HomeGround 66: New album and re-masters updates, plus new article from Paddy Bush....

December 18th: Press articles that mention Kate are often quoted on this site, but it's only with the much-anticipated publication of each issue of HomeGround magazine that we get a comprehensive dose of the latest inside news, comment and reportage on the world of Kate Bush music all in one go. Issue 66 (Winter 2000) reports that, as she has affirmed herself, Kate continues to work on her eighth studio album. "As ever Del is engineering and already guest musicians are arriving to add their work...EMI are now hoping and planning for a release in Autumn 2001". They also update fans on the reissue situation, the schedule for release is said to have "slipped" a little. It now looks like The Sensual World and The Red Shoes will probably be released together in early Spring 2001. These will be followed by The Dreaming and Never For Ever probably in late Spring or early Summer and finally The Kick Inside and Lionheart in late summer or early Autumn. EMI hope these reissues will pave the way for Kate's new album towards the end of 2001. The list of additional tracks, which it is hoped will include stuff not previously released, is still being settled.

There is much discussion and reader comment on the wonderful news of Kate's son Bertie, and an analysis of what they describe as the "trashy" and "silly" tabloid reports Kate had to endure at the time. Elsewhere in yet another excellent edition the magazine publishes a second fascinating article by Kate's brother Paddy Bush. This time Paddy tells the HG reader's of his impressions of the country of Madagascar, writing from his most recent visit a couple of months back to the place which drew him "into the centre of a whirlpool of the most fantastic music I had ever heard". The special offer on the album of Malagasy music he produced continues to run. As always, if you haven't investigated HG it's well worth taking a look at their information pages here.     

December 5th: James Davidson writes to tell us that Michelle Olley has written a very appreciative two page piece on Kate's career in the current issue of UK gay lifestyle magazine Attitude. The writer relates the story of her boyfriend working as a "tea boy" in the studio where Kate was recording and Kate sending everyone, including him, Belgian chocolates after the session..."No-one does that, apparently, in rock and roll".  She also tells of sitting near Kate at a Patti Smith concert two years ago, Kate looking "fantastic...older but kind of shy and dignified and still gorgeous as heck". The article is said to be the most positive fans have seen in a long time, describing Kate as a "fearless pioneer", and taking Kate's story right up to present, with news of Kate working away on new material and of course Bertie. The magazine also has a feature on Simon Drake, the magician and mime artist featured in The Tour Of Life in 1979. (thanks to James)

December 5th: Louise Halliday lost out in the grand final of Stars In Their Eyes on ITV in the UK on Saturday 2nd. She performed Babooshka dressed as Kate in the video and told how she had received good luck wishes from Kate for the show, Kate making her a present of the actual cloak used in the 1980 video! The eventual winner on the night was a Maria Callas impersonator. (thanks to Simon O'Donovan)

December 2nd: Newsbits: Kate is currently Songwriter Of The Week on BBC Radio 2. Two tracks are being played each night at 11.50pm. Already played are Army Dreamers, Wuthering Heights, The Man With The Child In His Eyes and Moments Of Pleasure (thanks to Mark)....Michael Leitz reports that the new edition of the Prince fanzine "Uptown" features an article on Michael Koppelman's experience engineering Prince's contribution to Why Should I Love You on Kate's The Red Shoes, read an extract here.   

November 5th: Those interested in the story of scientist Wilhelm Reich should check out a new short film currently running in a UK competition entitled Cloudbuster. Directed, written and produced by Simon Fellows, the film is about Reich testing his rain machine and the imagery is very reminiscent of Kate's 1985 video. Apparently Fellows is intending to make a full-length feature film on this subject. You can watch a video stream of this interesting film here.  

October 29th: More newsbits:...large online shopping websites are listing a new deluxe 180g vinyl re-release of The Whole Story for 30th October on the Simply Vinyl label (Cat# SVLP268)....Kate is mentioned several times in the new autobiography by singer/actress/TV personality Toyah Willcox: "Living Out Loud". Toyah, a big Kate fan, has previously told how she nearly crashed her car the first time she heard Moments Of Pleasure on the radio!....Mná na hÉireann is once again (!) featured on new sampler "Highlands - Impressions From The Islands and Highlands" (East West/Warner), which also features The Corrs, Clannad and Loreena McKennitt among others....In this month's Q Magazine Sinead O'Connor is asked about her admiration for Kate, and says that her favourite track is Wuthering Heights....On the 22nd October in The Netherlands a theatre concert performance by four famous Dutch female singers included what was described as a breathtaking performance of "This Woman's Work" by Lucretia van der Vloot....(newsbit thanks to Michael Leitz, Beate Meiswinkel, Dennis Simcott, Loek, Marinus de Goederen). 

September 10th: Newsbits:...The latest edition of Record Collector magazine reports on the upcoming remaster CDs and the recent intrusion into Kate's private life by the UK tabloids (described by RC as a "dreadful invasion"), also the latest issue of HomeGround magazine is reviewed and is rightly described as "very polished...lots of crisp text...a lustrous read"....those curious to hear Velvet Belly's version of The Man With The Child In His Eyes can try a link at www.click2music.no, also there is an edited e-greeting card version of the track at www.egreetings.com, (thanks to Dominic on the guestbook)....a report in the Australian newspaper The Sunday Telegraph that Peter Gabriel will perform "his hit duet with Kate Bush, Don't Give Up, at the opening ceremony of the Olympic Games", just be careful not to read that to mean that Kate will be there also! (thanks to David McInnes)....the BBC have been in touch to let me know that Kate's first single (and poster campaign) is featured in their programme "I Love 1978" on Saturday 16th Sept, presented by Linda "Wonder Woman" Carter!!....Friday Sept 22nd (12 midnight) at Klub Z in Portland Oregon USA is where you can hear Danny Diess and his show perform a "very theatrical and visual" Get Out Of My House, as a taster for his in-the-works tribute show (see August 5th news)....in Japan Wuthering Heights is being used as the theme music for a Sunday Night talk show "Much Ado About Love" (thanks to Craig Larsen)....compilation favourite Mná na hÉireann is included on the new Dutch collection "Female Passion - Women Of This World" (thanks to Bart).... 

August 23rd: John Lang writes to say that on Tuesday evening 15th August, Kate's version of Lord Of The Reedy River was played on the BBC Radio 3 programme Late Junction. John says for a complete running order of this interesting and varied Radio 3 show see the following BBC webpage: http://www.bbc.co.uk/radio3/playlists/latejunction38.shtml

August 23rd: Toni Halliday from the band Curve has responded in an online chat on the band's official website to a suggestion that they cover Kate's work: "Dear Kate, how I miss her in my life, I wish she still made records because I think she can give most people a run for their money, as for Curve covering anything by Kate [that] is just a wee but scary, best left" Visit the site here: http://www.curve.co.uk/mail5.html (thanks to Mike Lewis)

August 5th: Normal service resumes....here's some newsbits: Ben Humble reports that the Brazil Soundtrack CD featuring Kate on the title track is back on the record shelves in London, this time without lyric insert...Jean-Michel Jarre has revealed that he originally wrote the track Give Me A Sign from his latest album Metamorphoses especially for Kate, but at the time she was unable to record it...Danny Diess in the US is organising a tribute show based on Kate's work, he has more auditions on Sept 20th in Club Z in Portland, Oregon, email him for more details....Dianne writes to tell us about a Charlie Morgan website, Charlie being Kate's drummer on a number of her albums, check it out here....HomeGround magazine have photos of their fan gathering at Glastonbury online now....USA Today have reported that the director of Disney's Dinosaur, Eric Leighton has said that Kate's song wasn't used because "the rest of the score was instrumental, and hearing a voice singing seemed to confuse and unsettle the [test] audience"....for everyone who's been asking I'll have extra track details for the forthcoming reissue CD's as soon as I get them!  

August 5th: Thanks to everyone for the flood of emails that arrived after Kate's message was posted, it's been the biggest response to any item on these pages so far. Kate will be comforted and delighted to hear how you have all wished her happiness and privacy in her family life, it's been an overwhelmingly supportive and understanding reception from her fans. Nice one guys!   

A Message from Kate....

July 19th: The following is a special announcement from Kate made this morning to her fans and friends through the Kate Bush Club:

HomeGround 65 reports on new album, the CD remasters and that Dinosaur track.....

June 30th: As expected, HomeGround magazine's latest issue has provided important updates on several interesting Kate news stories. The Summer 2000 edition reveals that "Kate is continuing to work steadily on a new album". However they say that "the most realistic forecasts for a release date at this point is the latter part of next year". The fact that Kate's taking her own good time with the album will come as no surprise to seasoned fans, but as mentioned on this news page earlier there is something very special to look forward to in the meantime...  

In April Kate gave the go-ahead to have the remaining six albums in her catalogue remastered and re-packaged as with the 1997 re-release of Hounds Of Love. Dave Cross of HomeGround and Steve Davis at EMI are working on the new digitally remastered and extended editions. HomeGround report that "each album is to be re-mastered at Abbey Road by Chris Blair, who cut the original Wuthering Heights single, and who re-mastered Hounds Of Love....the booklet of each CD is to retain the original artwork but will have additional photographs and new sleeve notes which will be written by the HomeGround editors." Dave Cross says that "EMI are putting a lot of time and money into making sure that these re-issues look and sound great....Kate's first four albums will especially benefit from the re-mastering."

So, when are they coming out? The plan at the moment is to firstly release The Sensual World in September and then The Red Shoes in the early new year (Note: The Red Shoes will not be released in September also, as first reported), sleevenotes by HomeGround's Peter and Dave respectively. The additional tracks for these first two releases will be contained on the second CD of a two-CD package.
 

Following that in the Spring of 2001 we'll have The Dreaming (sleevenote by Krys) and Never For Ever (sleevenote by Dave). Late Spring/Summer 2001 will bring The Kick Inside (sleevenote by Krys) and Lionheart (sleevenote by Peter).

HomeGround also mention that the Dinosaur track that Kate originally recorded for the Disney animated film was not used because the "suits in charge of the film" didn't like Kate's words and asked her to first change them and failing that they then instead wanted a "song without words...emotional background". The magazine states that "at that point Kate threw in the towel". 

As if all this news wasn't enough the magazine also prints Paddy Bush's excellent article on the making of Justin Vali's The Sunshine Within (order your copy today!), an article by veteran US Kate fan Andrew Marvick on how he feels about Kate in 2000, an edited version of my interview with Brian Kennedy (which I have always promised Brian would be printed in HG, so there you go Brian!), and all the usual features such as Five Years Ago, reader's letters, and more news gathering than this website could ever hope to do. You can order your copy from the HomeGround Pages      

Paddy Bush special CD offer...plus the Kate CD remasters are coming....

June 19th: HomeGround magazine has a very special feature in its next issue (65) due out in the next couple of weeks. Paddy Bush has written a fascinating article for the publication on his explorations into Madagascan music, from his early discovery of the music through playing the valiha on Kate's Love & Anger and on to the new Justin Vali album The Sunshine Within which he has produced under his own record label Bush Telegraph Records. It's been quite a trip so don't miss out on reading this one. I'm very pleased to say that Kate's brother has arranged a special mail order deal for visitors to this website and readers of HomeGround magazine, read more here. Also in HomeGround 65 it's revealed that Kate's album catalogue will indeed be getting a long-overdue CD remastering by EMI in the very near future. The magazine will be updating us on the official plans to throw some new light through these old windows so watch this space, and as always be sure to get a subscription to HomeGround, I can't recommend it highly enough! Subscription information here.

May 20th: Yet another international artist has re-interpreted Kate's work. Taiwan Chinese artist Valen Hsu has covered at least two of Kate's songs. Track 5 of the "Appease" album is The Man With The Child In His Eyes and also track 4 of the album "Tear Sea" is Hsu's version of Moving. You can hear both at the Valen Hsu website. (thanks to PDFM at HomeGround) 

May 20th: As mentioned below (see March 12th) Norwegian band Velvet Belly have recorded a version of The Man With The Child In His Eyes for their latest album 'Lucia'. Their publicist has let me know that the track will be serviced to radio internationally on 19th June. She says: "I know that Velvet Belly were very sceptical about even touching that song - they thought it was such a great song as it already was, but their record company persisted, and I think they've done the song justice. So, it would be interesting to see what you and the other Kate Bush fans think of their version." Read more at the band's website www.velvetbelly.com (thanks to Phillipa for the news & single cover)


May 18th: Movie actor Donald Sutherland talks about the Cloudbusting video in the latest issue of London's Time Out magazine. The article reads: "He was staying in London when he heard that Kate Bush was trying to track him down. 'I didn't know who she was, so I refused. Next thing I knew, there was this knock at the door, and it was her.' Sutherland swiftly thawed - 'she was so funny' - especially when he learned that the reclusive songstress wanted him to play Wilhelm Reich". (thanks to Jamie in London who posted this on the guestbook)

May 14th: The soundtrack CD to a new German two-part film "Meine Grüne Freiheit" features Kate's recording of Mná na hÉireann. Set in Ireland this German/Irish co-production will be screened by RTL Television in Germany on Saturday and Sunday, May 20/21, 20.15h. The CD is entitled "Best Of Ireland" released by WEA/East-West (thanks to Michael Leitz)

May 1 4th: Alan Barnes has launched a new website commemorating the life and work of Alan Murphy (pictured left), the hugely talented guitarist who worked with Kate consistently through her career up till his death in October 1989. You can visit the site at: www.almurphy.co.uk

May 4th: Newsbits: Q Magazine continue their obsession with polls this month with their listing of the "top 100 British albums ever". Kate polls respectably high at number 20 with Hounds Of Love. (thanks to Lorraine)....check out the HomeGround pages for info on this year's fan gathering at Glastonbury Tor....new Máire Brennan album "Whisper to the Wild Water" features her duet with Michael McDonald on Don't Give Up....

Paddy Bush Produces Justin Vali

May 4th: Don't forget to check out "The Sunshine Within" the latest album from Justin Vali (pictured). Produced by Paddy Bush, it has been highly acclaimed and made number 22 in the Tower Records critics chart of the 100 best World Music albums ever. Read more on my updated Madagascar page here.   

April 22nd: Newsbits: As fans continue to wait for more word on the rumoured re-masters of Kate's albums, the 1997 re-issued Hounds Of Love was released in Canada on March 28th (see this discography site for scans)....on her official website British singer Alison Moyet has mentioned Kate as one of her favourite female singers along with Janis Joplin and Billie Holiday....Top Of The Pops 2 on BBC TV in the UK have recently shown Kate's performance of Babooshka originally from the Dr. Hook TV Special in 1980, complete with the bizarre double-sided costume she wore, a nice rarity from the BBC vaults....section from 'Wow' was used to soundtrack part of recent ITV doc on celebrity nudity(!)....(Newsbit thanks to Tristan Alzial, John Lang, Jon Bishop, Simon Clarke)

Kate & Rolf Harris

April 22nd: Following on from the story below a new book about Rolf Harris, also commemorating his seventieth birthday has just been released in the UK entilted "The Court Of King Rolf" edited by Mark Walker. Among its celebrity anecdotes and tributes it features a page long contribution from Kate and also a longer piece from her brother Paddy both of which praise Rolf's musicianship and pioneering of World Music. 

April 4th: March 30th marked the 70th birthday of Rolf Harris, the popular TV personality and artist. At the star-studded party Kate made an appearance and was photographed in OK! Magazine looking radiant as she chatted to the man who provided the all important digeridu on her 1982 single The Dreaming.

March 18th: Some cover version news: The trailer for the new movie Love & Basketball features Maxwell's version of This Woman's Work (see 1997 news for info on his MTV Unplugged session from which this track is taken, watch the movie trailer here)...Pat Benatar has released a new box set, she has this to say about the included recording of Wuthering Heights: "Oh how I loved this song! Kate Bush was and still is one of my favorite songwriters and singers. I loved the visual references and her quirky delivery on her original version of the song. I was always disappointed with my performance of our version. In my overzealousness I think I missed the target. I've always wanted to re-cut it, maybe one day I will." (thanks to Bill Richotte, Craig Ducote and Eric on the Kashka mailing list).

Website News: This website needs your help! I'm soon going to be launching the start of a brand new section of the site which will focus on some of the wealth of musicians that Kate has worked with on her recordings in the past. The idea is to give an update on what they've been doing since and to share information about CD releases or live appearances which may be of interest to those who've appreciated their work with Kate. The Internet is a fantastic tool for this kind of information, so if you would like to contribute related suggestions, articles or links then please email me and I can begin to compile a listing. Thanks!  

March 17th: Singer Colin Vearncombe (aka 'Black', who had hits with 'Wonderful Life' and "Sweetest Smile") was on TV this week in Belgium (VRT), presenting his new CD The Accused. He revealed that the song 'Storm Cloud Katherine' is about Kate. He said he's always been a big fan and that he thinks that she is "very sexy" adding: 'But I have to stop talking about Kate Bush now, because I still have to stand up and sing'!! Steady on there Colin! (thanks to Peter Sioen)

March 17th: Joe Tracy emails that the Animation Artist website is reporting that Walt Disney records have contacted them with details of the soundtrack of Dinosaur. "Released May 2nd, it will be 100% scores, no songs. In addition there is a Sound Factory product coming out with eight Dinosaur-inspired songs, none of the songs feature Kate Bush." We'll have to wait and see when we might ever get to hear this composition. 

March 12th: Newsbits: Two famous Kate fans have recently been singing her praises: Robert Smith of The Cure has long been a very vocal Kate fan, in the current issue of Tower Record's Pulse magazine he lists Hounds Of Love as one of his desert island discs...On St. David's Day (March 1st) satellite music channel VH1 appropriately had Welsh movie star Catherine Zeta-Jones presenting her personal Top Ten choices. She gave Kate a nice introduction before playing The Red Shoes video...the remastered version of Hounds Of Love on CD with bonus tracks has now replaced the standard version on shelves in some European countries including the UK & Ireland, having been reissued without the cardboard slip case and EMI booklet of the '97 EMI 100 release...Norwegian ambient pop group Velvet Belly include a remake of The Man With The Child In His Eyes on their new album Lucia. According to a report in Billboard magazine vocalist Anne Marie Almedal was "attracted to the intimacy of Bush's song...it's important for us to maintain a sound that is naive and simple".(thanks to Craig Larsen, PDFM, Jon Bishop & Michael Leitz).   

March 8th: Many of you have been asking me about the possible release this year of digitally remastered and revamped versions of Kate's album catalogue (as with 1997's Hounds Of Love reissue). I am waiting to hear more official word on whether these releases are actually going to happen (staff at EMI Electrola in Germany have apparently told fans that the first two albums will be out April/May but so far no word from EMI UK). So as with all Kate news at the moment, watch this space (and don't forget to invest in that all-important subscription to the highly collectible and informative HomeGround magazine!).

March 8th: Lorraine from St. Helens in England has sent in the following funny newsbit: "I was browsing the paperback books in my local Safeway and I picked up "The House Husband" by Owen Whittaker. The book begins with the "hero" on stage in New York receiving a standing ovation at the end of a brilliant concert. He goes back stage and who should be there to congratulate him but the woman herself!! It is a dream come true and Kate asks if he would like to go to dinner, and as they are in the back of the car and about to embark on some serious carnal knowledge our hero is disturbed from his fantasy by his real life daughter stepping in dog poo!!! It certainly made me smile." (thanks Lorraine)

February 15th: An older piece of news that I've been reminded to include: Atom Egoyan's 1999 film Felicia's Journey, about a young pregnant Irish girl who travels to the UK in search of her boyfriend, feature's a pub scene in which Felicia is having a drink with the boyfriend. He tells her she looks beautiful etc and the song playing in the background is The Sensual World. The track reappears a few minutes later as Felicia walks along a riverbank, contemplating love and life (thanks to Michael Kyriagis in Sydney for the reminder!). Collin also emailed to remind me that Don't Give Up features at the closing moments and credits of the recent Denzel Washington starrer The Bone Collector. Must get out to see more movies....

January 10th: More millenium polls: In the current edition of the UK gay lifestyle magazine Attitude, a poll voted for by their readers places Kate at No.2 in the best female singer of the millennium category (she was placed above Annie Lennox, Maria Callas or Ella Fitzgerald). First place was taken by Madonna. In the best album category Kate doesn't make the top 5, but is one of the 4 listed that were "also in the running". (the winner there was Madonna's ''Like A Prayer''). (thanks to Jon Bishop)

January 8th: The latest issue of Q magazine (issue 161, February 2000) features "The Greatest Rock N' Roll Photographs Ever: Twenty-five pictures. Twenty-five icons and epiphanies. Proof positive that sometimes 1/100th of a second can tell you everything about an artist you could ever wish to know." Gered Mankowitz talks about the featured Kate session in Soho 1978 (12 different black & white photos from the famous shoot accompany the article): 

"EMI asked me to come in and see the video for Wuthering Heights. It was the first time I'd heard it. Love it or hate it, you're going to want to hear it again because you can't believe your ears, so we needed a picture where you can't believe your eyes. The video had a tremendous dance presence and she was incredibly beautiful, so I proposed a simple picture using dancers' workout gear.  I think she was 17- very sweet, very serious about her music, lovely to work with. She was in complete control. EMI loved the images so much that they devised a campaign that included putting them on the front of buses. The impact was extraordinary. Buses were delayed because people were running around to the front to catch an eyeful." (posted by Angela on rec.music.gaffa)

January Newsbits: An article in an American newspaper, The Pittsburgh Post Gazette, assesses the enduring influence of Kate, Joni Mitchell and Patti Smith on female music artists in the '90s, read the full article at their web-site here.....Babooshka and Running Up That Hill are featured on the Now That's What I Called Music Millennium compilations in the 1980 and 1985 collections.....Kate's vocal from Don't Give Up currently being used in Australian Ansett airline ad.....read more about Disney's animated movie Dinosaur (which may or may not include the track Kate has recorded for the project) at this web-site here. (newsbit thanks to Collin, Scott and to Joey on rec.music.gaffa)