FEATURE:
A Return to This Woman’s Work
PHOTO CREDIT: Gered Mankowitz
Kate Bush’s Singles: The Highs and Lows
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I will not cover this subject…
PHOTO CREDIT: David Redfern/Redferns/Getty Images
as fully as I have done in the past, as I know that I will be repeating myself a fair bit. One of the things that annoys me most when it comes to the commercial appeal of Kate Bush is how some singles have been overlooked or charted much lower than they should have. It is amazing to think that she only enjoyed one U.K. number-one: her extraordinary 1978 debut, Wuthering Heights. Though she has made the top-ten quite a bit through her career, her albums have fared better than the singles. The Kick Inside reached number-three in the U.K. Lionheart got to six here; Never for Ever hit the top spot (making her the first female British solo artist to achieve that honour); The Dreaming got to number-three, whilst Hounds of Love got her back to number-one, whilst The Sensual World hit number-two. The fact is that all ten of Kate Bush’s studio albums have reached the top-ten. It is testament to her popularity and consistency that she can achieve such a rare feat! One would think that there would be this inherent relationship between singles and albums. I wonder, in the case of Kate Bush, whether she is an albums artist: someone who is best enjoyed when listening to a record the whole way through. Maybe a second or third single from an album would take some momentum away. People maybe waiting for an album, or less impacted and excited as with that lead-off single.
I don’t think it is the case that the first singles from albums are the most popular, and then it is a case of lower chart positions. Hammer Horror was Lionheart’s first single and only reached forty-four in the U.K. Considering Bush’s two singles from The Kick Inside – Wuthering Heights and The Man with the Child in His Eyes – both reached the top-ten in the U.K., her two singles from Lionheart averaged twenty-nine in the U.K. (as Wow got to fourteen). I feel there would have been a decision from EMI (or Bush) to release more singles from the albums after Lionheart (1978). By the time Never for Ever arrived in 1980, Bush had performed through The Tour of Life (1979) and her stock was rising. I can appreciate that The Kick Inside’s singles did well. It seems odd that, as Lionheart charted well and was especially impressive given the fact Bush had very little time to record a second album, the singles did not do so well. I think that Hammer Horror was not a great choice as a lead single. I guess the logic was that it represented a bigger sonic shift and evolution than Wow. Maybe there was a public desire for songs that were more similar to Wuthering Heights. Hammer Horror marked a slightly odder and edgier side to Bush’s work. It has a rawer vocal. By the time Babooshka was released in 1980 – as the second single from Never for Ever -, there was this greater desire for something harder and sonically different.
Again, with Never for Ever, the singles’ fortunes did not match the albums’. A number-one album would suggest singles that were wrestling for the top spot. Breathing and Army Dreamers only got to sixteen. They are more political songs, though I don’t think that would have dented their chances. Perhaps people had this idea of Kate Bush, and these new songs were a little more than they were expecting. A top-twenty single can be considered a success - though these two songs are far stronger than their chart positions would suggest. For an album that reached number-one, Bush averaged a chart position of around twelve (if we average the three singles). I am thinking of singles again as, last week, Sat in Your Lap turned forty. I shall come to that soon. Prior to 1981, it must have been quite an odd position for Bush. She had the knowledge that her albums were selling well and doing really good in the charts. As she enjoyed a number-one single on her first attempt, the fluctuation she experienced through her first three albums might have galled her. Not that singles success is everything though, as I have said, they help sell and album (and it is a good indicator of a song’s strength). In the case of a single like Hammer Horror, it might just have been the wrong choice. Symphony in Blue, Kashka from Baghdad or even Oh England My Lionheart might have got inside the top twenty. I suppose there would have been this idea of releasing singles that were very different to what we heard on The Kick Inside.
The Dreaming was the first album where the singles’ success was vastly different to the album’s. EMI were not too pleased Bush took two years to follow Never for Ever – the blink of an eye by today’s standards! -, so they would have hoped for greater joy regarding the singles. Someone might have a better answer, though I do wonder whether most people bought The Dreaming and were less concerned with singles. Bush was rising in popularity by 1981, though her singles sort of struggled. Sat in Your Lap, as it reached eleven in the U.K., could be considered a success. It was a good choice of lead single. Completely different to anything she had released to that point, the public responded! The musical landscape of 1981 was different to what it was in 1978, for example. That is another thing to consider when looking at chart positions. Would Sat in Your Lap have done as well if it was on The Kick Inside and released just after Wuthering Heights?! As I have said in a few features, The Dreaming was a classic case of the less commercial singles being released. I am not sure how much Bush influenced the release decisions. Night of the Swallow was released in Ireland only in 1983. Suspended in Gaffa was released in continental Europe and Australia. Rather than release the same single in different territories, labels would put out different singles. I guess it was a way of making more of the album available. I reckon that, if these two singles had been released in the U.K., they would have fared better than The Dreaming and There Goes a Tenner.
If one wants to look at fluctuation and the disparity between an album’s success and the chart positions, these two tracks are the best examples regarding Kate Bush. The former reached forty-eight; There Goes a Tenner only got to ninety-three. In 1982, with her lowest-placed single yet, EMI might have been nervous of their star! If The Dreaming had not sold well, who knows what the next step would have been! Bush was starting to attract attention in the U.S. - although The Dreaming only got to 157 on the Billboard 200. Even the masterpiece that is Hounds of Love gained some mixed reviews in the U.S. Many artists and bands would have wanted their albums and singles to do well in the U.S., so that they could ‘break’ the country. Bush had no ideals of wooing America and touring there. She did promote in the U.S., though her success was coming from Europe and, to a lesser extent, Asia and Australasia. The immediacy and success of Sat in Your Lap was not matched by other singles from The Dreaming. Hounds of Love was the album where there was some stabilisation. Running Up That Hill (A Deal with God) became Bush’s most-successful single since Wuthering Heights (in the U.K.). It must have been a relief to EMI that she was back on track. Not that she needed to defend her material! The album as a whole was more accessible. That said, Cloudbusting and Hounds of Love only scrapped into the top-twenty. Such incredible and timeless songs, I do wonder what people were buying in 1985/1986!
The post-Hounds of Love era is one where the albums continued to do well and there was less consistency regarding the singles’ placings. There were some high-charting songs, though there was a minor commercial dip in this area. Although all of Kate Bush’s singles post-Hounds of Love/pre-Director’s Cut made it into the top-forty (Aerial’s (2005) King of the Mountain reached five; The Sensual World’s (1989) Love and Anger hit thirty-eight), there was a change. The Golden Compass song Bush composed, Lyra, did nothing; Director’s Cut’s Deeper Understanding went to eighty-seven, whilst 50 Words for Snow’s Wild Man only reached seventy-three. Maybe we have reached a point where people are less interested in singles than albums. Singles are digital now, whereas one can buy a Kate Bush album on vinyl. 2011’s 50 Words for Snow reached five in the U.K. (and did good business around the world). Whereas, at one point, the singles would have mattered as much as albums in terms of chart positions, that is not true now – the album is very much what we buy in terms of Kate Bush’s output. Because I was celebrating the fortieth anniversary of The Dreaming’s Sat in Your Lap, it got me looking at singles in general. I feel that single was a real turning point. Post-The Dreaming, the single positions were a little harder to predict. That coincided with Bush becoming a more adventurous and experimental artist.
Perhaps the value of her albums outweighed the singles’ merits. Ranging from her number-one debut single, Wuthering Heights, to the poor charting positions of There Goes a Tenner, Lyra and Deeper Understanding, there have been so real swings and gulfs! Regardless, Bush’s albums have always charted exceptionally well. How many artists have released ten studio albums (or more) and had them all chart in the top-ten in the U.K.? The club is quite narrow and exclusive. I am never going to not be fascinated by the rises and falls regarding Bush’s singles. I know all artists have peaks and troughs, though it is strange that clearly brilliant and accessible songs fared less well than they should. The Dreaming was a hard album when it came to releasing singles that would chart high – whilst I maintain the likes of Get Out of My House or All the Love could have done well -; Hounds of Love’s exceptional singles should have all cracked the top-ten – maybe releasing one song from The Ninth Wave (And Dream of Sheep?) would have been an idea. I also wonder whether the concepts for the videos affected the popularity of the singles. Is there an argument that videos that were busier or artier meant a poorer-performing single than simpler, dance-focused routines?! It may explain why an excellent video/song like This Woman’s Work (the second single from The Sensual World (1989); Bush directed the video) fared less well than Running Up That Hill (A Deal with God). Consider the moody and exciting Experiment IV (a single released to promote the greatest hits set, The Whole Story, in 1986 (which Bush also directed) and the greater success of Babooshka. One can provide their own theories. It is a fascinating area to explore! I would suggest people buy Bush’s albums, but listen to the singles and watch the videos. One can feel and see big differences and a true range of moods and looks! I feel that so many of Kate Bush’s singles are far stronger and worthier…
THAN their chart positions indicated.