Kate's New Album News All Over The UK Press

24th December 2004: Last update till after Christmas, just to let you know there's a two-page spread on Kate in today's Daily Express. Under the heading "The Return of Pop's Great Recluse". They have also been chatting to other journalists such as Stuart Maconie on his thoughts about Kate's return. (thanks to Matt) 

23rd December 2004: There has been an explosion of press coverage about Kate's KBC announcement over the past few days, most are variations of the same news recycled from Music Week, although longer pieces have been printed in The Telegraph and The Times in the UK. The BBC website has posted a story and a link back to this site. The Evening Standard ran a story "Comeback Kate" and including nice comments such as 'a unique performer who inspired a generation'. Other news stories have appeared on Sky News, Female First, Ananova, Contact Music, Launch Music, The Daily Mirror, The Sun, Play Louder, The Sunday Post, Sound Generator and various TV teletext services across Europe. (big thanks to Ben on the site's forum who has been gathering news mentions and links from all over) 

It all amounts to a surprisingly broad splash of pre-publicity for Kate's eighth album, with BBC Radio 2 playing December Will Be Magic Again, Moments Of Pleasure and Hounds Of Love in recent days. The Telegraph featured an article by Richard Wolfson: "The very existence of this novel, Waiting for Kate Bush by John Mendelssohn, is an indication of the bizarre levels of obsession that Bush still inspires. Despite her decade-long absence, the 46-year-old from Bexleyheath still holds a central place in the national consciousness. As I wandered around London, having just purchased a copy of the book, periodically someone would catch a glimpse of Bush's face on the cover and grab my arm. "She's absolutely brilliant. I love her," said the Glaswegian security guard at the building works around St Pancras. "Can I see that?" said an 18-year-old a few yards further on, who would have been about seven when Bush's last album, The Red Shoes, was released. "I really need to check her out. Muse say she's their biggest influence." It is not just the music that has been influential. It is the scale of her theatrical ambition which makes her such a compelling figure, and which makes the prospect of new material next year something to savour." 

The Times today has a large article on page five, as well as a picture of Kate in its front cover. David Sheasby has scanned the article for me: "The article is mainly a compendium of info that has been posted on this site over the past couple of years - in fact, the article refers at one point to "her website", by which I think the writer means Kate Bush News and Information." The article, written by Adam Sherwin says: "Twelve years after her last release, one of pop's most mercurial performers has delivered a surprise Christmas present to her long-suffering fan club. The record features the last work of Michael Kamen, the composer and arranger, who died last year. She has also been working with Mich Karn, bassist with Eighties new romantic group Japan, drummer Stuart Elliott and jazz percussionist Peter Erskine. The London Metropolitan Orchestra will feature with two classical musicians, Emma Murphy and Susanna Pell. Bush, 46, burst on to the music scene as a 17-year-old with the swooping Brontë-inspired Wuthering Heights. She was noted as a unique performer who combined musical theatre, dance, poetry and rock. But she retired from live performance in 1979 and her recordings became more rare, despite huge successes including Hounds of Love in 1984. In 1993 she released an album and a self-directed film entitled The Red Shoes, then retreated to her home near Reading to sculpt and work on an untitled project. Her record company, EMI, has waited patiently for the results. Her long absence even inspired a novel, Waiting for Kate Bush, by John Mendelssohn. But what everyone, not least EMI, would like to know is when the album will be released. "We'll let you know," Bush writes. March has been hinted at. Bush returns as a new generation of artists recall her as an inspiration. OutKast, the US rap group, want to produce her next record. Madonna, Björk, P.J.Harvey and Katie Melua have revealed the debt they owe to the doctor's daughter from Bexleyheath, southeast London. A cover of Hounds of Love by hotly-tipped rock band The Futureheads is to precede her return to the charts. The music industry sought to lure her back with the offer of a Brits Lifetime Achievement Award but she rejected it because she would have to perform live. Three years ago she accepted Ivor Novello and Q Magazine awards, even making a surprise appearance to perform Pink Floyd's Comfortably Numb with Gilmour at the Royal Albert Hall, prompting speculation of a return to the concert stage." (big thanks to David Sheasby)

Australian newspaper The Age has a long article about Kate and the Waiting For Kate Bush book here...(thanks to Andrew Thompson)...Tom Hingely of Inspiral Carpets mentions that he's a Kate fan in an online BBC interview: "I'm listening to some old compilation albums of Kate Bush! I've three daughters and I'm getting them in to listening to that. I actually hated Kate Bush when she first came out - it took me 20 years to realise that she totally brilliant! I find quite good 'girl music'. I know that's going to cause problems. But I find it very sensate and feminine - very different from what I do." Read more here (thanks to Ben)....on Erasure's New DVD "The Swan, The Tank and The Balloon", from their 1992 "Fantasmagorical Tour" there's a recent interview with Andy Bell. The opening of the show featured him coming in on a swan-cart for the song "Siren Song". When asked why a swan to open the show, Andy Bell answers: "Because I loved-- There's a Kate Bush song called Lord of the Reedy River. Well, it was written by Donovan, but she did a version. And the first line of the song is "I fell in love with a swan", and it seemed to tie in with a song called Siren Song." (thanks to when lingers on the forum)...a film called Women Talking Dirty on Channel 4 featured Kate's version of Rocket Man... 

The NME ran a full page photo of Kate with the caption "How did this woman blow Andre 3000's mind?". The article is on page 29 and covers artists who've had an influence on today's pop stars. The piece is very complementary, indicating that without Kate there'd be no Goldfrapp, PJHarvey or Bjork. Describing her as the original quirky-something, the article says "Kate Bush is worshipped around the globe for a) having an amazing unique voice, b) being a brilliant songwriter, and c) being really hot. But she's not a workaholic. She released two albums in 1978, four in the 80s, but there's been nothing new for 12 years. Without Kate there'd be no PJ Harvey, no Courtney Love and no Goldfrapp. True, there'd be no Bjork either, but we shouldn't hold that against her. Anyway, the wait is-probably-nearly over. She's been recording her new album for at least five years. In October 2001 she said "I am making an album but it is taking a little longer than I thought". A track called, rather pertinently, "How To Be Invisible" is one of the few that's known to exist. Try The Futureheads' favourite 'Hounds of Love' from 1985; its a loveable bastard of a record, stuffed with bonkers, mammoth hits that were never off the radio. 'Running Up That Hill (A Deal With God)' was one of the defining tracks of the 80s. OutKast's Andre 3000: "Kate Bush's music opened my mind up," he said recently. "She was so bugged-out, man, but I felt her. She's so f*ucking dope, so underrated and off the radar" (thanks to Matt Denney)

Maggie Ball has written a review of the Waiting For Kate Bush book here (thanks Maggie)...Kate has been mentioned in a new philosophy book by Julian Baggini "What's It All About?: Philosophy and the Meaning of Life". In the review the quote from the book is "The lyrics of Kate Bush...are really quite profound if you think about it." (thanks to Darrell Babidge)...meanwhile Kate's heavy metal credibility is briefly discussed in Seb Hunter's recent book 'Hell Bent for Leather - Confessions of a Heavy Metal Addict'. Hunter writes: "There was even a time when Kate Bush was considered borderline Metal, but I'm not sure why. I think it might have been a simple sex-object thing. Maybe it was just because she had really long hair. Or because she crimped it". (thanks Liza)...a blog poster has the Hammer Horror video here. (thanks to L. Thompson, also thanks to David White, John T Black, Simon Clark, Brian Parker and Amanda Williams). Wishing all our site visitors and forum users a very happy Christmas! Thanks for all the support this year! Seán.

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December 13th 2004: Music Week, the UK's definitive music industry news service has a front page article this week about Kate's KBC album announcement: "One of the longest waits for a follow-up will finally be over next year, when the first Kate Bush album in more than a decade appears. The EMI artist last week confirmed that she is set to deliver her first new studio set since 1993's The Red Shoes in 2005, having been working on new material over the past few years. Bush announced that the long wait was nearly over in a letter last week to members of her fan club. EMI has since confirmed to Music Week a new album is definitely on its way. Besides collaborating with the late Michael Kamen, Bush has also been working with bassist Mick Karn, drummer Stuart Elliott and percussionist Peter Erskine. Although she has largely been out of the limelight as she concentrated on bringing up her son Bertie, Bush was at the Ivor Novello Awards in 2002 to collect the outstanding contribution to British music award. (With thanks to Monty and Ben on the site's forum). Read more about Music Week at its site here. 

Kate Sends Christmas Message To Her Fans - Album Set For 2005

December 9th 2004: Kate has sent out the following seasonal message to her fans via the Kate Bush Club (yes, it still exists!) With thanks to Steve and Melisande on the site's forum. Special thanks as always to the lovely Lisa Bradley of the KBC for still being there for us and for Kate!

Hello Everyone, Many thanks for all your great letters of support and encouragement - they mean such a lot. The album is nearly finished now and will be out next year - we'll let you know when. It features some beautiful orchestral movements by Michael Kamen - we had a wonderful day together at Abbey Road Studios last winter. I'm so pleased with everyone's work on this record. There are some lovely performances and I hope you will all feel it's been worth the wait. Bertie keeps me very busy, he is so much fun and we are all really looking forward to Christmas. Wishing you a Merry Christmas and I hope next year is a really happy one for you. Lots of love, Kate x

December 8th 2004: More news-bits: Huge thanks to Brian Cloughley for his fantastic Winter intro screen. Have a look at the site's index page to see it...EMI have issued a slipcase 2CD package of Hounds Of Love/The Sensual World priced at $22.95. They are just the CD versions otherwise available elsewhere. (thanks to Dok)...Katie Melua was asked by The Scotsman newspaper for her choice of an alternative national anthem. "Wuthering Heights by Kate Bush because the writers of the song and the book are both English heroines. I'm not sure how it would sound at sporting internationals though." Read morehere

A clip of the tribute act Fake Bush is available at this site here...Judie Tzuke is on tour promoting her forthcoming eighteenth (!) album 'The End Of The Beginning'. In the tour programme she answers questions sent to her by fans, one question was:- Which song by another artist do you wish you had written? Her answer was Cloudbusting by Kate...Radio 2 played Kate’s Rocket Man on the twelfth of November and prior to the song being played DJ John Inverdale asked how can anyone not think that Kate Bush is fantastic? 10 minutes later he thanked everyone for all their texts and emails saying how great she is and all wondering where she is and when she might bring out a new album…Canadian singer k.d. lang, promoting her excellent new album Hymns Of The Forty Ninth  Parallel, mentions Kate as one of her favourite artists in an interview with The Independent here (thanks Daffyd)...The Telegraph newspaper have asked their critics to select the 50 best cover versions ever recorded. To qualify, a song had to be well established by one artist, then given a new lease of life by another. They placed Kate’s version of Elton John’s Rocket Man at number 14. “Elton John's lament to the loneliness of space travel (or cocaine addiction, depending on your age group) was vacuous tinny pop until Kate Bush's keening cadences gave it the poignancy it deserved. Her little-girl-lost voice and the bittersweet sound of Uilleann pipes add startling beauty, and a thrilling chill to the Martian air. Key moment: The breathy, pained gasp of "Oh" before the chorus line "No no no I'm a rocket man." You can read the full poll for yourself here...

Texan singer Erin McGrew invites us to listen to a free download of her song "Masquerade" from her CD Garnet. The song is her Kate tribute on the album. The acknowledgements in the liners include "Thank you, Kate Bush, for teaching me. I hope we meet one day." Her site is here. (thanks Erin)...the Icelandic singer Margrét Eir recorded and published an Icelandic version of Wuthering Hieghts last year. The lyrics were rendered (by Þórarinn Eldjárn, a respected poet) into Icelandic, not an exact translation but keeping the spirit, the title being "Heiðin há". The song was quite popular and encouraged some airplay of the original song. You can see a video here searching for "heidin ha" (thanks to Skúli Pálsson)...an advert for the the new Land Rover Discovery has a version of Kate's Running up that Hill was playing. It was obviously some sort of dance version and it was basically the intro repeated over, played on a piano. (thanks Collin)...Wow was used as the music for an ITV commercial for the show “I Want That House” recently (thanks Tony)...The Guardian have reviewed the Waiting for Kate Bush book here (thanks George - Also thanks to Rob Jones for sending in newsbits and anyone else I have forgotten in this round up!!)

Peter Gabriel & Stuart Elliott talk Kate, plus release date rumours...

December 1st 2004: Peter Gabriel has been interviewed by the Toronto Sun newspaper, promoting 'Play', his music DVD collection. "Kate had a son and lost her mom and I think that kept her (occupied)," said Gabriel. "I spoke to her quite recently in fact and she's just about finished on a new record. It is exciting. She's being a mom and loving it. So, if you like, music's gone from being full-time to being part-time, so that slows you down. She pointed out (she takes) even longer than I take," joked Gabriel. (thanks to Rachel and Dresden)....on November 28th Stuart Elliott, Kate's drummer, was interviewed at a session in a church on the BBC programme Songs Of Praise. He said that he has been busy recording drums on Kate's new album and that recording on the album had just finished (thanks to James Smythe and David)...

Rumour alert! Rumours about a release date for Kate's new album are currently spreading like wildfire across music artist forums and CD websites. The date being mentioned by all these seems to be March 14th 2005. Please note that as far as we know, NO official release date from EMI has been confirmed, and untill it is it would be unwise to get excited by any of this. The site has been flooded with emails from people who have read this news online. One rumour even has it that "Elemental films" have been commisioned to do a visual set piece for a new video by Kate, supposedly very "futuristic"...(thanks to all of you, far too many to mention, who've kept me up to speed on these reports over the last few weeks - much appreciated).

Antwan "Big Boi" Patton, half of the superstar duo Outkast, told reporters backstage at the recent American Music Awards that they hoped to have a new album out by June and also revealed a desire to work with "reclusive English singer Kate Bush". "We're tryin' to find her, but people say she's crazy," he said (thanks to Rob, William, Dan and Bona)...Sunderland post-punks The Futureheads' next single in February 2005 will be their cover of Hounds of Love which they've just re-recorded in the USA. (thanks to Matt and Priya)...From Sunday November 14, 2004 an art exhibition in France has the title "Never For Ever a tribute to Kate Bush" by the French graphic designer Clement Mériguet (alias "Kéké"). The venue is at Kingdom Of Incense, 12 rue des Haudriettes, 75003 Paris, France. Metro station: Rambuteau. The exhibit continues through December. Read more here (thanks to Swan)...In the new Q “Icons” Special Edition magazine (The Greatest Music Stars of All Time) readers have voted Kate into 29th place. “With her eccentric vocal style, Kate Bush became one of the most lauded if unpredictable songwriters of the 70s and 80s. Her legend has quietly grown in recent years while fans, most recently and notably Outkast’s Andre 3000, wait patiently for another album – her last was in 1993.” Alison Goldfrapp comments: “There was this time during my teenage years when everyone was doing ecstasy and going out to raves, and I was at home listening to Kate Bush. On ecstasy.” A full-page b & w picture of Kate in full sword-wielding Babooshka mode accompanies the piece...

Markus writes "I just wanted to introduce a short film, Sing Back The Symbols, that I did together with friends of mine. Last year we re-shot Kate's videos And So Is Love and The Red Shoes. Our version is quite campy, but we did it as an homage! Some pictures can be found here (thanks Markus)...Paul Golder runs an FM station based in Basildon, Essex, Eastgate FM. On Saturday 11 December 2004 at 10pm UK time he will be playing a Kate Bush top 20 compiled on listeners' votes. The show can be heard on 87.7FM in the Basildon/south Essex area and we will also be streaming the station live on the net. The link for voting and more information is here (thanks Paul)...Kate is listed at No 14 in 'They did it their way' in the Telegraph of 20th November - a listing of the 50 best cover versions for Rocket Man. "Elton John's lament to the loneliness of space travel (or cocaine addiction, depending on your age group) was vacuous tinny pop until Kate Bush's keening cadences gave it the poignancy it deserved. Her little-girl-lost voice and the bittersweet sound of Uilleann pipes add startling beauty, and a thrilling chill to the Martian air. Key moment: The breathy, pained gasp of "Oh" before the chorus line "No no no I'm a rocket man." (thanks Malcolm)

October 8th 2004: Newsbits roundup: Adrian spotted a brief mention of of Kate in this article from The Guardian (thanks Adrian)...Kate was also mentioned in a fashion supplement for the Saturday Telegraph newspaper (18.09.04). The editor of 'Pop' magazine, Katie Grand, included Kate in her 'Best Dressed List'. Grand admires Kate for her 'wild catsuits' and commented that: "I love every outfit in her Babooshka video" (thanks Liza)...on her new album On Your Shore, Charlotte Martin sings the line "With a kick inside / In the dark you hide" in the song Up All Night. Charlotte is known for her admiration of Kate. Also, on her new album Day One, Sarah Slean mentions her 'lionheart" in the title track, both references spotted by Wouter (thanks W)...Q Magazine's 'Essential 20 Tracks' for October has at Number 11 'Hounds of Love', covered by The Futureheads. The link on the Q site takes you to HMV, where a further link allows you to listen to the track in question. A clip from the track was also included on the Month CD ROM Oct '04 from the Sunday Times. (thanks to David and Orla Murphy)...Swedish fashion magazine Rodeo (www.rodeomagazine.se) in an article on Kim Jones by Daniel Björk: "In the background in Kim's apartment Kate Bush is playing. One of his favorite songs is Army Dreamers by Kate Bush indeed, and Running Up That Hill was the soundtrack to his latest collection film." (thanks to Henrik Nilsson in Stockholm)...on the UK soap Coronation Street on August 30th Kate got a mention from Deirdre Barlow's mother Blanche who was telling some one about a Bed & Breakfast, called 'The Heights,' the lady who owned it was, she said, a big Kate Bush fan (thanks Kyla)..."Rewind", a CD and DVD package from EMI/Universal includes the Cloudbusting video. (thanks to Philip Lau)...Finally, if you click on this person's journal and scroll down to the entry for the 11th August 2004 you can watch the red dress Wuthering Heights video. (thanks to L Thompson)

Two upcoming UK Kate related events to note

September 28th 2004: Hi all, finally have broadband installed in my new place, will be doing the newsbits by the weekend but first wanted to keep you up to speed about two events coming up with a Kate Bush interest. As always keep an eye out on the site's forum for all latest news reports from all over the world. Before I get to these two events, an event in itself, HomeGround 75, the Winter 2004 issue is in the works, starting in the next week or so. Anyone who would like to send in letters, poetry, articles for possible use, please could you email Krys with your stuff at the usual HG address before 20th October. Krys says: "I'll need to get as much of HG 75 finished by end of October. Please put "HG 75" in your email header. Hope to hear from you. I am particularly interested in poetry contributions. This should be a nice moody issue for the long winter nights. Emails to me at hgtowers@btinternet.com." More info on Homeground at the Homeground Pages.  

Simon Casson has been in touch. He's the promoter of "Duckie Salutes Kate Bush" at the Institute of Contemporary Arts, on Friday 15th October from 8pm till 1am. Starring Kiki & Herb, Nathan Evans, Marisa Carnesky, Wee Lee and Fake Bush. Hostessed by Amy Lamé with DJ's London Readers Wifes. Duckie, south London's premiere post-gay pop & performance kunst-disco invite you to their Kate Bush fan club convention. She's eccentric, she's elusive and she's very, very English. The event features puppetry, poetry, topiary, karaoke, quizzes, badgemaking, video making, pubic hair shaving, contemporary dance...and some brilliant pop song performances. Punters are encouraged to dress as Kate and don your leotards, legwarmers and lipstick. This is the third in Duckie's series of quirky tributes to English pop cultural figures at the ICA - following on from their previous homage's to Julie Burchill and Morrissey. The ICA is at The Mall in London SW1. Tickets: £10/£9 concs/£8 ICA members. Book in advance on 020 7930 3647 or on the door. Please arrive early. Further info from Duckie on 020 7737 4043 or www.duckie.co.uk WARNING: THIS EVENT CONTAINS MIME. (thanks to Simon, Orla Murphy and Tim Whitehead.) Please note - I am hearing that tickets for this event are selling fast and are unlikely to be available at the door so advance booking is strongly advised!) You can view the full poster - just click the image above! 

As we've been reporting, the upcoming book by John Mendelssohn, Waiting For Kate Bush, is being published in November. The nice people at Kulture Shock Books run a small book shop and cafe bar in Norwich, and being Kate fans, wrote to the publisher and arranged a reading with the author. The owner is happy to arrange to have books signed for anyone who can't attend and for visitors to this site. They can arrange to have it shipped in the UK P&P FREE if they mail us their order number and mention the KBN&I site. They can also ship world wide but as a small company we cant afford to do that free :) The address is Kulture Shock, 10-12 St Benedicts Street, Norwich. Tel: 01603 625557 Fax 01603 625558 Web site http://www.kultureshock.co.uk. Please read full details on the poster - just click the image to the right. (thanks to Kulture Shock for letting us know). 

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BBC Radio 2 Launches Campaign For Kate To Appear on Air 

August 11th 2004: BBC Radio 2 DJ, Mark Radcliffe, has been making constant Kate references ever since somebody picked her record for the Crucial Three feature on his show last week. Mark is a huge KB fan and today will be day 5 on his show's "Bushometer" (showing how many days he's been waiting to get a reply). Apparently he desperately wants Kate to be on his show, he'd even be happy with a phone call. One of our site visitors, Louise, has had an email about Kate read out on air, other fans have been posting on his site's guestbook and listener's have been phoning in their Kate-related anecdotes. Currently the show's website is running a poll (right) as to why Kate mightn't be replying! You can hear the archives of his show on the site also - he usually updates listeners on the Bush-o-meter in the first 5 minutes of his shows. (thanks to Louise Carrington)  

August 8th 2004: Newbits: An interview with one of Kate's engineers on The Dreaming album, Nick Launay, is on this site:  "You engineered Kate Bush's album, The Dreaming. How did that come about? Hugh Padgham, who during that year had become very popular doing Sting and Phil Collins, was engineering the Kate Bush album but didn't have time. He heard some of the Public Image stuff, realized that I'd very quickly learned how to get those kind of big drum sounds, which were his thing, and I knew how to do it and got the whole vibe of that. So he suggested to Kate Bush that she should talk to me and maybe I should work with her because he couldn't. He was basically producing The Police and Kate was producing herself, so all she wanted was an engineer. So I got put on the Kate Bush album, which I did for about two months. That was just incredible. Kate is still to this day one of the most gifted people I've ever met. She was just born with incredible talents. That's a wild album, The Dreaming. It is a very wild album. It was the first one she produced on her own...she had all these wild ideas. She would come in in the morning and go, in her very high voice, “Nick, can we make the drums sound like cannons?” So we would go in and try to make this drum kit sound like it was cannons going off - every kick drum, every snare. We made up these corrugated iron tunnels coming out of the drum kit, and we would mike up the tunnel. It was very interesting, and it was just one of many things that we did, like miking up the piano in different ways. The thing about Kate Bush, and I'd say this about quite a few artists that I've been very lucky to work with, is that basically they're all born with talents. These people are born with this talent that not only gives them the ability to play instruments, but songs come to them in complete form. It's not just the lyrics, it's the whole music, and whenever you work with these people who are rare, they usually tend to succeed." (thanks to Teenkick78 on the forum)

Here's a recent photo of Del Palmer playing his custom Chris Larkin guitar. Chris is a guitar maker living in Kerry in Ireland and his site features a gallery of musicians with the instruments he has made for them. Perhaps we'll hear this guitar on KB8? Read more at the Chris Larkin Guitars site...in the new special edition of Q Magazine they have yet another of their list extravaganzas “The 1010 Songs you MUST Own”. Kate appears at least three times. Don’t Give Up in “50 Best Duets”, And Dream Of Sheep in the chillout list and in “60 songs for the tired and emotional” they have her version of Rocket Man. Wuthering Heights does get a nice mention in Tim Rice-Oxley’s (of Keane) “20 songs that would rule the airwaves on Keane FM: ”I just can’t imagine how she ever wrote the melody. It’s a classic – a gothic story set to music. She was so young…it’s depressing, actually.” (thanks to Goldfishnation on the forum)

Something I missed mentioning in the last newsbit roundup, an article on the Glastonbury festival this year: "Fans have started arriving at the site of this year's Glastonbury Festival, with festival goers turning up to a soggy site. Early reports however say that the site is slightly muddy, due to the heavy rainfall over the last couple of days, but organisers are predicting a sunny afternoon. Michael Eavis said: "There are quite a lot of people already on site - workers and the like - and it is pretty buzzing already, despite the rain. Because the ground is so dry, it has soaked up pretty well. The rain is predicted to clear this afternoon and the sun to come out." Extreme measures are also apparently being taken by the festival to keep the rain at bay. According to BBC News, a spokesperson said that Eavis is to employ a cloudbusting gun, inspired by Paul McCartney's recent display of weather control during a concert in Russia. The former Beatle was playing in St Petersburg when he sprayed dry ice into the rainclouds to keep his fans dry. Eavis is allegedly digging out his own home-made cloudbuster - last used at the festival in 1971 - which was designed by 1960s psychologist and inventor Wilhelm Reich who believed that 'orgone radiation' from the atmosphere caused clouds to turn to rain. The machine would be used several miles away to "break up" the clouds before they reach the site. The spokesperson said: "It is a bit of a joke. In a way it is using psychological powers to keep the rain away. He's (Eavis) still trying to get the machine working." (thanks to Kevin Tachman)...many of you have been writing in to say that Kylie Minogue's new video for her single "Chocolate" displays strong similarities between her choreography and that used in 'Running up that Hill' and 'Love and Anger'. A possible tribute to Kate? The video can be seen at her official site (thanks Peter Sioen)...Susan Egan's Kate cover (see July 4th newsbits) is going to be Wuthering Heights, album out on Sept 7th. Susan has a big career in US theatre and cabaret and has provided voicework on animated films such as Hercules and Spirited Away. (thanks Robert)...Sony Music Italy have sent me a press release about Laura Valente's cover of Wuthering Heights (see July 4th newsbits): "Laura Valente, one of the most beautiful pop italian voice and ex-member of Matia Bazar group, has come back on the stage. She interprets as soloist a difficult english text, "Wuthering Heights", taken from the novel by Emily Bronte and composed by Kate Bush. Italian DJ Mr. Conte re-arranges this song in a new special dance version. Many covers were composed all over the Europe in the past, but the great interpretation by Laura Valente exceeds the other ones for her modulations on the voices." 

Burkhard in Germany writes that Kate's 1978 TV appearance from Bio's Bahnhof was shown recently on German TV. The famous red dress clip was shown as part of a tribute to the show's presenter Alfred Biolek. Looking back, Biolek said that this was her first ever TV appearance and that he was sitting in the EMI office in London to talk about musicians who could join his show in the future. He heard Wuthering Heights in the background and asked for the singer and invited her to appear. (thanks Burkhard)...Kate featured a little while back in I Am Not An Animal on UK TV (basically an animated programme about a group of talking animals). In this particular episode, a record was made which featured parts of various songs, Kate's being one of them. Steve Coogan is one of the guys behind it, so I guess that's why Kate was included?...on a recent Radio 2 programme on dance music in Ibiza, Running Up That Hill (Infusion remix) was played. The presenter said that while in miserable rainy England the song could be taken one way, in Ibiza, with the sun and the all round general happiness, the song took on another meaning, they then played the song and it worked! (thanks to Louise Carrington)...Ellen Greene (a stage/cabaret actress best known for originating the role of "Audrey" in both the play/film of "Little Shop of Horrors") will include a cover of "The Man With The Child In His Eyes" on her upcoming album "In His Eyes" from Rainbo Records. Read more here. (thanks Robert)...There was an interesting article in the back of the NME (with The Hives cover) a couple of weeks ago on Kate. Ross Millard from upcoming band The Futureheads explains why he loves Kate and how they perform Hounds Of Love in their live sets. It also gives an interesting take on what to buy at the bottom of the article, and a big picture of Kate. (thanks to Claire Southwick and Priya)...Irish singer-songwriter Rhiannon has been compared with Kate recently on national radio. Described as a "highly innovative songstress and composer", her web site is here. (thanks to Liam O' Brien)...and finally in case you aren't aware, Sozo continues to update his impressive translation of my site in Japanese here. (thanks Sozo, I hope the fans in Japan appreciate all your hard work!)

HomeGround 74 features exclusive interview with John Carder Bush

The new issue of HomeGround yet again has a unique contribution from a member of Kate's family. Krys says "The highlight of this issue is an exclusive 7-page interview with John Carder Bush, Kate's brother, that he & I did in June & July. It is absolutely wonderful & a must for all Kate fans. This issue has something of a Cathy theme, as you will see, and we think it is something quite special. We also have a wonderful article by Colin Lloyd Tucker about his new album Fear of Flying and the influences behind it. He takes us on a dreamy, atmospheric step into the past, to the places where his music came from. Colin sent me the demo some time ago, and the finished CD arrived recently. I have played it to death ever since! Details for ordering are at http://www.colinlloydtucker.com. There's a great article by writer and poet Collin Kelley on the late artist Edward Gorey, and we have several poems by Collin too. Keeping with the Cathy theme, Thom Penman has written a beautiful Cathy-inspired story, especially illustrated by Debi. And there is an interesting look at Kate's early demos by Andrew Marvick. Mix all this together with a pinch of the Gothic and some amazing pieces of artwork by Debi and Neil." The issue is being sent out Saturday 24th July & it should be with UK subscribers around Tuesday 27th. You can order a subscription and back issues by PayPal here. Krys adds: "The interview really is something very special. I've asked John about the Cathy book, his photography, the KT Bush Band, his poetry, his influences, inspirations & heaps of other stuff."

New book on Kate due for November release

July 4th 2004: A new book on Kate by music journalist John Mendelssohn, entitled "Waiting for Kate Bush" is now already listed (pre-publication) on the UK, German, Canadian and Japanese Amazon websites. It will contain 240 pages and will be published on 15 November 2004. The blurb reads: "When Kate Bush came out of nowhere in 1978 with her jaw-droppingly eccentric debut single 'Wuthering Heights', screeching like a banshee, flapping her arms as though trying to take wing, pulling alarming faces, people either adored or loathed her. One of the former was an American underwear model, Lesley Herskovits, who, in spite of his remarkable good looks, reserved his loathing for himself. By the time Kate had taken to keeping her fans waiting literally ages between albums, he'd found himself a boarding house near Kate's birthplace that accommodated only fervent Kate fans. Only his disinclination to miss her eighth album, after waiting more than a decade for it, kept him from leaping off a multi-storey tower block. In Waiting for Kate Bush - an unusual hybrid of satirical novel and music biography - the reader will not only laugh aloud at Herskovits' attempt to make sense of his life in an alien culture, but also learn in detail what Kate Bush - known alternately as "the barmiest bird in pop", "the Pre-Raphaelite nymph with Minnie Mouse's soprano" and "the greatest artist of the last 30 years" - has been up to in the silent decade-plus since the release of her last and best alb [sic]" An anonymous review on the Amazon site says "Having read the proof and viewed fans comments via the web, this book beats all expectations and is a worthy addition to any Kate Bush fan while waiting for the new album. The information is fresh and well written and explains above all why KB fans are some of the best and most patient in the world. Beautiful pictures inside. A worthy buy when released." It will be interesting to see initial reactions to what sounds like one of the most unusual books yet written about Kate. (thanks to Henrik and Kyla).

July 4th 2004: Newsbits round up: Krys from HomeGround tells us that Colin-Lloyd Tucker (The Red Shoes) has sent her his new CD Fear of Flying & that it is brilliant. Have a look at his website for ordering info, plus some great photos of him & Paddy Bush when they were in the studio recording their Skyscraping album. There's a great photo of Colin & Paddy as Kate's Red Shoes devils from her film! (see pic left). There's also a great interview on the site where Colin mentions Kate, & Paddy. See Colin's site here. By the way on May 18th HomeGround was 22 years old - you're amazing people! HomeGround 74 will be out in July...

Kate was shortlisted along with Morrissey, David Bowie, Prince & Marvin Gaye for the first Mojo Magazine Icon Award: "The inaugural Mojo Honours List is intended to be a music awards ceremony like no other...the list was voted for by listeners to Mojo radio and is restricted to artists that have enjoyed a spectacular career on a global scale and become a genuine household name." The awards ceremony was held on 22nd June, but the Icon award was given to Morrissey in the end. (thanks to Rob)...Another picture of Kate attending the Queen's golden jubilee celebration at the Royal Academy of arts in May 2002 has surfaced - it shows Kate chatting with Mick Hucknall and Martin Kemp, see it here. (thanks to Yiannis)...In a very interesting article Sound On Sound has interviewed producer Jon Kelly about the recording The Kick Inside, parts of the article are reproduced at the Sensual World site here. (thanks to Adey, Steven and also to Andrew Kyte)...The rising UK group Keane mentioned Wuthering Heights in the 16th April NME in a feature about their musical inspirations. According to the band's pianist Tim Rice-Oxley: "I just don't know how she wrote this tune, the way it leaps around and works so beautifully with the weird, gothic story is incredible. It seems to be from a completely different planet to your average pop single."

The Kick Inside MSN group has some screen grabs from a rare German tour documentary on Kate from 1979 - you may not have seen some of the early shots of Kate featured here...Emma Murphy, who is peforming recorder on Kate's new album, has asked me to let you know that her website has a link to the new CD by Da Camera (which features Susanna Pell, also playing on Kate's new album). The new CD, ‘A Celtic Celebration’ is: "a stunning and unique combination of Irish and Scottish Baroque music by Carolan, Oswald & others, as well as Traditional Scottish and Irish music arranged by the group. You will never have heard the recorder and viol played quite like it before!" (thanks to Emma, sending you best wishes and luck with this new release). Read more here...a photo of Kate takes up the entire front cover of the May supplement to the magazine Word. The supplement is entitled Pictures 1978-2004, and showcases photos from the last 25 years of rock. The photo of Kate used is the famous 1978 Gered Mankowitz Wuthering Heights promotional pic of Kate in her leotard...a character in a new Moroccan film is a Kate Bush fan. From the Guardian review: "A surprise success at Cannes in 2003, A Thousand Months by Moroccan director Faouzi Bensaidi picked up a prize in the Un Certain Regard section. The tale, or the series of tales, is set in the Atlas mountains during the month of Ramadan in 1981. It's a tough time. There's been a drought. Jobs are scarce. Local women dream of marrying rich men who will whisk them away from the village. Bands of local lads go out stealing. At school Mehdi is entrusted with guarding the teacher's chair, a symbol of authority and continuity. But one day that too is stolen. He himself breaks the fasting rules and hangs around with a lively rebel girl who likes to smoke and to listen to Kate Bush records." (thanks to Rezwan on the guestbook)...The Ultimate Acoustic Album features Kate, a review on Boyz magazine singles out Kate's track on this compilation; "...and best of all, from the goddess-like Kate Bush, The Man With the Child in His Eyes."...The Sensual World album is freshly reviewed on the Funky Mofo site here. "Funky Mofo is about music. Just good music. It’s for people who do give a damn about the quality of music produced today, people who are willing to make new discoveries and who know that there is more to a record shop than just the ‘rock and pop’ section. We aim to work with labels and musicians who want to help people decide for themselves what they want to listen to." (thanks to Jo Whitby)...Manchester Online reviewed Hayley Westenra's concert at Bridgewater Hall on 25th March 2004: "Hayley stormed to the finale with her single-release cover of Kate Bush's Wuthering Heights, capturing all the off-kilter and kooky appeal of the original." (thanks to Michael Leitz).

Joanna McMeikan is a singer-songwriter who has created quite a positive buzz with her solo debut release Breaking The Habit. Her sound has generated a lot of Kate Bush and Tori Amos comparisons, she certainly seems to be a Kate fan. Her official website is here and you can listen to her songs here. (thanks for getting in touch Joanna, best of luck!)...Irish singer Cathy Davey has also been getting the Kate comparisons recently. She's the daughter of Shaun Davey who compased the "Granuaile" suite and has sang with Autamata alongside site-favourite Carol Keogh of the Tycho Brahe. Here's this from the Oxegen festival website: "Dublin girl Cathy Davey has got the counterpoint between nasty and nice just right. The 25-year old singer and writer, who appeared on Elbow's "Grace Under Pressure" mines a seam of hardcore love and hate, then turns them into stylistically broad songs which reference PJ Harvey and Bjork as well as a young Kate Bush. Whilst Davey admits a love of the latter "I love Wuthering Heights and Running Up That Hill. They're so abstract and cold Moor-ish, which is always good."...Susan Egan, who apparently sang in Broadway's Thoroughly Modern Millie is releasing an album in September called "Coffee House" and it will have a Kate cover on it. (thanks to Dibble on the guestbook)...Re-fashioned 2 British Airwaves is the 2nd volume in Groovescooter's " critically acclaimed" cover series. It features Majella O'Shea singing The Man With The Child In His Eyes...Portugese goth rock band Icon & the Black Roses have recorded a version of "Running Up That Hill." Read more here. (Thanks to Dae, who tells me it is "a phenomenal rendition")...you can listen to a new Italian dance version of Wuthering Heights by Mr Conte featuring Laura Valente here (thanks to Stefano).

Singer Sarah McLachlan has chosen Kate's Reaching Out as one of the choices on her Artist's Choice CD compilation (she also picks REM, Cat Stevens, Nusrat Ali Khan). Read more here. (thanks to Kevin Tachman)...Marco Hietala - bassist and male vocalist with Finnish band Nightwish professes a soft spot for Kate's music in his bio on their official site. (Thanks to Despina)...singer Kiki Dee performed Running Up That Hill with Carmelo Luggeri, her musical partner of the past few years, ina  recent concert in May. Described as "a great acoustic version" Kiki says that it will be on her new album which is due in September. (thanks to Alan)...April 2004's edition of Maxim Blender magazine includes another Big Boi Kate mention. In the article on Outkast, it is noted that Big Boi's iPod is cycling through songs by "Kate Bush, Oran 'Juice" Jones and (of course) Outkast." (Thanks to Tim Bertram)...also the Daily Record says "...but chunky Big Boi and partner Andre 3000 have another record on the go, which they are keeping schtum about. Far from making a break for film stardom, they want to work with veteran divas. Big Boi said: 'The future is the next album, the soundtrack to the movie. Then we have another top-secret record. We need Sade, Kate Bush and Anita Baker to get some stuff done.' (thanks to Michael Leitz)...Rolling Stone (April 29th) reviews Carina Round's CD The Disconnection: "England's Carina Round belongs to the rock lineage of female sirens and oracles of interior life - spanning Patti Smith, Kate Bush, Bjork and Tori Amos - who do diaries in blood, dream journals in neon." (thanks to Tim Bertram)...Irish writer Noirin Gannon has published her second book of poetry, Verses By Twilight. One poem is "a tribute to Kate Bush which she wrote while speaking on the phone to a friend and twiddling a biro in the other hand. "The words just started to come into my head and I wrote them down. I grew up with the music of Kate Bush and felt the need to pay her some kind of tribute." Read more here at the Mayo News site here...the Apple Itunes on-line music store, which features "play-lists" from various artists to help sell the music, featured Dar Williams, American folk-indie darling who included a Kate song on her play-list. See a scan here courtesy of Bill Ritchotte (thanks Bill)... 

Here's a round up of recent lists Kate's appeared in: The special edition of Q magazine entitled "The '70s, From Zeppelin To The Pistols" has 20 singles that "changed the world" in that decade. Kate's at number 11 with Wuthering Heights: "Otherworldly femme fatale falls to earth - Released bang in the middle of the new wave's chart invasion, Wuthering Heights was so thrillingly peculiar that even 19-year old Bush's hippy-chick look was excused. A David Gilmour protégé who'd not bothered to read the Emily Bronte novel that inspired her bewitching madwoman epic. Bush and her falsetto-voiced debut had one-hit wonder written all over it. Instead, she survived for a series of Bowie-like musical reinventions. With her maverick tendencies proving the rule, rather than the exception, Kate Bush became a key alternative role model inspiring everyone from Björk to Tori Amos." In the category "Images Of Rock'n'Roll 1978", there's a double-sided reprint of the pink leotard photo of Kate. (thanks to Malcolm)...Mojo Magazine had Wuthering Heights at number 6 in their 'Top 100 Epic Rock Tracks of All Time' in April, describing the track as "audacious". (Thanks Johnny & Malcolm)...The Obsever newspaper had Kate at no. 22 in their "Best British albums" listing. Emma Warren wrote: "The first woman in this list is the hugely talented, wildly strange first lady of romantic experimental pop. Hounds Of Love, recorded at her own studio in Kent, was Bush's fifth and most successful studio album, selling more than a million copies. It remains a trenchantly individual piece of work, resonant with ghosts and connections to witch-dunking mythology - although you could never describe the crafted pop and dramatic sound sweeps on the record as fey. Not only did Bush write the songs, and sing them in her four-octave voice, but she played Fairlight bass and piano too. And anyone who says they've never sung along to the pretend barking on the title track is simply a liar." On Sunday June 20th Miranda Sawyer additionally wrote: "What? No Girls Aloud? Well, no, because no girls are allowed in a list of Top British Albums, banned by ancient boy law which states that women only make two types of credible contemporary music - either whimsical, solo love ditties or guitar-fuzz, eff-you rock attack. So we're left with 'that nice Katie Bush', as my grandpa used to call her, and the Slits. Down in the 80s and 90s we get Dusty et al, tucked in at the end to show that, yes, there is still a point in having a Best Female Singer award at the Brits. Well, there's a point if you're Annie Lennox." (thanks to PDFM)...Hounds Of Love was listed at number 23 on Q's Best British album ever chart, the only female artist on the list...The July issue of 'Classic Rock' Magazine has Kate at number 38 in their '100 Greatest Frontmen' article: "The etheral dove who shot to prominence as a teenager with the enigmatic 'Wuthering Heights' single. Her beauty, brains and prodigious musical insights got the attention of Pink Floyd's David Gilmour, who helped guide her early career. Kate hasn't released a new album in more than a decade, and is now a recluse. But nobody ever combined gothic music (not goth), dance and theatre better." (thanks to Liza)...

The Gideon Coe show on 6 Music (via DAB/Sky or the web) is on 'till 1pm. He does a feature called "The great lost album" which recently featured The Red Shows. Listeners could vote to hear Rubberband Girl, Moments Of Pleasure or The Red Shoes...at the recent Miss Virginia beauty pageant, last year's winner took her last walk across the stage with the voice-over talking about her reign...the background music was Kate singing "This Woman's Work"(!)...the novel The Sandblasting Hall Of Fame by Lawrence Mathews mentions Kate: "At home in his basement apartment his upstairs neighbour regularly treats him to the music of Kate Bush, "a torrent of ice water, freezing Niagaras of it, indecipherable lyrics blending into each other in some Esperanto of female pain and longing."...Tommy in the US was watching "History Detectives" on PBS and heard Kate's "Under Ice" playing in the background on a story about possibly the first submarine built by the South during the Civil War in 1861. (thanks Tommy)...the Yahoo group Rolling The Ball have been playing a Kate Survivor game: "Beginning with The Kick Inside each week or so the song receiving the most votes was eliminated and a new song took it's place. This way the list of 109 songs was reduced to 15. The winner was Wuthering Heights. The final list in the order of elimination were: Be Kind To My Mistakes, Mná na hÉireann, December Will Be Magic Again, Un Baiser d'enfant, This Woman's Work, Love And Anger, Under The Ivy, Sat in Your Lap, Cloudbusting, Running Up That Hill, The Sensual World, Suspended in Gaffa, Moving, Night Of The Swallow, Wuthering Heights." (thanks to John Roger in Australia)...a very short clip of Kate's appearance at the Vela d'oro show in Venice (1980), was broadcast On RAI2 in Italy during a documentary programme called Eventi Pop. Kate mimed Babooshka on that night, dancing with Gary Hurst. Interestingly Kate should have won the award for best single of the year on this show (she came second in 1981, with Spargo coming first with their single "You & Me". Later on that year, in a Milli-Vanilli type twist, it was discovered that Spargo had "booked" a singer to record that song so they didn't really deserve the prize! (thanks to Antonello Saeli)...On the 16th April in Australia on 'NightLife with Tony Delroy 774 Melbourne (AM radio) there was a 10 minute, very complimentary program about Kate. There was discussion between Delroy and an unnamed music critic. They played Wuthering Heights, Babooshka, and chatted about Kate's discovery, 'wealthy' upbringing, and 'strange vocal style' (which they called 'beautiful' and 'distinctive', and radiant in an era when there was a 'flatness about the music scene'). They argued that Kate's popularity in the 70s and 80s was linked to the "England is Beautiful" patriotism that rose with early Thatcherism (here they mentioned Lionheart and her use of Tennyson, and argued that her music appealed to a sense of British pride). (Thanks to Katie in Melbourne)... Kate was featured on BBC1's "Test The Nation" quiz in a section of questions called "guess the year" which comprised of musical and news clips.  A small section of Kate singing "Wuthering Heights" on TOTP in her black dress was shown. Later in the show when all the answers were given, co-presenter Ann Robinson commented favourably on Kate's voice. (thanks to Krystyna)...Finally, bored at work? Here's a Kate Bush jigsaw to master, how long will it take you to do it?

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30th June 2004: Hope you're having a good summer! Yes, the site updates have been slack lately but I'm going to rectify that this coming weekend, prepare for a large dose of the usual newsy stuff, thanks to everyone for sending it all in. In the meantime here's a cartoon to amuse you that David Bowden has sent in which appeared in a recent issue of the Pink Paper (click to enlarge!) - Seán :) 

25th April 2004: The new issue of HomeGround Magazine (Spring 2004 Issue) has been mailed out to subscribers (I received mine late due to a postal strike here in Dublin - was starting to get HG withdrawals!). It's had a very good response on the site's forum and is one of the most poetic issues yet produced - the issue includes some great poetry courtesy of John Carder Bush (Kate's brother) as well as several readers. There's a wonderful story by Thom Penman, a review of the book Starter For Ten (its author David Nicholls writes about his Kate influences for this issue too). There's a report on the Glastonbury 2003 gathering and pictures of the now-famous mini cloudbuster! Birgitte contributes a comprehensive look at Kate's 1978 De Efteling TV special in The Netherlands, there's a look at links between Kate's work and classical painting, a fun tongue-in-cheek quiz and all the usual news, letters and artwork - do not miss! Make sure your subscription is up-to-date at the HomeGround Pages. 

What's the word from the HG editors regarding the new album? "...we believe Kate is currently in the final stages of completing the new album, and that there is a great deal of anticipation, excitement, and enthusiasm at EMI." When Homeground has definite news and get the go-ahead from Kate and EMI they intend to email a News Update to everyone (much thanks as always to Peter, Krys and Dave.) 

20th March 2004: Newsbits: The Top of the Pops website have the Hayley Westenra clip of Wuthering Heights to view, accompanied by these words: "We see what you're doing here Hayles. Shaking your locks, dramatically draping your shawl whilst running round a castle. Yes, you really are Cathy! Just one prob, it looks like a parody of Kate Bush, who actually wrote the song. Hoo-rah." See it here (thanks to Collin)...Claudia Brucken and pianist/composer Andrew Poppy are about to release an album, produced by Paul Humphreys (OMD). Entitled Another Language, it's described by Paul as a "very naked and acoustic 'one instrument and one voice' album" which will feature cover versions of songs by artists as diverse as Radiohead, Elvis, Kate Bush and Franz Schubert. Release date is planned for the end of April, the track they're covering is believed to be Running Up That Hill. Read more at the Orchestral Manouvres In The Dark site here (thanks to Kestrel)...Kate is placed at No.6 in the April edition of Mojo's Top 100 Epic Rock Tracks. The song is of course Wuthering Heights and it is moving ever closer to that top spot. Queen are at No. 1 (thanks to Ben)...

14th March 2004: Newsbits: Charlotte Martin, who has covered This Woman's Work live, has recorded Cloudbusting during the sessions for her upcoming album and although it won't appear on the album it should make it onto an ep or single as an extra track. She has also played it live recently too on Jan 19th at the Hotel Cafe in LA. Read more here. (thanks Doug) Update: Mark Gray has given me this link to download Charlotte's studio rendition of Cloudbusting which she has made available to her fans, also there is a live version available here (thanks also to Mark for the pic of Charlotte with Kate vid, Mark's Charlotte site is here)...

Galway singer-songwriter Albert Niland has recorded an acoustic version of Wuthering Heights for the popular Tom Dunne radio show on Today FM in Ireland. It's gotten a great reaction, and I've heard it played several times, always unusual to hear a male performer tackle the song. Says Dunne, himself the former lead singer with Something Happens: "His acoustic session and particularly his version of Wuthering Heights was stunning, best reaction we've had to a new artist on the show in ages. He is a major new talent”. See the radio show's chart here, also see Albert's site. 

February's Observer Music Monthly had an interview with Outkast in which Big Boi repeated his praise of Kate. "I consider me and Dre to be funkateers, man. Growing up we listened to everything and I think that gives us the ability to make a free-flowing type of music. It doesn't matter whether it's country, reggae or rock and roll. My favourite artist of all time is Kate Bush." Interviewer Chris Campion noted that at that point Big Boi's mobile phone rang and he had Babooshka as his ring tone! (thanks to Rob Jones). Also Big Boi (who clearly has a very romantic perception of Kate's daily life) is quoted in Sweden's biggest morning paper Dagens Nyheter: "Her productions are not of this world. I've tried to get hold of her to do a collaboration. She's said to live in a castle somewhere. She has no furniture, just a piano where she plays Mozart all day. She's said to be crazy or have had her heart broken." (!)

Kate was mentioned on CNN Headline News on March 9th on "The Music Room" during a piece on 16-year-old NZ singer Hayley Westenra and the release of her version of Wuthering Heights. Hayley has the best-selling debut album in the history of UK's classical charts (thanks to Tim Bertram)...Swedish singer-songwriter Nicolai Dunger performed a cover of The Man With The Child In His Eyes on Swedish TV. Go to this site then choose the link for "TV-husets webb-tv" at the bottom of the page to see the video clip. (thanks Helena)...Sky News "gossip guru" Neil Sean reported on Feb 13th: " I hear that 70s and 80s warbler Kate Bush, famous for hits like Wuthering Heights, is to get the West End musical treatment. A source told me: "We are working on a storyline idea. She had such a wonderful collection of songs." Read it here (thanks to Michael Leitz)...BBC Radio 6 have compiled a poll of the 20 songs that saved lives, Kate and Peter Gabriel were number 8 with Don't Give Up, read more here (thanks to Rachel). Also on BBC Radio 2 recently Jonathan Ross played Hounds Of Love on his Saturday morning show, Stuart Maconie played Don't Push Your Foot On The Heartbrake on The Critical List and This Woman's Work was played on Sarah Kennedy's show...US band Eisley have been compared to Kate in this review: "Imagine if Kate Bush had been a young American eccentric instead of a British one, and you get a good idea of the foundation Eisley are quietly laying for themselves. Fantastical lyrics, wispy melodies, and good guitar parts - what's not to like?" (thanks to Linda Parham) 

According to Billboard Greg Dulli's Twilight Singers are planning to record an EP of covers, to be titled "She Loves You" and due for release this summer by One Little Indian. Tracks include the Billie Holiday-popularized "Strange Fruit," John Coltrane's "A Love Supreme," Kate Bush's "Cloudbusting," Mary J. Blige's "Real Love" and the Rufus and Chaka Khan chestnut "Ain't Nobody." (See also Aug 24th 2003 newsbit - thanks to Michael Leitz)...Finally, last September Kate had her name registered as a European trademark till the year 2012 to cover all manner of products, still under the Novercia company name. Find it by doing a search for "Kate Bush" at the Office for Harmonization in the Internal Market site here (thanks to Doron)

Chris Hall Playing Accordion on Kate's New Album 

21st February 2004: UK accordionist Chris Hall, from bands such as Bearcat, Breaux and Zydecomotion has recorded on one of the tracks from Kate's forthcoming album. Chris has also recorded with Paul McCartney on his Run Devil album and with Bill Wyman, as well as 15 of his own albums. SWAN from the excellent French site Babooshka.net found mention of his collaboration with Kate on this Chris Hall site and subsequently received an email from Chris: "I added some accordion to a track at her own studio. The idea was to add some Cajun accordion which I play in my own bands. Actually we tried Cajun accordion but it didnt quite fit so I used a standard two row accordion in the end playing a cross between Cajun, blues and African style riffs. Sorry, dont know too much about the rest of the album as I'm just on one track, I can't even remember what it was called but it sounded great. Me and Kate worked together on the accordion riffs and she seemed very excited about the album." (thanks to SWAN and Greg Kearney)

21st February 2004: Newsbits roundup: Dido was the winner of this year's Best Female award at the Brit awards, and in her recorded acceptance message she thanked other female singer songwriters for inspiration including Kate and Annie Lennox. A clip of Kate performing Hounds Of Love in 1986 was shown during the show...Johnny reported on the site forum that his local paper, The Hornsey and Crouch End Journal, mentioned an art exhibit featuring a work by Kate. "Famous faces went under the hammer on Tuesday as celebrities joined Bindi Harris - daughter of TV presenter Rolf Harris - to raise hundreds of pounds for a Crouch End sheltered housing scheme. TV presenter Jonathan Ross, Travis front-man Fran Healey, singer Kate Bush and kids' telly star Timmy Mallet were among those who painted self-portraits to be sold at the special event. The celebrities were encouraged to explore their creative sides by professional artist Bindi, who has been running art workshops at Abyssinia Court, Weston Park, since last year. Miss Harris hit upon the idea of a money-making auction to raise funds for Abyssinia Court after she started the workshops. She decided to auction off work done in the classes and then got pupils at Weston Park Primary School and celebrities involved." The exhibition wasn't widely publicised so we presume Kate's work has been sold, we have no idea what it went for. (cheers Johnny)...the new issue of Homeground will be available in March. Articles, letters & artwork are always welcome, as always be sure your subscription is up-to-date by visiting the Homeground pages...

A new Kate Bush biography has been published in Italy, written by long-time fan Monica Tessarin. It is called "Kate Bush - I segugi dell'amore", published by Firenze Atheneum Libri. It costs €16 and can be purchased here. The book contains illustrations by Paulina Stuckey and is said to be a "must have" for all Kate's fans. Read more here. (warm congratulations to Monica on her new book, thanks also to Antonello)...Ben de Vos found a Sony CD “Celtic Sounds Of Middle Earth” featuring Mná Na hEireann (thanks Ben)...the January/February 2004 edition of the American magazine Women In Rock features a 4-page spread on Kate - "While glorious Kate remains a recluse working on a new record, we wait patiently for an interview. In the meantime, score! Sylie Simmons interviewed Kate in '89 and here the piece in published for the first time." (thanks to Tim Bertram)...Kate was mentioned on University Challenge, BBC2 on Monday 26th January, in a round where the panel had to identify guest musicians/singers, a snatch of Kate singing the BVs on Peter Gabriel's "Games Without Frontiers" caused them some puzzlement. Nobody guessed correctly, although one panel member suggested it might be Tatu! (thanks Krystyna)...

More on that Lee Kaay story: his FROST 2003 EP which featured December Will Be Magic Again was a massive hit charting at No 1 in Iceland, Finland, Russia, Czech Republic, Latvia and Estonia. The limited DVD featured the video as well and included a cameo from a Kate Bush look-a-like as a tribute to Kate. At a recent gig in Latvia, Lee decided to change the whole set and included a 30 minute tribute to Kate as inspiration. His DVD "Russian Tour" will feature his version of "This Woman's Work" and has now been given a September release date to coincide with a new album. Lee is a huge Kate fan and plans to release a further EP at some stage...Pet Shop Boys Neil & Chris recently stated that the album "The Dreaming" was quite a favourite of theirs and they had heard rumours of a new album in the pipeline at their record company EMI...Claudia De Booche has included her version of The Big Sky on her US single Salute To Ciao Baby (thanks MB)...recent issues of Blender Magazine mention Kate - Dido says Army Dreamers is one of her favourite songs, and Nelly Furtado is likened to Kate in a CD review (thanks Sudane)...The Darkness played their favourite videos on ABC's Rage (on 7/2/04). Babooshka was one of them and was played in its entirety here (thanks to Brian Parker)...Kate was recently discussed on the Richard & Judy show's Book Club on ITV in the UK. Starter For Ten was reviewed, and author David Nicholls was interviewed. As prevously reported on this site the main character of the book has an obsession with Kate Bush. Some studio guests discussed the book and the topic came around to Kate - and her absence from the charts. None of the panel had a clue as to what she was doing now. One of them thought that she now writes - but didn't say whether it was still songs or other forms of writing. Then a brief clip of the Wuthering Heights video was shown. (Cheers to Argotist on the site's forum). 

Due to their huge success in Germany, the Dutch band Within Temptation have decided to release their cover version of Running Up That Hill (already released in Holland in April last year) on a 3-track single CD and 5 track DVD on Feb 16th in Germany. Their official site reports: "On 16th February 2004, Within Temptation release their new, long-awaited single 'Running Up That Hill', which has always been a mega success in their native country The Netherlands. The classic originally sung by Kate Bush is taken to a new dimension thanks to its rocking riffs, its sensitive, classical arrangements as well as Sharon den Adel's atmospheric voice without losing the intensity of the original. A really great cover version!" The video is also available on the German version of their website.  (thanks to Michael Leitz)...Kaz at Cooper Owen auctions has let me know that two Kate items are featured in their Rock Legends auction on the 26th February; a signed photo and a Hounds Of Love item, read more here...

And finally, Night Scented Stock and Army Dreamers were played on BBC Radio 3, The Late Junction Wed 18th Feb (thanks to Jonathan Hugh) - a fascinating discovery unearthed on our site's forum is the link between Night Scented Stock and Blow Away from the album Never For Ever. Listen to these MP3 clips from Tristan and Gabriela to be amazed: here and here.)

Happy New Year! - Newsbit roundup 

12th January 2004: Hi all, back again after a small break (blame the mince pies and mulled wine!). KBN&I will be six years old in about a week. Indications are good that 2004 is an album year, but we don't want to jinx anything so let's keep that to ourselves for now. The site is kicking off the new year with a mound of newsbits. Please remember that even between updates on this news page our forum is open 24 hours a day for you to post on and it's a very busy and entertaining read - the Kate discussions are just the tip of the iceberg - thanks to all the forum members for making it a huge success. On with the latest KB schtuff:

The latest editon of Q Magazine features the "100 Most Insane Moments In Rock!" As you'll see in the cutting opposite allegedly regarding a visit this year to chez Kate by an EMI executive. (thanks Malcom and thanks to David Sheasby for the scan)...in an interview about Pop Idol Justin Hawkins lead singer from The Darkness had this to say: "I know it sounds harsh but f**k Will and Gareth (winners of last years Pop Idol). Where are the Kate Bush's and Princes of today? The record companies won't touch them because they're too scared." (thanks to Brian & Svein)...on the 15th December Peter Gabriel was interviewed on BBC Radio 2. Richard Allison played Games Without Frontiers (which features Kate) and asked Peter about Kate. Peter said he was a big fan of her work. Richard commented on the fact that she had not produced any work for a long time. Peter's reply was "I have heard there is something coming VERY soon." The DJ was a bit more cynical: "Yes, well she said it would be soon 5 years ago...where's the new album Kate, c'mon we're waiting."...The Times in the UK on the 14th December revealed that "..a Whitehall whistleblower has leaked a secret document showing that Tim Henman is being recommended for a new year's honour. The insider has disclosed minutes of the main honours committee that vets people for knighthoods and other awards. A five-page Cabinet Office document describes the discussions by Whitehall's most senior civil servants about the merits and demerits of 38 people being lined up for the new year's honours list. According to the Whitehall sources, other prominent people being discussed for honours include Eric Sykes, the comedian and Kate Bush, the pop singer." (thanks Michael)

More on Hayley Westenra's upcoming Wuthering Heights single here (she's already been on the Frank Skinner show on ITV in the UK plugging it) here...Amanda heard Andy Bell on the World Service talking about his love of Kate and playing Wow, Under The Ivy and Moments Of Pleasure on Dec 2nd. He was talking to Kevin Greening on the Top 5 Best show the series which invites musicians to talk about and pick 5 songs from an artist or musical genre that has inspired their own career. Andy talked about her continuing importance in the world of popular music and the influence she has had on him (he even revealed what happened when he dropped round to her house for a cup of tea) Read more here...The Sun newspaper in the UK decided that the recent Q Magazines top 1001 records was a bit out of touch with the real world so they asked their readers to pick their Top 100. Kate made No. 35 with Wuthering Heights. The recent special edition of Q magazine deals with what they call the "1001 Best Songs Ever". Wuthering Heights made #592 and RUTH #807...The BBC 3 spoof-umentary "Sex, Lies and Michael Aspel" was screened in December and had two brief clips of Kate being interviewed on the Michael Aspel Show. The voice-over said something about Mike meeting "some of the most beautiful women in the world"...On Dec 4th there was a 5-minute interview on BBC1's breakfast programme with Peter Gabriel. The interview was trailered with a few short clips from a handful of Peter's videos, and a section of Don't Give Up was shown, featuring Kate. Peter talked briefly about his new CD greatest hits release, and his involvement with charitable causes including his passion for human rights. (thanks Krys B)...The BBC website mentioned that "New York drag 'cabaret terrorists' Kiki and Herb return to London with their latest seasonal show, P***ed at Christmas - a Concert for the Lonely, opening a three performance run at the celebrated south London gay pub, the Vauxhall Tavern. Juxtaposing Christmas classics with songs by Eminem, Nirvana, Kate Bush, Radiohead, Mary J Blige and Debbie Harry...see here...Scarlett has told me that "independent singer/songwriter Danielle French, from Calgary, Alberta, Canada, does a stunning cover of "Running Up That Hill" by Kate Bush on her brand new CD 'Piece'." Check out the full clip here (thanks Scarlett)

From Contact Music: "Outkast hip-hop star Big Boi has a surprising musical hero - eccentric British singer Kate Bush. The 'Miss Jackson' rapper - real name Antwan Patton - credits his teenage musical development to Bush, and he's still so infatuated with the reclusive star he wants to track her down and get her to produce songs for his duo's next album. He says, "My uncle introduced me to Kate Bush's music when I was about 14 years old, and that shit opened my mind up. The first one I got was The Kick Inside, then I bought Hounds Of Love, then the The Sensual World. "She was so bugged out man! But I felt what she was talking about in the songs. Mother Stands For Comfort, Running Up That Hill. My uncle would explain what the songs stood for. Like The Man With The Child In His Eyes and all that shit. I thought, Wow! she's so f**king deep! I was infatuated with her, still am. I gotta track her down! I just found out that she was producing all that shit herself! She's so f***ing dope and so underrated and off the radar. So hopefully on the next record you're going hear Outkast and Kate Bush do at least two or three songs." Apparently the band also talk about Kate in the recent Mojo magazine feature. Read more here. (thanks to Christian & Sharon)

The comedy series Little Britain which has recently finished on BBC3 and is now being screened on BBC2 and features a wonderful version of Babooshka in it's final episode. (thanks Louise)...Lee Kaay re-worked his 2001 version of December Will Be Magic Again for his 2003 "Frost" single EP and DVD. A a video was also shot in Iceland. The EP also featured 3 other seasonal tracks. His DVD "The Russian Tour" will be issued July 2004 and is due to feature his live version of "This Womans Work". (thanks MB)... the January issue of the UK magazine Gay Times has a brief Q&A with an artist named Jon Cooper (aka Jon Pleased Wimmin); "Are drugs necessary for writing good dance music? Oh God, no. I think they can help sometimes when listening to music, like getting stoned before the cinema. There's nothing I like more than rolling about the floor cross-eyed, listening to Kate Bush." (cheers Benjamin)...Channel 5 in the UK trailed the screening of the Batman movie with Kate singing The Man With The Child In His Eyes. It was played over the part of the film during which Batman relives the shooting of his parents when he was a young boy. (thanks David)...The Sunday Herald in Scotland published a list of the 100 greatest albums. Hounds of Love is included, and the author of the list wrote an incredibly positive and well-written blurb for it: "The tidal beauty of Kate Bush's moon music has long enlivened the mainstream of British pop. Rather than ranking her alongside dull no-marks such as Peter Gabriel and Dave Gilmour, we should look at her work in the tradition of such visionary English artists as William Blake, Derek Jarman and Current 93. 1985's Hounds Of Love is still her greatest work, mixing esoteric musings with a series of compositions that seem to completely ignore any of the basic tenets of songcraft. They rarely, if ever, venture into predictable verse/chorus/verse territory, yet they are unparalleled in their ability to burrow deep beneath your skin. Although the second half of the record is by far the most ambitious and startling - a conceptual suite defined by dramatic tempo-changes and cut-up voices, it's the languorous beauty of the singles that remains the most affecting. Running Up That Hill, in particular, still sounds like the most unlikely pop song, its gush of hauntingly surreal imagery as eerily affecting as some half-remembered dream. She may be small but she's undeniably powerful." The writer mentions a ton of albums that very much deserve to be on such lists but are usually overlooked for whatever reason. Read more here 

Malcolm Calder has sent this link to an article by David Kennan in the Sunday Herald (Scottish newspaper) from November concerning Wilhelm Reich, Cloudbusters and Kate and Patti Smith's songs based on his life, read it here...an old article from 1999 featuring Tricky in the German "Visions" music magazine. He mentions Kate and her influence on his own work. Apparently the drum line from Watching You Without Me was sample looped in his song Contradiction from the Juxtapose album. The article can be found (in German) here (thanks Robert)...German TV channel ZDF screened a programme called "Die ZDF Kultnacht - RockPop". Featuring old clips from the programme "RockPop", including Kate's performance of Babooshka. Read more here and there are some screenshots of this Kate performance at Gaffaweb here...The News Of The World printed a cartoon in it's 28th December edition of Kate with George Bush (with photos of their heads stuck onto their animated bodies), housed within a picture frame, and captioned "Quibbling Siblings...Kate and George Bush"(!)...a trailer for a Channel 5 documentary on Emily Bronte played Kate's "Wuthering Heights"...and finally the Christmas edition of Ireland's music paper Hot Press contained this excellent letter which won Letter Of The Fortnight! You'll see why...(big newsbit thanks to Michael Leitz and Cynthia Conrad)