FEATURE:
The Greatest So Far….
Kate Bush’s The Whole Story at Thirty-Eight
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I could not pass this anniversary…
IN THIS PHOTO: Kate Bush in 1985/PHOTO CREDIT: Guido Harari
without marking it. Kate Bush’s The Whole Story has a very special space in my heart and life. It was the first Kate Bush album/collection I came to. When I was about four of five, I experienced the music video for Wuthering Heights. The Whole Story is the only true greatest hits collection from Kate Bush. I shall come to some information about it. On 10th November, 1986, this amazing compilation was released. I always assumed that the VHS version of The Whole Story came out in 1987. It would have been 1986. In any case, it was the VHS that I first experienced. The visual brilliance of Wuthering Heights. My eyes were opened to something truly spectacular and original. Up until this point in my life, I don’t think I had really seen or heard an artist like this. More theatre than music! Something that will stay with me. In 1985, Kate Bush released Hounds of Love. The popularity of it meant that EMI were in a position to release a greatest hits album. Bush was reluctant at first and felt that it was a bad idea. She wanted to do original material and would have thought a greatest hits was cashing in or would not sell. When shown some research and logic, she was more on board. The fact that it went on to become her best-selling album to date (being certified four-times platinum in the United Kingdom) definitely meant she was right to allow it! I am also going to tie in the anniversary of Experiment IV, which was released as a single on 27th October, 1986. That was the same date as Don’t Give Up was released. Peter Gabriel and Kate Bush together. Two very different songs on the same day. Kate Bush’s doubts were put aside when The Whole Story reached number one. There are a couple of notable aspects of The Whole Story. Rather than Wuthering Heights being the original, it was a re-recorded vocal. It has divided opinion. Bush wanted a more updated and adult vocal. She recorded the original in 1977. Nearly a decade later, Bush could approach the song from a new angle and perspective. I will always prefer the original, though this was one of the first times when Bush reapproached and re-recorded her music. A unique treat for fans at that point.
There are some notable omissions on The Whole Story. Of course, Bush and EMI would have focused on the singles. Under the Ivy is missing. The B-side for Running Up That Hill (A Deal with God) is one of Bush’s very best songs. One of the limitations of a greatest hits is that there is something missing. I shall come to that point more. Also on The Whole Story is the album mix of The Man with the Child in His Eyes rather than the single version. The home video version of the compilation was nominated for the Best Concept Music Video at the 1988 GRAMMY awards. Maybe people do not know about this album. However, in 2014, when Bush was performing during the residency, Before the Dawn, The Whole Story reached number eight in the U.K. Before coming to Experiment IV and more about The Whole Story, here is some critical reaction and words from Kate Bush about her greatest hits:
“The compilation album was received well and had several critics write down their positive reviews.
Over the last nine years and five albums, Kate Bush (…) has matured into quite the most sensual, expressive, and creative artist this country can now boast.
Roger Holland, Sounds (UK), 1986
This glorious retrospective collection… she’s playing a high-risk game, and more often than not her irrepressible flair, her instinct for a hook, and her gift for unusual and gripping arrangements carry her through.
Colin Irwin, Melody Maker (UK), 1986
More useful and more enjoyable than the constipated jangling of a hundred and one little lads with big mouths and even bigger clothes allowances. Such people are not worth a carrot. Meat or no meat, Kate Bush is streets ahead.
John McReady, NME (UK), 1986
A monumental tribute to this craziest, coziest girl-next-door. (…) One of the most refreshing compilation LPs it would be possible to put together.
Andy Strickland, Record Mirror (UK), 1986
The video version was also reviewed, but they were a bit more mixed.
The earlier clips, dating back to her breakthrough hit ‘Wuthering Heights’, show off her considerable dance skills, yet they aren’t particularly good videos. Nevertheless the material is engrossing in its disturbing portrayal of the ethereally beautiful songstress as a tormented darker Stevie Nicks type.
Jim Bessman, Billboard (USA), 4 JUly 1987
With her mime and dance talent, and her narrative songwriting style, you’d think Kate Bush would be a natural for music videos. So why then is this collection so spotty in quality? Maybe because Kate Bush is so enamoured of Kate Bush. At times she’s more interested in her hair, face and lips, than in the meanings of her lyrics or the purity of her voice. Kate Bush is an affected artist most likely stuck with her cult following.
Phil Anderson, Buzz, July 1987
Kate about ‘The Whole Story’
(…) I was asked to put out a greatest hits album by the guy at the record company. I thought it was such a crap idea and I said, “No, no way”. He came back with all this research he’d done and just completely won me over. And of course it ended up being my biggest-selling record.
Tom Doyle, ‘Kate Bush: National treasure’. Q (UK), November 2006
Yes, I was [against the release of a compilation album] at first. I was concerned that it would be like a “K-tel” record, a cheapo-compo with little thought behind it. It was the record company’s decision, and I didn’t mind as long as it was well put together. We put a lot of work into the packaging, trying to make it look tasteful, and carefully thought out the running order. And the response has been phenomenal – I’m amazed!
Kate Bush Club newsletter, Issue 22, December 1987
It wasn’t chronological because we wanted to have a running time that was equal on both sides, otherwise you get a bad pressing. In America, where I’m not very well known, they didn’t realise it was a compilation!
I want to spend a bit of time with Experiment IV. This was the only original song from The Whole Story. A song that could have easily sounded right on Hounds of Love. It reached number twenty-three in the U.K. One of the most notable aspects of Experiment IV is that Bush directed the video. It features cameos from Dawn French, Hugh Laurie, Richard Vernon, Peter Vaughan, Paddy Bush and Del Palmer. It is one of her most striking and memorable videos. Before the editing of the full video could be completed, a minute-long segment was made for Top of the Pops. They refused to play it as they considered it to be too violent. Like with The Whole Story, here is some critical reception of Experiment IV and words from Kate Bush:
“The first lady of progressive rock warbles out another chilling fantasy. Kate crams more into seven inches of plastic than most science fiction writers could fit into a trilogy of novels. An epic to curl up with on some storm torn winters evening.
Edwin Pouncy, Sounds, 1 November 1986
Initially conventional, she hides inside the slight shapes, sticking the needle into our eyeballs with customary delicacy… it grows.
Mick Mercer, Melody Maker, 1 November 1986
Chilling, moody, beautiful… An essential purchase.
Mark Putterford, Kerrang!, 5 November 1986
Behind ethereal dreamy swirls of sound, a story line worthy of Stephen King.
Nancy Erlich, BillBoard (USA), 6 December 1986
Kate about ‘Experiment IV’
This was written as an extra track for the compilation album The Whole Story and was released as the single. I was excited at the opportunity of directing the video and not having to appear in it other than in a minor role, especially as this song told a story that could be challenging to tell visually. I chose to film it in a very handsome old military hospital that was derelict at the time. It was a huge, labyrinthine hospital with incredibly long corridors, which was one reason for choosing it. Florence Nightingale had been involved in the design of the hospital. Not something she is well known for but she actually had a huge impact on hospital design that was pioneering and changed the way hospitals were designed from then on.
The video was an intense project and not a comfortable shoot, as you can imagine – a giant of a building, damp and full of shadows with no lighting or heating but it was like a dream to work with such a talented crew and cast with Dawn French, Hugh Laurie, Peter Vaughn and Richard Vernon in the starring roles. It was a strange and eerie feeling bringing parts of the hospital to life again. Not long after our work there it was converted into luxury apartments. I can imagine that some of those glamorous rooms have uninvited soldiers and nurses dropping by for a cup of tea and a Hobnob.
We had to create a recording studio for the video, so tape machines and outboard gear were recruited from my recording studio and the mixing console was very kindly lent to us by Abbey Road Studios. It was the desk the Beatles had used – me too, when we’d made the album Never For Ever in Studio Two. It was such a characterful desk that would’ve looked right at home in any vintage aircraft. Although it was a tough shoot it was a lot of fun and everyone worked so hard for such long hours. I was really pleased with the result. (KateBush.com, February 2019)”.
I have written about The Whole Story a few times before. Apologies for repeating any words! There have been compilations of Kate Bush’s music since 1986. Nothing really like The Whole Story. I think that there is a demand and desire for something new now. Maybe people would think it would be repeating things. Given the new popularity of Kate Bush, it would be great to compile a new greatest hits. One that carries on from 1986 and takes us up to date. I do think that there should be a re-evaluation. The original is worth celebrating as it comes up to its thirty-eighth anniversary. In 1988, it was released to Minidisc. A video-C.D. version was released a few years later called The Whole Story ’94. 1986 was a busy year for Kate Bush. One might think there was comedown after Hounds of Love the year before. Bush was still promoting and releasing singles. Here is what she got up to in a year when she turned twenty-eight:
“January 11, 1986
In the annual Sounds poll Kate is voted Best Female Vocalist of 1985.
February 10, 1986
Kate performs Hounds of Love live at the British Phonographic Industry Awards presentation. She is nominated for (but does not win) three awards: Best Album, Best Single and Best Female Singer.
February 17, 1986
The third single, Hounds of Love, is released in seven- and twelve-inch formats.
Kate records a duet with Peter Gabriel for his fifth solo album. The track is called Don't Give Up.
Kate abandons the plan to make a film version of The Ninth Wave side of the new album.
March 6, 1986
Kate appears on Top of the Pops to perform Hounds of Love.
March 19, 1986
For the making of the video for The Big Sky Kate assembles over one hundred fans on the sound stage of Elstree Studios.
Kate records a live performance of Under the Ivy at Abbey Road Studios for the 100th edition of the Tyne Tees TV programme The Tube.
April 4, 1986
Kate participates in the first of three Comic Relief shows at the Shaftesbury Theatre. She performs Breathing live and performs a duet of Do Bears Sh... in the Woods? with Rowan Atkinson.
April 5, 1986
The second Comic Relief show.
April 6, 1986
The third Comic Relief show.
May 25, 1986
Kate joins in the Sport Aid mini-marathon at Blackheath, South London, along with many other celebrities.
May 1986
The fourth single, The Big Sky, is released.
Kate does some session work for Big Country on the title track of their album The Seer.
June 16, 1986
The videos for the four Hounds of Love singles are released as a video EP under the title Hair of the Hound. It goes straight to the number 1 spot on the music video chart.
Hounds of Love passes the double platinum mark in the U.K.
October 20, 1986
Don't Give Up, the duet with Peter Gabriel of his song, is released as a single.
October 23, 1986
Kate participates in a personal appearance of the Comic Relief stars at the Claude Gill Book Shop, Oxford Street for the launch of the publication of the Comic Relief Book.
October 27, 1986
A new single, Experiment IV, is released in seven- and twelve-inch formats.
October 31, 1986
Kate appears on the BBC TV programme Wogan for the second time, giving a lip-synch performance of Experiment IV [with violinist Nigel Kennedy].
November 1986
Kate directs the video for Experiment IV, which is made on location at a disused military hospital in South East London and a street in the East End. The film features the Comic Strip regulars Dawn French and Hugh Laurie.
November 9, 1986
Kate interrupts the shooting of the Experiment IV video to attend a party at the Video Cafe organised by the Kate Bush Club and Homeground.
November 10, 1986
The Whole Story, the first Kate Bush compilation album, is released. It is promoted by the most expensive TV advertising campaign EMI has ever mounted. Sales are massive”.
On 10th November, it will be thirty-eight years since The Whole Story was released. A magnificent greatest hits album that has iconic hits throughout, one might say there is a need for an update and refresh. However, I would direct people to the original. But, yes, a new chapter would certainly not be a cash-in. It is long overdue! The album is officially on Spotify, but you cannot hear Wuthering Heights with the new vocal, as that was never released on any of her studio albums. Also, Experiment IV is not available (as it is a single that only appeared on The Whole Story, and it is mainly studio album tracks we have on Spotify). It has also not been reissued and remastered on vinyl and C.D. You can find the album on vinyl though, when Bush reissued her albums recently for independent record stores, she only did the studio albums. I think that The Whole Story should have got its own version and moment in the spotlight. Something that I think is Kate Bush cannon. Even if The Whole Story is only part of the tale of Kate Bush, it is a wonderful compilation. In fact, when you think about the greatest hits albums through time, Kate Bush’s 1986 release is up there. I think that there are…
FEW better in music history.