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Robyn Loau Covers Kate Bush Classic

From Noise.11.com (Australia):

Robyn Loau has recorded a cover of the Kate Bush classic ‘Wuthering Heights’.

Two versions of the song were done, one with Josh Abrahams and Davide Carbone (S:amplify) in Melbourne and the other with Stu Hunter in Sydney.

“Kate Bush is a genius and I’ve adored this song for so long. It is exhilarating, beautiful and twisted. While this is a complicated tale of eternal love, the thought of haunting a bastard ex lover from beyond the grave appeals to me… and why the hell not?!! I’m sure that’s what I’ll be doing!” she said in a statement.

The original ‘Wuthering Heights’ was written by Kate Bush in 1978. It reached the top of the charts in the UK, USA and Australia.

Robyn’s version is available on her ‘Only Human’ album.

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19 Comments

  1. Jim

    Is this meant to be a serious attempt to cover this song? Sounds like a parody…and not a particularly good one.

    • Have to agree with you there, Jim. I couldn’t even make it through thirty seconds of this… nothing compares with the original, although Josie Mills and Happy Rhodes pay wonderful tribute to Kate with their talented voices. I should have realised from Ms. Loau’s aggressive statement above that her version was more about her attitude than about her ability.

  2. Nanette

    Not bad. I’m not fussy about the piano part, though. It’s interesting that vocalists see the song as the ultimate challenge. And why not pay tribute to a musician they respect and admire?

  3. We’ll probably get shot down in flames for saying it but we love this girls voice. There are some nice youtube videos of her performing the song as well. As younger Kate fans we probably aren’t as critical and see it as a good thing that there are musicians keeping such an intriguing masterpiece in the spotlight.

  4. katebush fan

    http://www.slantmagazine.com/music/feature/best-albums-of-the-80s/308

    The Dreaming, Hounds of Love and The Sensual World are on the list of best albums of the 80s

  5. Sharka

    It’s an interpretation, alright… However, to me it doesn’t capture the spirit & soul of the song, it just sounds like the artist is trying to showcase her vocal style – a style that just doesn’t do it for me, as her voice is somewhat thin.

  6. Harry Horton

    The Billboard Top 20 console that is present in this article uses an internet web source called Bear share. Bear share has been assessed by some analysts for having dangerous web stations that contain viruses. In other words, Bear Share at least in the pas,t has been known not to do a very good job if any of screening their web content for destructive viruses. I had trouble removing Bear share from an earlier computer system elsewhere in Pittsboro once it became fixed as the opening computer program. I had to get someone with a lot of knowledge of computers to remove the program. I would be hesistant about putting these Billboard TOp 20 console clips up on any of the articles on this web site for caution’s sake.

  7. Harry Horton

    A further more indepth follow up on the potentially harmful Bearshare web site and its programs as related in a previous Harry Horton post of March 10. 2012. THe following web site gives more accurate information on Bearshare’s difficulty nad nefarious operations: Web site: “bearshare.exe-Bear Share, spyware notice!” A quote from this article: “bearshare.exe is considered to be a security risk, not only because of spyware programs, flag Bearshare as spyware, but also because a number of users have complained about its performance.”
    ENd quote. A couple more web sites on the Bearshare issue: (1) “Red “x” “your computer is infected!” (2) Remove Bearshare – Delete undeletablefiles – and Bearshare”.

  8. Lewfi

    This recording of Wuthering Heights is atrocious and makes me ashamed to be Australian. In particular, the singer’s voice is thin, nasal and unassured. It sounds like a parody. And while Kate Bush’s song is a precis of another artwork – it is in a very different medium and is musically original. This singer has taken advantage of a true artwork. What right has she to do this? Would Kate Bush’s permission have been required for this recording or would money simply have been paid to her as a copyright holder without her actual knowledge of this travesty? Yes, I am a purist. Yes, I am a grumpy old man. If you too hate people taking advantage of Kate Bush and sullying her work, speak up and send a message with me!

  9. Paul Edward Janiak

    It was a pleasant surprise to find this post. I can’t get the music player above to work but I’ve now listened to the album version on iTunes and it seems to carry emotion yet remain vocally faithful to the original without sounding derivative. It’s been a long time since I’ve come across the name Robyn Loau but I clearly remember seeing her on television performing gorgeous traditional South sea island music called Siva Pacifica and there were posters of her in all the record stores, cafes and restaurants in France and Spain when I travelled through there a decade or so ago. This girl has such a pure upper register and Wuthering Heights is an incredibly difficult song to sing in the same key as Kate’s original recording without sounding nasal. Bravo Kate- WH is not a conventional pop song but is still going strong 34 years on.

  10. Eric

    Kate wrote ‘Wuthering Heights’ in 1977.

  11. Fragecat

    Yuk. That is truly awful. Sorry. It sounds like a Faith Brown or Pamela Stevenson parody from the late 70’s.

  12. Nanette

    I’m going to defend Robyn Loau here. The Beatles covered Little Richard, Smokey Robinson, et. al. Was their version of Long Tall Sally like Little Richard’s? No, it wasn’t–I don’t even thing it was as good. But it was different, and worth listening to, all the same. The Rolling Stones tried to sound just like the Chess Records they’d heard. Did they? No. But both built on the music they loved to eventually create something of their own. Robyn Loau is testing her chops, so to speak, and there’s nothing wrong with that.

    Historically, every song was a “cover”–singers always sang standards. Dinah Washington even sang a Hank Williams tune.

    If you ask me (well, you haven’t but anyway) I’ll bet Kate is rather pleased with various covers of “Wuthering Heights”–firstly, because they confirm that it’s not a novelty song a la “Tiptoe Through the Tulips” or something. Plus, it’s nice to create something and see how people interpret it. It’s sort of like writing a play, and watching different actors bring that play to life.

  13. I’ve listened to this for thirty seconds. Robyn Loau can’t touch this!!

  14. Dave

    Will all respect, I have to say that was terrible

  15. Mike

    Uh oh, really awful. No emotion, no power. For me the only “cover” that topped the original was Kate’s version from 1986.

  16. Wickedhobbes

    I must say, the acapella version is the beter version of Ms Luao vision of this song.

  17. Harry Horton

    I liked the above Wuthering Heights version. I kind of miss the high pitched near screeching of the earlier Kate Bush Wuthering Heights. THis latest Robyn Loau version makes me think how another singer, Hope Sandoval formerly of the group Mazzy Star, would handle a Kate Bush Wuthering Heights rendition. Hope Sandoval’s song: ‘ fade into you’ comes to mind when I hear the two versions of Wuthering Heights—one by Robyn Loau, the other earlier original kate Bush one—-in mind.

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