FEATURE:
The Pull and the Push of It All
IN THIS PHOTO: Kate Bush in a promotional photo for The Sensual World (1989)
Kate Bush’s Reaching Out
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WHEN it comes to albums…
from Kate Bush that I do not listen to as much as I should do, The Sensual World is near the top of the list. Released in October 1989, it was the follow-up to Hounds of Love (1985). I think that The Sensual World is quite different to its predecessor. Perhaps with fewer sparks and tracks with big choruses (such The Big Sky), there is that sensuality, maturity, beauty and grace that runs through the album. Alongside the less personal/love-based and more fantastical songs (such as Heads We're Dancing and Deeper Understanding), there are tracks where one looks inside Bush’s heart. Even if she would say they are not specifically about her, one feels that several of the songs have personal relevance. Hounds of Love boasted moments like this (such as the title track and Running Up That Hill (A Deal with God), though The Sensual World cuts deeper in my view. There are some truly arresting songs that hit hard – the closing song, This Woman’s Work is a prime example. A song that I overlooked and have reconnected with recently is Reaching Out. The first side of The Sensual World is fantastic! Opening with the title track and closing with Heads We’re Dancing (a song about a woman who unwittingly and unknowingly dances with Hitler), it is brilliant balanced and packed with quality. After Love and Anger and The Fog comes Reaching Out. The penultimate song on the first side, one rarely hears it played on the radio. To me, it is one of the highlights from The Sensual World.
I really love the lyrics and vocal performance from Bush. With some mandolin (from her brother, Paddy) and strings adding something special and lush to Reaching Out, this is a song that leaves an impression. Before diving into the lyrics more, the Kate Bush Encyclopaedia published an article where we get Bush’s recollections regarding the song’s inception:
“That was really quick, really straightforward. A walk in the park did that one for me. I really needed one more song to kind of lift the album. I was a bit worried that it was all sort of dark and down. I'd been getting into walks at that time, and just came back and sat at the piano and wrote it, words and all. I had this lovely conversation with someone around the time I was about to start writing it. They were talking about this star that exploded. I thought it was such fantastic imagery. The song was taking the whole idea of how we cling onto things that change - we're always trying to not let things change. I thought it was such a lovely image of people reaching up for a star, and this star explodes. Where's it gone? It seemed to sum it all up really. That's kind of about how you can't hold on to anything because everything is always changing and we all have such a terrible need to hold onto stuff and to keep it exactly how it is, because this is nice and we don't want it to change.
But sometimes even if things aren't nice, people don't want them to change. And things do. Just look at the natural balance of things: how if you reach out for something, chances are it will pull away. And when things reach out for you, the chances are you will pull away. You know everything ebbs and flows, and you know the moon is full and then it's gone: it's just the balance of things. (...) We did a really straightforward treatment on the track; did the piano to a clicktrack, got Charlie Morgan [Elton john's drummer] to come in and do the drums, Del did the bass, and Michael Nyman came in to do the strings. I told him it had to have a sense of uplifting, and I really like his stuff - the rawness of his strings. It's a bit like a fuzzbox touch - quite 'punk'. I find that very attractive - he wrote it very quickly. I was very pleased. (Tony Horkins, 'What Katie Did Next'. International Musician, December 1989)
Yes, you can't help but reach out and touch certain things even if you think they might hurt. When children reach out to touch parents it's a lottery as to whether they'll get a clip round the ears or a cuddle. ('Love, Trust and Hitler'. Tracks (UK), November 1989)”.
It is interesting that it came to her quite easily and written quite quickly! There are so many wonderful images and hard truths through the song. I always associate Bush with being someone who has all her material worked out before coming into the studio – this is not entirely true. She has conceived songs during recording (and at random moments). Even though there is emotion and depth to Reaching Out, I feel lifted listening to the song.
The lyrics are sublime! They start with lines that make you think and imagine: “See how the child reaches out instinctively/To feel how the fire will feel/See how the man reaches out instinctively/For what he cannot have”. Whilst, as I said, it is not about Bush specifically, she would have been thinking about her life and situation. Some of the lines through Reaching Out are truly poetic and remarkable: “See how the flower leans instinctively toward the light/See how the heart reaches out instinctively/For no reason but to touch”. It not a surprise that Bush’s lyrics are so good. I feel many people associate her with the voice and original nature of her music – maybe overlooking how incredible, immersive, varied and creative her lyrics are. She can write something fanciful or gothic…switching to the heartfelt or heartbreaking. Reaching Out is a sensational song that is one of many jewels on The Sensual World. There is an interview excerpt (from the one quoted above) where she talks about using real musicians alongside machines/technology. Maybe some associate Hounds of Love with being all about drum machines and the Fairlight CMI. In fact, a cast of musicians and natural sounds are as evident and important. That is the case with The Sensual World:
“Kate's always used a wide variety of musicians on her records, but drummer Stuart Elliot seems to have been there from the beginning, even though he sometimes shares the drum stool with Charlie Morgan.
"He's the only one that's worked on every album - he's lovely to work with. I think it's good to keep that long term relationship. He's so easy to work with because he knows what I'm like. Occasionally I even ask him to use cymbals on a track now! He's been through that whole stage where I just couldn't handle cymbals or hi hats. Now that I'm actually using them again he can't cope.
IN THIS PHOTO: Kate Bush in an outtake from the cover shoot of The Sensual World/PHOTO CREDIT: John Carder Bush
"I always found them something that we used too much. I felt they were leant on too much. It held the music down in such a specific way. They're very marked. Not using them is just a way of opening up the music, I think. I learnt a lot from it. It's always been, 'this is the drum kit, so let's use it.' I always found that extraordinary. But I think now that I've taken that break from it, I see it very differently."
Even though both Stuart and Charlie get to contribute on most tracks, The Sensual World features more programmed drums than earlier recordings.
"We replace a lot, but there's a lot that's still there. We used the Fairlight for the drums this time, and because the quality was so much better we could keep them all. It's just the last album, with the Linn patterns, they had to be much more disguised because they sounded like a Linn machine. We had much more finished drum tracks to work with - that caused some problems. They were so good that I didn't want to get in and replace them at an early stage like on the last album. I had to be quite brutal and get drummers to just get in there and throw bits of the Fairlight away, just to give it different levels. On the next track, Heads We're Dancing, it was all based around the Fairlight pattern that Del did, which is the basis of the whole song. The only thing I think we replaced was the snare."
Why bother?
"Because I think it gives it a human feel, even though he's got to stay in with the machine. There's still a certain amount of movement, and there's all this human energy. I even believe that the sounds a drummer makes can be part of the track - they all make sounds, sing along while they're playing, grunting ... It puts air in there. It's nice to get someone else's input as well.
"I like to use real musicians - it's so exciting. Machines are great but you can get such great feedback from people when they think they're working on something intimate. Things you'd never think of. Like Mick Karns' bass on Heads We're Dancing puts such a different feel to the song. I was really impressed with Mick -his energy. He's very distinctive - so many people admire him because he stays in that unorthodox area, he doesn't come into the commercial world - he just does his thing”.
Reaching Out is a fantastic song that boasts great drumming from Charlie Morgan and bass from Del Palmer. From its stirring, inspiring, thoughtful and emotive lyrics to Kate Bush’s gorgeous vocal (both lead and backing) and the rich production, Reaching Out is a track one…
SHOULD check out now.