who ruins her marriage through seducing her husband under a pseudonym. The closer, Breathing finds Kate writing about her nervous actions through a more Bowie influenced style. From this point, Kate Bush adds even more variety to the mix. Musically, Never For Ever naturally expands thanks to a more layered sound. The album features a vibrant mix of wet fairlight synths, pianos, fretless bass and layers of strings. The performances of the album fit smoother than on previous records as Bush goes for a more varied final product.

Kate's third solo album was no masterpiece but a fascinating and necessary step in her discography. Bush's writing had finally evolved enough to the point where she could write without relying too much on image or style. Whether it's experimenting with her remarkable vocal range, creative arrangements, or vivid lyrics, Never For Ever shows Kate Bush improving in all the right ways” - Sputnikmusic

Key Cuts: The Infant Kiss/Army Dreamers/Breathing

Standout Track: Babooshka

The Dreaming

COVER PHOTO: John Carder Bush

Release Date: 13th September, 1982

Label: EMI

Producer: Kate Bush

Background:

This is the moment Kate Bush assumed the mantle of producer and, perhaps, realised an ambition she had since the start of her career: to have control over her work and, as such, let her imagination run wild. Whilst The Dreaming is one of the most divisive albums of her career, it is also one of the most fascinating and nuanced. Making use of a variety of sounds, instruments and technologies, it is a kaleidoscopic album that is bursting with textures and possibilities. Songs tackle everything from a crime caper (There Goes a Tenner) to escapology (Houdini) and, nearly thirty-seven years after its release, The Dreaming sounds utterly audacious, hypnotic and wild. Bush would need a period to recuperate and regroup following an exhaustive recording period; she was drained after The Dreaming but, all these years later, the album sounds like nothing else. It is a singular work from a songwriter who was on the cusp of releasing her most celebrated and popular work.

Reviews:

“For those who only really know Bush from her most popular singles, The Dreaming might well seem insane. Even from its pounding, deeply rhythmic opening seconds, it becomes clear that it’s no ordinary Kate Bush record. ‘Sat In Your Lap’ drags you into her most avant-garde world kicking and, quite literally, screaming. It deals with existentialism and the quest for knowledge, Bush’s voice moving from languid, contemplative wonder to frustrated yelping on a whim.

Perhaps the most famous moments of lyrical magic come toward the end of the LP though. Stephen King’s novel The Shining was the driving force behind the shuddering closer ‘Get Out Of My House’, but while it is set in some form of hotel (there’s a repeated mention of the concierge), Bush’s take on King is even more disturbing than the novel. While the house still remains the source of madness (“This house is as old as I am / This house knows all I have done”), and the thunderous percussion only heightens the sense of dread, it’s not the most horrifying element of the track. There’s nothing that inspires more innate terror than hearing Bush and her fellow musicians begin to aggressively bray like donkeys, as if possessed by demonic spirits.

The Dreaming, by contrast, remains the overlooked jewel in her canon. But while it may be challenging and uncompromising, it’s almost hard to imagine what Kate Bush would be like today if she hadn’t released it. A staggeringly bold step forward for her as a singer, songwriter and producer, The Dreaming was a milestone both for Bush herself and the wider world of music” – Drowned in Sound

“The result was an internal unity, a more well-paced album than anything she’d done prior. The songs are full of rhythmic drive, moody synth atmospheres, and layered vocals free of the radio-friendly hooks on earlier albums. The sounds that kept her tethered to rock—such as guitar and rock drum cymbals—are mostly absent, as are the strings that sweetened her prior work. The fretless bass—often the masculine sparring partner to her voice—is still omnipresent.

When it works, her narrative portraits render precise individuals in richly drawn scenes—the empathy radiates out. In “Houdini” she fully inhabits the gothic romance of lost love, conjuring the panic, grief, and hope of Harry Houdini’s wife Bess. Bush was taken by Houdini’s belief in the afterlife and Bess’s loyal attempts reach him through séances. Bush conjured the horrified sounds of witnessing a lover die by devouring chocolate and milk to temporarily ruin her voice. Bess was said to pass a key to unlock his bonds through a kiss, the inspiration for the cover art and a larger metaphor for the depth of trust Bush wants in love. We must need what’s in her mouth to survive, and we must get it through a passionate exchange among willing bodies” – Pitchfork

Key Cuts: Sat in Your Lap/All the Love/Get Out of My House

Standout Track: Houdini  

Hounds of Love

COVER PHOTO: John Carder Bush 

Release Date: 16th September, 1982

Label: EMI

Producer: Kate Bush

Background:

The experience of making The Dreaming was an intense and tiring one. Whilst EMI were not completely happy with the results, lack of sales success and wait since Never for Ever, one cannot argue Bush had a right to push herself and make the album she wanted to, as she wanted to. By 1983, Bush had moved from London to the countryside. She took up dance again (which she had not done for a while); she was eating more healthily (after existing off of fast food a lot previously) and built her own studio. Not only was Bush fitter and more energised but she had the inspiration of the countryside and fresh impetus. EMI were not thrilled she wanted to produce again but, in a different headspace to the one she was in prior to The Dreaming, Hounds of Love is very different album. It remains her most well-received and celebrated work; a moment when her ambitions, songwriting genius and drive coalesced into one of the greatest albums of the 1980s. It is not my favourite but even I cannot argue with the brilliance and importance of Hounds of Love.

Reviews:

“The Fairlight was a notoriously expensive and complex computer; the few who could afford and figure out how to play one during their ‘80s heyday were either established stars like Peter Gabriel and Stevie Wonder who were invested in cutting-edge sounds, or similarly brainy upstarts who funded their techno-pop through production. One such boffin, Landscape’s Richard James Burgess, helped program Bush’s Fairlight on the very first album to feature it, 1980’s Never for Ever, which was also the first UK chart-topping album by a British female solo artist, one that marked a transition between the symphonic sweep of Bush’s earliest albums and what followed.

Imagination’s pull is the subtext to Bush’s entire oeuvre, but that theme dominates Hounds of Love, and not least in the title track. Whereas her piercing upper register once defined her output, here she’s roaring from her gut, then pulling back, and the song shifts between panic and empathy. “Hounds of Love” boasts the big gated ’80s drum blasts Bush discovered while singing background on Gabriel’s “Games Without Frontiers,” and yet its cello just as percussive: It builds to suggest both her pulse and the heartbeat of the captured fox she comforts and identifies with. She fears love: “It’s coming for me through the trees,” she wails. Yet she craves it, so desire and terror escalate in a breathless Hitchcockian climax” – Pitchfork

“Hounds of Love is actually a two-part album (the two sides of the original LP release being the now-lost natural dividing line), consisting of the suites "Hounds of Love" and "The Ninth Wave." The former is steeped in lyrical and sonic sensuality that tends to wash over the listener, while the latter is about the experiences of birth and rebirth. If this sounds like heady stuff, it could be, but Bush never lets the material get too far from its pop trappings and purpose. In some respects, this was also Bush's first fully realized album, done completely on her own terms, made entirely at her own 48-track home studio, to her schedule and preferences, and delivered whole to EMI as a finished work; that history is important, helping to explain the sheer presence of the album's most striking element -- the spirit of experimentation at every turn, in the little details of the sound. That vastly divergent grasp, from the minutiae of each song to the broad sweeping arc of the two suites, all heavily ornamented with layered instrumentation, makes this record wonderfully overpowering as a piece of pop music. Indeed, this reviewer hadn't had so much fun and such a challenge listening to a new album from the U.K. since Abbey Road, and it's pretty plain that Bush listened to (and learned from) a lot of the Beatles' output in her youth” – AllMusic

Key Cuts: The Big Sky/Cloudbusting/Watching You Watching Me

Standout Track: Running Up That Hill (A Deal with God)