FEATURE:
Pretty and Blue
IN THIS PHOTO: Kate Bush in 1985/PHOTO CREDIT: Guido Harari
Kate Bush: The Orchestral and Epic
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I am sort of going to…
IN THIS PHOTO: Kate Bush in a promotional photo for 2011’s 50 Words for Snow
briefly nod back to The Man with the Child in His Eyes from 1975. That song was recorded almost fifty years ago now. One of Kate Bush’s earliest professionally recorded songs, I think its beauty is heightened and defined by its strings. Bush recalling how nervous she was having an orchestra behind her. Even though those string parts were recorded at AIR Studios, London, I always associate Bush’s orchestral and epic moments with Abbey Road Studios. It does not need to be strings and an orchestra. Look at songs from Never for Ever (1980) and The Dreaming (1982). I think the history, grandeur and reputation of that studio enforced some of the most ambitious and big moments from those albums. Think about the rush and drama of Babooshka; the scale and epicness of Breathing (from Never for Ever). Hear The Dreaming and songs Sat in Your Lap, Houidini and Get Out of My House. Even though most of the tracks were not recorded out of Abbey Road Studios, I do think that the studios have this sort of pull that compelled Bush to think in a Classical sense. Maybe more akin to film or a production, I have often wondered what it would sound like if Kate Bush ever did another gig and was backed by an orchestra. Hearing some of these iconic songs paired with some wonderful strings. Houidini is another example of strings featuring and not being too overt. If there was a romance and sense of longing when it came to The Man with the Child in His Eyes and the orchestration, there is something darker when it comes to Houdini. With string arrangement by Dave Lawson and Andrew Powell (who produced Bush’s first two albums), there is something sweeping, sombre, haunted and also sensual. Maybe a slightly different palette to The Man with the Child in His Eyes.
If Houdini is exceptional because of Bush’s production and vocal performance, we get this new level with the orchestra. Seemingly more raw and gothic than ever before, this would perhaps inspire Bush to use orchestration in some of the best moments from albums such as Hounds of Love (1985) and Aerial (2005). I don’t think enough people have discussed the orchestration in some of Bush’s songs. I want to separate the orchestral and epic. There are plenty of these huge moments where strings were not involved. Bush was always ambitious but you can notice her songs becoming more cinematic and larger in terms of their scope and sound - especially from 1982 onwards. Before moving through her catalogue, it is worth noting that Cloudbusting, the Paradox Orchestra, and the Gothenburg Symphony Orchestra have paid tribute to Kate Bush and her music. Back in 2018, the Gothenburg Symphony and guest artists Jennie Abrahamson and Malin Dahlström performed an unmissable concert. I will end with Kate Bush’s most recent studio album, 50 Words for Snow, and its use of orchestration and that Classic sound - in a different way to previous albums. How each album where strings and orchestra are involved is a bit different. In November, Kate Bush tribute act, Cloudbusting, will be performing with the West London Sinfonia. On 19th July, the Paradox Orchestra are presenting a groundbreaking adaptation of Kate Bush’s work for orchestra and live vocalists. There is this appreciation of her music and how there is a transition and translation. Pop and Art Rock songs now fusing with Classical elements. Bringing these epic embers and creating this beautiful fire. I do love how Abbey Road Studios has been used by Bush for years now for recording orchestral parts. You can really feel the studio and its sense of space and gravitas in those recordings.
It is appropriate that Cloudbusting are staging an orchestral tribute to Kate Bush. That song, from Hounds of Love, is a case of tasteful orchestration creating something stirring and romantic. That word (romantic) is one that is common to all songs of Bush’s featuring strings. Dave Lawson and Kate Bush arranged and produced The Medici String Sextet. If strings (whether real or electronic) are perfectly used on songs like Hounds of Love and Under Ice, it is when Bush uses The Medici String Sextet that we get the biggest rush. Her creating something truly cinematic. The best example is Hounds of Love’s penultimate track, Hello Earth. Bush was inspired by Neil Armstrong’s lunar epiphany. How he said that the “tiny pea” (Earth) was “pretty and blue”. This speck viewed from space, you get this sense of the heroine’s ghost looking down at the sea from above. The Ninth Wave is about a woman lost at sea after falling into the water. She needed to create something orchestral for a pivotal moment. On the song’s second verse, Bush is watching a storm break over America. Revelation from Bush as to how she ended up in the ocean. This emotional and big moment on Hounds of Love. Michael Kamen was drafted to arrange. Having worked on film scores, he brought some of that experience to Hello Earth. Moving the strings within and around the story, he approached it very much like scoring a movie scene. Also included were the Richard Hickox Singers. They were directed by Richard Hickox and arranged for voices by Michael Berkeley. The vocal section is inspired by a Georgian folk song called Zinzkaro (By the Spring). Bush commented on two black holes in the master tape arrangement for the song. When the drums drop out, there was this gap. Inspired by the male choir in Werner Herzog’s 1979 film, Nosferatu the Vampyre, and the soundtrack by Popol Vuh, Bush approached Herzog and Vuh’s Florian Fricke. On a couple of moments on Aerial, we hear the London Metropolitan Orchestra. They appear on Prologue. On 50 Words for Snow, there are orchestral arrangements by Jonathan Tunick (he conducted too). The orchestra sessions were recorded at Abbey Road Studios. From her first professional recordings to her most recent studio album, Bush has mixed the orchestral and epic. Whether recorded at Abbey Road Studios or elsewhere, I was intrigued to dissect and explore songs and albums where strings and orchestration play a big role. I maybe have missed some example. It was important to write about this as not many people have. Revelling in the moments where Kate Bush’s music was…
CINEMATIC and widescreen.