Category: Kate Bush news Page 2 of 72

New data has revealed the most popular running songs in the US – and Kate’s Running Up That Hill ranks top. The research, conducted by casino sweepstake comparison site Casinos Sweeps, used Spotify’s Playlist Miner tool to determine the top songs included in 1,400 ‘jogging’ and ‘running’ related playlists that Americans turn to when they need encouragement to keep going.

Running Up That Hill is the most loved song by Americans to keep them moving, appearing 196 times. Since music has the power to trigger dopamine release, creating the right playlist can give that final push to lace up your trainers. I’m Good (Blue) by David Guetta ranks second as the next-best choice for keeping energy levels high with 136 (9.7%) placements in jogging and running-related playlists. In third with 124 mentions (8.9%) is The Weeknd’s Blinding Lights. Prada by Cassö claims the fourth spot, featured 91 times (6.5%). [Thanks to Collin Kelley for the info!]

Kate has been announced as the official UK ambassador for this year’s Record Store Day, on 20th April! To mark this she will release a limited 10″ UV-printed picture disc of Eat The Music on the day. The BBC were first to break the news this morning with quotes from Kate’s statement. Since 2009 artists such as Ozzy Osbourne, Iggy Pop, Jack White, Chuck D, Dave Grohl, Metallica, St. Vincent, Pearl Jam, Brandi Carlile and Taylor Swift have worn the annual “ceremonial sash” and used their high profiles to help promote the event online. The band, Paramore, have been named US ambassadors for the 2024 event. Find your local participating record store here.

Following on from her vinyl single releases to support independent stores on Record Store Day in previous years (Hounds of Love, Lake Tahoe and Running Up That Hill 2012 remix) on Saturday April 20th 2024 Kate will release a limited 10″ 3-track picture disc single of her joyous, Madagascan-infused 1993 song, Eat The Music, taken from The Red Shoes album. The 10″ disc features the cover art as a colour UV print on a side without grooves, with all three tracks on the other side, additionally including Lily and Big Stripey Lie, both also taken from The Red Shoes album.

The Eat The Music front disc artwork features the original single cover photo by John Carder Bush of Kate’s hands delving into the luscious fruit…”Split me open, with devotion, you put your hands in, and rip my heart out, eat the music….rip them to pieces, with sticky fingers…” The reverse side is white vinyl pressed with grooves playing the 3 tracks.

Kate’s statement in full:

What a huge honour to have been asked to be Ambassador for this year’s Record Store Day. It really is a great privilege.

Isn’t it great to see how the resurgence in vinyl has taken the Music Industry by complete surprise? It had decided to leave vinyl far behind, but it would seem that not everyone agrees! I love that!

I know there are many, many artists who are just as excited to see the audience turning the tide.

In the same way that some people like to read a book on Kindle but also want to have a book as a physical object, a lot of people like vinyl and streaming. Both have different appeals.

The added bonus of vinyl is that it encourages people to listen to albums. An art form that I’ve always thought can be treasured in a unique way.

An album on vinyl is a beautiful thing, given a strong identity by its large-scale artwork. There’s a much more personal connection with the artist and their work.

It’s been fun putting designs together for some of the previous RSDs. This year’s design echoes the cancelled release of ‘Eat the Music’ as the first single from the album, ‘The Red Shoes’.
The image was intended to be on the cover of the single bag and is now on the disc as a UV print.
The title, ‘Eat the Music’, is meant to be a playful nod to ‘If music be the food of love, play on,’ from Shakespeare’s Twelfth Night.

Each year Record Store Day gathers more attention, more momentum, and attracts more people who cram into indie record stores all over the world to see what’s up. What’s new?
This year, I hope you have a fantastic time at this very important event, and that you get to celebrate music that’s been specially released for you.

       Very best wises,

kate

Kate has posted a clip of the disc being manufactured:

Columbia Records released Eat The Music as the lead single from The Red Shoes in the US, while EMI chose Rubberband Girl everywhere else in the world. Eat The Music was also released in The Netherlands and Australia, along with a handful of other countries. The single reached #10 on the US Modern Rock Tracks chart.

SOOZ KEMPNER SINGS KATE BUSH AT THE RVT, LONDON – WITH SPECIAL GUEST MICHAEL MAYELL – Friday 15th March 2024 (Tickets)

Sooz Kempner is the brilliant stand up comedian, with sell out Edinburgh shows and a Doctor Who spin off, who has one of the best voices on the UK cabaret scene, AND who just happens to be a massive Kate Bush fan. 

If you have seen Sooz perform at Sunday Cabaret or one of the Kate themed charity shows at The RVT, you will have heard her stunning versions of songs such as Running Up That Hill, This Woman’s Work and Moments of Pleasure, plus her hilarious versions of Kate singing other people’s songs. NOW, in conjunction with HomeGround and KateBushNews.com, we are bringing you a whole show of Sooz singing Kate, plus she will be joined by the brilliant Michael Mayell, (formerly of the band Cloudbusting) on piano. This show will of course include some of Kate’s biggest hits, but also some real fan favourites, album tracks, b sides… it’s going to be a night for all Kate fans, whether you have loved her since Wuthering Heights or were introduced to her music by Stranger Things. (Tickets)

Tickets are here! £10 plus booking fee – Friday 15th March – Doors at 6pm, show starts at 7pm

Finally! Yes, of the ten gorgeous new coloured vinyl indie store editions of Kate’s albums this one has taken the longest to perfect and get out there! The Kick Inside on Mango Chutney translucent vinyl is finally being shipped to the US and to fans who ordered it on import elsewhere. Pictured is a beaming fan in France, our friend Jeremy Unruh, who scored the FIRST copy we’ve seen photographed out in the wild! Well done, Jeremy (and well done Jeremy’s husband, our friend Tristan!) – you both now have the full set. Delighted for you guys – enjoy (yes, we’re a little jealous here).

Beautiful! As promised, Kate will continue to release this series of illustrated vinyl editions of her albums, following Hounds of Love (Baskerville Edition), with The Dreaming (Escapologist Edition). As before, this features illustrations by Timorous Beasties, this time the front cover depicting the padlock (and a new ladybird friend!) for which escapologist Harry Houdini’s wife secretly passed the key from her mouth – as famously depicted by Kate and Del on the cover of the original album. Spot a KT symbol?

The rear cover emulates the ivy and lyric quote from the original album sleeve, with some elegant dragonflies among the leaves. The inner sleeve depicts Harry’s successful escape. The album is issued on a single black vinyl disc with the 2018 remastered audio. The sleeve is banded by an obi strip with the album title. It is available for pre-order from Kate’s site and is shipped in late January, in time for Valentine’s Day, Feb 14th.

On Kate’s updated site page for The Dreaming album she writes:

When we were recording The Dreaming album, I mentioned to my friend, Kevin McAlea, that I’d written a song for the album about Houdini.

Kevin then told me how Houdini’s wife used to pass a key to her husband with a kiss, just before he went on to perform one of his miraculous escapes. It was such a powerful image, I had to write it into the song …

… Then I thought how great it’d be as the front cover of the album, revealing the key in her mouth just before the kiss.

This new Edition tells in its own way, another version of the story –

A story that sets him free …

‘With a kiss, I’d pass the key’

Kate

Kate’s online store has four new items of merchandise which incorporate the new Escapologist Edition illustrated designs – a white t-shirt including back print, a bandana, a padlock enamel pin badge and a ceramic tile with wooden stand.

This latest Ultimate Record Collection bookazine reviews and ranks the 500 Greatest Albums of the 1980s, as voted for by Uncut Magazine’s team of experts. While all four of Kate’s 1980s albums make the list, we think everyone can guess which one was honoured with the No.1 spot in this top 500! A great way to remember so much wonderful music from that brilliant decade, the magazine is available to order online here.

Happy New Year to all our site visitors, our podcast listeners, and to Kate Bush fans everywhere. You are all wonderful and we are so grateful to have had you visit us. 2024 is a brand new year for our beautiful, one and only, planet – the fact that you listen to, embrace and share powerful music like that of Kate’s and other incredible artists has already made next year SO much better. You are amazing. Thank you for making things better. Continue to enjoy and share all the good things in 2024.

Lavish “bookazines” dedicated to prestige music artists have become part of the print publishing landscape and Kate has been featured on a good many at this point. Still, you will never find me complaining if there’s a well-written Kate Bush primer on the newsagent shelves waiting to inform and delight the casual KB-dabbler and seasoned fan alike. Mojo Magazine‘s newest series has previously showcased David Bowie, The Beatles, Bob Dylan and The Rolling Stones.

And they’ve just managed to get Kate Bush Essentials out before Christmas, PRE-ORDER IT HERE. I was involved in a bit of fact-checking with the editorial team at Mojo for this edition – something I’m always happy to do to try to avoid those niggling factual errors creeping in! Some great new writing in here, including from Tom Doyle who wrote that wonderful 50 Visions of Kate Bush book that was released last year.

From the blurb:

MOJO The Collectors’ Series: Kate Bush Essentials

“MOJO’s definitive guide to Kate Bush’s albums, songs, videos and books.

When Kate Bush was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in November 2023, singer and super-fan St Vincent posed a question: “How could someone be this genius and pure and completely free?”

While that’s a question that only Bush herself can truly answer, MOJO’s Kate Bush Essentials sheds new, revelatory light on the artist’s almost preternatural gifts as a singer, songwriter and producer.

Written by our team of Kate Bush experts, this deluxe 132-page bookazine guides fans through every one of her releases, song by song, from Wuthering Heights in 1978 to last year’s chart-topping reissue of Running Up That Hill (A Deal With God). We also celebrate her pioneering promotional videos, rare live appearances and the best in Bush literature. As a special treat, there’s also a ‘lost’ interview from 1989, in which the singer talks at length about her life and work, beginning with her new album at the time, The Sensual World.

Beautifully illustrated with sleeve artwork and rare and iconic photographs, Kate Bush Essentials is a must-have for all music fans and makes the perfect gift for the festive season.”

Kate Bush Essentials goes on sale on Thursday, December 21. You can Pre-order your copy here

An excellent new article in the latest edition of Record Collector magazine by Neil Hussey reassesses Kate’s wonderful second album, Lionheart, on its 45th anniversary and explores how it was recorded, nicely tying in with Darrell’s recent Kate Bush Fan Podcast chat with the producer of that record, Andrew Powell.

For many – including some of Bush’s own fans – Lionheart is a relatively minor work, a rather hastily-conceived follow-up to her striking, incandescent debut. Yet Lionheart is a finely-crafted, strikingly original record, too harshly judged. It’s a record replete with moments of warm sensuality, quiet intimacy, bold lyrical ideas and grandiose musical statements – the kind of record you just couldn’t imagine anyone else making. 

Neil Hussey, Record Collector Magazine

This issue is in shops in the UK and Ireland or order online here. Also included in this issue is a free 2024 calendar which has a very delightful December page for Kate Bush fans! Thanks to Paul Thomas for the photos.

Kate was inducted into the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame last night at their lavish ceremony in the Barclays Center, Brooklyn, New York. Big Boi appeared on stage and gave a great, passionate speech about Kate’s achievements and influence. As with all inductees, a very nice video package was played out with many clips of her work and famous admirers discussing her, which covered the entirety of Kate’s career to date, including Before the Dawn which was great to see.

Big Boi then introduced St. Vincent who performed Running Up That Hill (A Deal with God) to honour Kate. St. Vincent (real name Annie Clarke) has always been hugely complimentary of Kate and portions of her contribution to the 2014 BBC documentary were shown at last night’s ceremony.

Today on her Facebook page she said: “I was working on my first record and an engineer friend played me “Hounds of Love.” It was everything. So urgent. So emotional. An entire sonic world. Deeply catchy and deeply bizarre. ART. Kate. Singular. Inimitable. Then the early records. For me: “The Kick Inside”. “The Dreaming”. And later, still pushing soaring on “Aerial”. How could someone be this genius and pure and completely free? Vocally, musically, physically? I stand in awe of Kate Bush. There is no one who could ever compare.”

Other performers on the night included Chaka Khan, Elton John, Sheryl Crow, Willie Nelson, Stevie Nicks and a dazzling show-stopping finale from Missy Elliott. A souvenir programme on sale at the event featured an 8-page illustrated article by Ann Powers on Kate’s huge musical impact. The ceremony, which almost ran to a whopping 4 and half hours was streamed live on the Disney+ channel and can now be replayed in full on their site/app.

Kate herself wasn’t able to attend the ceremony, instead preferring to give heartfelt thanks to the RRHOF organisation via a beautifully-worded statement on her official site.

I am completely blown away by this huge honour – an award that sits in the big beating heart of the American music industry.

Thank you so much to everyone who voted for me. I never imagined I would be given this wonderful accolade.

Last year was such a surprisingly successful time for my track Running Up That Hill and
I’m sure that a lot of you who’ve voted me in to the RRHOF also drove that track up the charts. Thank you!

I’m afraid I won’t be able to attend the ceremony tonight, but for me the real honour is knowing that you felt I deserved it.

The RRHOF has welcomed me into the most extraordinary rostrum of overwhelming talent.

When I was growing up my hero was Elton John. I poured over his music, longed to be able to play piano like him and longed to write songs that could move people in the way his work moved me.

That little girl in South East London could never have dreamed she’d be sharing the event tonight with Bernie Taupin, Elton’s writing partner, an incredible lyricist who inspired me to keep writing songs – to keep trying. Congratulations Bernie! Congratulations to everyone who is being inducted tonight!

Music is at the core of who I am and, like all musicians, being on the journey of trying to create something musically interesting is rife with feelings of doubt and insecurity.

I’m only five foot three, but today I feel a little taller.

Kate

Here is the full text of Big Boi’s induction speech:

Check it out: I fell in love with Kate Bush in middle school. My uncle Russell, my favorite uncle, turned me onto her and I listened to “Running Up That Hill” on my bike. I was that kid from Stranger Things. Like I’m talking about I really think they took my interview and put it in Stranger Things. So since then, I’ve been obsessed with her music and remained her biggest fan. I know what some of you are thinking: What does Kate Bush have to do with hip-hop? She is such a unique artist, you might as well also ask: What does Kate Bush have to do with rock’n’roll?

Obviously our music is very different. But in important ways, we’re exactly the same. What I love about Kate’s music is that I never know what sound I’m gonna hear next. She ignores anything that seems like a formula and instead just does whatever she wants to do, like me. She challenges me as a listener and expands my ears and my mind. No matter how many times I look to albums like The Dreaming or 50 Words for Snow, they sound fresh and surprise me every time. They fill with my head with ideas and expand my ambitions for what music can achieve. As a singer, Kate’s voice is incredibly, incredibly inventive. Who sounds like Kate Bush? [sings] Nobody! … Like Keith Sweat say, haha. On stage, she’s a miracle. Her songs sound the actual way we just hear them on their own, and in their performance, they actually become theater. Kate is a songwriter, producer, and performer without equal. If that’s not hip-hop, I don’t know what is.

When I didn’t know Kate, I imagined she lived in London in a castle high on top of a mountain writing fairy tales and playing a big ass piano—super big, like Bugs Bunny big. The truth is a little bit different from that. I met Kate, we had long conversations, I introduced my family to her, and I met her son out at her shows in London. It was cool. We just two hearts, baby, let’s go! It’s no surprise that she had a surge of popularity decades after she emerged on the scene. After all, if you were hearing Kate’s music for the first time, why wouldn’t you believe she was a current artist? The only mistake you might make is that the artists she influenced had influenced her. But it’s very much the other way around. Kate Bush has helped shape contemporary music, even the music of artists who have never heard of her. She is a true artist and a true visionary and that’s why Kate Bush belongs in the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame.

Big Boi

To mark the Class of 2023 inductees, the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame museum in Cleveland, Ohio has launched a year-long exhibition including artefacts donated by the inductees. Kate has donated the bedroom set from her stop-motion animated film Mistraldespair. On her official site Kate says: ‘I hope people will enjoy seeing this set from the animation, Mistraldespair. It’s been sitting in our hallway at home for years. I’m going to really miss it, but take comfort from the fact that it’s gone to a really good home.’ Kate has also donated a storyboard for her Experiment IV video, handwritten lyrics for Cloudbusting and a copy of her book How To Be Invisible.

Finally, Kate also donated an original wire coat hanger headset that was invented for her 1979 tour! Fantastic! On her newly designed site’s Lionheart album page, Kate remarks:

“The live shows followed shortly off the back of this album. Because I wanted to sing and dance, I needed a mic that didn’t have to be held. Together with the live sound engineer, we invented the first headset. I suggested that we patent it, but he said ‘How do we patent an old coat hanger bent into shape?’ Because we didn’t have time to troubleshoot, we’d often pick up local cab companies on the same frequency. These would go out over the sound system to the great amusement of the audiences!”