FEATURE:
Kate Bush’s The Kick Inside at Forty-Five
IN THIS PHOTO: Kate Bush photographed in a London hotel room in October 1978/PHOTO CREDIT: Steve Emberton
On the Promotional Trail
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AS 17th February marks…
the forty-fifth anniversary of Kate Bush’s debut album, The Kick Inside, I am dedicating quite a few features to the album. It is my favourite of all-time, so it has that very special place in my heart. As I have said many times before, 1978 was a manic year for Bush. She released Wuthering Heights, her debut single, on 20th January. There was pretty much no let-up when it came to the work Bush put in to promote her first album. I can understand how excited she was to release a debut album, though she must have been exhausted come Christmas! That relief at being home with the family to rest and reflect on 1978. Even so, Bush managed to achieve so much that year. Not only did she release a debut album that was a huge chart success, gained a lot of positive reviews and put her firmly on the map. She performed live around the world in promotion of the album (some T.V. performances for the most part), and there was a lot of mystery around who Bush really was. From the start, Kate Bush got labelled as someone who was quite witch-like and strange. Too many people got caught up with Wuthering Heights and assuming that was who Kate Bush was. I don’t think too many understood her music or really got to know the real her. Even though Bush had these different musical personas and voices, a lot of interviews with her were quite samey and predictable. I might have covered these before but, as I am very interested in the vast promotional trail of 1978, I want to bring in a few interview from the year.
Going from country to country to talk about The Kick Inside, the magnificent Kate Bush hardly let her foot off of the gas! There are some interesting interviews that are worth sourcing. First, in March, Bush was featured in Sounds. Donna McAllister spoke with an artist who was taking people by surprise. With Wuthering Heights delivering this debut single smash, it was an exciting time to know more about a hugely talented artist:
“SOULFUL, SENSITIVE, salubrious. So why all the fuss about Kate Bush's age? Is it the fact that you don't usually get such cohesive intelligence from 19 year old females? Is it that 'child' prodigies are out of our mode? Or is it simply the fact that the journalists are getting older? It wasn't that long ago that the charts were brimmed from 1 to 10 with teen-aged stars. It may seem that only yesterday she was your average unknown person, but in fact, Kate has been developing her unique talents on rinky-dink second hand pianos since she was the ripe old age of 14. Recently she moved into a three storey flat in Lewisham, which is owned by her general practioner daddy-o, and whose other two storeys are occupied by her two older brothers.
The story is not at all as overnight as it seems to be, it was in fact two years ago that Pink Floyd's Dave Gilmour bopped around to Kates' flat with a Revox -- goal in mind to get some of Kates tunes published. She wasn't, at the time, considered a singer but Gilmour, who is genuinely interested in giving undiscovered talent a shot-in-the-arm (with his Unicorn organization) felt that the bubbling under songs should have the opportunity to be heard. They recorded about 15 songs per tape, and took them around to various record companies. The unanimous opinion, then, was 'non-commerical', and after all . . . it's not creative unless it sells, 'eh?
How Kate and Gilmour hooked up is rather a vague 'girlfriends'- boyfriends'- girlfriends friend' sort of rigamaroll, but the fact is that he never did lose interest in her er . . . talents, and decided that the only way to reach a record company's goldlined pocket was to produce finished product. Which is exactly what they did. Gilmour put up the money, and Kate went into Air studios complete with a band, and laid down the three tracks she and Dave both felt were best. This is the tape which eventually landed Kate her contract with EMI Records.
Despite the fact that she has been already wrongly built (no pun intended) in the media to be a mere child, she is surprisingly aware of what is going on around her, and is accepting the entire shindig with a pleased air of disbelief.
"They keep telling me the chart numbers, and I just kind of say 'Wow' (she sweeps her arms) . . . it's not really like it's happening. I've always been on the outside, watching albums I like go up the charts, and feeling pleased that they are doing well, but it's hard to relate to the fact that it's now happening to me..."
'WUTHERING Heights', Kate's self-penned song, inspired by the book of the same title, is literally catapaulting up the UK charts, and looks as though it will be one of those classic world-wide smasheroonies, though it has yet to be released in most other countries. She recently took her first air-bourne flight to Germany for a television appearance, as the single, apparently, has been chosen as whatever the German equivalent of 'pick-of-the-week' might be.
"It was mind blowing," she said euphorically, in reference to flying, "I really want to do more of that . . ." Wonder how she'll feel about in in two years time.
She writes songs about love, people, relationships and life . . . sincerely and emotionally, but without prostituting her talents by whining about broken hearts.
"If you're writing a song, assuming people are going to listen, then you have a responsibility to those people. It's important to give them a positive message, something that can advise or help is far more effective than having a wank and being self-pitiful. That's really negative. My friends and brothers have been really helpful to me, providing me with stimulating conversation and ideas I can really sink my teeth into."
For as long as she can remember she has been toying around with the piano, much, I reckoned, to her parent's chargrin. Can you imagine living with a nine-year-old who insisted on battering away on said instrument, wailing away at the top of her lungs in accompaniment?
"Well, they weren't very encouraging in the beginning, they thought it was a lot of noise. When I first started, my voice was terrible, but the voice is an instrument to a singer, and the only way to improve it is to practice. I have had no formal vocal training, though there was a guy that I used to see for half-an-hour once a week, and he would advise me on things like breathing properly, which is very important to voice control. He'd say things like 'Does that hurt? Well, then sing more from here (motions to diaphram) than from your throat.' I don't like the idea of 'formal' training, it has far too many rules and conventions that are later hard to break out of . . ."
IT IS QUITE obvious from the cover of 'The Kick Inside', her debut album, that Ms. Bush is Orientally influenced, but apparently it was not meant to take on such an oriental feel.
"I think it went a bit over the top, actually. We had the kite, and as there is a song on the album by that name, and as the kite is traditionally oriental, we painted the dragon on. But I think the lettering was just a bit too much. No matter. On the whole I was surprised at the amount of control I actually had with the album production. Though I didn't choose the musicians," (Andrew Powell, producer and arranger did). "I thought they were terrific.
"I was lucky to be able to express myself as much as I did, especially with this being a debut album. Andrew was really into working together, rather than pushing everyone around. I basically chose which tracks went on, put harmonies where I wanted them . . . I was there throughout the entire mix. I feel that's very important. Ideally, I would like to learn enough of the technical side of things to be able to produce my own stuff eventually."
Kate has a habit of gesturing constantly with her hands, and often expressing herself with unspellable sounds and grimaces. Though this make tape transcriptions difficult, it does accentuate something which is very much a part of her, 'movement expression'. She has studied under the inimitable Lindsay Kemp, mime artiste, an experience shared with Kate's favourite musician, David Bowie.
"I admire actresses and actors terribly and think it's an amazing craft. But singing and performing your songs should be the same thing. At this point I would rather develop my music and expressing it physically, as opposed to having a script. I think I'm much better off as a wailer. . ."
She is, indeed a beautiful woman. Carved ivory, with nary a nick. So obviously there is no way she can avoid becoming the target for sexist minds. Although she does not advocate this reaction, she's not flustered by it. After all, it is a compliment.
"As long as it does not interfere with my progress as a singer/songwriter, it doesn't matter. I just wish people would think of that first, I would be foolish to think that people don't look. I suppose in some ways it helps to get more people to listen . . .”.
IN THIS PHOTO: Kate Bush photographed in a London hotel room in October 1978/PHOTO CREDIT: Steve Emberton
I want to take it to October 1978. Bush sat down with Tim Lott of Record Mirror. Right at the top of the article, it is highlighted how human and grounded Bush is. Rather than being a prima donna and someone who is all about stardom, Bush is a proper musician who is here for the music – rather than making money and seeking fame. It is refreshing how grounded Kate Bush has been. Since the start, she has differed and distinguished herself from so many other artists:
“The rock and roll business usually brings up its fair share of prima donnas, ready to grab what they can and cast off their friends and roots. The hit singles and fame happened very quickly for KATE BUSH but she remains a human being.
Enough of her flesh, her bones, her erogenous zones. Physical obsession has become redundant. Kate Bush is, as she never tires of emphasising, a member of the human race, not a musical hybrid of the girlie mag fantasy woman. She's clinging onto that humanity with obsessional determination despite her circumstances sliding further and further away from that "normality" she holds desperately and dearly.
Her abnormality has never been more apparent than in this setting: a L100 at night, two floor leather-and-flowers suite at the Montcalm Hotel, Marble Arch.
She has just been interviewed by "Ritz" and "Vogue". Attended by two press officers, she is, despite her protestations, a star, a true star, by virtue of her immense success, her pink skin and her Page 3 curves.
A number one single (an international hit) a number one album and immense publicity: Kate Bush is a phenomenon. The fate that befalls such animals - arrogance, self-indulgence, mania - has yet to manifest its symptoms, partially because this particular phenomenon is dedicated to the preservation of her personal reality.
Nervous
"I'm not really aware of being subjected to any starmaking machine."
She tap her fingers on the chrome and glass table in the only nervous gesture she possesses.
"I know that might sound odd, but I've really no idea about it. The record company thought this hotel would be practical. I thought it would be nice. It's quite a trip for me to be here.
"I didn't walk in here and say 'where are the flowers? Where is my champagne?'
"I hope I haven't become a prima donna yet. I really mean that. I really, really resent that a lot.
"It's nice if you're on the road that you should have somewhere nice to sleep. But I'm not into the 'Oh, Dahling!' bit, and everybody having a Rolls Royce."
It sounds almost defensive, but one subject that Bush is totally convincing about is how critical she considers her grasp on her own situation.
She has reached a point already of being such a valuable property to EMI Records that she is at the point of being able to control her immediate destiny.
The interviews she does are her own choice - "I want to get into as many areas as I can. So I did the fashion magazines and "Vegetarian" and "The Sun". I'm testing the water.
She says that she is, quote, into people. People, of course, reciprocate, and therein lies the danger. A surfeit of attention killed Janis Joplin and, more lately, put Ply Styrene into a mental home.
"I have some person principles I stick by, though they are pretty free. They don't just apply to the press. They are my way of living.
"I have tried to avoid an 'image'. If you have an image you intend to maintain, it's going to be very difficult, because you're going to get holes in your image. I may be that animal 'Kate Bush' a bit when I'm offstage, but mostly, I'm me."
Kate spends most of her time with a smile on her face that look straight at you, but she looks away and almost shutters for a moment.
"The things I don't like doing is... is... going to these sort of parties that you hear about. I don't go to parties. I find that sort of thing very unhealthy. In fact I find them disgusting."
She pronounces the word 'parties' like you or I might pronounce some vile disease or weird sin.
"It's not me. I'm basically a quiet person. When I get the time, I like to go home. I clean up the flat - which is a mess, because I'm never there. And I get some friends around that maybe I haven't seen for a long time.
"It's not a question of insulating myself. This is something that is extremely important to me - I'm very much a human being, and I don't want to lose that.
"You don't have to believe all the sycophants. I am aware that in my position I am both vulnerable and very powerful. People are always trying to grab a piece of your pie. But it can only be down to you to get yourself out of... er... a vulnerability situation."
This tiny vision is both unusual and predictable; the first because she is so damn scientific, the second because she is so blatantly optimistic.
She takes a relentlessly practical approach to her career - "I have to look at it in a realistic way" - and admits that she trusts no-one at all. On the other hand she believes like many before her, that she can have her cake and eat it, that she can be a star and not a star, that she can somehow escape the pre-requisite of her job - to give, and give, and still give, at the expense of, at the very least, a part of her personality.
"People might call me it, but I'm not a star," she says, and I think she almost believes it. "I'm just a person who writes songs that, at the moment, people happen to like.
"They might not like anything on the next album: in which case I'll still be the same."
Except that she'll be a failed star. Kate has yet to reach the point of acceptance that things will never be the same. Her family, her friends will inevitably take second place and some will disappear. The blue-print is there, and inescapable.
Or maybe I'm wrong, and Kate has more strength of mind than I dare hope. Maybe. She is certainly convinced, and that's half the battle.
"You don't have to make yourself an island. In your head, you know what you are”.
IN THIS PHOTO: Kate Bush shot the U.S. cover of The Kick Inside/PHOTO CREDIT: Gered Mankowitz
There is one more interview I want to get to. The Music Journal’s Robert Henschen interviewed Bush in December. A U.S. publication, maybe the audience was not as large or aware of Bush as in other countries. Even though The Kick Inside was not a success in America, it is wonderful that she was being discussed there! Concluding an itinerant and hectic year, I wonder how she feels about that time now:
“Released in the U.S. several months ago, Kate's album The Kick In-side has not achieved overwhelming success in the States as of yet, but that may soon change. The album has been reissued with a new album cover, and impressive AOR radio support has been building for Kate's remarkable music. Almost every cut on the debut record is equal to, or even better than, Wuthering Heights . There's an impish quality to Kate's singing on the quasi-reggae Room For the Life, she almost sounds like a munchkin on Oh To Be in Love, her voice soaring above the wicked witch's guardsman...And she reveals more dramatic profiles on the near-jazz Saxophone Song or the serious, moving Man With the Child in His Eyes .
This latter piece, about the relationship developed between a young girl and an older man, is a showcase for the singer's subtle and sensitive imagery. "She sees this man as an all-consuming figure," explains Kate. "He's wise, yet he retains a certain innocent quality. The song tells how his eyes give away his 'inner light'. He's a very real character to the girl, but nobody else knows whether he really exists."
Appearances on European television programs like Top of the Pops, Saturday Night at the Mill and Tonight helped launch Bush, still new to performing, into a sudden spotlight...and more than a little controversy. Her act is a sensual combination of dance and dramatic vocal presentations, her body not exactly hidden in a flesh-colored body stocking, and some viewers apparently found Kate to be erotically shocking or in bad taste. Even Kate cringes at the thought of those first, unpracticed attempts at visual communication. She has since learned to handle live performing more effectively, touring England to widespread acclaim. <This is not a reference to her Tour of Life, but to earlier promotional tours abroad.> Ms. Bush is something stunningly different to see...as well as hear.
With or without the sensationalism surrounding her good looks and offbeat performing style, Kate writes music of incredible depth. Just as her dawning public image comes up displaying the physical woman, so do her amazing lyrics bespeak 100% twentieth-century female. Seldom, if ever, has the feminine standpoint been more boldly and beautifully stated, and songs like Room For the Life, Strange Phenomena or Feel It penetrate directly to new depths of corporeal and spiritual realization.
Some of the poetry herein is unexpurgated and erotic; other portions take an inanimate pose to evoke new feelings from the listener.
For instance, Kate creates a flying feeling for Kite, a song that exhibits her songwriting knack for approaching a subject in some refreshingly original way: "In the song the character starts to feel that he is rooted to the ground, but there is a force pulling him up to the sky. A voice calls out, 'Come up and be a kite,' and he is drawn up to the sky and takes the form and texture of a kite. Suddenly he's flying 'like a feather on the wind,' and for a while he enjoys it, but the longing for home and the security of the ground overtake these feelings." Just as Kate becomes Cathy Earnshaw in Wuthering Heights she assumes the role of a young sister in The Kick Inside (inspired by the traditional folk song Lucy Wan ) who, after a tragically incestuous relationship with her own brother, leaves this incredibly sad and hopeful farewell note. Intriguing song-poem ideas.
How did Kate Bush learn to write brilliant songs of such unnerving emotionalism and intelligence at such an early age? "I just grew up with music all around me. When I was about eleven I just started poking around at the piano and started making up little songs. I never played Beatle songs or anything like that. I was always just exploring the instrument. Then, when I was fourteen, I started taking it seriously and I began to treat the words to the songs as poetry. I'd always been keen on poetry at school and it was lovely to put the poems together with the music.
"I have two older brothers and they were very keen on musical instruments. One day, along comes this friend of my brother's <Ricky Hopper>. He worked in the record business himself, and thought he might be able to make contacts. Well, he knew Pink Floyd from Cambridge, and he asked Dave Gilmour down to hear me. Since then, I've been singing, playing and writing until we made the album." Originally the album was to be released in late 1977, but it kept getting delayed, and finally appeared on Harvest in early '78. Now The Kick Inside has come out a second time on EMI-America, distributed by Capitol, and Kate Bush is finally available throughout North America.
Shortly after her phenomenal success with Wuthering Heights, Kate celebrated her financial windfall by picking up a $13,000 Steinway baby grand. "I feel as though I've built up a real relationship with the piano. It's almost like a person. If I haven't got a particular idea I just sit down and play chords, and then the chords almost dictate what the song should be about because they have their own moods." Kate may be working on new songs for another album, but she seems content to let her career evolve without outside interference or commercial pressures: "I'm really not sure how I'm going to develop from now...what direction my music will take. I just want to carry on exploring”.
I will leave it there. I am always excited to re-read Kate Bush interviews, and 1978 has a fair few of them. In terms of the places she visited and the promotion undertaken, few artists had such a busy start to their careers! Testament to her passion and stamina, Bush was always professional and interesting in interviews. A truly magical debut album, The Kick Inside certainly garnered world-wide interest. People wanted to know more about Kate Bush. Nobody like her had come into music. No wonder there were some perplexed, awed and dumbstruck interviewers! There are many other great 1978 interviews. I have selected a few of my favourite to mark the upcoming forty-fifth anniversary…
OF the spectacular The Kick Inside.