FEATURE:
With The Red Shoes Put Away in the Closet…
IN THIS PHOTO: Kate Bush in 1993 in a promotional photo for The Red Shoes
Oddly Busy and Interesting: Kate Bush’s 1994
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EVEN though Kate Bush gave interviews in 1994…
IN THIS PHOTO: Kate Bush in London at the 1994 fan convention on 8th May
in terms of releases and commercial attention, she only released a couple of singles. The Red Shoes then And So Is Love were the final releases from her 1993 album, The Red Shoes. With And So Is Love Out in November, 1994, there was still some promotion and activity from the album. Even so, she was not really recording or working on anything new. Instead, it was a moment Kate Bush was thinking about moving out of the spotlight and taking an overdue break. When you would think that 1994 was a year when Bush was mostly at home and there was very little happening, it is a lot more interesting and packed than that! As it is thirty years ago, I wanted to revisit this period on a big anniversary. In a year when music was at its peak and some all-time great albums were released, Kate Bush was taking the longest break she had ever had to that point. She would not put out another studio album until 2005’s Aerial. Since then of course, an even bigger space has come between albums – 2011’s 50 Words for Snow has not had a follow-up; not new album has been announced. I wanted to highlight things happening in Kate Bush’s career in 1994. Thanks to Kate Bush News for their timeline of Kate Bush’s career. You can see that 1994 is definitely a full one for her:
“1994
A brief summary of the year’s events:
Spring: Kate appears on the new Alan Stivell album “Again” providing keyboards and backing vocals on the track Kimiad. Kate has spoken in the past of her love for this piece, and has worked with Alan on The Sensual World album.
March 23rd: Kate appears at the 12th Brussels International Festival of Fantasy, Thriller & Science Fiction to promote her film which she introduces.
April/May: Eat The Music released on a CD single in a number of territories outside the UK & Ireland.
April: The title track of Kate’s album The Red Shoes is released as a UK single on the 5th April. The video is a segment from the film The Line, The Cross and The Curve. The B-side is a new track You Want Alchemy. A second CD contains a 10 minute remix of the track , entitled Shoedance. The single peaked at no.21.
Maybe a little quite at the start of 1994, things soon spring into action! I know she collaborated with a lot of artists. She would work with Prince for his 1996 album, Emancipation. In 1994, she appeared on a song and album I was not aware existed. Not keen to write her own music, she was still open to collaborations and other projects. Bush travelling to Brussels to promote The Line, the Cross and the Curve was interesting. It got some poor reviews, though I think it is really important and underrated. The film was definitely appreciated by fans, yet it was not that well received further afield. Bush perhaps detached herself from it soon after, though she was committed tin 1994 to making sure it was discussed and seen.
On 5th April, an underrated single came out. Not played much or discussed, The Red Shoes is one of the strongest tracks from the album of the same name. It got to twenty-one in the U.K. Whilst not a big success, it at least showed there was still appetite for Bush’s music. She would put a further single from the album out. It would be the last one she did until 2005’s King of the Mountain. May 1994 was a very interesting time. I love the fact there was a fan convention in which Kate Bush appeared. Someone always appreciative of the fans’ support, it sounds like the 1994 Kate Bush Convention was a hugely enjoyable event for everyone who attended. I was only ten at the time (my eleventh birthday was 9th May, 1994), but I would love to have been older and to have been there:
May 8th: The 1994 Kate Bush Convention is held at The Hippodrome in London on Sunday 8th May. The event was organised by Homeground/KBC. Kate appeared to introduce a screening of The Line, The Cross and The Curve, and her brother Paddy appeared performing with Colin-Lloyd Tucker, his partner in the musical project Bushtucker.
Fans perform their versions of Kate’s songs on stage and hours of rare video are shown. An auction of rare items is hosted by Del Palmer (in aid of Great Ormond Street Children’s Hospital, as was the entire event), and all participating fans (1,000+) had submitted their top ten favourite Kate tracks (with great difficulty!) with the booking form for tickets for a special Top 50 to be compiled and announced at the convention. Here’s the Top Twenty:
1. Wuthering Heights
2. Moments Of Pleasure
3. Running Up That Hill
4. The Sensual World
5. This Woman’s Work
6. Cloudbusting
7. The Man With The Child In His Eyes
8. Hounds Of Love
9. Under The Ivy
10. The Red Shoes
11. Night Of the Swallow
12. Hello Earth
13. Breathing
14. The Big Sky
15. Never Be Mine
16. Eat The Music
17. Moving
18. Wow
19. Suspended In Gaffa
20. Babooshka
I guess the middle of 1994 was a big time. That screening of The Line, the Cross and the Curve in the U.K. Kate Bush appeared at the premiere and there was anticipation and interest. Even if critics were less than kind, thirty years after that screening, there should be some reissue or retrospection. Get the film to 4K and show it again. Maybe an anniversary Kate Bush convention where the film is played and there are events. It would be amazing. I like the fact that the summer was a time for Kate Bush to finish off promotion – more or less (for The Red Shoes and The Line, the Cross and the Curve) and take on other things. Not really pressured to write anything new, her association with Fruitopia is really fascinating and cool. Not someone who took on commercial requests (apart from appearing in a Japanese Seiko advert in 1978), this was unusual and magnificent:
May/June: Kate’s film is screened at 24 UCI cinemas across the UK.
Summer: Kate supplied a variety of soundtracks for TV commercials for the US launch of the Fruitopia range of drinks by Coca-Cola. This came as a surprise to fans, an unusual project for Kate to embark on. There are 10 different “scores” accompanying “intense kaleidoscope-style manipulations of brightly coloured fruit”. The UK versions of these ads featured Liz Fraser of the Cocteau Twins on vocals.
Rather than 1994 being an intense year with an album and live performances, Bush was doing this interesting bits away from her own music. I love her version of The Man I Love. Hardly spoken about, it is a wonderful interpretation from Bush. Smoky and gorgeous, it is one of her all-time greatest vocals. After July and that contribution to a wonderful album, Bush then saw a huge live performance released a video and C.D. Such a rich couple of months where we get some retrospection in different forms:
July: Kate’s contribution to the Glory Of Gershwin album, The Man I Love, is released as a UK single on the 18th July. It is accompanied by a video shot in black and white which got aired on ITV’s Chart Show and on MTV. The single enters the UK chart at its peak position of no.22. During an interview on Sky News, Larry Adler, beaming, recalled the making of this video:
“When we made the video together, the one you just showed a bit of, I had gout in my foot and whenever I had to go to my bedroom, Kate would escort me like a nurse, and I just was so charmed by her.”
August: PMI (Picture Music International) release a double-pack of the Live At Hammersmith Odeon (1979) video with a CD of its soundtrack…in effect Kate’s first live album. (an E.P. of 4 tracks, On Stage, was released in September 1979)
I get the feeling that 1994 was a year Bush was free to step away from the album promotion cycle and engage in other ventures. She was definitely look to an extended break. Before then, the autumn of 1994 produced some curious moments. I like the fact that October and November were standout for different reasons. In November, And So Is Love was the final single from The Red Shoes. Reaching twenty-six , it was a modest success in the U.K. but did little business elsewhere. It seemed like a sign to take some time away and refresh. I really like And So Is Love, yet I feel there were other songs on The Red Shoes that could have been a final single (maybe Lily?):
October: Kate contributed a pair of exhibits to the War Child charity’s “Little Pieces From Big Stars” exhibition, entitled Someone Lost At Sea Hoping Someone In A Plane Will Find Them and Someone In A Plane Hoping To Find Someone Lost At Sea. The artworks consisted of two small black frames within which was a black surface containing a small twinkling red light, one in each piece. They were eventually sold for £1,150. Other participants included Paul McCartney and David Bowie.
October: Kate’s film, The Line, The Cross & The Curve is released on video by PMI.
November: The fourth and final UK single from The Red Shoes album, And So Is Love (featuring Eric Clapton on guitar), is released on November 7th. A limited edition 7″ came in a plastic wallet containing a large fly-poster for the single. Also the CD single came with three prints from The Line, The Cross & The Curve. The B-side features a lively dance remix of Rubberband Girl. Kate appeared on Top Of The Pops on the 17th of November. The single entered the UK chart at it’s peak position of No. 26. The video is a segment from the film and got plays on MTV”.
You can see that 1994 has a very eclectic year. Thirty years ago, Bush was at a moment after The Red Shoes was released but before she embarked on further promotion and other projects. I do think there should be anniversary events around the 1994 convention; the release of The Line, the Cross and the Curve, and the War Child charity auction (you can see a video of that here). Not sure what form they would take. I think a lot of people do not realise all the things Bush got up to in 1994. It was a remarkable year with some commercial stuff, charity bits and her working on other people’s albums. After 1994, she would engage now and then. There were the odd appearance and things here and there, however it was not until 2005 when she was fully back in the spotlight. Barely taking a break since 1978, it is only right she would end 1994 thinking that other things needed to become a priority. I love that Bush, during perhaps music’s best year, was not releasing a new album or really engaging with all of that. Instead, she was doing things that seemed more personal fulfilling and less predictable/tiring. 1994 was definitely a crucial year…
FOR Kate Bush.