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BBC2 Screening 1979 ABBA special featuring Kate!

Following the release last week of ABBA‘s first new studio album in 40 years, Voyage, BBC2 in the UK will be airing an evening of ABBA-themed programmes from 8pm on Saturday 13th November. At 11pm they will screen the 1979 TV special ABBA in Switzerland, which famously features Benny and Björn introducing Kate’s unforgettable performance of Wow, which sent the British popular press into a frenzy at the time. Warm congratulations to Anni-Frid, Agnetha, Benny and Björn on their wonderful new album and enduring success.

ABBA in 2021 – in their performance capture ABBAtar outfits!
Mark Radcliffe

Mark Radcliffe makes film about Kate and Wuthering Heights

BBC Radio 6 Music DJ Mark Radcliffe has posted several tweets recently of a trip he made to Haworth in Yorkshire, to make a film about Kate and the song that started it all, Wuthering Heights. The documentary should be aired sometime around Christmas. Mark has been a vocal supporter of Kate ever since creating the “Bushometer” on his radio show in the early 2000s before Aerial was released, counting down to his dream of interviewing Kate, which he has now since done more than once!

1979 Kate Bush Christmas special on BBC4 Dec 23rd

UK viewers can watch the classic 1979 Kate Bush Christmas TV special just after midnight on Dec 23rd on BBC4 – lovely way to welcome Christmas Eve. Programme information is here

Kate on BBC4

From the Kate Bush Encyclopedia site:

‘Kate’ is the official name of a Christmas special that was broadcast on BBC television (UK) on 28 December 1979. It was recorded in October 1979 at the BBC’s Pebble Mill Studios in Birmingham, England with choreography by Anthony Van Laast. Part of the show – the sequence for The Wedding List – had been recorded at South London’s Nunhead cemetery, a 19th-century Gothic cemetery with lots of imposing monuments to eminent citizens of that time. The special was a mixture of pre-filmed sequences, dramatic in-studio set-pieces and a handful of straight performances behind the piano.

The special consists of the following songs:

  1. Violin
  2. Gymnopédie No. 1
  3. Symphony In Blue
  4. Them Heavy People
  5. The Angel Gabriel (with Paddy Bush and Glenys Groves)
  6. Here Comes The Flood (Peter Gabriel)
  7. Ran Tan Waltz
  8. December Will Be Magic Again
  9. The Wedding List
  10. Another Day (with Peter Gabriel)
  11. Egypt
  12. The Man With The Child In His Eyes
  13. Don’t Push Your Foot On The Heartbrake

Kate at BBC

New French documentary on Kate to air on ARTE channel

Here’s a clip from a French TV documentary about Kate, directed by Claire Laborey, that is due to air on 13th September at 21.30 on the ARTE channel in France.

Entitled “Kate Bush, la sorcière du son” (which translates as “sorceress of sound”), the 55-minute documentary gets its first showing on Friday, September 13th on ARTE at 21:30. From the press release (roughly translated!):

“Composed of a host of archives and interviews – including musicians who have worked with her – this portrait, without dissipating the halo of mystery that surrounds Kate, allows to discover many facets, and explores the immense musical talent of the one who is nicknamed the sorceress of soundMore at the ARTE site here. The documentary will be available to view online on the ARTE site from Sept 6th.

This Woman’s Work featured in The Handmaid’s Tale

Kate’s ‘This Woman’s Work‘ was used as part of the soundtrack in the Season Two opening episode of The Handmaid’s Tale on US television. Spoiler Alert for fans of that show in this article ‘The Unerring Power of ‘This Woman’s Work’ by Jen Chaney from The Vulture here.

Handmaid's Tale

Channel 4 TV show “Four Rooms” looking for Kate Bush fans!

Four Rooms dealers

Four Rooms is a British television series from Channel 4 which sees members of the public who have rare, unusual items to sell, and four reputable dealers from the collectibles world who potentially want to buy them. Over the past 4 series, the Four Rooms dealers have handed over in excess of £1 million a diverse mix of empowered sellers who have negotiated their way to a successful deal.

They’ve had Kate Bush items sell on the show before and are eager to reach out to fans who may have some special items, such as rare records, memorabilia, costumes, etc, that they’d be interested in showcasing and selling in this way. If you might be interested, the show can be reached at @C4FourRooms on Twitter OR by emailing FourRooms@Boundlessproductions.tv

BBC4 to broadcast new television documentary on Kate

BBC 4 logo

A new documentary about Kate’s career, called “The Kate Bush Story: Running Up That Hill” will air on the BBC 4 TV channel on Friday 22nd August at 9.10pm – days before her return to the live stage on August 26th.

The documentary will explore Kate’s career and music from January 1978’s Wuthering Heights to her 2011 album 50 Words for Snow through the testimony of some of her key collaborators and those she has inspired. Contributors include those who have worked closely with Kate; Del Palmer, David Gilmour, Lindsay Kemp, Peter Gabriel, Elton John, Stephen Fry and Nigel Kennedy.

Also exploring their abiding fascination with Kate are some of the musicians who have been influenced by her (St Vincent’s Annie Clark, Natasha Khan of Bat for Lashes, Tori Amos, Outkast’s Big Boi, Guy Garvey and Tricky) and some writers and comedians who admire her (Jo Brand, Steve Coogan and Neil Gaiman).

It will be immediately followed at 10.10pm by a compilation of “Kate Bush at the BBC“. Both programmes will be repeated later that same night from 12.40am to 2.40am.

From the press release: “BBC Four continues its rich tradition of in-depth, original music documentaries featuring world class talent with single documentaries about Kate Bush, Northern Soul, and The Joy of the Guitar Riff…Kate Bush has always danced to her own tune and we love her for it…(the documentary) explores what makes this singer-songwriter unique through the recollections of her colleagues and friends as well as those she has influenced down the years.”

Kate on Wogan - Rocket Man

[Kate performs Rocket Man at the BBC – screenshots by www.katebush.pl]

Babooshka on ‘The Voice Australia’

Following one contestant chosing Wuthering Heights as her blind audition song, and the re-entry of Kate’s original version of that track into the Australian Top 40, another contestant in ‘The Voice Australia’, Russian born  Viktoria Bolonia appeared on the show performing Babooshka, and also got through, and is now on Delta Goodrem’s team.

In 1980 Babooshka was a no.1 single in Australia so we await next week’s chart with interest.

Stuart Maconie reviews 50 Words For Snow

An old one this, but nice all the same. Stuart Maconie reviews Kate on The Review Show on BBC 2, this clip from November 18th. (thanks Louise)

[youtube width=”640″ height=”360″]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2la6Qfge9po[/youtube]

Swedish TV review of the album

From SVT in Sweden (with thanks to Henrik). We hope this is a good review, but unfortunately our Swedish isn’t up to much! 🙂

Update: Swedish fans tell us that the reviewers in the clip say the album is Kate’s strongest and best yet and they love it. They also say that Kate is like the “ever changing snow”. Thanks guys.

“Gorgeously contemplative collection of seasonal chamber pieces”: BBC TV Review Show

Very enthusiastic report by Stuart Maconie (introduced as an ‘super fan’) on BBC 2’s The Review Show. The programme blurb says:

Kate Bush fans waited six years for a new album to follow 2005’s Ariel and this year two came along in a matter of months. The first – Director’s Cut – was a collection of reworked and rerecorded material but 50 Words for Snow which is released on 21 November contains seven brand new songs. We asked super fan Stuart Maconie to take a listen and explain the enduring attraction of the mighty Bush.”

Stuart says this is the album he always wanted Kate to make. The segment is at the end of the programme about 29 minutes into the stream.

ITV Daybreak: “Album of the year”

Boyd Hilton raves about Kates album on Daybreak UK breakfast television. Skip to 1 hour 5 minutes, that’s “7:12 am” on the screen. Boyd describes 50 Words as the album of the year (credit to the indefatigable Louise West).

Watch BBC Breakfast chat about Kate this morning

Kate feature on BBC Breakfast March 16th 2011

On today’s BBC Breakfast show, Emma B and Bernadette McNulty spoke about the continuing appeal of Kate. Watch it again here.

Director’s Cut released in UK today! PLUS: TV and print ads campaign

Happy UK release day! It’s finally here, Director’s Cut is out in Kate’s home territory today. News from EMI: they will be running TV ads in the UK from today to support the release of Director’s Cut. Ads will be on Sky One, Sky Atlantic and Sky News, Channel 4 and More 4. We do not have a schedule but they will be running from Sunday 15th through the week of release. There will also be press ads, in yesterday’s Sunday Times Culture magazine, and more papers during the week.

Director's Cut - out now in the UK

In fact, if you count the two CD versions of Director’s Cut along with the four new reissues of The Dreaming, Hounds of Love, The Sensual World and a remastered The Red Shoes, there are 6 new Fish People releases in UK record shops today. I’ve heard the new remaster of The Red Shoes and it sounds excellent; warmer, fuller and the ‘edgy’ sound Kate talks about in this album’s sleeve-notes is now gone. The reissued albums contain some new photos when compared to previous EMI releases and the booklets and packaging are crisply produced and presented. Interestingly, Hounds of Love now has the ‘Single Mix’ of The Big Sky. The Red Shoes has a charming new dedication to Lindsay Kemp.

Kate directs

Speaking of packaging, the 3-disc Director’s Cut set is utterly beautiful, and so carefully thought out. I love the different shape and colour grading of the cover artwork of the two versions of Director’s Cut. In the Collector’s Edition version it’s like the inner sleeves are giving the two original albums a big hug, keeping them safe – there’s so much respectful love for the originals side by side with the high drama of the way Director’s Cut is presented visually. Such a strong sense throughout the new album’s artwork of Kate, in Sergei Eisenstein mode, directing each intriguing scene and then running the finished product by her inner circle at the end. The iTunes digital booklet reveals much more of the written lyrics in the “nest” and “Marion” scenes, and I’m thinking the vinyl artwork will bring that out more. I can’t see how this could have been done better, and am looking forward to the vinyl to arrive in a week’s time. What a Kate year!

Kate archive footage on upcoming TV show

The BBC1 Northern Ireland TV show “The Trouble With….Health” will feature footage from Kate’s appearance on Looking Good, Feeling Fit in 1981. From John McGurk: “First off, you see Kate Bush, in a fitness studio, with two male dancers, exercising/dancing to Sat In Your Lap! The second segment is a short clip of Kate talking to presenter, Richard Stilgoe about the clothes she wears, while dancing/exercising. A limp, trivial question about why she is wearing “rubber” trousers is dealt by Kate with patience and good grace. I doubt that this footage has ever surfaced since its original screening 29 years ago.” Viewers in Northern Ireland can set their recorders when it screens on Monday August 9, at 10.35pm. A lower quality clip of the original segment can be seen at Youtube here. (thanks John)

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