FEATURE:
Divisive Yet Extraordinary
Kate Bush’s February-June 1981
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THIS is another Kate Bush feature…
IN THIS PHOTO: Kate Bush poses at East Wickham Farm in September 1978/PHOTO CREDIT: Chris Moorhouse/Evening Standard/Hulton Archive/Getty Images
that is about a particular time period. I think that there are some pivotal moments and months. One time period that was about moving from the release of one album to another. There was this moment when public opinion was still split. Alongside celebration and awards, there was also this lack of complete embrace from the public. I want to bring in a timeline that starts off in February 1981 and takes us to June. A short period of time, there is a lot of change and development. I will stop and various points and expand. I wanted to choose this period of time, as Never for Ever (released in September 1980) was still being talked about and there was this interest. Maybe Kate Bush has moved on and was very much engaged with The Dreaming (released n September 1982). There was this thing where she would still be promoting one album and another one was being worked on:
“February 1981
Kate's childhood home, East Wickham Farm, which has at its core a 14th-century hall, is listed as a building of special historic interest.
Kate does some session work on a cover version of her song Them Heavy People by new EMI artist Ray Shell.
February 21, 1981
Kate is voted Best Female Singer of 1980 in the Sounds poll.
March, 1981
Kate is making demo tapes of the material for her next album at her own demo studio.
April 1981
In a special Sunday Telegraph opinion poll Kate is voted "most liked" and "least liked" British Female Singer.
That period here is intriguing. Because of its history more than Bush’s association with it, East Wickham Farm gets this honour. Preserved as a building of special interest. Even though Bush does not live there and her siblings are based elsewhere, you can still see East Wickham Farm in Wickham St, Welling. It is pretty much as it would have been in the 1970s and 1980s. It is emotional thinking about Kate Bush recording there. In 1981, it would have been quite a moment for her parents, Hannah and Robert, that their home was deemed as this significant historical artefact. A building that could not be torn down or changed dramatically. Not long after that happened, Bush won that Sounds poll. It is strange that, whilst one corner of the industry was celebrating her, that Sunday Telegraph poll must have been confusing! Definitely a divisive result, how did that impact an album like The Dreaming? Was that sense that some did not like her compel her to make an album very much different to what came before.
IN THIS PHOTO: Kate Bush in 1980/PHOTO CREDIT: Brian Aris
Never for Ever was a bit experimental and different, though The Dreaming is more layered and darker in many senses. It can be a dense album that maybe reflected a changing musical landscape. After a first three or four months of 1981 where songs were being written and there was at least some recognition from the industry and fans, it would have given her momentum when she headed into the studio. Not long after Bush headed into the studio to start recording The Dreaming, its first single, Sat in Your Lap, was released. It was a very quick recording process that was born out of a moment of urgency and inspiration (a case of Bush having a bit of a creative block, she saw Stevie Wonder play in London and was influenced to write a song). There was a bit of a strange start to recording:
May 1981
Kate goes into Townhouse Studio with Hugh Padgham as engineer to begin the recording work of The Dreaming album. The backing tracks for three songs are put down before Nick Launay takes over as engineer. In a session that lasts until the end of June more backing tracks are laid.
The fact that Hugh Padgham was not really committed and one of the few people who was not completely happy to be around Kate Bush’s music. It would have been strange to go into a variety of studios – as she did for The Dreaming – and work with new personnel. Those outside of her family circle; people that might not be aware of her past music. They were just coming in as professionals without being confirmed fans perhaps. If Never for Ever was a happy time where there was more highs than lows, The Dreaming did seem to be more of a strain. A different type of work regime. Maybe more intense and longer hours with little time to relax and joke around.
I think 1981 is one of her most varied years. In terms of projects offered and the sort of stuff she was doing. There were the BBC TV programme Looking Good, Feeling Fit, later in 1981. Bush had a little break in October up in Scotland. A chance to unwind for a bit before being immersed once more in the recording process. In August, Kate Bush headed into Odyssey Studios with Paul Hardiman as engineer to record the overdubs on all tracks in a four-and-a-half month session. It was a really intense year that was punctuated by some nice diversions and moments. One of the great things that happened in 1981 is that, in May, she was offered the role of the Wicked Witch in the T.V. series Worzel Gummidge. Bush was offered a lot of film and T.V. roles. Nearly always having to turn them down, it would have been fascinating to see what could have been if Bush turned to the screen. Maybe too much of a distraction from the music and main passion. I always think that Bush, with more exposure and experience, she would have been a fine actor! I am going to finish off soon. I will take things up to June 1981:
June 1981
The video for Sat In Your Lap is made at Abbey Road.
June 21, 1981
Sat In Your Lap is released. A pivotal point in Kate's career”.
This really exhaustive and different way of working. Bush was solo producing for the first time, so maybe she was not giving herself enough time out and break. Look at what she did in 1981. There was the recording, though she also had some interviews and assortment of media appearances. 1982 was when The Dreaming was released. It was much more about getting the music finished and it promoted. 1981 was this balance between time in studios and some ‘outside’ time. Consider Never for Ever in 1980 and how it sounded and it was received. The next album was very different! The whole background was different too. When it was released into the world on 13th September, 1982, Bush’s career and the public perception of her would…
CHANGE in a radical way.