Kate Bush News

In the UK the NSPCC has launched a DRTV advertising campaign showing vulnerable children at risk from abuse, in an attempt to boost donations. The advertising, in 60-, 40- and 10-second versions, features Kate’s song ‘This Woman’s Work‘ and a voiceover by actor Michael Sheen. Kate allowed the use of the song free of any charge, Marian Rose, head of direct donor marketing at the NSPCC, said: “Parts of Kate Bush’s song could have been written especially for this ad.” Read more here (thanks to Nathan & Kyla)… here (thanks to rblazon)…The Boston Herald has reported that Pat Benatar has performed Wuthering Heights live for the first time in many years. Read more here (thanks John)…Alison Moyet was answering a series of fan questions on her fan site, and she revealed that she had considered doing a cover of The Man With The Child In His Eyes for her most recent album “Voice.” She says “…Kate’s people wanted to hear it before they gave permission and that for me was like going back to seeking record company approval for comfort. Its what I am determined to avoid…too dangerous anyway because if they knocked it back I would have felt bad and that would have coloured the way I listened to Kate and I don’t want that to happen because I love her work purely and I want to maintain that feeling.” Read more here (thanks to Steve Coats)…English singer-songwriter Patrick Wolf (pictured right) has been keen to show a little devotion to our Kate in recent interviews and – on the British Council’s online radio show, Selector – chose ‘Oh England My Lionheart’ as his favourite British track from the past. Patrick has also been playing ‘Running Up That Hill’ as part of his set on his recent tour (see here). Patrick also talks about Kate in this interview here: “When I was growing up my Mum really played Joni Mitchell and Kate Bush. I totally forgot about Kate Bush until I was about 20 so it was only in the last year after Lycanthropy came out. People started saying Kate Bush this, Kate Bush that so I bought ‘Hounds of Love’. Then a lot of people were saying about how she was the same age as me when she released her first album. She’s somebody in the last year that’s really given me confidence that there are ears out there for my work.” Read more about Patrick at his site here. (thanks to Michael Richardson, Traxtv and rblazon)

The new biography of Kate by Rob Jovanovic (pictured) will be released on Oct 25th. Signed copies are being pre-booked at the Kulture Shock site here where a signing is being organised with the author…a recent review of John Mendelssohn’s Waiting For Kate Bush book by Sharil Dewa of the Malaysian Star summed up the book by saying “While it is hardly earth shattering, Waiting for Kate Bush is an entertaining stopgap for Kate and non-Kate fans alike. Those who find Kate intolerable will find some amusement in Mendelssohn’s exploration of the quest for instant celebrity and Kate fans can find comfort in this Kate-related tome while waiting for the next opus from Ms Bush.” (thanks to Peter Molloy)…Kiki Dee did a cover of Running Up That Hill at the Womad Festival, she includes her version of the song on her newly released Walk Of Faith CD (thanks Cathal and Nathalie)…on August 23rdTori Amos covered And Dream of Sheep in her concert at Saratoga Springs NY, look at the 2005 downloads section at this site to listen to this and also a version of Running Up That Hill that she performed recently also. (thanks to James Russell)…Dutch singer Birgit Schuurman has sang a piano version of Wuthering Heights (find the show by searching for her here (thanks to Dik)…Coronation Street actress Debra Stevenson has appeared on ITV’s Celebrity Stars In Their Eyes, dressed as Kate singing Babooshka. She has also released the track on her “In the Sunshine” CD. Jonathan Ross has played the track on his BBC Radio 2 show on June 18th when he revealed that his wife had also been asked to go on the show as Kate (thanks Charles)…Kate was featured in the August issue of Russh magazine in Australia, once again as a fashion icon (see the scan here – thanks to ally and John)…a nine DVD box set of the Comic Strip Presents has been released on the 4th July which includes Kate acting in Les Dogs and providing the soundtrack to GLC. Her appearance in the set was mentioned in the Empire magazine review: “…and Kate Bush is in the baffling Les Dogs.” (thanks to Richard and Stevo)…video work by Kate was featured in the recent New York Video Festival, read more here (thanks to Darrell)…

U2 compiled a “U2 Jukebox” CD to be given away free with the July 2005 Mojo Magazine. It featured The Futureheads hit version of Hounds Of Love (thanks Anneke)…Kate is mentioned in the book “Too Much Too Young – Popular Music Age and Gender” by Sheila Whiteley (thanks Henrik)…Swedish pop singer Robyn has been compared to Kate and mentions Hounds Of Love as one of her favourite albums. In an interview with Rodeo Magazine her song Be Mine is compared to Cloudbusting for its staccato strings and vocal refrain. She says: “of course, she’s there too. The reason it sounds like Kate Bush is probably mainly that the strings are so dry” (thanks to Henrik)…Goldfrapp have a new album out, “Supernature”, and once again the Kate comparisons are flying. From The Observer: “Those two grand dames of pop, Madonna and Kate Bush, are both due to release new albums in the coming months. An unlikely diva, the petite Alison Goldfrapp, may just have made one of those albums redundant and seriously compromised the sense of occasion surrounding the other. An eccentric English woman with a very fertile imagination has just made a great record…it isn’t quite a masterpiece (like, say, Bush’s Hounds of Love), but it’s as near as dammit in 2005 and deserves to be massive.” (thanks to Johnny)…this month’s Q magazine includes a small pic and review of The Red Shoes. They suggest a re-listen, give it a 4 star rating and say Kate sounds like nobody else, except Tori Amos. (thanks Ben)…here’s something a bit different, Ariel Pink has recorded “a love song to Kate Bush” according to Wire magazine. You can watch the video of “For Kate I Wait” here (thanks Peter)…Finally, Thomas Dunning, producer of the I Wanna Be Kate tribute CD had me on his Internet radio show, “Hoot Radio“, as his guest on July 28th. We got to chat about music and play some of our favourite tunes. It’s a two hour show but you may like to listen to the audio stream. Obviously we do talk about Kate for quite a while and I play a Kate track, you’ll hear that about 54.30 minutes into the show. Click on the link for Hoot Radio with Thomas here (thanks Thomas, it was a lot of fun!)

Newsbits: In the Metro newspaper on Monday 21 Feb, Kele Okereke from Bloc Party gave his “six-track mix” in the On My iPod column, and listed Wuthering Heights as one of his favourite tracks: “This song’s so theatrical and intense and melodramatic. That might turn people off, but I was exposed to Bush when I was very young and it really hit me. She’s an amazing lyricist, so playful with her words.” (Thanks to Rob Jones)…Word Magazine (March issue) has an interview with the 61 year old French singer Francoise Hardy. Mark Ellen the interviewer asked her about other female artists. He mentioned that Kate is making a comeback and gets this response: “I can’t stand Kate Bush. Too sharp, too high, too much…(she wrinkles her nose) shrieking.” Hardy was equally dismissive of Joni Mitchell and Joan Baez, but likes Annie Lennox, Norah Jones and Dido…The ARTE TV channel in Europe has aired a documentary about the artist Paul Gauguin that featured Hello Earth and Waking the Witch as part of the soundtrack….Peter Gabriel has put a dance remix of ‘Don’t Give Up’ up on his official website…in this month’s Record Collector Kate has been voted number one Female Solo Artist in the magazine’s annual Reader’s Poll. She also makes an appearance in the results for Most Wanted DVD with the Hammersmith Odeon at no. 10 (thanks to Goldfishnation)…Australian singer Delta Goodrem chose Wuthering Heights on a recent BBC Radio 2 “Tracks Of My Years”…Canadian singer Martha Wainwright (sister of Rufus) has been featured in the 25th February edition of Metro explaining who is on her iPod. On Wuthering Heights she says: “I love the melody, it’s really great. She does this song so well. I think anyone that can write a song this good and do it at such an early age is probably a genius.” (thanks to Jon Morte)

A jazz guitarist, Deirdre Cartwright has recorded an instrumental version of Wuthering Heights on her new album called ‘Blow the Fuse’ (thanks Tony)…Kiki and Herb (Justin Bond and Kenny Mellman) released their new album on Feb 1st – “Kiki & Herb Will Die For You.” The two-disc CD from the popular cabaret act includes “Running Up That Hill. For more information, visit www.kikiandherb.com (thanks KT)…Tori Amos has released a new album, The Beekeeper, resulting in several reviewers comparing her unfavourably (and some would argue unfairly) to Kate in light of the latter’s impending return – see this site forum’s Medialog section for plenty of Tori reviews with Kate mentions…and finally, thanks to Peter & Jonathan for sending in a scan of the latest “Up Queer Street” comic strip which mentions Kate from ‘The Pink Paper’. See the scan here.

The New Statesman on the 7th February published an appreciative piece by Jason Cowley (a senior editor of The Observer newspaper) on Kate’s return titled The Wow Factor. “With her first single up for a Brit Award and a new album soon to be released, Kate Bush is back in a big way. It’s been a long wait, but she’s worth it” He describes Kate as a “complex and remarkable artist” who is “perhaps the most singular and talented female singer-songwriter and composer of her generation…there is no one quite like her. Without Kate Bush, there could have been no Madonna or Bjork, certainly in the guises – tough, independent, eccentric, committed, daring – that we know them…Bush occupies an ambiguous space between pop and the avant-garde, simultaneously working within and against the constraints of the pop song.” Read the full article here.

A week after the Cowley article appeared perhaps the inevitable happened. The backlash to all the expectant Kate coverage of late had to crop up somewhere, so enter David Stubbs on February 19th, who wrote a scathing analysis of Kate’s “comeback” in The Guardian newspaper, clearly relishing descriptions such as Kate having a “featherheaded fanbase” and calling her “first, foremost, essentially, incorrigibly, a show-off.” Well, it’s his opinion. Read the full article here…in their “Heating up 2005 – Top albums to watch for” section, MP3.com writes: “Though Kate Bush hasn’t released an album since 1993s “Red Shoes,” she’s suddenly been swept back up into the zeitgeist. There’s the blazing cover of her “Hounds of Love” by band-of-the-moment The Futureheads. There are constant shout-outs from Big Boi of OutKast. There’s a new satirical novel/biography, “Waiting for Kate Bush.” And at some point this year, there’s supposed to be a new Bush album. If the music even partially justifies the build up, 2005 is likely to be for Bush what 2004 was for Morrissey.’

Wuthering Heights was eventually beaten in the Brits 25 Song award by Robbie Williams, which provoked a lot of debate on the BBC website and elsewhere. The Sun newspaper felt that the voters had gotten it wrong and launched their own online poll after the Brits ceremony – Kate came third in this one (Robbie was 4th). In the tabloid’s “Bizarre” column on Feb 11th Victoria Newton wrote: “Angels is an above average anthem which is good to sing along to when you’re feeling misty-eyed in the pub. But it’s hardly changed the face of music like Kate Bush’s Wuthering Heights.” (thanks to JT Black)…Kate is currently Artist Of The Week at this BBC Radio 2 show here (vote for your favourite track to be played).

Just a quick update – two things relating to the single everyone is talking about, The Futurehead’s version of Hounds Of Love. You can watch the video for the song at the NME site here. Also, the song is being featured as Jo Whiley‘s track of the week at her Radio 1 site here. The single is released in the UK on February 28th. (thanks to Ben & PDFM. Note: I haven’t been doing these recent updates at my usual computer so if your news or email haven’t been acknowledged it may be next weekend before I get to it – thanks for your patience!)

Newsbits: The press release for The Futureheads single Hounds of Love is here: “The Futureheads cover ‘Hounds of Love’ is a showstopper, beginning with Ross and Jaff’s a capella call and response yelps, the songs explodes into euphoric life with Barry’s feverish delivery of Kate’s once sensual words and a riot of overdriven guitars and search and destroy drumming courtesy of the coolest incumbent of a drumstool, Mr Dave Hyde.” (thanks to PDFM)…The Jan 5th edition of Time Out London magazine looks forward to the year in music: “The reclusive banshee of Olde Albion has confirmed that her first album since 1993 will be released” In the same issue there is a people of 2005 page which along with Johnny Depp and Kylie includes Kate. (thanks Monty and Ben)…The 17th January edition of the Daily Mail has a full page feature on Kate which manages to rehash tired old tabloid nonsense with the headline “As she plots her comeback a tantalising glimpse into the bizarre world of Kate Bush.” The article quotes from a supposed interview with Kate’s father also. (thanks to hatbar)

TV presenter Davina McCall reveals that her favourite song from the last 25 years not on the Brits25 list is Jig of Life in this interview…the February editon of Burn magazine includes Kate in a list of “the post punk classics that shaped the sound of now”. The Sensual World is at number 9. Kate is described as having been a “posh teen with immense talent” who’s “shy self belief morphed from pin-up to near recluse.” The vibe of the track is described as “sex and romance in the most mellifluous way. Bush’s intention was sensuality through sound. It works. Hear it in Goldfrapp” (thanks ben)…More mentions of Kate by Erasure in the Belfast Telegraph this time here. “Kate Bush has done an album that’s been ready for two years, but she’s a real perfectionist and if there’s one little thing wrong, she won’t release it until it’s right.”…BBC Radio 2 are continuing to gear up for a new Kate release, playing Babooshka and Wuthering Heights last week…Kent On Sunday had an article on Kate in their 16th Jan edition entitled “Visionary Kate Still Hitting the Heights” celebrating her placing in the Brit Song shortlist. (thanks to crowroad)…singer Daniel Bedingfield was asked by Cat Deely what he thought of this years Brits on CD:UK on 15th Jan. He said that he was thrilled to see Kate nominated for Wuthering Heights which he called “a classic song”. (thanks to Ben)…Corrine from Swing Out Sister was on Jazz FM on Jan 12th praising Kate and her past achievements. She mentioned she loves the Lionheart and The Sensual World albums and is looking forward to the new work. She also talked about the “whole industry” being wild with news of a new album. (thanks to binny binny)…Running Up That Hill appears on a new US compilation “Left of the Dial – Dispatches from the 80s Underground”, a 4-CD set from Warner/Rhino. (thanks to Jon Thomas)…and finally Krys from Homeground Magazine tells us that they are aiming to get issue 75 out by early March, possibly sooner, leaving issue 76 to hopefully be the album issue(!). “This is going to be a great year!” We all agree – best of luck with the mag Krys, more info as ever at the Homeground pages…(additional thanks this update to Kyla & Russ Thomas)

Happy new year to all this site’s visitors! The news that Kate will be releasing an album this year has continued to spread. You can keep up-to-date on all the latest media reports daily in our site forum’s new Medialog section which Peter has kindly created for us.

The BBC website seems to think that this is the official Kate Bush website (it isn’t), but it is great that Mark Radcliffecontinues in his campaign to get Kate live on air, he now links directly to this website from his BBC Radio 2 page here. The Daily Mirror has had a large article entitled “Kate’s Big Comeback”, the article finishes with: “Her loyal fan base means next year’s album will be a big seller. What is less clear is how Kate will cope with the blizzard of publicity that will inevitably accompany it.” The Sunday Times has featured a glowing profile of Kate here, which was accompanied by a cartoon (right). “Her success was all the more notable because she was one of the few women to be taken seriously in the male-dominated world of pop, governed at the time by the aggressive sounds of punk…now she is ready to face the spotlight again. This, remember, is a female star whose versatility has perhaps never been surpassed, who pioneered the fusion of dance and circus entertainment in pop and conjured a new persona with each song. For fans, the anticipation is palpable.” The 7th January edition of The Sun has a piece on the big albums planned for 2005: “This could be the biggest comeback since Lazarus. 12 years on from her last album, The Red Shoes, and 27 years since Wuthering Heights, the warbling songstress is back. Her individual style is never less than fascinating but will it survive in 2005’s guitar-band world? Probably.” Further afield, in the USA the major entertainment news provider Entertainment Weekly has carried the story here. Other stories have popped up in the Australian, Japanese and Norwegian press. The new edition of Q Magazine lists Kate’s new album as number 8 in their Top Ten most anticipated new releases for 2005, their verdict being: “Album of the year? Our fingers are crossed.” Q Magazine and a number of other sites have repeated the rumour that Marc Almond has duetted with Kate on the new record. On his official site two days ago it is stated: “Unfortunately, rumours about a duet between Marc and Kate Bush are not true. The rumour has been flying around for some time on the web and was mentioned in the current edition of Q magazine. Marc says he has not been approached nor does he know of any of his songs (‘Youth’ has been mentioned) being covered. He wishes he could confirm the rumour as Kate is one of his all time favourite artists and he looks forward to her long awaited new album, one of the big music events of 2005.” Similar rumours about Dave Stewart collaborating remain unfounded.

Wuthering Heights is one of 25 songs nominated in the new category of Best British Song at this year’s Brits. To celebrate 25 years of the Brits, they are having a one-off award for Best British Song of, for some reason, the last 27 years. Wuthering Heights is one of the 25 songs in the initial nominations, but these are going to be whittled down to five, based on the general public’s votes up to and including 9 January. If you register, for free, at http://brits.co.uk/vote/ you can vote immediately and get our Kate on the rostrum. (Thanks to Rob Jones) This vote will be featured on Davina McCall’s radio show (she’s a big Kate fan) and this news has also been widely circulated such as in the Independent here.

Erasure’s Andy Bell is asked in the current Attitude Magazine which songs make him weep: “Song to the Siren by the Cocteau Twins because it just gives me the goose bumps and Moments of Pleasure by Kate Bush [starts singing it]. Oh god! When we were doing the ‘Wild!’ album we went round her house and she was so lovely and made us tea and cakes. They should re release her stuff. I think she’s finished her next album, but shes a perfectionist so who knows when it will come out.”

The NME has published a full page article here called “Why I Love Kate Bush” by The Futureheads. “The idea of us covering ‘Hounds Of Love’ came from a couple of summers ago…Jaff our bassplayer had made a compilation tape and ‘Hounds Of Love’ was on it. Christine, the bass player in the other band, was saying how great it would be to play that live because obviously Kate Bush is pretty much reclusive and never really does shows. There’s all this talk about her making a new record, but it’s been going on for the last five years and no-one knows if it will ever see the light of day. We were thinking that it’s a brilliant song and we thought we’d try and work it out – a little challenge. We got home and it was a really quick thing. And when we played it… it just stuck. People were going barmy for it. I think that something we try to take from Kate Bush are the arrangements of the music. She made quite melodious pop music, but it’s really clever. It’s not traditional verse/chorus/verse song structure. There are interesting parts coming in and out of the songs all the time. By the time she made ‘Hounds Of Love’, she was doing everything herself. She produced the record, she arranged it all, she wrote all the songs. And you’ve got to have respect for someone with that level of control. Aside from making great music, she was a fox back in the day. All the sleeve artwork on ‘Hounds Of Love’ – wow – she has it all, really. She could really sing, she could really play, she called all the shots and she was a beautiful woman as well. It put her in a very powerful position. She also carries a great mystique because she’s a complete recluse. I know that she was some kind of child prodigy – she signed a development deal with EMI when she was 14 – and was always geared towards making that first album, ‘The Kick Inside’. I don’t know how she dealt with it, but that’s really intense pressure. And she delivered the goods. She has written some classic albums and all have a little identity of their own.”

Newsbits: On ABC TV (Australia) the “Rage” program (8th Jan 2005) will feature a “Countdown” episode (26 Oct 1980) featuring an interview with Kate and they also play the “Babooshka” video. After the episode they play four more videos by Kate. See the Rage site here. (Thanks Shaun)…On January 29th US radio show Rockwired will be showcasing Kate’s debut album The Kick Inside at 5pm (PST). From the press release for the show: “I could call her beautiful. I could call her mysterious and enigmatic. She’s a prodigy, a musical genius and one of the most stunning singer-songwriters and performers in music. I could say all of that and it wouldn’t do Kate Bush any justice. The Kick Inside was her debut album back in 1977. At the age of seventeen she made her mark and didn’t have to bare her mid drift to do so.” Listen to the show here. (thanks to Brian Lush at KTSTFM)…London guitar band Bloc Party, dubbed the “new Franz Ferdinand”, have come second in the BBC News website’s Sound of 2005 poll to find the most promising new acts. Asked for his cultural heroes, lead singer Okereke says he respects Kate Bush, Bjork and Davids Bowie and Byrne – “artists that haven’t ever compromised”. Read more here…Best Radio, one of the most popular radio station in Athens had it’s listeners vote for the “Best song of their lives”. Over 1.000 songs were voted in total, and Kate was at number 48 with Wuthering Heights. (Thanks to Neil Gibbs, Tim Rees, David Sheasby, Yiannis and all the posters on our forum, particular thanks to PDFM for sorting through all the news posts and putting them all in one place on EZboard!)