FEATURE:
Heavy Breathing
IN THIS PHOTO: Kate Bush in 1980
Kate Bush and the Search for the ‘Human’ Take
_________
THERE is always this debate…
IN THIS PHOTO: Kate Bush in 1980
around Kate Bush and whether she can be called a perfectionist. I think you would define one, in musical terms, as someone who was never happy and slaved over takes because they are never happy. Pushing things beyond their limits. With Kate Bush, it is very much about getting something from her players that is more about playing with their hearts and not their heeds. That may sound wishy-washy or abstract. Of course, musicians are largely guided by technique and precision. They are playing the song in a particular way and there may be multiple takes so that it sounds right. When it comes to Kate Bush and her music I think that she wanted to push them beyond that point and open them up. In the sense that there was something inside them that could not be unearthed unless they kept doing takes. So they were perhaps more relaxed and less inhibited. One of the frustrations on her first couple of albums might have been the production and the way the recordings are directed. Of course, Andrew Powell was an experienced producer and exceptional musician. More used to getting what was required but really not going beyond that. Knowing that what he captured was technically great and would sound good on the record. One could imagine Kate Bush producing The Kick Inside and Lionheart in 1978 and taking things in a different direction. When she was producing on Never for Ever things changed. If you play with your head and are perhaps over-thinking thing then you can only get so much from the finished recording. However, when you keep going and let your heart lead then there is something extraordinary revealed. Bonding with the song in a more personal and deeper way. Getting more from the song. It is interesting to consider. Kate Bush not content with a few takes and getting something good out. As a producer, she knew that she could get something special from her musicians.
After being mimicked and spoofed by many in the early days, Never for Ever was an album where her voice changed. There was more gravel and grit in it. Trying to distance herself from the idea she was a squeaky-voiced singer and this rigid (and untrue) perception. Breathing is perhaps the standout from Never for Ever. The album’s final track, it was also one where she had to push the musicians quite hard. Brian Bath being asked to play the same guitar part a couple of hundred times. Though it must have been frustrating or odd for musicians – who could perhaps not detect much difference and improvement between takes thirty and one-hundred -, it is like directing actors. Looking for a perfect take. One where they hit a sweep spot or uncover something that needed bringing to the surface. Scientific discovery and experimentation. Kate Bush must have got through quite a few spools of tape. Max Middleton adding in a discordant note to the song. Though not especially pleasant to hear, when added to the mix, it began to click. It made Breathing even better. Bush as this director and visionary. I have discussed this before. The human aspect of the song. Something Graeme Thomson notes in Under the Ivy: The Life and Music of Kate Bush. Rather than rehash what I have previously written, it is curious honing in on the human element. Songs on Never for Ever – and subsequent work – that were about people or human relations. If you are playing technically or driven by your head, are you going to get the most evocative, human and deepest take? For session musicians who were used to working in a different way, this was a time to adapt. Perhaps a few takes and making sure the song sounded right with no errors. That was it. Songs that demanded more emotion meant that they were being pushed harder by Kate Bush. Producing with Jon Kelly, maybe there were moments when there were tensions.
Kate Bush was right. Something She could not exercise on her first two albums, when she got the chance to take the production reigns, there was this new ethos. A relentless work ethic and this persistence in getting the very best from her musicians. That fact that the finished Breathing provoked tears from the musicians proved that she was correct to ensure that they were playing with feeling and not just instinct or something more academic – and less spiritual. Kate Bush is not really a perfectionist who overworks a song or takes all of the edges off. There is a magic and mystery in her head. She wants the musicians to play what she hears. That is a commendable quality. Until there is this transcendence. When I discussed Kate Bush as a producer and her casting for musicians and doing multiple takes, it is not her flexing or showing who is boss. She writes a song knows what it sounds like. She would not instantly know which player and part is best for the song until she tries a few options. A song like Breathing is an extreme in terms of its takes. However, when you hear the song now, would it impact you as hard and deep if less time had been spent on it?! It was not only other musicians that were worked until they produced the most human take. One that brought all of the heart and humanity from the song. Bush also did this to herself in terms of her vocals.
Again, not wanting to be associated with this image of her having a high voice and it being sweet with no depth, The Dreaming (1982) especially saw her add, in her words, some balls to her vocals. This continues for Hounds of Love in 1985. Maybe a bit of a shift again for The Sensual World (1993). If the experiences with Breathing at Abbey Road was Kate Bush making her musicians do multiple takes and getting the most from their instruments, her studios and spaces for The Dreaming were a world apart. Advision Studios in Fitzrovia became a hermetically sealed environment. Bush would work fifteen or more hours a day. Not as airy or light as Abbey Road, time and space must have seemed distant or strange. Bush recalled how every night she and those with her would watch the evening news, eat takeaway food and digging for treasures. A windowless studio, it must have been intense and claustrophobic down there. This basement studio where Bush was not resting. During meal breaks she would be playing around and working. Subsiding largely on a grape diet in the final stages of recording The Dreaming, Bush stated how she felt like a Martian when she came out of that recording experience. Into the daylight and around humans. However, when you hear about the vocals on The Dreaming, Bush was looking for something extraordinary.
Expressing the real meaning of the lyrics and a distinct timbre and tone. For that reason, she needed some aides to get something different out of her voice. Guide vocals were recorded at Abbey Road and Townhouse. The master vocals were recorded in sections. Seeing as different voices and characters were in the songs, it meant embodying something physical and distinct for each vocal take. Piecing them together. Finding the right technique and production sound for each song. It must have been exhausting. Like with Never for Ever, Bush wanted the human to come from the songs. Like, as Graeme Thomson writes, a “girl becoming a woman”, there are these growling and roaring vocals that are so different to what people were used to. Adding milk and chocolate to her diet to give some mucus and grit, you can hear the results on Houidini, All the Love, Pull Out the Pin, Night of the Swallow and Get Out of My House. Wild, abandoned, emotional and often intense, it was very much controlled by Kate Bush. She knew exactly what she was doing. It must have been wonderful and sometimes draining for her musicians. Maybe not looking ahead to what would come, Bush knew the sound she wanted them to give her. When it came to her vocals, doing whatever she could so that the perfect take was released. The results speak for themselves. It is one of many reasons why Kate Bush is this hugely influential and iconic artist. Like I say quite often, we do not give her enough credit and love when it comes to discussing her…
AS a producer.