FEATURE:
A Polish and Shine and All Will Be Fine
Revisiting Kate Bush’s The Red Shoes
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I have been wondering…
IN THIS PHOTO: Kate Bush in 1993/PHOTO CREDIT: Guido Harari
about Kate Bush’s albums and wonder there will be reissues at all. Of course, the original albums can be purchased, though there are some that would benefit from extras, demos and a wider examination. That is especially true of albums like Lionheart and The Red Shoes: albums that are underrated and have been side-lined a bit. I have said how The Red Shoes is my least-favourite Kate Bush album. That is because of a few tracks that are not that strong. More than anything, it is the production sound that affects the music. Perhaps a little over-produced and lacking too much warmth, I would be fascinated to hear it a little stripped. Bush did re-explore songs from the album for 2011’s Director’s Cut, though it would be a case of de-mixing and remastering the original album. A lot of the tracks on The Red Shoes are great. Maybe it is the sound or production that takes something away. Apart from a few tracks at the end of the album, The Red Shoes is a lot more solid than people give it credit for. I am going to explore that notion more in a bit. First, this article from the Kate Bush Encyclopaedia gives us some background:
“Seventh album by Kate Bush, released by EMI Records on 2 November 1993. The album was written, composed and produced by Kate.
The album was inspired by the 1948 film of the same name by Michael Powell and Emeric Pressburger. The film in turn was inspired by the fairy tale of the same name by Hans Christian Andersen. It concerns a dancer, possessed by her art, who cannot take off the eponymous shoes and find peace. Bush had suggested she would tour for the album and deliberately aimed for a "live band" feel, with less of the studio trickery that had typified her last three albums (which would be difficult to recreate on stage). However, the tour never happened in the end. A few months after the release of the album, Bush did release The Line, The Cross and the Curve, a movie incorporating six tracks from the album.
Most notably, The Red Shoes featured many more high-profile cameo appearances than her previous efforts. Comedian Lenny Henry provided guest vocals on Why Should I Love You, a track that also featured significant contributions from Prince. And So Is Love features guitar work by Eric Clapton and Jeff Beck. Gary Brooker (from the band Procol Harum) appears on two tracks as well.
Kate about 'The Red Shoes’
I've been very affected by these last two years. They've been incredibly intense years for me. Maybe not on a work level, but a lot has happened to me. I feel I've learnt a lot – and, yes, I think [my next album] is going to be quite different… I hope the people that are waiting for it feel it's worth the wait. (BBC Radio 1 interview, 14 December 1991)”.
In her personal life, Bush split from Del Palmer (a musician/engineer who has been in her life since the mid-1970s; she started dating Dan McIntosh, who plays on The Red Shoes), and she lost her mother in 1992. Although a lot of the songs were written before these events, maybe a certain mood infused the recordings. I never have considered The Red Shoes to be an unhappy album. Maybe it is quite edgy and lacks the sort of depth and warmth of The Sensual World (1989) or Hounds of Love (1985). Bush did not record another album in the 1990s. Perhaps it was a decade where she felt the need to embrace new technology - and, in an age where C.D.s were dominating, fill every nook and cranny with music. As a result, some of the songs are a little too long.
I am surprised there were so many mixed reviews for The Red Shoes. Maybe people were comparing it with her past and expecting an album in the same mould as Hounds of Love. Always moving forward and creating something new, there is plenty to enjoy on her 1993 album. The sheer range of moods through The Red Shoes is incredible! From the propulsion of Rubberbajnd Girl (my favourite track) to the excellent single, Moments of Pleasure, The Red Shoes has so many layers and interesting cuts. Not all reviews were heavy in disappointment. Rolling Stone had their opinion on The Red Shoes in 1993:
“On her first album since The Sensual World, in 1989, Kate Bush continues in the manner of that album's verbal directness while displaying a melodic sense that's in peak form – there are more hooks on The Red Shoes, both subtle and obvious, than on any of her releases since The Dreaming, in 1982. Bush seems content now to dress her songs in simpler – though still occasionally antic – colors. The result is offbeat pop that refines but doesn't sacrifice her signal eccentricity.
While the music has settled down somewhat, Bush herself remains rambunctious, and it's a saving grace. A sighing remembrance like "Moments of Pleasure" or the purple pleas of "Big Stripey Lie" could have the cloying aura of pressed flowers if they weren't put across with conviction and a tendency to really belt. "And So Is Love" is typical of Bush's aggressively sad torch songs, built of simple phrases theatrically enunciated and enhanced by dramatic support from guest Eric Clapton.
It's not all fainting hearts on Shoes, though. The mood ranges from the pure pop of "Rubberband Girl" to the exuberant reel of the title cut (an homage to the classic film), from the wistful verse and funky chorus of the Prince collaboration "Why Should I Love You?" to the West Indies-flavored "Eat the Music." The Red Shoes is a solid collection of well-crafted and seductively melodic showcases for Bush's hypercabaret style.
Canadian Jane Siberry has often been compared to Bush, partly due to the convenience of lumping together quirky female singer/songwriters but also as an acknowledgment that both are working in a personal subgenre of art rock. And there are similarities between Siberry's When I Was a Boy and Shoes – both display a preoccupation with the difficulty of separating pain and love; both evoke a questioning spirituality and a distinctly feminine earthiness.
But Siberry's album is as funereal and expansive as Bush's is tight and energized. Nothing Siberry has done in the past quite prepares the listener for this album's prevalent mood of spooky obsession, bewilderment and resignation, and deathbed reflections. Though there's occasionally a rumble in the reverie ("All the Candles in the World," for instance, is positively funky), the overall ambience is prayerful, abetted by a production that often creates a cathedral of silence between the low tones (husky viola or cello filigrees) and the spare front line (an acoustic piano or guitar). Though songs like "Temple" (co-produced by Siberry and Brian Eno) and "Candles" are immediately likable, long free-floating meditations like "Sweet Incarnadine" and "The Vigil (The Sea)" are the album's centerpieces, gradually unfolding songs about love and dying.
It would all be horribly pretentious – if not maudlin – in the hands of a lesser talent, but Siberry approaches her task with a fearless simplicity, resisting easy irony or cleverness. Like Bush she creates dramatic structure by using a variety of voices, from brimming-heart full tones to deadpan whispers. When I Was a Boy is a difficult disc to get into – the languidness at its center can be off-putting – but a little patience rewards you with a gem. (RS 670)”.
In November, The Red Shoes turns twenty-eight. I feel that, if a new poll were taken regarding the best Kate Bush albums, The Red Shoes would likely be bottom – maybe Lionheart or Director’s Cut would be close. Whilst it is not her absolute best, it is far stronger than many reviews would suggest. I think the tracklisting could do with sorting out. Below is my view of what the running order should be - as the original order (at the very bottom) makes things too top-heavy. By doing that and stripping the production a bit or making it sound less cluttered would breathe life into the songs and give the album a more accessible and digestible sound. When an album has tracks like Lily, Moments of Pleasure, And So Is Love and Song of Solomon in its cast, one cannot call it a failure! There are a few weaker tracks; some of Bush’s lyrics lack the inspiration and strength of her earlier work. All that aside, The Red Shoes deserves fresh examination ahead of its anniversary in November. A fascinating glimpse into Kate Bush as a recording artist in the 1990s, The Red Shoes – as you’d come to expect – sounded like nothing around it at the time. 1993 was a year when bands like The Breeders, Nirvana and The Smashing Pumpkins were ruling. Take it out of that context and hear the album today and it definitely has sparks, promise and plenty to love. All the critical meh-ing and sense of disinterest paints The Red Shoes as a flop. To me and so many others, it is so…
MUCH finer than that.