FEATURE:
An Instinctive and Experimental Producer…
IN THIS PHOTO: Kate Bush in 1982/PHOTO CREDIT: Steve Rapport
Inside Kate Bush’s The Dreaming
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INSIDE the new edition…
of UNCUT, there is a great spread about the making of Kate Bush’s fourth studio album, The Dreaming. I am going to model features around various things I learned from the piece, as it is fascinating to read. As The Dreaming is forty in September, I will save most of them until nearer the time. One of the things that struck me when looking at the piece is that Bush, as a producer, was so innovative and instinctive. When Bush was playing Sat in Your Lap and beginning to shape it on piano in a small studio at 21 Denmark Street, drummer Preston Heyman noticed a resemblance to Dave Brubeck’s Take Five. He started to drum along. Instead of it hanging in the background, she asked if he could not hit the snare and cymbal. Instead, she suggested using the tom-toms. She wanted the same rhythm and groove, but she could hear that it would sound ideal on tom-toms! It was this sort of sense of taking something promising or ordinary and leading it in a different direction. This one interaction seems to define how Kate Bush approached The Dreaming as a producer and musician. Before continuing down this line – her experimentation and intuition as a pioneering and original producer -, it was clear that Bush wanted to change.
Differing from her previous albums, Bush said in interviews how The Dreaming was a step forward. It is an album that was a real statement:
“After the last album, 'Never For Ever', I started writing some new songs. They were very different from anything I'd ever written before - they were much more rhythmic, and in a way, a completely new side to my music. I was using different instruments, and everything was changing; and I felt that really the best thing to do would be to make this album a real departure - make it completely different. And the only way to achieve this was to sever all the links I had had with the older stuff. The main link was engineer Jon Kelly. Everytime I was in the studio Jon was there helping me, so I felt that in order to make the stuff different enough I would have to stop working with Jon. He really wanted to keep working with me, but we discussed it and realised that it was for the best. ('The Dreaming'. Poppix (UK), Summer 1982)
Yes, it's very important for me to change. In fact, as soon as the songs began to be written, I knew that the album was going to be quite different. I'd hate it, especially now, if my albums became similar, because so much happens to me between each album - my views change quite drastically. What's nice about this album is that it's what I've always wanted to do. For instance, the Australian thing: well, I wanted to do that on the last album, but there was no time. There are quite a few ideas and things that I've had whizzing around in my head that just haven't been put down. I've always wanted to use more traditional influences and instruments, especially the Irish ones. I suppose subconsciously I've wanted to do all this for quite some time, but I've never really had the time until now. ('The Dreaming'. Poppix (UK), Summer 1982)”.
I am not sure what it was like for her working with producer Andrew Powell on The Kick Inside and Lionheart in 1978. It is clear that, for 1980’s Never for Ever, she wanted to take more control and do things a different way. Alongside Jon Kelly, she produced an album that was more expansive, daring and forward-looking. Bush was using musicians much the way groups like Steely Dan did in the 1970s. Doing multiple takes to find that perfect sound, she was mixing her hunt and passion with new technology like the Fairlight CMI. Whilst that synthesiser/sampler played a bigger role on The Dreaming, it was being used on Never for Ever. As opposed artists and producers who would do something ordinary or commercial, I feel Bush started to build The Dreaming on the basis that it would be unlike anything that had gone before; nothing like she had ever released. Bush went from recording Sat in Your Lap and immersed herself in The Dreaming (Sat in Your Lap, released in 1981, was the album’s first single). Rather than her employing a more solid and structured band of musicians, she was using a lot more players. There was a core at work, though there were a lot of other musicians who were just playing on the odd song. Employing more accents and tones to her vocals, there was a focus and singularity too. Part of this innovation and instinctive production came from the fact Bush was leading everything.
Rather than quickly recording songs, she wanted no outside influence. Because of that, songs came together more slowly. One of the benefits of this was a dense and more layered sound. The Dreaming is never cluttered or crowded; instead, tracks unfolded and revealed new layers each listen. Aside from Bush working with musicians and coming up with fresh ideas and interesting ways of playing, she understood how something like the Fairlight CMI could be of huge sonic benefit. Peter Gabriel introduced Bush to the Fairlight CMI, and she bonded with it straight away on Never for Ever. As The Dreaming’s producer, Bush used the Fairlight CMI but never overdid things. Knowing what was needed for each song, her drive and long working hours resulted in her most exciting and thrilling songs. Creating soundscapes, sound effects and completely different worlds, she was stepping away from the three-minute Pop songs that were easier to digest and spending time making music that was much more immersive and detailed. Also compelled by Peter Gabriel (when he used it on his song, Intruder; she heard it played at the Stone Room at London’s Townhouse studio), the gated drum sound – that would become widespread from the early-1980s – was another great innovation. Buried into songs rather than dominating and smothering, it showed how smart she was as a producer. Able to identify breakthroughs and interesting sounds, she reminds me of the way George Martin produced for The Beatles.
The lack of guitars was a noticeable change from her previous albums. She was still using her long-time guitarist Brian Bath but, unlike on other albums, his playing was moulded in a new way. For instance, Bush asked him to play like a helicopter for the track, Pull Out the Pin. In fact, that was the only track he was used on for The Dreaming. He recorded parts for other songs on the album, though Bush must have felt that she wanted to go in a different direction. If her first three albums featured guitar and piano prominently, the risks she took almost eliminating guitar and upgraded (not for all of The Dreaming but most) to synthesisers and the Fairlight CMI proved how adaptable and flexible she was. Clearly understanding how, in this new decade, she needed to push her music forward and also take inspiration from different artists and areas of music, few people talk about Kate Bush’s skill and endless hard work as a producer. A further instance of Bush thinking about dynamics, studio set-up and sound came when she recorded Sat in Your Lap. Inspired by seeing Stevie Wonder in concert (following a period of writer’s block for her), she rehearsed the song at KPM. Engineer Preston Heyman was called to Townhouse in May 1981. With mics in the corner of the ceiling able to pick up sound as it circulated the Stone Room (as the mics were heavily gated). One of Bush’s gifts was recognising odd sounds or less-than-perfect takes and realise that they would work – or would sound good when everything came together.
Preston Heyman (in the UNCUT feature) said that, for Sat in Your Lap, there was something missing. He and Bush’s brother Paddy snapped garden canes. Something rhymically different that had a higher register, at one point, Heyman broke the cane and threw it on the floor. That can actually be heard in the mix. No doubt Bush heard it but left it in, knowing that it would sound beneficial in the final mix! Whereas she could be rigorous and demanding when it came to takes, ensuring each musician gave her their best performance, small errors, oddities and experiments were tolerated and featured. Few producers operate this way! Bush, as a person, is very collaborative and kind. Never a producer who only trusted her own methods and was not willing to communicate, she sought suggestions when it came to making her songs as good as they could be. Synth expert Dave Lawson delivered an Edward G. Robinson impression (think Chief Wiggum from The Simpsons for the voice) for There Goes a Tenner. A song about a crime caper was the right place for it. Even though Lawson suggested it jokingly, Bush was keen to leave it in. Bush wanted to move away from the straightforward Pop structure, so it should come as no surprise to her collaborators and musicians that she wanted to take risks and be more explorative. Inspired by musicians like Peter Gabriel and what he did on Melt (1980), Bush was receptive and nurturing of enthusiasm in the studio.
Sonically, you can feel her breaking from her past. Bush also embraced happy accidents. Bassist Jimmy Bain played on several tracks through The Dreaming (including Sat in Your Lap). The two met by chance in a corridor at the studio, and Bush invited him to play. I think there is something paternal when it came to her communal vibe. Almost adopting and fostering a wide array of musicians, she crafted this odd-but-brilliant family. As was apparent on The Dreaming’s follow-up, Hounds of Love, there seemed to be this mantra: the right instrument and the right musician. She travelled to Ireland, as she felt that a celidh band would be just right for the chorus to Night of the Swallow. She would return to Ireland for Hounds of Love (songs like Jig of Life are elevated and defined by Irish instrumentation). The literal lengths she would go to get the right people involved is another facet of her production! Kate Bush’s openness and eagerness was radiant and infectious. Think about the animal noises provided by Percy Edwards for The Dreaming’s title track. Unconventional, eccentric and very different, how many other producers were doing this?! Above everything else, it was Bush’s graft and endless working hours as a producer that led to such an accomplished album. Often in the studio until dawn, Bush was living off the occasional joint, grapes and tea to get through the long hours (her diet was overhauled before she started working on Hounds of Love). Knowing what she wanted, she had say over which monitors and tape decks were in the studio. Preferring the JBL 4350 monitors over the UREI 813 (the former provided better top-end sound), this was a producer who knew the kit and technology. Having learned a lot from her first three albums, she was not going to leave anything to chance!
If Bush building her own studio for Hounds of Love was a reacting to utilising multiple studios and being all over London for The Dreaming, having different spaces benefitted the album. She worked at all three of Abbey Road’s studios. Recording vocals in different booths, rooms and a canteen, one can feel the influence of The Dreaming on an artist like Björk. She recorded the vocal for There's More to Life Than This (from 1993’s Debut) live at the Milk Bar Toilets in London! Whilst a costly process, taking advantage of studios and the potential to capture unique sounds and takes adds so much to The Dreaming. Bush sung a vocal on Leave It Open backwards and then reversed it on the tape. That created a distorted vocal sound. Bush used her father’s tape machine as a child and taught herself how to sing backwards! When the strings were being arranged for Houdini (one section arranged by The Kick Inside’s producer Andrew Powell, another by Dave Lawson), it was clear Bush was trying to create a mood of that era – when Harry Houdini was alive. Lawson was asked to create a picture and image of that time. Bush realised, when she made Hounds of Love, that she needed her own space as she was more and more immersing herself in the songs as a producer. As a producer on The Dreaming, she stepped into unknown territory in the pursuit of releasing something that was true to her. She gave herself license to do whatever she wanted to. No longer following the guidance of another producer, she was fearless and an incredible producer through The Dreaming. Ahead of the fortieth anniversary of The Dreaming in September, I wanted to do some features about the album. Starting with Bush’s obvious talents and innovations as a producer, it paid dividends on a remarkable album! Although The Dreaming got to number there but slipped down the album charts soon after (it slightly underperformed commercially), it is an album that has been reappraised and has connected with a lot of fans. On The Dreaming, Kate Bush showed herself to be…
ONE of the very best producers.