FEATURE:
Out of the Realm of the Orchestra
IN THIS PHOTO: Kate Bush on the German T.V. show, Rock Pop, on 13th September, 1980 performing Babooshka
Kate Bush’s Never for Ever: From Promising Artist to Innovator and Influential Producer
___________
I was going to write about this subject…
IN THIS PHOTO: Kate Bush at the British Rock and Pop Awards on 26th February, 1980/PHOTO CREDIT: Mirrorpix
when Never for Ever turned forty back in September but, as the album has featured heavily in a new edition of PROG (that I just read two days ago), it is something that I have been keen to explore now. I have taken receipt of the magazine, and they dedicated quite a few pages to Never for Ever and it gives us a song by song guide and details regarding the album’s creation and differences (compared to her previous albums). The line/heading at the top of the feature refers to a song on the album, Violin, and, later, I will dig more into that track, as it is one that divides people (the photo included is Bush performing Babooshka, so it is interesting how both the violin and double bass (which she wields in the video) are pivotal). I think the words in Violin are apt, as one can definitely feel a difference between Bush’s first couple of albums – The Kick Inside, and Lionheart (1978) -, with what she achieved in 1980 in terms of boldness and invention. I will try not to cover too much ground I have explored already, but there are two stages to Never for Ever and how it came together. Recorded between September 1979 and May 1980, that period was a very transitionary and important one for Kate Bush (this is a useful documentary to watch to get some context and insight into Bush’s life pre-Never for Ever). She was used to recording at AIR Studios, and the 1979 work on that album has a fairly similar flavour to previous work laid down there. When she headed to Abbey Road Studios, that is when her world opened up! There was an important T.V. special that occurred late in 1979 but, before I get to that, it is worth addressing Never for Ever from the cover forward.
Lionheart sported a pretty captivating photo of Bush in a lion’s costume with the head on the floor as she was stretched on a wooden toy box in an attic. That photo by Gered Mankowitz represented an artist who was more daring on her second album, and we had that mixture of playful and intense. That cover shot was a pretty good summation and indication as to what we would find on Lionheart. Look at the cover for Never for Ever, and Bush is this animated/painted figure with all manner of animals and insects emerging from her dress…or from between her legs! Designed by Nick Price (a friend of Bush’s brother, Paddy), birds, bats, butterflies and skulls can be seen in a truly extraordinary image! Bush sort of assessed it as a representation of our desires and feelings flood out; like the songwriter being released and truly letting her mind and emotions take flight! The cover is a mixture of the mythological, humorous and beautiful, and I think one also gets a good feel of what Never for Ever will offer gazing at it - as one can feel mythology and mystique in Delius, Egypt, and Night Scented Stock; humour in The Wedding List, and beauty in every other song. In April 1979, Bush said in an interview how every artist changes and how she was looking to change; she felt it then and knew that it was happening. Her Tour of Life started in April 1979, and this was her bringing two albums of material to a big stage and engaging in her most committed and high-profile live performances to that point.
I think that tour provided Bush with new impetus, confidence and ambition, and Never for Ever was the first album where she was co-producing. There was still this evolution and growth where she retained some of her previous sound and nature – in terms of how she came across on her first two albums and the sort of T.V. interviews she was giving -, but Bush had renegotiated her deal with EMI and she had procured one of a few Fairlight C.M.I.s that were available in the U.K. I have talked extensively about that piece of kit before, so I shall not go into too much detail. Suffice it to say, having that sort of technology meant that Bush was expanding her sound and being introduced to fresh possibilities. One can definitely feel her starting to take more control by 1979. She already had her own royalties company, Novercia, so we can feel her handling the reigns and there was that business-minded side to her. Members of the KT Bush Band like Del Palmer and Brian Bath were now fully in the fold – they were not overly-present on the first two albums and, with Andrew Powell no longer producing, Bush could bring in the players she wanted -, so she had this support network and musicians who she was used to working with and, maybe, had a closer relationship with. PROG make an interesting observation regarding Never for Ever being an album of two halves: the 1979-recorded songs at AIR are more conventional (Violin, and Egypt among them), whereas her cuts from Abbey Road (where she headed in January 1980) were more ambitious and experimental.
Bush had more space (literally) and, with so much history steeped in the bones of the studio – Bush’s love of The Beatles would have given her excitement and nerves when stepping into a studio they are synonymous with –, there were these new opportunities and interactions (she recorded with Roy Harper in Studio 3 on the song, You (The Game Part II), from his album, The Unknown Soldier). Bush also recorded with Peter Gabriel for his third eponymous album (at The Town House in London), so there was this nice network and central studio where Bush could record her own stuff, but she could easily pop and record with other artists and, whilst doing so, she was being exposed to new sounds that would influence later albums – I can hear a lot of Peter Gabriel III’s darker and eerier moments being given a Bush twist on 1982’s The Dreaming! I think the bond she had with Gabriel was especially important for Never for Ever, in regards how he approached recording and the amount of detail and work he put into songs. One can feel Bush assuming a more leadership-like role in the studio because, on her first two albums, she felt more like a player and less involved with the recording. Now, with Jon Kelly (who was an engineer on the first two albums) co-producing, there was this new lease and opportunity where she could almost start from scratch and create an album in her own vision! Most artists would not have been aware of the Fairlight C.M.I., and they might have selected basic sounds and not really have pushed it to the limit when recording.
Bush knew what she wanted to sample and she had that knowledge and understanding that meant, by the time she started recording, she and her team could create this magic! I want to briefly head pre-January 1980 and talk about the Christmas special of 1979. Recorded in October but broadcast on 28th December, this Pebble Mill Studios-filmed event was a follow-on from The Tour of Life, and it allowed Bush to present a few new songs that would find their way onto Never for Ever. The Wedding List (never released as a single, sadly), Violin, and Egypt were all performed and were on the album; December Will Be Magic Again was a Christmas single (released in November 1980), and we also got to see the weird-but-wonderful Ran Tan Waltz – which was the B-side to Babooshka. Not only did people get to hear these new songs, but it allowed Bush a combination of promotion and more live exposure – even though she did not sing live in the studio, she recorded the vocal tracks before performing and mimed for the cameras. She joined with Peter Gabriel (who appeared a few times during the show) on Roy Harper’s Another Day, and it showed that the two were perfect vocal partners – Bush would appear on two tracks from Gabriel’s 1980 third eponymous album: Games Without Frontiers, and No Self Control. If the Fairlight C.M.I. was introduced to the wider world by Peter Gabriel and he helped distribute it in the U.K., I think Never for Ever is an album that showcased its abilities and potentials that unlocked so much for artists in the 1980s – as Peter Gabriel did too with his album of 1980.
One thing that was evident with Bush from the start of her career but was more obvious on the sessions for Never for Ever, was the fact that she was assertive and knew what she wanted to create. So many musicians then (and now) would have been dithering and only spoke up occasionally but, through the album, Bush was recording multiple takes and using different musicians – maybe her affection for Steely Dan enforced this sort of quality control and their studio methods; they were slavish to finesse and that perfect sound – and we got to hear an album that sounded both more assured and diverse than anything she had laid down before. I will write about December Will Be Magic Again ahead of its fortieth anniversary on 17th November, but I think this is a song that is very underrated and could have found its way on Never for Ever – it was recorded in 1979 at Abbey Road Studio 2. Maybe the Christmas tone would have sounded odd when people heard the album before or after Christmas, but I really love the song and, again, it is Bush at her exceptional, romantic best! Although PROG noted – referencing observations from Graeme Thomson’s biography, Under the Ivy: The Life & Music of Kate Bush – one can hear Fairlight C.M.I. on Babooshka, All We Ever Look For, and Army Dreamers, it came into her orbit a little too late to define and transform Never for Ever – she utilised it much more on The Dreaming, and 1985’s Hounds of Love.
IN THIS PHOTO: The Anchoress (Catherine Anne Davies)
It is clear that Bush’s experiences with AIR and Abbey Road produced different songs and sounds, but I do not think that, by standards of the time, songs like Violin, and Egypt sound ‘conventional’ or lesser. Maybe Egypt is a little soft and naïve in places; it is a love letter to a country and something that other artists were not doing. In the PROG spread, musician Catherine Anne Davies (The Anchoress) highlights Violin as being her favourite track from the album – “Her voice is so brilliantly unhinged!”. It is an ecstatic and raw performance and, whilst it does not hit the true levels of Punk, it is Bush producing songs that were more physical and vocally raw than what she recorded in 1977 and 1978 – maybe she was reacting to the influence of Punk or she was just more curious regarding genre and giving her voice a more mature and edgy sound. Davies also makes an interesting point regarding the fact Bush was co-producing Never for Ever and that gave her (Davies) inspiration. Not many female songwriters of that era would have been producing their own work, and I think Bush’s command and sense of wanting to direct her own music was a key factor. I do want to highlight Violin, as it is a song that I have not really delved into previously. I think it is one of Bush’s more successful rockers and, as Davies noted, she does sound unhinged and untamed! I wanted to bring in an article from the excellent Dreams of Orgonon: The Songs of Kate Bush regarding Violin:
“Like “The Man With the Child in His Eyes,” “Violin” is one of a handful of songs from the early demos which made it a studio album. This wasn’t especially surprising with “Child,” where Bush picked a few songs from her older repertoire to professionally record. By the time Bush recorded “Never for Ever,” she was a full three albums into her professional recording career. It’s the last time Bush recorded a song from the home demo days. She’d written plenty of songs since the days of Wickham Road. Why dust off this old tape? Clearly it stood apart from the demos. Bush knew how to imbue “Violin” with new life.
“Violin” is fraught with anxiety—Bush sounds like she’s thoroughly lost her religion. You can visualize the singer as a frazzled inmate in a padded cell, clinging to a violin and describing every centimeter of it. It’s possible they’re just high and really into the tangible shape of the violin (which is always a possibility and usually a given with Kate Bush), but I suggest a different reading: the singer has been driven mad by their violin playing. They’re an inverted Pied Piper or Erich Zann, leading themselves astray with their own music.
Some listeners might interpret the song as being enthusiastic about the violin—I wouldn’t read it that way. I think it’s about a person who’s had the violin imposed on them for far too long going over the edge. There’s an tinge of unreality to the song—it makes the violin a mystical object. Given the events leading up to the song’s creation, it’s unlikely Bush was feeling terribly positive about the violin while writing “Violin”. She isn’t one to push autobiography into her songwriting, but it’s hard not to read “Violin” as an expression of personal anxieties.
Characteristically, “Violin” is Kate Bush touching on various aesthetics and predicting genres she’ll never touch again (eventual folk punk sounds nothing like “Violin”). Sometimes you need a hot mess of a song—Kate Bush will make a career out of this style, juxtaposing alternative and mainstream aesthetics. Finding life in the nooks and crannies of culture is one of the most rewarding parts of being a teenage aesthete. Personally, this is my favorite song I’ve written about on the blog so far. Kate Bush can do thoughtful and quiet as well as anyone else in the charts. This only makes her wild, untamed exercises in strangeness all the more salient. What does a punk do at school? Maybe break a few windows and receive detention. If Kate Bush skips school, you do nothing. There’s no stopping a goddamn banshee.
Recorded: (demo) c. 1976 at 44 Wickham Road, Brockley; (album track) autumn 1979 at London AIR Studios. Personnel: Kate Bush—vocals, piano. Brian Bath, Alan Murphy—electric guitars. Del Palmer—bass. Preston Heyman—drums. Paddy Bush—banshee. Kevin Burke—violin. Illustrations: The Raincoats, Kate Bush and her class in 1969, Erich Zann, a banshee, Paganini, the Bothy Band”.
Returning back to Never for Ever, and I maintain it is one of Bush’s most underrated albums; its importance is obvious and decades-enduring. It was an album of awakenings, big leaps and accomplishments. PROG noted how Never or Ever was a grown-up record, in the way more serious themes came in and the fact Bush was more an ‘adult’ I guess - she was calling shots and a lot more at the centre of the production process. Even though Never for Ever was completed in May 1980 and primed for release the following month, it as held until September to avoid clashing with huge albums like Paul McCartney’s McCartney II – in the same way Wuthering Heights was not released in November/December 1977 (it came out in January 1978) to avoid it getting trampled by a song like Wings’ Mull of Kintyre (another Macca torpedo!). Not only is the music remarkable throughout Never for Ever – as you can hear at the end of this feature -, but Bush was really coming into her own and becoming more curious about the studio and production - she could have produced Lionheart, I feel, but maybe there was a sense she needed more experience.
IN THIS PHOTO: Kate Bush in 1980/PHOTO CREDIT: Trinity Mirror/Mirrorpix/Alamy
At a time when women were being sexualised – Bush was, to an extent, on her first two albums – and generally felt to be artists and not necessarily producers, she opened the doors for so many artists; helping to change perceptions and, in the process, how she was viewed and respected in the context of her own career. If there were remnants of the more child-like Bush from before (Egypt is one example), it is clear she was a stronger woman than she was a couple of years before – Bush was twenty-one when Never for Ever was completed. Those who worked with Bush on her third album attested to her friendless and what a pleasure she was to work with; she would make rounds of tea and was always accommodating and lovely. I have not even mentioned a great feat of Never for Ever: it was the first album by a British woman to reach the top of the album charts (the album also hit the top spot in France) – Lionheart reached number-six in the U.K., whilst The Kick Inside went to number-three. David Bowie’s – a musical idol of hers – Scary Monsters (and Super Creeps) would displace her at the top of the charts after a week, but what an accomplishment it was getting to number-one! Maybe one reason behind its commercial success is that singles like Breathing, and Babooshka did well in the charts and utterly original, but Bush on production and pushing her sound, I feel, resonated with people and it is another reason why Never for Ever’s importance and strengths require reinspection by critics.
Never for Ever was the first new studio record by any female artist to go to number-one in the U.K. – as artists like Diana Ross had only achieved this feat through compilations -, and I can understand why Bush, in interviews, distanced herself from her first two albums. I adore The Kick Inside (her debut; it is my favourite album ever), but I can appreciate how Bush felt those albums were miles away and Never for Ever was a much truer album of who she was. I disagree with PROG’s view that albums like The Kick Inside are naïve. Bush was very young when that album came out and, not able to produce, I think she did the best she could - many of the songs are remarkably assured and mature for a then-teenager! I do agree that, if her first two albums were not consciously absorbing Rock and other genres in the mainstream, Never for Ever is an album that embraces Art Rock and Punk; Bush was being taken more seriously and, as Graeme Thomson has noted, Never for Ever is half of where Bush came from and half where she was headed – this was a definite new phase and important chapter. Even though Bush, to this day, gets referred to as the ‘Wuthering Heights singer/songwriter’, I think there was a shift in media perceptions after 1980. It would not be long until Bush embraced technology and every room of her imagination on The Dreaming and, on Never for Ever, there is this fascinating chrysalis of the growing artist and the newly-in-charge and revitalised pioneer! It is a shame that there is not a documentary out there regarding Never for Ever’s recording – Nationwide followed Bush in 1979 as she prepared for The Tour of Life and mentioned that she was starting work for her third album. I would have loved to have seen the conversations and recordings happening then, as that big move to Abbey Road Studios and the way new technology changed Bush’s music forever is…
SUCH a fascinating time.