FEATURE:
L'Amour Looks Something Like You
PHOTO CREDIT: Kate Bush
Book and Music Suggestions for Those Who Wish to Explore the Beguiling Kate Bush
___________
ALTHOUGH I vowed that I would not…
IN THIS PHOTO: Kate Bush looking focused in a promotional shot for 2011’s Director’s Cut/PHOTO CREDIT: John Carder Bush
put out another Kate Bush feature until next year – as I am comfortably into double digits! -, I have been thinking about Christmas and the fact a lot of people might be looking for something Bush-related. I have covered Kate Bush from a number of angles this year, so there is not a lot more I can discuss regarding individual albums and releases. What I did want to do is to sort of guide people who might be at the beginning of their Kate Bush quest; those that want some suggestions when it comes to sound and literature. I would urge people, in addition to what I will link to here, is to have a look online at the interviews and music videos available. I cannot stress enough how stunning and fascinating Kate Bush is in interviews. Whatever she is asked – and she is asked the same questions a lot! -, she responds eloquently and with interest. This is tangential to my main point, but there are so many great videos around that one needs to investigate. This year has been a ‘quiet’ one for Kate Bush, where she has not released any box-sets or announced any news. I think 2020 is a year where we may see something in the way of an album or something else. Because of that, newcomers and diehard fans will want to make sure they are fully up to speed regarding Kate Bush and her work.
I will start with books that are worth some money. Interestingly, I was communicating this morning with the author of Under the Ivy: The Life and Music of Kate Bush, Graeme Thomson. I was raving about his book on Twitter and I put a link to Amazon where you can buy it. He jested that it was also available from other retailers – those that pay taxes and are not quite so all-conquering. In all cases, I am linking to websites, but I would urge people to go to their local bookshop and buy Thomson’s great work. It is a fascinating and detailed look at Bush’s life, from her childhood right up until 2014. This is how Waterstones describe the book:
“ Ivy examines Bush's unconventional upbringing in south London, the youthful blossoming of her talent and her evolution into one of the most visually and sonically creative artists of the past 35 years. It focuses on her unique working methods and pioneering use of the studio on landmark albums such as The Dreaming and Hounds Of Love, her core influences and key relationships, her profound influence on successive generations of musicians, and her most recent releases: Director's Cut, on which Bush reworked 11 songs from her back catalogue, and 50 Words For Snow, her first album of new material for six years”.
I love the book, and I must have re-read it about a dozen times! Thomson is engaging and authoritative throughout, but he writes in a style that makes Kate Bush’s incredible work and life accessible to all. I would also recommend Kate: Inside the Rainbow. It is a collection of photos taken by her brother, John Carder Bush; more than two-hundred-and-fifty stunning, rare and unpublished black-and-white and colour photographs, taken between 1964 and 2011. The book shows the visual side of Kate Bush and how captivating she is in front of the camera. There are rare shots that many fans would not otherwise have seen, whilst Carder Bush provides insights and revelations that give new layers to one of the world’s most inspiring and popular artists. My favourite parts of the book are the video stills that we see – included are shots from the Army Dreamers video. I also really like the photos of a young Kate, before she recorded her debut album. The hardback costs between £35-£40, depending where you buy it from, but it is well worth the money! If you want another biographical take, I would encourage people get behind Kate Bush: The Biography from Rob Jovanovic. Although it only takes us as far as 2005 – when Bush released the long-awaited Aerial album -, Jovanovic uses different language and has a different style to Graeme Thomson. He also approaches Bush from a different angle, so it is nice to have both books, so one gets as full a picture as possible.
The book is reasonably priced, so if you want a nice guide to Kate Bush and a jolly good read, I can give the thumbs up to Kate Bush: The Biography. I have read it a few times, and I learned things about Bush I did not know before. I will get to her recent book of lyrics soon but, randomly, I was searching for Kate Bush books online as I figured I had the pick of the best. Homeground: The Kate Bush Magazine: Anthology One: 'Wuthering Heights' to 'The Sensual World' is the first of a two-part work that is a definite must for new Kate Bush fans and the super-fans alike. Here is some information about the volumes:
“For a Kate Bush fan there was nothing more satisfying, other than perhaps Kate herself dropping around for a quick cup of tea, than the arrival of a much awaited issue of HomeGround. Just as the illusion of being the one and only devotee reaches overwhelming heights a surprise package is delivered as a joyous reminder of Kate Bush’s hold over, not just me, but many of us.”
… so Emmy Award winning actor Guy Pearce introduces HomeGround: The Kate Bush Magazine Anthology 1982-2012, a project we have worked on for over five years, and which we are delighted to say, is now available to order.
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, real scissors and a pot of genuine paste, we 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 we knew. Only later did we discover the magic of word processing, and then desktop publishing.
From those beginnings HomeGround became a cornerstone of the ‘Kate-speaking world’, going on to co-organise with the official fan club four fan conventions and events at which Kate Bush and members of her family and band appeared; arrange at her request a team of fans to be extras in two of her videos, and organise annual informal fan gatherings on Glastonbury Tor, and at Top Withens, the storm-blown ruin on Haworth Moor thought to be the place which inspired the creation of Emily Brontë’s Wuthering Heights. Years before the internet, HomeGround became a place where fans could discuss Kate’s music, and a place where they could publish creative writing and artwork inspired by that music.
This is a two-volume set published both in hardcover and paperback. Volume 1 covers Kate’s career from the late 1970s to the late 1980s – from before Wuthering Heights to The Sensual World and the box set set This Woman’s Work. Volume 2 covers Kate’s career from the 1990s to date – from The Red Shoes to 2011’s 50 Words for Snow. Both volumes include a detailed Kate timeline and discography and a “who’s who” of people involved in the story.
These volumes also contain a definitive collection of the beautiful Kate-related artwork from professional artists Paulina Stuckey-Cassidy and Steven Brown, the riotous Cosmic Kate graphic stories of Chris Tilley, the Kate-related extemporary photography of Rob Assenberg, Paul Camilleri, and Jules Angel and the work of published poets John Carder Bush, Collin Kelley, Kyla Clay-Fox, Antonello Saeli, and Jeff Side.
It is a little pricey buying both, but it is staggering how much information there is to be found! Between the letters, articles and photos, it is a treasure trove that will keep you occupied for weeks!
IN THIS PHOTO: Kate Bush in 1978/PHOTO CREDIT: Chris Moorhouse/Evening Standard/Hulton Archive/Getty Images
The second half of this feature looks at the sonic world and the collections available. I have listed books that give you perspectives about Kate Bush from other people’s vantage points. If you want to read Kate Bush in her own words, How to Be Invisible is a selection of Kate Bush’s lyrics beautifully laid out. Whilst many fans want to know about Bush’s creative process and personal life, many overlook the words themselves and how moving they are. Much emphasis is put on her voice, but I think Kate Bush is one of the most original songwriters the world has seen. How to Be Invisible was released last year, and it is one of the most recent books concerning Bush. Here is a snippet of The Guardian’s review:
“Two sections dwell on gender. Joanni, her portrait of Joan of Arc, is juxtaposed with an indictment of masculine warmongering (Army Dreamers). Later, Bush explores masculine and feminine perspectives, contemplating desire (Reaching Out) and obligation (Night of the Swallow), never reaching trite conclusions.
If there is one to be drawn from How to Be Invisible, it isn’t that Bush is unknowable, but that life is: how much can we ever know about love, ourselves, the things we lose? She is never cowed by the uncertainty. Her songwriting suggests the only way to weather it is with curiosity; applying silliness as courageously as literary seriousness, balancing spiritual insight alongside unabashed carnality, domestic truth alongside fantasy, never concerned by contradictions.
Desire runs wild in the final section: Mrs Bartolozzi’s sexual laundry fantasia; the wily, windy Wuthering Heights. This headstrong pursuit has guided Bush. The question is not what we can learn about her, but what we might learn from following her lead”.
Whilst it is tricky recommending books about her – as one has to do the reading to get a true sense -, the audio side of things is a lot easier. Kate Bush’s most recent studio album, 50 Words for Snow, was released in 2011 and one would think there was nothing else! Prior to last year, it was pretty tricky buying Bush’s back catalogue on vinyl. Mercifully, her albums were remastered, so now one can listen to her incredible catalogue in its finest format. Here is some more information:
“It comes in many formats. As well as each album being individually re-released, there are two CD and four vinyl-LP boxsets. The first two vinyl sets and the first CD box are available from mid-November, with the remainder arriving at the end of the month.
The Kate Bush Remastered CD Box 1 (or Vinyl Box 1 and 2) collects the albums from 1978’s The Kick Inside to 1993’s The Red Shoes and is frequently staggering. Her debut spawned not only the phantasmal Wuthering Heights but also The Man With The Child In His Eyes, a miracle of insatiable, mystical dream-pop.
Bush’s first albums brimmed with art-pop of almost unconscionable vim and imagination. Lionheart (also 1978) and Never For Ever (1980) found her training a childlike eye on adult emotions via meditations such as In Search Of Peter Pan and the fluttering Babooshka. By her 1982 masterpiece The Dreaming, Bush was both feverishly sampling and producing her own album – unheard of in those sexist times.
Her vocals, alternately raw and immaculate, were a thing of wonder on 1985’s Hounds Of Love and 1989’s The Sensual World (a quintessential Bush LP title). On The Red Shoes, she further explored themes of sex, sensuality and gender roles.
The albums making up Kate Bush Remastered CD Box 2, from 2005’s Aerial to 2011’s 50 Words For Snow, are bigger on stylised reflection and lighter on impactful pop hooks, but harbour moments of genius such as poignant 2005 single King Of The Mountain. Bonus tracks include 12″ mixes, B-sides and (in the CD box only) 2016 live album Before The Dawn.
Like the books I have recommended, I would not push new fans and the curious to buy ALL of the box-sets and albums. The best Kate Bush album is a subjective thing – mine is The Kick Inside; most people prefer Hounds of Love -, so it is a case of starting from the beginning and going from there. These remastered sets are now reduced in price, so you can grab her marvelous work for not a lot! Bush is an artist who loves vinyl above all other formats. She is a huge fan of great sound quality, and I think you get the best experience owning the vinyl. The C.D.s are also great, so one can make their own decision as to which they prefer. There are a couple of recommendations that would make great post-Christmas presents.
The superb collection, The Other Sides, is also very reasonably priced, and it includes some great rarities and treats:
“‘The Other Sides’ is the final physical instalment of the definitive catalogue remastering project that was released in November 2018 on vinyl and CD boxes. This new release separates the rarities collection from the remastered CD box 2.
The 4 CDs celebrate b sides, 12” mixes, rare tracks and cover versions – with one CD being devoted to covers including Kate’s versions of Elton John’s ‘Rocket Man’ and ‘Candle In The Wind’, and George and Ira Gershwin’s ‘The Man I Love’. Rare tracks such as ‘Brazil’, from the film soundtrack, ‘Lyra’ from the film ‘The Golden Compass’, ‘Be Kind to My Mistakes’ from Nic Roeg’s film ‘Castaway’ and ‘Humming’, an early demo never released before, are also featured in the special set”.
Maybe, before embarking on studio albums and box-sets, grab a copy of Kate Bush’s live album, Before the Dawn. I say this, because hearing Bush on the stage is quite rare, and one gets a different side to her music; a sensational and buzz that you do not get when listening to studio recordings. Although this was written before the release of the album in 2016, here is some information about Before the Dawn:
"Before the dawn" was recorded during the incredible run of 22 sold-out shows performed by Kate at London's Hammersmith Apollo in 2014. The album will be released on Fish People and distributed by Rhino on November 25 2016.
In March 2014 Kate Bush announced plans to perform 15 shows in London in August and September that year, her first live shows since 1979. The shows sold out so quickly that a further 7 were immediately added, with all shows selling out in 15 minutes. This very website crashed with the demand.
The first night of the shows prompted a complete media frenzy with the Evening Standard declaring that the show was "an extraordinary mix of magical ideas, stunning visuals, attention to detail and remarkable music – she was so obviously, so unambiguously brilliant, it made last night something to tell the grandchildren about."
Later that year the show won the special Editor’s award at the highly prestigious London Theatre Awards, the only contemporary music show to do so.
On November 25 the live album "Before The Dawn" will be released on CD (3 CDs) and vinyl (4 vinyl) and digital download. The conceptual heart of the show is reflected in the CD format, which is split over 3 discs centred around the two integral pieces – 'The Ninth Wave' and 'A Sky Of Honey'.
CD1 ends with the pivotal track 'King Of The Mountain' which bridges into 'The Ninth Wave' suite of songs on CD2.
You can buy the vinyl version for under £50, which makes it a steal in my book! It is a truly astonishing and emotional listen, and it provides a great entry point for new fans; in addition, it is a must-own for those who are steeped in Kate Bush’s work. There are other Kate Bush books and vinyl/C.D.s out there – the aim was not to cover everything – but I have collated a starter’s guide for those who might know a bit about Kate Bush’s music and life but want to dig deeper. If you have some vouchers or money after Christmas, you could do a lot worse than invest in some Kate Bush! I keep predicting she will release an album soon but, as we head to 2020, I get the sense she will release something. In preparation, I hope there is enough in this feature that…
GIVES you the whole story (so far).