To mark 40 years of Hounds of Love we’re putting together a time capsule each day for the month of September – a daily miscellany of the people, events and objects that relate to this momentous work, whether back in 1985 or right up to the present day…
Hounds of Love – person of the day
The legendary Irish uilleann piper, and founding member of Planxty, Liam O’Flynn, passed away on the 14th March 2018 at the age of 72. Kate described Liam as “a beautiful musician and person“. He was regarded as a master piper and a global ambassador for traditional Irish music. His impact in the Irish traditional music world was immense and his performances on Kate’s songs Night Of The Swallow (playing penny whistle also) from The Dreaming album, and on Hounds of Love on Jig Of Life and Hello Earth are simply unforgettable.
From the Kate Bush Encyclopedia site: “In 1972, O’Flynn co-founded the Irish traditional music group Planxty with Donal Lunny, Andy Irvine and Christy Moore, and remained a member throughout the band’s various incarnations. While Seán Ó Riada and The Chieftains had reinvigorated Irish traditional instrumental music in an ensemble format during the 1960s, Planxty built on that foundation and took it one step further. They brought a punch and vitality to acoustic music that drew heavily on O’Flynn’s piping virtuosity.”
Following the break-up of Planxty in 1983, as well as working with Kate, Liam found work as a session musician with such prominent artists as the Everly Brothers, Enya, Nigel Kennedy, Rita Connolly, and Mark Knopfler. He also worked on film scores, including Kidnapped (1979) and A River Runs Through It (1992). He was adventurous enough to work with avant-garde composer John Cage, but his most natural alliance was with neo-romantic composer Shaun Davey on the classic albums “Granuaile” and “The Brendan Voyage”.
When Liam passed away, Del Palmer, who had enjoyed working with the Irish musicians so much on Hounds of Love and other albums, wrote in a comment here at the Kate Bush News site about Liam:
A wonderful, serene presence in the studio… So completely confident in his own abilities… It was one of the real highlights of my life to have had the pleasure to work with him not once but on three occasions…
Those magic days in Ireland were memories I treasure above almost everything else..
A sad, sad loss indeed…
Hounds of Love – happening of the day
It’s been an honour to collaborate over many years here on this site with Dave, Peter and Krys from HomeGround magazine. In the earlier part of Kate’s career HomeGround helped to organise several memorable fan events and conventions with the full support and involvement of Kate and her family. So, with the release of her hugely successful Hounds of Love album, the 1985 Kate Bush Club/HomeGround Fan Convention was held on November 30th 1985 in The Dolphin centre in Romford, Essex.
Lots of fun things happened: two rounds of a Kate Bush Quiz, conducted by HomeGround’s Peter FitzGerald-Morris. There was a slideshow, during which a tape of a then-exclusive Tony Myatt interview with Kate was heard. There were door-prizes, including one of Kate’s gold albums and Del Palmer’s Tour of Life leather jacket (presented by Del himself!).
There was a lot of official Kate Bush merchandise on sale in a back room. Also, a lot of exclusive video clips were shown, including coverage of Kate’s trip to Japan and outtakes from the Hammersmith Odeon film. An interview happened on stage between Kate’s brothers Paddy and John Carder Bush. Kate’s entire family and Del Palmer were at the back of the main room throughout the entire event, ready and willing to chat with any and all fans who were interested. A really friendly atmosphere.
Everyone had cleverly been led to believe that Kate would “probably not attend” the convention and when at the very end Kate did turn up onstage, the crowd went wild with excitement, rushed en masse to the foot of the stage, and then held their breath to hear Kate thank everyone for coming, and to watch her as she was presented with a platinum album for Hounds of Love – a great moment!
While we don’t have video footage of the event (this was a long time before smartphones were invented!) the HomeGround crew have shared with me this great archive piece of audio below from the day, our wonderful MC Dave Cross explaining to the crowd that Kate would be donating all proceeds of the event to the Band Aid charity, pleading with fans not to remove the various poster displays around the venue(!), the lovely Lisa Bradley can be heard at one point (Kate’s friend who ran the Kate Bush Club for its entire existence) explaining a competition, and finally Dave gives a run-down of all the great rare Kate video clips about to be shown – a unique treat for many fans in that pre-Youtube era!
And here’s audio of Paddy Bush giving a demonstration of the backward singing on the album, and the moment that Kate arrives on stage (thanks to Peter, Krys and Dave for the audio and photos!)
And here’s audio of Paddy Bush giving a demonstration of the backward singing on the album, and the moment that Kate arrives on stage (thanks to Peter, Krys and Dave for the audio and photos!)
Hounds of Love – Artefact of the day
(Brought to you in association with katebushcollectibles.com)
In June 1997, one of the most expansive editions of Hounds of Love ever released was issued as part of the EMI 100 Centenary celebrations. A special remastered limited edition (significantly punchier sounding), the CD in a standard jewel-case is contained in a cardboard slip-case which also contains a 28-page centenary booklet on the history of EMI records.
The CD itself has been enhanced with new photos and layouts, an introduction by Peter Fitzgerald-Morris (of Homeground), and there are six additional bonus tracks; The Big Sky (Meteorological mix), Running Up That Hill (12″ mix), Be Kind To My Mistakes (the B-side of the 1989 single This Woman’s Work), Under The Ivy, Burning Bridge and My Lagan Love. The reissue received excellent reviews in the music press and received a 5 star review from Q magazine.
Hounds of Love – trivia of the day!
Speaking of album formats, the original cassette releases of Hounds of Love included the Running Up That Hill (12″ Single Version) at the end of side 1, to make up for the duration discrepancy between both sides, except in the USA. Interestingly, a run of the original European CD also showed it on the track list but didn’t actually have it on the CD….
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