If you’re planning to go see the new Tom Hanks film, A Man Called Otto, listen out for Kate’s song This Woman’s Work which is used to score a big emotional set-piece in the film. Directed by Marc Foster, here is the film synopsis: “When a lively young family moves in next door, grumpy widower Otto Anderson meets his match in a quick-witted, pregnant woman named Marisol, leading to an unlikely friendship that turns his world upside down.” We are hearing that fans who have seen the film have been particularly moved by the sequence featuring Kate’s classic song.
I was so saddened and shocked to hear the news on Christmas Eve that our friend and fellow Kate Bush fan, that amazing whirlwind of enthusiastic energy, Michael Byrne, had passed away after a short illness that came so unexpectedly upon him over the last couple of months. Mere weeks ago I had been chatting with Michael, a fellow Dubliner, about him hopefully attending the performance of Kate’s songs in the Irish language in Smock Alley Theatre with me – something I know he’d have been ecstatic about, but he wasn’t well enough.
Michael, a kind, industrious, soft-spoken man who ran a creative publishing company in Dublin, first came to my attention during lockdown in 2020 – contacting me to feel out an ambitious, high quality Kate Bush coffee table book project, Finding Kate, that he was undertaking with his colleague, the supremely talented Irish designer and illustrator, Marius Herbert. Needing something to throw his endless energy into while business took a pandemic downturn, his passion and sincerity as a fan managed to convince me that this was going to be special so I was on board, plugging his crowdfunding campaign (it wasn’t a cheap book to produce) and helping to spread the word. Michael succeeded in getting interviews on national Irish radio and press articles about the book, and I am delighted that we got the chance to record an episode of the Kate Bush Fan Podcast together all about the Finding Kate project. You can hear it here – it’s so wonderful to be able to hear him talk last year about realising his dream project. The detailed effort that went into creating each image is so evident in his voice.
‘Hello Earth’ – from ‘Finding Kate’ by Michael Byrne and Marius Herbert
The early peeks I got of the book were breathtakingly good. The reaction from fans was highly enthusiastic, the book was hailed as a great success. As I wrote before on this site, “it was a joy to leaf through the pages of the book and talk through this impressive piece of work with its clearly relieved and delighted creators. As promised, the book is a visual feast, illustrating twenty six of Kate’s songs across sumptuous double-page spreads. The songs have been chosen by Michael, a major Kate Bush fan (it shows!) who writes beautifully about each song’s significance in Kate’s career and what they mean to him.”
Some of the sumptuous reward items crowdfunders received with their early orders
“The unexpectedly generous introduction sections by Michael throughout constitute a wonderful, concise synopsis of Kate’s recording career, so there’s plenty of great reading here for both casual and more hardcore fans of Kate. But, this large LP-sized book is intended to be a visual feast and Marius has produced some breathtaking images filled with detail and touches that were agonised over for months between the pair – a honeybee flies across the pages from a near psychedelic explosion of Kate in colourful nature imagery (and a familiar yellow sun-design) for Delius, a floating, angel-winged electric guitar poignantly reflects the departed musicians name-checked in Blow Away (for Bill), a water-submerged Kate simultaneously floats, dreamlike, above the planet for Hello Earth, an Irish dancer’s feet captured in whirling mid-step on a flagstone floor for Jig of Life, four glorious pages devoted to A Sky of Honey where the crimson, red and rust of golden hour transform a female figure into an explosion of feathered wings and avian friends, soaring skyward…and so many, many more surprising visuals.”
Michael Byrne, Mandy Watson (Cloudbusting) and Marius Herbert – Dublin, July 2022
Michael had told me that one of the sparks of inspiration to do the book came from seeing the Kate tribute band Cloudbusting play in The Sugar Club in Dublin, so it was my pleasure just a few short months ago in July to arrange for Michael and Marius to meet the band backstage before their Dublin gig, where he presented the band members with copies of the book. It was plain to see the joy and pride Michael had on his face as he explained the book and thanked the band for spreading Kate’s music out into the world. He was floating on air. I had no way of knowing that was the last time I’d see him, but I’m glad it was such a joyous occasion for him. Very recently, Michael managed to get the book mentioned again on national radio here in Ireland, presenter Ryan Tubridy truly impressed by the book – a flood of new orders ensued. Of course.
Our thoughts and deepest sympathies are with Michael’s wife Deirdre, his children Holly, Conor and Alyson and to all his family and friends. He will be terribly missed. An online book of condolence is here. We especially send a big hug to Marius, who patiently and painstakingly helped Michael to put together something that remains utterly unique for Kate’s fans around the world to enjoy. Marius, your illustration work is exquisite. You have done yourself and Michael so very proud. I would urge anyone reading this to get your copy of the book to see it for yourself. It’s available to order worldwide from https://findingkatebook.com/ – RIP Michael, you did it x
This new episode of The Kate Bush Fan Podcast is the third and final installment from Bush Telegraph celebrating the 40th anniversary of The Dreaming – arguably, Kate Bush’s most forward-thinking album. Paul and Darrell introduce this episode, and then Darrell chats with Nick Launay, Kate’s prolific engineer at Townhouse Studios. His collaboration with Kate created a synergy of ideas that ended up on this iconic album. Exclusive stories are heard on this podcast, where we get an expanded view of how these almost operatic tracks were produced, including more details of the title track. As an added bonus, we also get to hear how ‘Lord Of The Reedy River’ (b-side to the first single ‘Sat In Your Lap’) was recorded next to a dank pool under the studio floorboards. And if that doesn’t whet your appetite, which we’re sure it will, find out who Kate nearly recorded a duet with. Thanks again to Nick Launay, also known for his work with other great artists such as Nick Cave, Public Image Ltd., Lou Reed, Talking Heads and Arcade Fire.
You can subscribe to the Kate Bush Fan Podcast on iTunes or Spotify or on any podcast app you happen to use, such as Stitcher or Tunein or listen below on Soundcloud.
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Kate has posted a very thoughtful message on her official site this evening reflecting on a year of highs and lows and ending on a beautiful, hopeful note. Happy Christmas to you, Kate, an amazing year for your music around the world.
Merry Christmas
Every year seems to fly by a little faster. They say this happens as you get older, but there’s no doubt that the speed of life is accelerating at a greater rate than ever. I don’t think any of us have ever known a year like this one. Life became incredibly frightening in the pandemic, but just as we think it might be over soon, it seems to keep going. It’s a bombardment – the horrific war in Ukraine, the famines, the droughts, the floods… and we lost our Queen. Many of my friends were surprised at how upset they were at her death especially as we aren’t royalists, but I think her passing became a focus for grief, for unexpressed loss that so many people had felt during the pandemic. It’s been a crazy, roller coaster year for me. I still reel from the success of RUTH, being the No 1 track of this summer. What an honour! It was really exciting to see it doing so well globally, but especially here in the UK and Australia; and also to see it making it all the way to No 3 in the US. It was such a great feeling to see so many of the younger generation enjoying the song. It seems that quite a lot of them thought I was a new artist! I love that! Again, thank you so much to everyone who supported the track and made it a hit. I wonder where on earth we’ll all be at the end of next year? I hope the war will end. I hope that the nurses will be in a position where they are appreciated – they should be cherished. Let’s all hope that next year will be better than this one. I keep thinking about hope and how it was the last to fly out of Pandora’s box. Sometimes it’s all that seems to glow in the dark times we find ourselves in right now. I used a little robin in some of my Christmas gifts to friends this year. I felt that this humble little bird, which symbolises Christmas could also symbolise hope in the context of Emily Dickinson’s beautiful words: Hope is the thing with feathers that perches in the soul. I‘d like to think that this Christmas when joy is so hard to find, hope will perch in all our souls. Merry Christmas! All best wishes, Kate
New 2022 CD single available exclusively from Rhino Records here
As 2022 draws to a close, various charts and sites have been looking back at the big selling singles and tracks this year and we are reminded once again of the breathtaking success of what is now Kate’s biggest ever global hit single – Running Up That Hill (A Deal with God). Just to remind ourselves, Kate had the biggest song in the world on the official global charts for three weeks this summer, and so, so much more No.1 success around the world which also included her triumphant 3-week return to the top of the UK singles charts and her biggest ever hit in the USA. The Ringer has recently described it as the most important song of the year and “the song that dominated the zeitgeist more than any other in 2022” calling it “a genuine sensation that people inside the industry and out couldn’t stop talking about.” Google year end search results have Kate as one of the most searched terms in music for 2022. On the music search app, Shazam, Running Up That Hill was the 12th most searched for song of 2022 globally.
Kate has placed at No.18 on the Billboard Global 200 for the year, meaning she had one of the biggest selling singles in the whole world this year. She also places at No.23 in the US Billboard Hot 100for all of 2022. Kate could well also place in the Top 10 of 2022 on the UK Official chart when those figures are released. On the world’s largest streaming music service, Spotify, Running Up That Hill (A Deal With God) was the 10th most-played song for the whole year AND the No.1 “throwback” song globally (defined by Spotify as songs originally released over 20 years ago). Kate’s song saw a 8,700% increase in Spotify streams this year, and currently has been streamed over 820 million times. In the UK it was the 4th most streamed track of 2022 on Spotify, and the 8th most streamed song on Spotify USA. The music video has been viewed over 150 MILLION times on Youtube.
On the video streaming platform, Tiktok, where Kate has a huge following among younger site users, Running Up That Hill was in the Top 10 most popular songs in both the US and the UK for all of 2022. And look out for a (groan worthy) joke about Kate in Christmas crackers if this Top Ten of topical 2022 jokes is to be believed!
To hear the full story of Kate’s incredible year, the charts, the No.1s, the world records, the media reaction, the excitement, Kate’s own reactions and much more, don’t miss our podcast episode on The Summer of Kate here!!
In this new Kate Bush Fan Podcast episode, Bush Telegraph duo (Darrell in the States and Paul in the UK) continue to discuss Kate’s fourth album The Dreaming, in their second installment celebrating the 40th anniversary of this iconic album. As school friends, they bought the album on the day of its release, and the next day met Kate at the album signing in London. We hear more snippets of their experiences in 1982, but the major part of this podcast is Darrell’s interview with Teri Reed, senior engineer at Odyssey Studios. Teri talks about his collaboration with Kate, as Odyssey was one of the studios she used for The Dreaming. We find out, not surprisingly, what a generous and warm colleague she was, as well as the extraordinary levels she went to, to get the right sound for a track. For example, why was Teri coaxed into a car park to find a specific sound she needed? All will be revealed. That, and a whole lot more. The final and third episode to follow will be an interview with Nick Launay, another collaborator with Kate. Enjoy!
You can subscribe to the Kate Bush Fan Podcast on iTunes or Spotify or on any podcast app you happen to use, such as Stitcher or Tunein or listen below on Soundcloud.
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Photo by Edward Quant – Del playing his “Egly” bass at the Belfast Empire, Nov 25th 2018
Today we wish our friend, Del Palmer, a very happy birthday as he celebrates his 70th! We hope you know how much you are loved and respected by all the fans, Del, and how thrilled we are for the success you shared in this year with Running Up That Hill taking over the world – you can be so proud of your work with Kate, truly astounding.
With love and hugs from, Seán, Krys, Peter and Dave xxx
Another very special Kate Bush Fan Podcast! In the second part of Seán’s conversation with Kate’s brother, John Carder Bush, he talks about his involvement in Kate’s career, the 1979 tour, his famous video set and album/single cover photographs, the poetry books, novels and photo books he has published, his collaborations with Vivienne Chandler, his involvement in the Japanese martial art of Kyudo, the re-grouping of the Salatticum Poets in the 21st century, his return to the Jig of Life narration for Before the Dawn – and a lot more! [Part one of this conversation is here]
Jeremy Cartland, John Carder Bush and Tony Buzan – The Salatticum Poets
You can subscribe to the Kate Bush Fan Podcast on iTunes or Spotify or on any podcast app you happen to use, such as Stitcher or Tunein or listen below on Soundcloud.
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Thanks to everyone who entered our Running Up That Hill: 50 Visions of Kate Bush book giveaway competition, we had hundreds of entries and the successful winner has been notified! As a thank you for your interest in the book (see our enthusiastic review here) the author, Tom Doyle, has decided to exclusively share an unpublished chapter (or “vision”) from the book. You can DOWNLOAD the chapter here (PDF format) or read it in full below. The book is published today and has already received glowing reviews from the likes of Mojo Magazine (4/5), Record Collector (4/5) and Uncut Magazine (9/10). Tom writes:
Hello folks,
So, my Kate book is out today. It was very much a labour of love for me, and quite some trip to write. I’ve never laughed or “twinkled” as often as I did when writing this book, so I very much hope you enjoy.
There was one “lost” chapter that ended up on the cutting-room floor. So, here it is as an exclusive for Kate Bush News.
In the 1980s, for a generation of future musicians, Kate Bush’s 1986 hits collection, The Whole Story, was their portal into the world of her songs. Scottish singer Emma Pollock – of Glasgow indie rock band The Delgados, and a solo artist in her own right – was 15 years old when Bush’s singles collection was released. It made a huge impression on her.
‘It goes back to my mum introducing me to Kate Bush’s music in the late ‘70s,’ she says. ‘She adored “Wuthering Heights”. But I bought The Whole Story with my own Christmas money, and I just had an absolute love affair with that album.
‘For kids, compilations are amazing, because they provide a point of access, and you don’t have to grapple with the artist’s song choices when it comes to an album, and how they might be slightly difficult for a kid. I think compilations hit the sweet spot for someone who suspects they’re a fan but kind of needs it confirmed.’
Similarly, in Sunderland, brothers Peter and David Brewis, later to combine their vocal and multi-instrumentalist talents in their art rock band Field Music, were surrounded by Kate Bush’s songs at home when they were kids.
‘I was only six or seven,’ says David. ‘But I intrinsically knew all of the songs on The Whole Story. And I probably knew all the songs on the first side of Hounds of Love. But I don’t think you understand the second side until you’ve passed eight years old (laughs).’
‘Growing up, Kate Bush was just part of the musical fabric of the household,’ says Peter, by four years the elder brother. ‘Those records were just around all the time. And they definitely became part of my idea about what music is meant to be. It’s the idea of this synthesis of various things to create your own music.’
In 2016, Emma Pollock was approached by the organisers of the True North music festival in Aberdeen with the idea of her staging a show involving a line-up of guest singers exploring the music of Joni Mitchell. ‘Even though I love Joni Mitchell, I actually wanted to do Kate Bush,’ she says. ‘So, I kind of countered with that. And they said, ‘Yeah, sounds great.’”
Yes, we all adore our immense HomeGround Anthology books and swoon at John Carder Bush’s essential Kate: Inside the Rainbow but the prospect of another more traditional biography of Kate might not exactly excite longtime fans – a quick glance at my own bookshelf here confirms that there have indeed been many, many attempts over the years to tell the story of Kate’s career in book-form with varying degrees of success; Graeme Thomson’s twice-revised Under The Ivy being far and away the best of the bunch. So, when we heard this Summer that a new book by respected British music journalist Tom Doyle would be surfacing with the title “Running Up that Hill – 50 Visions of Kate Bush” and that it would take the form of a “mosaic biography”, it did at first sound like it might be a tired, cobbled together clippings rehash to cash-in on Kate’s phenomenal global hit single this year – thankfully, this is not the case.
Instead, this excellent book, published on October 27th, is easily one of the best yet written about Kate’s career – surprisingly refreshing, full of new details and insights, and earnestly crafted with obvious respect and serious admiration for the subject matter without ever leaning into all-out hagiography. As with Graeme Thomson’s lauded biography, you come away with the feeling that Doyle “gets it” and clearly enjoyed shining a light on many carefully chosen aspects of Kate’s output over the years. As a writer for Mojo Magazine, Doyle was granted a very significant exclusive in 2005, spending a day with Kate at her home to conduct what would be the first and most in-depth interview she would do to promote her return with the Aerial album. Little wonder that he uses much unpublished detail from this charming encounter to form the spine of his book structure.
Presented as 50 chapters or “visions”, the traditional chronological biography approach is (sensibly) still present, but the “multi-faceted” aspect highlighted in the book publicity has freed up the author to include “Guest Testimony” chapters (with new contributions from the likes of David Gilmour, writer Ian Rankin and photographer Guido Harari) as well as dipping into interviews and transcribed TV appearances and much fascinating fresh interview material; Kate’s brother John Carder Bush describes his unforgettable Rackham-inspired photography of a young Kate that would be included in his Cathy book. Gilmour’s fresh account of the recording of the demos in the 1970s is riveting stuff. Video directors Paul Henry and Julian Doyle discuss the making of the videos for The Dreaming (shot in a day), There Goes a Tenner and the iconic Cloudbusting film. There’s even an unexpectedly welcome exploration with Utah Saints about their dance smash Something Good in 1992. I was very pleased to see Doyle allowing his “visions” structure to devote entire chapters to some of Kate’s artistic peaks; Pull Out The Pin, Under The Ivy, Moments of Pleasure, A Coral Room and the filmed And Dream of Sheep are among those duly given this special spotlight treatment.
Throughout, Doyle writes wonderfully about his subject matter, describing the Kate Bush he met as “steely, gently controlling, painfully self-critical, and also the first person to happily puncture the reverential bubble that surrounds her.” In his introductory chapter he states that his book is: “…designed to be a multifaceted portrait of Kate Bush: illuminating from fifty different angles the girl who lived in her imagination, reluctantly became famous because of it, then had to deal with unwanted outside forces, before battling on and emerging triumphant, to become one of the most groundbreaking, idiosyncratic and singular artists of our time.” Highly recommended.
COMPETITON TIME! The lovely people at Bonnier / Nine Eight Books have given us a copy of Running Up That Hill – 50 Visions of Kate Bush to give away! To be in with a chance, just answer the following question:
Who introduced Kate’s only ever TV performance of Under The Ivy in April 1986?
Please send your answer to 50visions@katebushnews.com – if you are successful we will then be in touch by email to get your details for getting the book to you. The competition runs till the end of Wednesday October 26th at which point the random draw will be made. Good luck!
COMPETITION RULES: COMPETITION STARTS OCTOBER 20TH 2022 AND ENDS OCTOBER 26TH, 2022 AT 23:59 (GMT). ONE ENTRY PER PERSON. MULTIPLE ENTRIES, THE REGISTRATION OF MULTIPLE EMAIL ADDRESSES FOR ONE PERSON AND INCOMPLETE ENTRIES WILL RESULT IN DISQUALIFICATION. KATEBUSHNEWS.COM IS NOT RESPONSIBLE FOR THE TIMELINESS OF DELIVERY OR ELECTRONIC OR COMPUTER MALFUNCTIONS THAT MAY AFFECT THE DELIVERY OR CONTENT OF ENTRY. WINNER WILL BE SELECTED IN A RANDOM DRAW FROM ALL ELIGIBLE ENTRIES ON OR ABOUT OCTOBER 27TH, 2022. WINNER WILL BE NOTIFIED BY EMAIL. IF WINNER CANNOT BE REACHED WITHIN 3 DAYS OF NOTIFICATION, AN ALTERNATE WINNER WILL BE SELECTED. ODDS OF WINNING DEPEND ON NUMBER OF ELIGIBLE ENTRIES RECEIVED. PRIZE IS NON-TRANSFERABLE AND NON-EXCHANGEABLE. NO SUBSTITUTION OR CASH EQUIVALENT WILL BE MADE. ALL DECISIONS OF KATEBUSHNEWS.COM IS FINAL. WINNER SHOULD ALLOW 6 WEEKS FOR DELIVERY OF PRIZE.
Kate has posted a message remembering her friend, the wonderful actor Robbie Coltrane, who died on Friday, aged 72. Robbie’s voice (“You must wake up!”) can be heard among those trying to rouse Kate from sleep in Waking The Witch. In 2011, he starred in the official music video for Deeper Understanding. He played the actor playing the subject matter of Kate’s song “Ken” in the Comic Strip Presents film, G.L.C. For millions around the world, of course, he’ll be known as the loveable giant Hagrid in the Harry Potter films as well as starring in the BAFTA-winning UK TV series, Cracker. Kate’s message from her official site:
Robbie
I was very upset to hear the news about Robbie. I’m really grateful that he agreed to star in a video that we made some years ago. It was incredibly exciting to watch him at work and to be in the presence of his deeply profound intelligence and earthy wit. He was so much fun. I’m really going to miss him. I had so much respect for his many talents and his generosity of spirit. We’ve lost one of our great treasures… Kate
In this new episode of The Kate Bush Fan Podcast, Darrell and Paul (The Bush Telegraph) start a three-part series all about ‘The Dreaming’ album, as we celebrate its 40th anniversary. In the first episode they discuss the excitement of its release when they were young teenagers, including the first time they met Kate at the Virgin Megastore album signing. Each track is discussed, as well as quotes from Kate about the album and reviews from the press. The following episodes will have exclusive interviews with Teri Reed, engineer at Advision Studios and Nick Launay, engineer at Townhouse Studios. You will not want to miss these, as new light is shed on each of the album tracks, as well as ‘Lord of the Reedy River’, b-side to ‘Sat In Your Lap’. Fun anecdotes of their work with Kate are also shared. Happy Dreaming!…
You can subscribe to the Kate Bush Fan Podcast on iTunes or Spotify or on any podcast app you happen to use, such as Stitcher or Tunein or listen below on Soundcloud.
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In this very special episode, Seán chats with Kate’s eldest brother, the poet, writer and photographer, John Carder Bush at his home in South East London. A dream come true! In this first part, we talk about John’s early life, how he developed his writing, his days playing in folk bands in London (with a young Kate taking notes), forming the Salatticum Poets with his great friends Tony Buzan and Jeremy Cartland, the story behind “Nicholas Wade” and so much more! Part two coming next week.
You can subscribe to the Kate Bush Fan Podcast on iTunes or Spotify or on any podcast app you happen to use, such as Stitcher or Tunein or listen below on Soundcloud.
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In this detailed new episode of The Kate Bush Fan Podcast Seán packs an hour looking back over all the amazing landmark events of Summer 2022 when Kate’s song Running Up That Hill (A Deal With God) was featured on Stranger Things and became her biggest ever global smash hit – all the summer chart news, the reaction from Kate, the media and the fans! A souvenir of an extraordinary few months.
You can subscribe to the Kate Bush Fan Podcast on iTunes or Spotify or on any podcast app you happen to use, such as Stitcher or Tunein or listen below on Soundcloud.
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Acclaimed author of the His Dark Materials trilogy, Philip Pullman, has released his book, The Collectors, as a slim 80-page hardback edition illustrated by Tom Duxbury. It’s well known that Kate and Philip are friends and mutual admirers of each other’s work (Kate famously recorded the song Lyra for the film adaptation of Pullman’s The Golden Compass). Kate is mentioned in the dedication at the start of the book as having inspired it!
“Filled with the magic of Pullman’s assured pen, this glorious new tale set in the universe of His Dark Materials sees an art-collecting Oxford academic acquire two imposing paintings…on a dark winter’s night in 1970, Horley and Grinstead huddle for warmth in the Senior Common Room of a college in Oxford. Conversation turns to the two impressive works of art that Horley has recently added to his collection. What the two men don’t know is that these pieces are connected in mysterious and improbable ways; and they are about to be caught in the cross-fire of a story which has travelled time and worlds.“
