FEATURE:
Do You Want to Feel How It Feels?
IN THIS TRACK: Kate Bush in the studio in 1985/PHOTO CREDIT: John Carder Bush
The Best Percussion Tracks from Never for Ever, The Dreaming and Hounds of Love
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MAYBE it is not the first things…
IN THIS PHOTO: Kate Bush in 1982/PHOTO CREDIT: Clive Arrowsmith
one associates with Kate Bush’s albums, but percussion and the rhythm are key to her success and brilliance. Whether it a drum pattern on a Fairlight CMI – which she became a bit of a pioneer and proponent of in the 1980s – or some wonderful natural percussion, many of her best songs are defined by their beats. No matter if they are created electronically, I am thinking about the best percussion tracks on three particular albums. Never for Ever turns forty-two on 8th September; The Dreaming is forty on 13th September; Hounds of Love is thirty-seven on 16th September. Three very different but splendid albums, I am not only fascinated by the prominence and quality of the percussion and beats throughout. It is interesting hearing the difference and evolution between the three albums. Whether it is the iconic percussions sounds of Running Up That Hill (A Deal with God) from Hounds of Love or the great (if fairly minimal) percussion on Babooshka and Breathing (from Never for Ever), Bush could elevate a song through percussion – whether it was more rhythmic and lower in the mix of the charging heartbeat of things. In the October 2022 MOJO, we got a deep dive into Hounds of Love.
In part because of its approaching anniversary but, due to Stranger Things propelling Running Up That Hill (A Deal with God) to the top of the charts around the world, its parent album was getting some love. Field Music’s Peter Brewis had some interesting things to say. He said, with reference to Hounds of Love, what “makes it sound unique is the rhythm. It’s not just the LinnDrum machine, because everyone around that time was using LinnDrums; it’s the sound of other drummers weaving in and out, treated with really creative reverbs…”. He finished by saying that “Hounds of Love is its own world, a magical world”. To mark the upcoming anniversaries of Never for Ever, The Dreaming and Hounds of Love, I have talked about the albums in general, but I have also highlighted individual tracks. Here, I have put together a playlist of songs that have great rhythm and beat. The different patterns and textures to be found is amazing. One can credit drummers in Bush’s fold like Preston Heyman, Stuart Elliott, or Charlie Morgan; perhaps the great Fairlight CMI work by Bush or the LinnDrum programming from engineer Del Palmer, there are groovy, pulsating, soulful, jazzy, frightening and evocative beats to be found across the three albums. Here, then, is my anniversaries playlist containing Kate Bush gems with..
SUPERB and memorable rhythmic skin.