There has been an explosion of press coverage about Kate’s KBC announcement over the past few days, most are variations of the same news recycled from Music Week, although longer pieces have been printed in The Telegraph and The Times in the UK. The BBC website has posted a story and a link back to this site. The Evening Standard ran a story “Comeback Kate” and including nice comments such as ‘a unique performer who inspired a generation’. Other news stories have appeared on Sky News, Female First, Ananova,Contact Music, Launch Music, The Daily Mirror, The Sun, Play Louder, The Sunday Post, Sound Generator and various TV teletext services across Europe. (big thanks to Ben on the site’s forum who has been gathering news mentions and links from all over)
It all amounts to a surprisingly broad splash of pre-publicity for Kate’s eighth album, with BBC Radio 2 playing December Will Be Magic Again, Moments Of Pleasure and Hounds Of Love in recent days. The Telegraph featured an article by Richard Wolfson: “The very existence of this novel, Waiting for Kate Bush by John Mendelssohn, is an indication of the bizarre levels of obsession that Bush still inspires. Despite her decade-long absence, the 46-year-old from Bexleyheath still holds a central place in the national consciousness. As I wandered around London, having just purchased a copy of the book, periodically someone would catch a glimpse of Bush’s face on the cover and grab my arm. “She’s absolutely brilliant. I love her,” said the Glaswegian security guard at the building works around St Pancras. “Can I see that?” said an 18-year-old a few yards further on, who would have been about seven when Bush’s last album, The Red Shoes, was released. “I really need to check her out. Muse say she’s their biggest influence.” It is not just the music that has been influential. It is the scale of her theatrical ambition which makes her such a compelling figure, and which makes the prospect of new material next year something to savour.”
The Times today has a large article on page five, as well as a picture of Kate in its front cover. David Sheasby has scanned the article for me: “The article is mainly a compendium of info that has been posted on this site over the past couple of years – in fact, the article refers at one point to “her website”, by which I think the writer means Kate Bush News and Information.” The article, written by Adam Sherwin says: “Twelve years after her last release, one of pop’s most mercurial performers has delivered a surprise Christmas present to her long-suffering fan club. The record features the last work of Michael Kamen, the composer and arranger, who died last year. She has also been working with Mich Karn, bassist with Eighties new romantic group Japan, drummer Stuart Elliott and jazz percussionist Peter Erskine. The London Metropolitan Orchestra will feature with two classical musicians, Emma Murphy and Susanna Pell. Bush, 46, burst on to the music scene as a 17-year-old with the swooping Brontë-inspired Wuthering Heights. She was noted as a unique performer who combined musical theatre, dance, poetry and rock. But she retired from live performance in 1979 and her recordings became more rare, despite huge successes including Hounds of Love in 1984. In 1993 she released an album and a self-directed film entitled The Red Shoes, then retreated to her home near Reading to sculpt and work on an untitled project. Her record company, EMI, has waited patiently for the results. Her long absence even inspired a novel, Waiting for Kate Bush, by John Mendelssohn. But what everyone, not least EMI, would like to know is when the album will be released. “We’ll let you know,” Bush writes. March has been hinted at. Bush returns as a new generation of artists recall her as an inspiration. OutKast, the US rap group, want to produce her next record. Madonna, Björk, P.J.Harvey and Katie Melua have revealed the debt they owe to the doctor’s daughter from Bexleyheath, southeast London. A cover of Hounds of Love by hotly-tipped rock band The Futureheads is to precede her return to the charts. The music industry sought to lure her back with the offer of a Brits Lifetime Achievement Award but she rejected it because she would have to perform live. Three years ago she accepted Ivor Novello and Q Magazine awards, even making a surprise appearance to perform Pink Floyd’s Comfortably Numb with Gilmour at the Royal Albert Hall, prompting speculation of a return to the concert stage.” (big thanks to David Sheasby)
Australian newspaper The Age has a long article about Kate and the Waiting For Kate Bush book here…(thanks to Andrew Thompson)…Tom Hingely of Inspiral Carpets mentions that he’s a Kate fan in an online BBC interview: “I’m listening to some old compilation albums of Kate Bush! I’ve three daughters and I’m getting them in to listening to that. I actually hated Kate Bush when she first came out – it took me 20 years to realise that she totally brilliant! I find quite good ‘girl music’. I know that’s going to cause problems. But I find it very sensate and feminine – very different from what I do.” Read more here (thanks to Ben)….on Erasure‘s New DVD “The Swan, The Tank and The Balloon”, from their 1992 “Fantasmagorical Tour” there’s a recent interview with Andy Bell. The opening of the show featured him coming in on a swan-cart for the song “Siren Song”. When asked why a swan to open the show, Andy Bell answers: “Because I loved– There’s a Kate Bush song called Lord of the Reedy River. Well, it was written by Donovan, but she did a version. And the first line of the song is “I fell in love with a swan”, and it seemed to tie in with a song called Siren Song.” (thanks to when lingers on the forum)…a film called Women Talking Dirty on Channel 4 featured Kate’s version of Rocket Man…
The NME ran a full page photo of Kate with the caption “How did this woman blow Andre 3000‘s mind?”. The article is on page 29 and covers artists who’ve had an influence on today’s pop stars. The piece is very complementary, indicating that without Kate there’d be no Goldfrapp, PJHarvey or Bjork. Describing her as the original quirky-something, the article says “Kate Bush is worshipped around the globe for a) having an amazing unique voice, b) being a brilliant songwriter, and c) being really hot. But she’s not a workaholic. She released two albums in 1978, four in the 80s, but there’s been nothing new for 12 years. Without Kate there’d be no PJ Harvey, no Courtney Love and no Goldfrapp. True, there’d be no Bjork either, but we shouldn’t hold that against her. Anyway, the wait is-probably-nearly over. She’s been recording her new album for at least five years. In October 2001 she said “I am making an album but it is taking a little longer than I thought”. A track called, rather pertinently, “How To Be Invisible” is one of the few that’s known to exist. Try The Futureheads’ favourite ‘Hounds of Love’ from 1985; its a loveable bastard of a record, stuffed with bonkers, mammoth hits that were never off the radio. ‘Running Up That Hill (A Deal With God)’ was one of the defining tracks of the 80s. OutKast’s Andre 3000: “Kate Bush’s music opened my mind up,” he said recently. “She was so bugged-out, man, but I felt her. She’s so f*ucking dope, so underrated and off the radar” (thanks to Matt Denney)
Maggie Ball has written a review of the Waiting For Kate Bush book here (thanks Maggie)…Kate has been mentioned in a new philosophy book by Julian Baggini “What’s It All About?: Philosophy and the Meaning of Life”. In the review the quote from the book is “The lyrics of Kate Bush…are really quite profound if you think about it.” (thanks to Darrell Babidge)…meanwhile Kate’s heavy metal credibility is briefly discussed in Seb Hunter‘s recent book ‘Hell Bent for Leather – Confessions of a Heavy Metal Addict’. Hunter writes: “There was even a time when Kate Bush was considered borderline Metal, but I’m not sure why. I think it might have been a simple sex-object thing. Maybe it was just because she had really long hair. Or because she crimped it”. (thanks Liza)…a blog poster has the Hammer Horror video here. (thanks to L. Thompson, also thanks to David White, John T Black, Simon Clark, Brian Parker and Amanda Williams). Wishing all our site visitors and forum users a very happy Christmas! Thanks for all the support this year! Seán.
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