FEATURE:
Moments of Pleasure and Pain
IN THIS PHOTO: Kate Bush in 1993 in a promotional photo for The Red Shoes
Kate Bush’s The Red Shoes at Thirty-One
_________
FOR this feature…
about The Red Shoes, I am going to explore a few of its songs and some reception to the album. An interview or two with Kate Bush from 1993. This is a bit of a round-up regarding this album and how it was perceived. How Kate Bush discussed it. I must confess that the tone of these anniversary features might appear negative. Certainly, many see The Red Shoes as the poorest Kate Bush album. Many critics rank it ninth or tenth when they do polls (she has released ten studio albums). We can focus on the strains and stresses she faced when making and releasing The Red Shoes. Instead, as it turns thirty-one today (1st November), I wanted to look at more positive aspects. Giving some light to a few of its key cuts. Some reaction from critics. Before I get there, I think it is best to get some words from Kate Bush regarding her seventh studio album. One that I really love. I am going to end with some ideas/feedback about The Red Shoes. How it would be great to see it on cassette (I covered this in a recent feature) and how the tracklisting could have been altered. Also, how Director’s Cut in 2011 has cast the album in a new light. The interviews in 1993 were a mixture. There were some kind and respectful. A few that lacked professionalism. This one from Chrissy Iley for The London Sunday Times is combative and frosty. I do want to, once more, sort of return to The Kate Bush Interview Archive. Nick Coleman, writing for Time Out, spoke to Bush around the release of the short film, The Line, the Cross and the Curve (in which Bush starred, wrote the script and directed):
“Where do your stories come from?
'Oh, all kinds of sources but generally they come down to people. People's ideas or works. Films, books, they all lead back to someone else's ideas, which in turn lead back to someone's else's ideas...'
I've always assumed you must be a bit of an Angela Carter fan.
'Um, no. I don't think I know her stuff.'
She wrote 'Company Of Wolves' and was big, I believe, on pomegranates, the predatory nature of nature, the heat of female sexuality; that sort of thing.
'Oh, yes.' Bush smiles, and her dimple disappears.
Other post addressed to Kate Bush arrived which went unopened. Then one day a letter came for the attention of Catherine Earnshaw. This being ambiguous, Catherine opened it just to make sure. Inside was a note from a Harley Street doctor indicating that Catherine was fit as a fiddle. This was good news. Unfortunately, Catherine had not been to see a Harley Street doctor. She hastily sent the letter on to Bush's record company, blushing at her daftness in not remembering immediately that Catherine Earnshaw is the name of the storm-tossed tragic heroine of 'Wuthering Heights '.
You're 35 and you've been doing this since you were a teenager. How have you changed?
'I think I've changed quite a lot. Essentially I'm still the same person but I suppose I've grown up a lot, and learned a lot.'
What's made you grow up the most?
'You get lots of disappointments. I'm not sure that they make you grow up but they make you question intentions.' She pauses. 'But life is what makes you grow up.'
That's a fantastically evasive answer.
'It is quite evasive but I think it's true.' Still no dimple. 'It's hard to say... when I was young I was very idealistic, and I don't really think I am any more. I think I'm more... realistic. I think it's good to change. I think I'd be unhappy if I didn't change. It would mean I hadn't learnt anything.'
Do you ever get curious about living another way?
'I do. But so far I'm extremely lucky to be doing what I'm doing. I feel extremely lucky to have the opportunity to do it.'
Mankowitz, who last worked with Kate in 1979, says he saw her being interviewed on TV by Michael Aspel recently. 'She struck me as being rather humourless, and I wasn't aware of that when I worked with her. She seemed uncomfortable, suspicious even, and was obviously tormented by the fact that if she doesn't promote then she can't expect any success.
‘Although I haven't had any contact with her for years, it's certainly true to say that she has her world and it's very important to her, and, to begin with, that held her feet on the ground. And of course as she began to have this huge success, and the money that goes with it, she found she was able to shape her world to her own design, and that must isolate you. In a general way, that has to be part of the madness of being a very successful artist. With so much control over life, the artist's reality becomes unreal to the rest of us.'
Kate, do you concern yourself with how you're perceived. Does it worry you that to a lot of people you seem quite potty?
'I'm not sure that it's something I've created. But potty is okay.'
What do you think it means?
'I presume it means people think I'm mad.'
Do you ever think you're mad?
'Yes.' This is a slow answer, not without humour. 'Yes, I do. But it could be worse ... I think everyone is mad in their own way. I mean, what is normal? I do think I have quite a lot of fun with my madness, though. It's nice that I can channel it into my work.'
Does work ever feel like it's not quite enough?
'Oh, now! She glares. My blood vessels turn into zip-fasteners. Now I've done it. 'Those last two questions seem like they're coming in on an angle ...'
The lecture follows about how she makes it quite clear that questions about her private life are out of bounds. I protest that I'm not trying to get her to betray facts about her private life but to talk about how she sees herself, and the world outside. After all, I bluster, there is a connection between her feelings and her work, is there not? She pours tea, clanking the lid of the teapot, doing stuff with her hands.
'Yes, well, I think my work is far more interesting than me, and nobody would be interested in me if it wasn't for my work ...'
It used to be said of Olivier that when he wasn't acting there didn't seem to be much of him left.
'Well, I'm only five foot three, so there's not so much of me here anywhere. I have so much time for actors. I mean, that really is putting yourself on the line. And acting is being so many different things, isn't it? I wonder how easy it is for very famous actors to hold on to a sense of who they are.'
Quite.
'But Olivier was awfully good at what he did, wasn't he? So if there wasn't much of him left, who cares, really? What he did was great.'
IN THIS PHOTO: Kate Bush napping whilst in the makeup chair for 1993’s The Line, the Cross and the Curve/PHOTO CREDIT: Guido Harari
What do you make of children?
'I suppose I think in a way that we're all children. And the older I get I think there isn't any difference between children and grown-ups. It's just that grown-ups are the ones trying to pretend that they're not children, while all the time they're the most sensitive children of all.' Another long pause. 'There's a sense of preciousness, don't you think, about children? Especially when the child is young enough. Such a pure spirit, so uncorrupted. A child is so symbolic of purity and tremendous potential. And people who have childlike qualities ... well, it's a lovely thing. It's tough for people to hang on to things like that ...'
Supposing someone were to point their finger at you and say, 'J'accuse Kate Bush of...'
'I confess.'
... of trying to occlude the nasty, real world so that you can live in a protected fantasy world of ballet shoes, over-ripe fruit and warm feelings. How would you respond to that?”.
Prior to getting to some insight and background to a few big songs from The Red Shoes, I want to take a snippet from an interview from the Hamilton, Ontario Spectator. Even though there is a lightness to the interview, the final words from Kate Bush are quite telling. How she was very tired at the end of 1993 and was very much looking ahead to a break and some time away for herself. Little did we know how long that gap would be:
“Bush says that by the time she got past a long phase where she lost all desire to perform, she grew nervous about returning to the stage. "Now I've come back to the idea of doing it - especially over the last couple of years. If we did do something, I'd like to do something personal. The idea of standing here and just singing my songs more simply now appeals to me." If she decides to tour, she won't likely have to worry about filling seats. Every Kate Bush album released in Canada has gone past platinum (100,000 copies sold), and after just a month, The Red Shoes is already gold (50,000).
The album, her seventh, is loosely based on the Hans Christian Andersen fairytale about a young girl who receives a pair of red shoes which allows her to fulfil her dream of becoming a great dancer. She can't stop dancing, though and the shoes won't allow themselves to be removed. Eventually, the girl orders her own feet to be amputated, and dies.
Mutilation aside, Bush says she identifies with the character. "The imagery of possessed by an artform - which in this case is dance - so it has a life of its own, is something I can relate to.", she says. "I look at my albums as probably the same kind of thing. I am very obsessed by my work when I'm in the middle of it. I'm quite tenacious, and don't like to let go of it until I'm sure I've finished it."
The Red Shoes also shows a lighter side to Bush in such songs as Rubberband Girl and Eat The Music. She admits it was a conscious move to contrast her last project, The Sensual World. " With every album, I like starting from a fresh point," she says, "It's almost a rebellion. I need to do something totally opposite." "I wanted to put more emphasis on the songs this time out, and less emphasis on production. I tried to make the songs more direct, simple, and honest."
Bush sees the recording experience as a chance to work with friends and people she admires. Some of the special guests on the album include violinist Nigel Kennedy, Procol Harum founder Gary Brooker, and guitarists Jeff Beck and Eric Clapton. But the tops for her was collaborating with Prince on Why Should I Love You? "I'm so glad he agreed to work with me," says Bush. "I've been a big fan of his for a long time." Bush has also ventured into film, directing a 50 min. short called The Lion, The Cross and The Curve, which co-stars Miranda Richardson and is based around six of the album's songs. It should be out on video some time next year.
Right now, it's time for a break. "I'm feeling very tired," admits Bush. "I'm going on a holiday. I'm really looking forward to not pleasing anyone but myself”
I am keen to frame The Red Shoes in a more positive light than it has been afforded. It is thirty-one today. Not many people will discuss it. I will end with some positive words about it. Before that, I want to highlight three songs that I feel are especially strong. I want to get inside Eat the Music, Moments of Pleasure and the sublime title track. I am going to end with some words about the production and tracklisting. What I love about The Red Shoes is the change of moods and sounds. The fact that Bush was writing in a personal way and creating some tender and evocative songs. There are so many upbeat and rousing tracks that provide this levity and balance. It is a shame it does not get more credit. Maybe not quite what people were expecting from her one and only album of the 1990s. Anyway. Released as a single in the U.S. in September 1993, I actually want to start with Del Palmer speaking about the variegated and succulent spice of Eat the Music. So much sweetness, life, colour and sway to the song. One that gets under the skin:
“It uses a small guitar called a ‘caboss‘ which is one of the instruments Paddy (Bush, Kate’s brother) discovered and brought back with him. He’s very into ethnic music of all kinds and has always contributed a lot of ideas to the albums – he helped bring in some authentic players and the track started off with bass guitar which was then replaced by an acoustic bass – but that sounded a bit too Latin. The horn section’s real, of course.
I think I will move to one of the most emotive and heartbreaking songs on The Red Shoes. I think of Kate Bush’s mother when I hear the song. Without that many reviews written about it, I think listeners should explore this remarkable song. One of the jewels from The Red Shoes, it is a gem that I never tire of. The chorus words “to those we love, to those who will survive” was written about her mother, Hannah, who was sick at the time of recording. She died a short time later (on 14th February, 1992). I think there is a lot of strength and beauty in the song. Even though Bush reapproached the song for 2011’s Director’s Cut, I still think that the original is best. I love this article that has some words from Kate Bush about the track. How her mother laughed when a particular line from the song was said to her. A phrase that Hannah Bush once said which stuck in her daughter’s mind:
“I think the problem is that during [the recording of] that album there were a lot of unhappy things going on in my life, but when the songs were written none of that had really happened yet. I think a lot of people presume that particularly that song was written after my mother had died for instance, which wasn’t so at all. There’s a line in there that mentions a phrase that she used to say, ‘every old sock meets an old shoe’, and when I recorded it and played it to her she just thought it was hilarious! She couldn’t stop laughing, she just thought it was so funny that I’d put it into this song. So I don’t see it as a sad song. I think there’s a sort of reflective quality, but I guess I think of it more as a celebration of life.
I cannot find too much written about The Red Shoes’ title track. It is such a shame! Maybe someone tying it to the 1948 film. How Bush would have been influenced by a character in the Michael Powell and Emeric Pressburger classic. Bush spoke to Melody Maker in 1993 where she revealed the following: "It's just taking the idea of these shoes that have a life of their own. If you're unfortunate enough to put them on, you're going to dance and dance. It's almost like the idea that you're possessed by dance. Before I had any lyrics, the rhythm of the music led me to the image of, oh, horses, something that was running forward, and that led me to the image of the dancing shoes. Musically, I was trying to get a sense of delirium, of something very circular and hypnotic, but building and building". One of my favourite Kate Bush songs, I love the frenzy and spirit of The Red Shoes. Maybe sharing some DNA with Eat the Music and Hounds of Love’s Jig of Life, it is a shame that there was not enough love out there for a brilliant cut! Even so, as Wikipedia has collated some evidence; there was some appreciation for the song:
“Chris Roberts from Melody Maker said, "The Red Shoes' meets its jigging ambition and sticks a flag on top, making her dance till her legs fall off." Another editor, Peter Paphides, commented, "Only as a grown-up will I be able to fully apprehend the texture and allegorical resonance of the themes dealt with in 'The Red Shoes'. Until then, I'll content myself with Tori Amos and Edie Brickell." Parry Gettelman from Orlando Sentinel wrote, "The mandola, the whistles and various curious instruments on the driving title track really recall the fever-dream quality of the 1948 ballet film The Red Shoes, the album's namesake." Mark Sutherland from Smash Hits gave it two out of five, adding that "loads of spooky 'ethnic' noises and tribal beats make for a very weird single, but not a very good one”.
I am going to end up with some thoughts and feedback regarding The Red Shoes ahead of its thirty-first anniversary on 1st November. Before I get there, in 2018, The Quietus marked twenty-five years of the album. With virtually no other deep dives or features around an album that warrants so much more discussion and appreciation, they did at least highlight some of its strengths. A lot to digest for those who feel the album has only a couple of good moments but is spoiled by the production sound and some less-than-inspired moments from Bush. Maybe lapsing into cliché or boredom at times. Songs that are flat or routine. On the contrary: this is an album that has so much depth and nuance:
“Hearing her equate emotional intimacy with scoffing mangoes and plums might suggest that The Red Shoes still has plenty of idiosyncrasies. There’s certainly something quintessentially Bushian about some of its songs, including the title cut, which soundtracks the fate of a girl who puts on a pair of red leather ballet shoes and dances a frantic Irish jig: it combines her fondness for Celtic sounds, old stories and classic film (The Red Shoes was written by Hans Christian Andersen and later adapted into a 1948 film directed by Michael Powell and Emeric Pressburger, the former of whom Bush salutes on ‘Moments Of Pleasure’), and her shrill, possessed vocal makes it sound like a feverish fairytale. The steamy ‘The Song Of Solomon’, meanwhile, mixes a literary text and desire in the same way that ‘The Sensual World’ let Ulysses’ Molly Boom step off the page and experience physical pleasure. This time, there was no-one stopping Bush lifting lines from her chosen book, the Hebrew Bible, although the erotic charge of the chorus is all hers: “Don’t want your bullshit, yeah/ Just want your sexuality.”
And if Bush has dabbled with the gothic and supernatural ever since ‘Wuthering Heights’, there’s more magick on the moody, witch-rock of ‘Lily’, a tribute to her friend and spiritual healer, Lily Cornford. “I said ‘Lily, oh Lily, I’m so afraid,’” trembles Bush. “I fear I am walking in the vale of darkness.” She banishes the evil spirits with fire and the help of four angels, although Gabriel, Raphael, Michael and Uriel couldn’t save The Line, The Cross And The Curve, the Bush-directed film-meets-visual-album which included videos for ‘Lily’ and five of the LP’s other songs. Inspired by Powell’s original movie, the singer is tricked by Miranda Richardson into wearing the cursed ballet slippers, and must free herself from the curse under the tutelage of Lindsay Kemp. It was, Bush later claimed, a “load of old bollocks”.
It’s easy enough to find the common thread running through The Red Shoes: time and time again she returns to being brave, to being strong, to being open, to having to decide between holding on or letting go, and still trusting you’ll come out OK on the other side. There is, admittedly, less of a sonic coherence, especially in its latter stages. ‘Constellation Of The Heart’ is a colourful swirl of funky guitars, organs and saxophone, while ‘Big Stripey Lie’ is built upon Nigel Kennedy’s gorgeous violin but is undercut by bitty guitars and discordant squiggles of noise, its scorched beauty hinting at violent chaos as Bush frets: “Oh my god, it’s a jungle in here.”
That’s then followed by the absurdity of ‘Why Should I Love You?’ Bush had originally asked Prince to record backing vocals for the track, but he decided to take it apart and add guitars, keyboards and brass, too. Conventional wisdom is that great collaborations are the result of a shared vision, but ‘Why Should I Love You?’ is great even though there’s absolutely no shared vision whatsoever: for the first 60-odd seconds it’s built around Bush’s hushed vocal, until Prince’s huge rush of ecstatic, kaleidoscopic sound steamrolls everything in its path. It’s less the meeting of two minds and more the smashing together of two completely different styles, the most special of cut-and-shunt hybrids. (And somewhere, among all the hullabaloo, you’ll also hear backing vocals from Lenny Henry).
IN THIS PHOTO: Kate Bush in 1993/PHOTO CREDIT: John Stoddardt
There’s another cameo on the closing song, the fantastically histrionic breakup ballad ‘You’re The One’, on which Jeff Beck’s dizzying, drawn-out guitar solo pushes Bush to an exhausting catharsis. Like so much of The Red Shoes, it finds her preparing to leave a lover to save herself, although this time she’s less bullish, more prone to tying herself in knots. “I’m going to stay with my friend/ Mmm, yes, he’s very good-looking,” she admits. “The only trouble is, he’s not you.” By the song’s end, she’s so frazzled by frustration and anguish that she lets rip a larynx-tearing shriek: “Just forget it, alright!” Bush, who had spoken of feeling emotionally burnt-out years before the album was released, was ready to withdraw, too: she vanished for 12 years until Aerial, and then went on hiatus for another six before returning with Director’s Cut. “I think there’s always a long, lingering dissatisfaction with everything I’ve done,” she said in 2011, glad to have the chance to right some of the wrongs that had been bothering her for 20-odd years. For me, though, the original album has always been enough: it might have its flaws, and there might be a handsome alternative, but just like Bush on ‘You’re The One’, I still want to keep going back”.
You can buy The Red Shoes on vinyl. You can read some other reviews for the album. I don’t think it deserves its reputation as the runt of Bush’s output. In fact, I have recently written as to how it would be great to have Kate Bush’s albums on cassette. More attention needs to be paid to the album. It would be really interesting having The Red Shoes on cassette. It was available on that format at one point. I would love a red cassette that I can put into a portable player and walk around listening to it. Bush did re-record and redo some tracks from The Red Shoes for 2011’s Director’s Cut. The Song of Solomon, Lily, The Red Shoes, Moments of Pleasure, Top of the City, And So Is Love and Rubberband Girl. Pretty much redoing the singles. Songs considered strong in 1993. In fact, more than half the album was re-recorded. I don’t think it is a sign of how Bush sees The Red Shoes. Instead, maybe the production sound. In the 1990s, a lot of music was over-compressed or had this rather tinny and artificial sound. Artists going digital. Trying to cram a lot onto a C.D., it often meant albums could be pretty flabby and over-long. I would love to hear The Red Shoes, with its original songs, stripped back. Think about the sound of the demo of Why Should I Love You? A stronger album could be born if some of the layers of the production were removed.
IN THIS PHOTO: Kate Bush in a promotional photo for The Red Shoes
However, I still have a lot of love for the 1993 original. I have said how the tracklist is disordered. How it is a top-heavy album. A much weaker second half to the first. I keep thinking about the tracklisting and order. I have put a rejigged version of the album below. Look at the songs and how the stronger numbers are more evenly distributed. How there is a stronger finish. A great middle section. Also, I do think that the album warrants new inspection. It has so many high points. Many associate Bush’s 1993 album with tragedy, loss and fatigue. An artist who, in her own words, needed a break. They see it as far less inspired and consistent than any album before. Rubberband Girl, the album’s first U.K. single, is about Bush bouncing back to life and being this elastic and flexible fighter. However, many see that as ironic considering how many reviews piled on and dismissed The Red Shoes. I hold love for the album. Besides, the wonderful and unstoppable Kate Bush…
WOULD bounce back eventually.