FEATURE:
Kate Bush: The Tour of Life
IN THIS PHOTO: Kate Bush in 1993/PHOTO CREDIT: John Stoddart
A Wolfhound At the Door: 1994 and 1995
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MAYBE a bit of a downer…
IN THIS PHOTO: Kate Bush photographed in London in 1993/PHOTO CREDIT: Guido Harari
subject to bring up when it comes to Kate, I did want to look at the years 1994 and 1995. It was a difficult period for her. Following the release of The Red Shoes in November 1993, Bush didn’t entirely retreat from the spotlight. However, it is clear there was something of a black dog at the door. A fatigue and depression. It is not surprising! After working tirelessly on The Red Shoes and the short film, The Line, the Cross and the Curve – Bush was promoting it around its release on 13th October, 1994 -, there was this need to step back or focus on herself. It was a fascinating time. Bush was still working quite hard in 1994. Bush was commissioned to write a series of short musical pieces for a $30 million U.S. T.V. advert campaign for the Coca-Cola drink, Fruitpoia. I am referencing once more Graeme Thomson’s Under the Ivy: The Life and Music of Kate Bush for guidance and facts. It is interested that she was lured into advertising once more. The first time was when she did a spot for Seiko in Japan in 1978 where her song, Them Heavy People (Rolling the Ball in Japan), was backing her. I think there was this definite sense of drain and exhaustion. The process of recording and promoting an album. A sense of burn-out from making a short film in 1993 too. Bush wanted to keep engaged but did not want to be in album recording mode or do promotion. This opportunity meant that she could do something creative for a good product – and earn handsomely from it. Ever since, Bush has not engaged with any advertising campaigns. The thirty-second pieces had cool titles such as Nice, Soul, and Solstice. Apart from also contributing to an album, Common Ground, which featured artists recording Irish songs (Bush’s beautiful rendition of Mná na hÉireann is sublime), there was far less activity. It was clear that a break was needed. Recording and promoting almost non-stop since she was eighteen, this woman in her mid-thirties was taking on a huge weight. It was a moment when she needed to take stock. It was disheartening getting mixed and negative reviews for The Red Shoes and The Line, the Cross and the Curve.
Kate Bush always disliked what she recorded. In a sense that she was never truly happy with her output. She did her best at the time but there was this lingering sense of dissatisfaction. In 1993 and 1994, there was this negativity pouring out. Critics started to compare Bush to contemporaries like Tori Amos. Focusing on the idiosyncrasies and eccentricities rather than the music. A sense of fascination and approval had gone. It is no surprise that this impacted hard on Kate Bush. It was not only critics that were negative towards Bush. A loyal and diehard fanbase were also not entirely in love with Bush. Through fanzines and messageboards on the Internet, there was this horrible and suffocating pressure. A feeling of a tide turning. The 1994 fan convention was the last one Bush attended. She did say how she was very sensitive to the criticism and feelings around her work. How her energy was sapping and that caused exhaustion. After putting so much effort into an album and short film, Bush would have hoped for some positivity and a chance to ride some critical acclaim. Instead, it did seem like there was more darkness than light. Bush was almost dismissive about The Red Shoes. A tone that suggested resignation and apology. This was quite new and worrying. The interviews around the album are not the best. In terms of what she is being asked and how interviewers approached her. Bush did her best in the interviews, yet you could sense she was ready to sign off for a while. Rather than looking ahead to another album or with her usual energy, something was wrong. One can appreciate how an artist that was so in demand and was not afforded a break would show signs of retreat. Bush, aged thirty-five, had lost a long-term relationship and was dealing with the death of her mother (in 1992). The city was this rather toxic and busy landscape. Not ideal when you are in need of relaxation and calm!
PHOTO CREDIT: Kate Bush whilst filming the video for Rubberband Girl in 1993/PHOTO CREDIT: Guido Harari
One can look ahead to 2005 and the release of Aerial. How Bush created a new family and was living away from London. Maybe that desire was there as early as 1993 and 1994. In 1994, the press were still very much not letting up. Taking digs and spreading rumours, all of this fuel was added to a fire. One can only imagine what Kate Bush was feeling. Not being afforded enough time to grieve her mother’s death and process the end of a fifteen-year romance, something had to change. In Graeme Thomson’s book, he notes how the years 1994 were 1995 were ones defined by isolation and depression. This was not something new. After 1982’s The Dreaming was released, Bush suffered nervous exhaustion and was prescribed bed rest. After such intense recording and promotion, she had to regroup and take steps so that she could continue her career. Bush did come back with 1985’s Hounds of Love. This time around, the break between albums was longer. That desire to be in the studio and record was a lower priority. Watching bad sitcoms and quiz shows, Bush slept a lot and I would assume she was not eating healthily. Bush was in a very low mood and it was a troubling time. It is easy to look at this time and feel like it was Bush suffering a massive low. Hitting rock bottom. In fact, it was only a brief period of isolation and depression, though it is significant. I don’t think many Kate Bush fans know about what she was doing in 1994 and 1995. There were few professional engagements. The last promotion duties for The Red Shoes were completed in 1994. Bush performing And So Is Love on Top of the Pops. A bit of travelling and interview. You can sense and feel that she was suffering. The sheer demand of recording and promoting took its toll. I am trying to more eloquently put it into words! Even if there was this down period where Bush slept an awful lot, watched television and wanted to be alone, she did also manage to engage in a normal and sociable form soon enough. Whether it was eating out at a high-end restaurant in London, attending David Gilmour’s fiftieth birthday (in 1996) or enjoying a play, she was keeping busy enough.
Look ahead to 1996, Bush wrote and recorded the demo version of King of the Mountain. That was the single released from 2005’s Aerial. Sunset and An Architect’s Dream were written in 1997. Bush welcomed her son, Bertie, into the world in July 1998. That period between The Red Shoes coming out and giving birth. Quite interesting bookmarks. 1994 and 1995 are fascinating. How there was this turbulence and personal struggle. Bush was asked about whether she wanted to have children in an interview from 1994. She was very much open to the idea. I think the loss of her mother and the cessation of her relationship with Del Palmer meant that she was looking to create new comfort and meaning. The loss that she suffered turned her mind towards children. She was in a new and strong relationship with Danny McIntosh. It is remarkable that Kate Bush rode through a very difficult time and soon came out the other side. Starting work on a new album and starting a family. The strength she found to begin writing and recording only a few years after The Red Shoes came out. However, this was a slow creative build. Aerial would arrive nine years after its first song was written. A double album that was incredibly generous and accomplished, it is also one of her most positive and hopeful works. Quite a contrast to the mood and aesthetic of 1994 and 1995. These years were not completely defined by blackness and isolation, yet it was a definite bridge. Bush could not carry on and push herself hard. The energy and motivation was not there. Blown back and stunned by some bad reception from fans and critics, I do think about Kate Bush in those years and it is heartbreaking. Spending so much time at home and needing a lot of sleep. Similarities to 1982 but a much more severe version of that.
I am going to end this feature soon. I wanted to feature 1994 and 1995, less in a negative and downhearted sense. It is important to highlight this time. The endless work and push through 1993 and a lot of 1994. Making an album and short film. Having to promote both when I am sure Bush would rather peel away and be left alone. She needed some time to recalibrate and reflect. During a heavy time when she was not in the spotlight, Bush did manage to engage with music and make contributions. It was not too long before she opened up to the possibilities of a bright future. New material and new life. The lessons of The Red Shoes were present in her mind. From that point on, she would conduct her career differently and her working life would shift radically. In terms of how she promoted her work, where and how she recorded and the time she would take to complete an album. In a future feature, I am going to discuss how Kate Bush sort of pushed away from EMI after the release of Aerial. There was this definite sense of wanting independence and not wanting to engage in the same sort of promotional cycle. Not being held to deadlines. Even if Aerial was a long gestation, she was still very much aware that EMI were keen for Bush to release an album. That expectation would have been there from 1994. Get back on top after a mediocre period. Regain some of that traction and love that was around after the release of Hounds of Love and The Sensual World (1989). Rather than 1994 and 1995 being a time that ruined Kate Bush, it was a reset and chance for thinking about her future without obstacles and distractions. The positives we can take from that. From the days when a black dog was waiting at the door to Bush relocating, working in her own studio, starting a family and creating a masterpiece eighth studio album, one has to applaud her strength and focus. Rather than being finished and out of favour when Aerial was released, the phenomenal Kate Bush came backed adored and…
STRONGER than ever.