FEATURE:
Kate Bush: The Tour of Life
IN THIS PHOTO: Kate Bush in London at the 1994 fan convention on 8th May
1994-2005: Taking a Break and Stepping Away
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I want to be quite up front…
IN THIS PHOTO: Kate Bush in 1993/PHOTO CREDIT: John Stoddart
and transparent when it comes to my inspiration for various Kate Bush features. At the moment, I am re-reading a few biographies about Kate Bush. One by Tom Doyle, another by Rob Jovanovic and the other by Graeme Thomson. I will nod to each of them as I put these features out. In the course of reading back through them, they provide ideas for features. One that was influenced by Graeme Thomson and Under the Ivy: The Life and Music of Kate Bush concerns a subject I have touched upon when writing about 1993’s The Red Shoes and 2005’s Aerial. It is Kate Bush taking time out and stepping away from the industry. Not a full retreat, but definitely a need to lessen the workload for the improvement of her health and happiness. It is an important topic to alight on. A reason why Aerial was such an album of wonder and scope. Perhaps more rested, refreshed and revitalised by infusions of happiness and new responsibility. The birth of her son in 1998. Recognising that she did need to shift her priorities to herself rather than the music. As someone who spent days and weeks in studios slavishly working over songs in the pursuit of near-perfection, it was hard to break out of a routine. Bush had not really had much time to relax and not think about music since she was a teenager. Consider the years 1978 through to 1993. That fifteen-year period of intensity and work. Her appearance on Top of the Pops in 1994 performing And So Is Love was her final T.V. outing. You can see how tired she looked during that performance. It was clear that Kate Bush needed to repair. In fact, on page 281 of Graeme Thomson’s essential book, he writes, with regards to 1993’s The Line, the Cross and the Curve film and the overload of 1993 and some mixed reception, how “there was to be a break in transmission. Necessary repairs”.
I find that period between 1994 and 2005 fascinating. There was a feeling that Kate Bush had disappeared. There is a song on Aerial called How to Be Invisible. In media terms, Bush had disappeared. She has at the moment too. The fact that then and now, she has not been releasing music means people assume she is not active or relevant. Today, Bush is still engaging with fans and doing stuff. Providing us hopeful words that suggest a new album will come along soon enough. Even though she is not putting anything new out there at the moment, she is still keeping busy enough. When she did step away from regular recording and releasing music after 1993, it was a period of transition and readjustment. Apologies if I repeat previous features or ideas. She did pack a fair bit into the years between 1994 and 2005. I will concentrate on various events from that period in future features. I am not going to mention Aerial too much, as I covered the album a bit recently for anniversary features. I love how Kate Bush was focusing on her health, home and family. Building a new one. On 4th July, 1996, the wonderfully and reliably unique Kate Bush was ranking her favourite singers. Rather than them being human singers, Bush listed a couple of birds. Specifically, songwriter Don Black was on BBC Radio 2 and talked about a meeting with Kate Bush. She revealed her two favourite singers. At number one was a blackbird and the second was a thrush!
Whilst some would see Kate Bush moving to the country and breaking from transmission as something melancholic and ordinary, they forgot their history. Like Hounds of Love, Aerial’s music and moods were inspired by the scenes and sights of her surroundings. The infusion of the landscape and visuals. How she was free from too many distractions to write in a more open and imaginative way. Rather than a move to East Wickham Farm, Bush now moved into a 160-year-old building, a former mill house, at Theale. It is a beautiful and pricey house that Bush adapted and modified. A gorgeous and big garden plus a studio right by the lock. Similar to 1983 and 1984 when a bespoke studio was built near her family home, in the 2000s, Bush had her studio decked with harlequin floor and ballet bars. In public, there was this sense of ignorance and assumption. That Bush had either broken down or was gone for good. Definitely no sense that, actually, she was slowly and productively planning the next stage of her career. I am always compelled by Kate Bush’s connection to home. The connection between her surroundings and the way she writes. How her music comes together. Maybe it was a conscious effort to return to her post-The Dreaming life. Burned out in 1982, 1983 was a year of rebuild and refresh. Consciously exiling from smokier and more suffocating surroundings and building her own studio. Facing a similar exhaustion and breaking point after 1993, Bush set about giving herself some time to start again. At least create a more comfortable surrounding. Release another album when she wanted. Whereas there was only three years between The Dreaming and Hounds of Love, we waited twelve years for a follow-up after The Red Shoes.
IN THIS PHOTO: Kate Bush in 1993
I think that there was genuine hesitation releasing an album and maybe getting caught in a promotional cycle that could have caused more damage and stress. Bush clearly gathered plenty of inspiration from her garden; the birds that visited and her new family. Someone always captivated by people and things around her, she would not keep these recordings private. She wanted the world to hear a new album. However, knowing how bad things were by 1994 – the fact her mother died in 1992 and she broke up with Del Palmer – meant that she would have thought long and hard about putting out an album and how she would promote it. I love imagining Kate Bush in the mid/late-1990s in a great home with this cool studio gradually putting together Aerial. Bush’s new life in Theale (just outside Reading) meant that the everyday and family was back into her music. Something much more important and personal. Maybe she felt her music was becoming less personal or easy to write. Not that Aerial was easy to write. However, you get the feeling of more air and space. Things gradually wound down after promotional interviews for The Line, the Cross and the Curve in April 1994 (the film got a limited cinematic release). She released a cover of The Man I Love in 1994. As I will discuss in a future feature, Bush donated original artwork to War Child for a celebrity auction.
I actually think that her post-The Red Shoes years was more interesting and diverse than the years before. Rather than plugging an album or releasing a new one (Regarding King of the Mountain) - “She first recorded a rough track just two years into her hiatus. Most of the vocals were from the original demo because she couldn't capture the same feeling when she revisited the tune years later” - she was laying foundations and focusing on things away from music. It is a little strange and heartbreaking knowing Kate Bush had some regrets about The Red Shoes. Somewhat apologetic in terms of its quality and potential. Maybe a little over-long and not as good as it could have been. The 1994 fan convention was the last Kate Bush attended. Negative press around The Red Shoes and The Line, the Cross and the Curve contributed to serious exhaustion. Bush was burned out. She did need to regroup and retreat. Some artists would have retired or come back with a lesser work. Instead, Kate Bush needed to get out of the studio. When speaking during a dubbing session for The Line, the Cross and the Curve, Bush said she needed to get away from the studio. She had not wasted many years or had any significant break. Not to lean too heavily on Under the Ivy: The Life and Music of Kate Bush but, when reading about Bush’s plans after 1994, there were some genuinely emotional observation. Her mentioning – during that dubbing session – the love of the sea and being there recalled childhood trips to the seaside. A mention of the joy of museums took us back to 1976 and that pre-The Kick Inside time when she was taking in art, literature, culture and strands of inspiration. It was clear that she was a little lost and needed to find her way back.
IN THIS PHOTO: Kate Bush at the Q Awards on 29th October, 2001
In a future feature, I will discuss how 1994 and 1995 were particularly tough years. What is curious about the time after 1994 is how the press jumped on this absence. How Bush, always seen as a recluse and odd figure, was in some castle or gothic mansion away from the light. The rather insulting and dismissive terms they employed. Kate Bush needn’t have worried. She needed that time away. Bush was always wary of the press and their intrusive nature. Bad enough that they were spreading rumours about her when she stepped away from the spotlight a bit, there was a new wave of media in 2000 hysteria when Peter Gabriel accidentally let slip that she had a new son. Bush started recording interviews she was involved with from 1990 onwards. Keen to be represented correctly. Not being misquoted. Although the start of this period of downtime and rebuild was marked by some black months, there was this sense of nesting and rebuilding. New home, studio and family. I think that many people assume the twelve years between The Red Shoes and Aerial was Kate Bush doing nothing. In fact, there were bursts of activity and visibility. Away from the media and behind the scenes, she was busy drawing up blueprints. Spending some necessary and positive time focusing on life and ensuring that she could continue her career. Things would change with her new album. I do think there is an entire book in the years before Aerial’s arrival. How many interesting things happened in that time. Including Kate Bush writing a series of short compositions for adverts for a new drink, Fruitopia. Bush recording her rendition of Mná na hÉireann in 1995 for the 1996 compilation album, Common Ground – Voices of Modern Irish Music. In future features, I will also check off some of the events and notable moments after 1996. A 2001 Q interview. Her appearing at the Q Awards and being photographed with John Lydon. All the while, she was recording and putting together a future double album. Finding time to rest and recharge. Something she hadn’t had the chance to do since she was a teenager. In 2005, the divine Kate Bush returned…
STRONGER and more wonderful than ever.