Kate Bush News

Newsbits roundup: Dido was the winner of this year’s Best Female award at the Brit awards, and in her recorded acceptance message she thanked other female singer songwriters for inspiration including Kate and Annie Lennox. A clip of Kate performing Hounds Of Love in 1986 was shown during the show…Johnny reported on the site forum that his local paper, The Hornsey and Crouch End Journal, mentioned an art exhibit featuring a work by Kate. “Famous faces went under the hammer on Tuesday as celebrities joined Bindi Harris – daughter of TV presenter Rolf Harris – to raise hundreds of pounds for a Crouch End sheltered housing scheme. TV presenter Jonathan Ross, Travis front-man Fran Healey, singer Kate Bush and kids’ telly star Timmy Mallet were among those who painted self-portraits to be sold at the special event. The celebrities were encouraged to explore their creative sides by professional artist Bindi, who has been running art workshops at Abyssinia Court, Weston Park, since last year. Miss Harris hit upon the idea of a money-making auction to raise funds for Abyssinia Court after she started the workshops. She decided to auction off work done in the classes and then got pupils at Weston Park Primary School and celebrities involved.” The exhibition wasn’t widely publicised so we presume Kate’s work has been sold, we have no idea what it went for. (cheers Johnny)…the new issue of Homeground will be available in March. Articles, letters & artwork are always welcome, as always be sure your subscription is up-to-date by visiting the Homeground pages…

A new Kate Bush biography has been published in Italy, written by long-time fan Monica Tessarin. It is called “Kate Bush – I segugi dell’amore“, published by Firenze Atheneum Libri. It costs €16 and can be purchased here. The book contains illustrations by Paulina Stuckey and is said to be a “must have” for all Kate’s fans. Read more here. (warm congratulations to Monica on her new book, thanks also to Antonello)…Ben de Vos found a Sony CD “Celtic Sounds Of Middle Earth” featuring Mná Na hEireann (thanks Ben)…the January/February 2004 edition of the American magazine Women In Rock features a 4-page spread on Kate – “While glorious Kate remains a recluse working on a new record, we wait patiently for an interview. In the meantime, score! Sylie Simmons interviewed Kate in ’89 and here the piece in published for the first time.” (thanks to Tim Bertram)…Kate was mentioned on University Challenge, BBC2 on Monday 26th January, in a round where the panel had to identify guest musicians/singers, a snatch of Kate singing the BVs on Peter Gabriel’s “Games Without Frontiers” caused them some puzzlement. Nobody guessed correctly, although one panel member suggested it might be Tatu! (thanks Krystyna)…

More on that Lee Kaay story: his FROST 2003 EP which featured December Will Be Magic Again was a massive hit charting at No 1 in Iceland, Finland, Russia, Czech Republic, Latvia and Estonia. The limited DVD featured the video as well and included a cameo from a Kate Bush look-a-like as a tribute to Kate. At a recent gig in Latvia, Lee decided to change the whole set and included a 30 minute tribute to Kate as inspiration. His DVD “Russian Tour” will feature his version of “This Woman’s Work” and has now been given a September release date to coincide with a new album. Lee is a huge Kate fan and plans to release a further EP at some stage…Pet Shop Boys Neil & Chris recently stated that the album “The Dreaming” was quite a favourite of theirs and they had heard rumours of a new album in the pipeline at their record company EMI…Claudia De Booche has included her version of The Big Sky on her US single Salute To Ciao Baby (thanks MB)…recent issues of Blender Magazine mention Kate – Dido says Army Dreamers is one of her favourite songs, and Nelly Furtado is likened to Kate in a CD review (thanks Sudane)…The Darkness played their favourite videos on ABC’s Rage (on 7/2/04). Babooshka was one of them and was played in its entirety here (thanks to Brian Parker)…Kate was recently discussed on the Richard & Judy show’s Book Club on ITV in the UK. Starter For Ten was reviewed, and author David Nicholls was interviewed. As prevously reported on this site the main character of the book has an obsession with Kate Bush. Some studio guests discussed the book and the topic came around to Kate – and her absence from the charts. None of the panel had a clue as to what she was doing now. One of them thought that she now writes – but didn’t say whether it was still songs or other forms of writing. Then a brief clip of the Wuthering Heights video was shown. (Cheers to Argotist on the site’s forum).

Due to their huge success in Germany, the Dutch band Within Temptation have decided to release their cover version of Running Up That Hill (already released in Holland in April last year) on a 3-track single CD and 5 track DVD on Feb 16th in Germany. Their official site reports: “On 16th February 2004, Within Temptation release their new, long-awaited single ‘Running Up That Hill’, which has always been a mega success in their native country The Netherlands. The classic originally sung by Kate Bush is taken to a new dimension thanks to its rocking riffs, its sensitive, classical arrangements as well as Sharon den Adel’s atmospheric voice without losing the intensity of the original. A really great cover version!” The video is also available on the German version of their website.  (thanks to Michael Leitz)…Kaz at Cooper Owen auctions has let me know that two Kate items are featured in their Rock Legends auction on the 26th February; a signed photo and a Hounds Of Love item, read more here…

And finally, Night Scented Stock and Army Dreamers were played on BBC Radio 3, The Late Junction Wed 18th Feb (thanks to Jonathan Hugh) – a fascinating discovery unearthed on our site’s forum is the link between Night Scented Stock and Blow Away from the album Never For Ever. Listen to these MP3 clips from Tristan and Gabriela to be amazed: here and here.)

Hi all, back again after a small break (blame the mince pies and mulled wine!). KBN&I will be six years old in about a week. Indications are good that 2004 is an album year, but we don’t want to jinx anything so let’s keep that to ourselves for now. The site is kicking off the new year with a mound of newsbits. Please remember that even between updates on this news page our forum is open 24 hours a day for you to post on and it’s a very busy and entertaining read – the Kate discussions are just the tip of the iceberg – thanks to all the forum members for making it a huge success. On with the latest KB schtuff:

The latest editon of Q Magazine features the “100 Most Insane Moments In Rock!” As you’ll see in the cutting opposite allegedly regarding a visit this year to chez Kate by an EMI executive. (thanks Malcom and thanks to David Sheasby for the scan)…in an interview about Pop Idol Justin Hawkins lead singer from The Darkness had this to say: “I know it sounds harsh but f**k Will and Gareth (winners of last years Pop Idol). Where are the Kate Bush’s and Princes of today? The record companies won’t touch them because they’re too scared.” (thanks to Brian & Svein)…on the 15th December Peter Gabriel was interviewed on BBC Radio 2. Richard Allison played Games Without Frontiers (which features Kate) and asked Peter about Kate. Peter said he was a big fan of her work. Richard commented on the fact that she had not produced any work for a long time. Peter’s reply was “I have heard there is something coming VERY soon.” The DJ was a bit more cynical: “Yes, well she said it would be soon 5 years ago…where’s the new album Kate, c’mon we’re waiting.”…The Times in the UK on the 14th December revealed that “..a Whitehall whistleblower has leaked a secret document showing that Tim Henman is being recommended for a new year’s honour. The insider has disclosed minutes of the main honours committee that vets people for knighthoods and other awards. A five-page Cabinet Office document describes the discussions by Whitehall’s most senior civil servants about the merits and demerits of 38 people being lined up for the new year’s honours list. According to the Whitehall sources, other prominent people being discussed for honours include Eric Sykes, the comedian and Kate Bush, the pop singer.” (thanks Michael)

More on Hayley Westenra‘s upcoming Wuthering Heights single here (she’s already been on the Frank Skinner show on ITV in the UK plugging it) here…Amanda heard Andy Bell on the World Service talking about his love of Kate and playing Wow, Under The Ivy and Moments Of Pleasure on Dec 2nd. He was talking to Kevin Greening on the Top 5 Best show the series which invites musicians to talk about and pick 5 songs from an artist or musical genre that has inspired their own career. Andy talked about her continuing importance in the world of popular music and the influence she has had on him (he even revealed what happened when he dropped round to her house for a cup of tea) Read more here…The Sun newspaper in the UK decided that the recent Q Magazines top 1001 records was a bit out of touch with the real world so they asked their readers to pick their Top 100. Kate made No. 35 with Wuthering Heights. The recent special edition of Q magazine deals with what they call the “1001 Best Songs Ever”. Wuthering Heights made #592 and RUTH #807…The BBC 3 spoof-umentary “Sex, Lies and Michael Aspel” was screened in December and had two brief clips of Kate being interviewed on the Michael Aspel Show. The voice-over said something about Mike meeting “some of the most beautiful women in the world”…On Dec 4th there was a 5-minute interview on BBC1’s breakfast programme with Peter Gabriel. The interview was trailered with a few short clips from a handful of Peter’s videos, and a section of Don’t Give Up was shown, featuring Kate. Peter talked briefly about his new CD greatest hits release, and his involvement with charitable causes including his passion for human rights. (thanks Krys B)…The BBC website mentioned that “New York drag ‘cabaret terrorists’ Kiki and Herb return to London with their latest seasonal show, P***ed at Christmas – a Concert for the Lonely, opening a three performance run at the celebrated south London gay pub, the Vauxhall Tavern. Juxtaposing Christmas classics with songs by Eminem, Nirvana, Kate Bush, Radiohead, Mary J Blige and Debbie Harry…see here…Scarlett has told me that “independent singer/songwriter Danielle French, from Calgary, Alberta, Canada, does a stunning cover of “Running Up That Hill” by Kate Bush on her brand new CD ‘Piece’.” Check out the full clip here (thanks Scarlett)

From Contact Music: “Outkast hip-hop star Big Boi has a surprising musical hero – eccentric British singer Kate Bush. The ‘Miss Jackson’ rapper – real name Antwan Patton – credits his teenage musical development to Bush, and he’s still so infatuated with the reclusive star he wants to track her down and get her to produce songs for his duo’s next album. He says, “My uncle introduced me to Kate Bush’s music when I was about 14 years old, and that shit opened my mind up. The first one I got was The Kick Inside, then I bought Hounds Of Love, then the The Sensual World. “She was so bugged out man! But I felt what she was talking about in the songs. Mother Stands For Comfort, Running Up That Hill. My uncle would explain what the songs stood for. Like The Man With The Child In His Eyes and all that shit. I thought, Wow! she’s so f**king deep! I was infatuated with her, still am. I gotta track her down! I just found out that she was producing all that shit herself! She’s so f***ing dope and so underrated and off the radar. So hopefully on the next record you’re going hear Outkast and Kate Bush do at least two or three songs.” Apparently the band also talk about Kate in the recent Mojo magazine feature. Read more here. (thanks to Christian & Sharon)

The comedy series Little Britain which has recently finished on BBC3 and is now being screened on BBC2 and features a wonderful version of Babooshka in it’s final episode. (thanks Louise)…Lee Kaay re-worked his 2001 version of December Will Be Magic Again for his 2003 “Frost” single EP and DVD. A a video was also shot in Iceland. The EP also featured 3 other seasonal tracks. His DVD “The Russian Tour” will be issued July 2004 and is due to feature his live version of “This Womans Work”. (thanks MB)… the January issue of the UK magazine Gay Times has a brief Q&A with an artist named Jon Cooper (aka Jon Pleased Wimmin); “Are drugs necessary for writing good dance music? Oh God, no. I think they can help sometimes when listening to music, like getting stoned before the cinema. There’s nothing I like more than rolling about the floor cross-eyed, listening to Kate Bush.” (cheers Benjamin)…Channel 5 in the UK trailed the screening of the Batman movie with Kate singing The Man With The Child In His Eyes. It was played over the part of the film during which Batman relives the shooting of his parents when he was a young boy. (thanks David)…The Sunday Herald in Scotland published a list of the 100 greatest albums. Hounds of Love is included, and the author of the list wrote an incredibly positive and well-written blurb for it: “The tidal beauty of Kate Bush’s moon music has long enlivened the mainstream of British pop. Rather than ranking her alongside dull no-marks such as Peter Gabriel and Dave Gilmour, we should look at her work in the tradition of such visionary English artists as William Blake, Derek Jarman and Current 93. 1985’s Hounds Of Love is still her greatest work, mixing esoteric musings with a series of compositions that seem to completely ignore any of the basic tenets of songcraft. They rarely, if ever, venture into predictable verse/chorus/verse territory, yet they are unparalleled in their ability to burrow deep beneath your skin. Although the second half of the record is by far the most ambitious and startling – a conceptual suite defined by dramatic tempo-changes and cut-up voices, it’s the languorous beauty of the singles that remains the most affecting. Running Up That Hill, in particular, still sounds like the most unlikely pop song, its gush of hauntingly surreal imagery as eerily affecting as some half-remembered dream. She may be small but she’s undeniably powerful.” The writer mentions a ton of albums that very much deserve to be on such lists but are usually overlooked for whatever reason. Read morehere

Malcolm Calder has sent this link to an article by David Kennan in the Sunday Herald (Scottish newspaper) from November concerning Wilhelm Reich, Cloudbusters and Kate and Patti Smith’s songs based on his life, read it here…an old article from 1999 featuring Tricky in the German “Visions” music magazine. He mentions Kate and her influence on his own work. Apparently the drum line from Watching You Without Me was sample looped in his song Contradiction from the Juxtapose album. The article can be found (in German) here (thanks Robert)…German TV channel ZDF screened a programme called “Die ZDF Kultnacht – RockPop”. Featuring old clips from the programme “RockPop“, including Kate’s performance of Babooshka. Read more here and there are some screenshots of this Kate performance at Gaffaweb here…The News Of The World printed a cartoon in it’s 28th December edition of Kate with George Bush (with photos of their heads stuck onto their animated bodies), housed within a picture frame, and captioned “Quibbling Siblings…Kate and George Bush”(!)…a trailer for a Channel 5 documentary on Emily Bronte played Kate’s “Wuthering Heights”…and finally the Christmas edition of Ireland’s music paper Hot Press contained this excellent letter which won Letter Of The Fortnight! You’ll see why…(big newsbit thanks to Michael Leitz and Cynthia Conrad)

Newsbits: Friends and supporters of this website, Dublin band Settler, have released their excellent second album, Hard Won, Hardwired – please check out the banner link above to read all about them and to see our own Brian Cloughley’s graphic work. Also access their main site to hear some great music clips and read the tour diary of our Chicago trip last year, hosted by I Wanna Be Kate producer Thomas Dunning (see how KBN&I connected they are?!!!). We wish them big success with their new CD, which I’ve been playing on rotation here this evening as I’ve been putting this update together – cracking stuff.

A very interesting Jive Magazine article on Kate’s resurgence in popularity with the dance culture can be read here (thanks Andrew)…BBC2 screened a clip of the Wuthering Heights video at the beginning of Alistair McGowan‘s slot urging people to vote Emily Bronte’s classic book to the top of the 100 Best Books poll. Alistair recounted how his introduction to the novel was as a result of hearing Kate’s first single back in 1978, and like many others he went out to find himself a copy of the book…Donal O’Mahony of The Tycho Brahe is interviewed in the latest issue of the Dublin Event Guide about the bands new CD Love Life (see September 17th 2003 news). He is asked “Without necessarily wanting to make unwelcome comparisons, there is one that can be made between ‘Love, Life’ and Kate Bush’s ‘The Hounds of Love’ album. She had the ability to make seemingly simple songs, but ones that contained immensely complex and subtle component parts. Like your new album, hers were absolutely gorgeous to listen to. Is the comparison fair? Donal: We have no problem with any comparison. She made albums that you would always come back to, both because of the quality of the production and because of her own quality. She made ‘Hounds of Love and ‘The Ninth Wave’, which was really one album but had two distinct themes to it. What happened with us, in releasing a double album, is that we just had way too many songs for a single one.” read more here…Hayley Westenra‘s version of Wuthering Heights can be heard here, also find an interview with Hayley here where she’s asked: “Who are you listening to at the moment? Hayley: Coldplay and I’ve just discovered Kate Bush’s songs. I think it might have been her first album – I’d love to record them all!” (thanks to Ben de Vos and Michael Leitz)

Les July sends in this article on Kate from a recent Women Who Rock magazine from the US… find a link to the Fil OK remix of Waking The Witch at this French KB site here (thanks Ben)…On the recently shown BBC TV Series “Burn It“, which is about thirty-something Mancunians and their messed up lives, whenever the local drug dealing character is featured Kate Bush tracks are quite clearly playing in the background! So far, Wuthering Heights, Wow & Babooshka have featured (thanks Gav)…John Roger noticed that Cloudbusting was played on Australian ABC radio, whose site featured the following comment: “Why is it that Geri Haliwell releases an album every 12 months but Kate Bush doesn’t? Is this some sort of cruel hoax perpetrated on us all? Methinks so. Kate we miss you, make a record for us real soon.” John also found this reference from Australian TV in 1978 (thanks John)…

A recent issue of Music Week, widely regarded as the bible to the UK record industry, has an interview with Rob Dickins, chairman at Warner Music for most of the ’80’s & ’90’s. Discussing his career highlights he talks about how he signed Prince, The Sex Pistols, Madonna, Enya & Simply Red. He also talks about Kate as “The one that got away”. He says “I would love to have signed Kate. I was waiting for a meeting at EMI when I heard Wuthering Heights through the door – I thought it was spectacular. I asked the secretary how I could get in touch with the artist. I was told that she didn’t have a manager, but was given her home number. I called Kate the next day and said I was interested in signing her publishing. She was 17 and very flattered, but needed advice. She called back a few days later and said she’d been advised not to sign with Warners, but EMI instead. I asked who had advised her and she said Bob Mercer. Bob was the general manager of EMI at the time”.

Running Up That Hill has been used in an advert for the new Channel 4 series in the UK – The Seven Ages of Britain (thanks to Russ Thomas and Kyla)… Laura Clifford was at a screening of the documentary “Tupac: Resurrected” which she says is narrated by Tupac himself and beautifully put together. During his school days at a Baltimore school for the performing arts as he spoke about the music that he was exposed to they played “Wuthering Heights,” accompanied by pictures of Tupac in ballet gear and a closeup of his handwritten list with Kate Bush noted (thanks Laura)…singer Happy Rhodes has performed And Dream Of Sheep at a recent Philadelphia concert…The Telegraph newspaper in the UK lists Don’t Give Up at number 3 in its Top 50 Duets listing. “There is no harmonic intertwining in this strangely disconnected duet, no blending of superstar voices and absolutely no vocal showboating. It is a kind of call and response between a man struggling with unemployment and his lover imploring him to keep the faith, though such is the sense of isolation in Peter Gabriel’s verse vocals that he seems removed from Kate Bush’s increasingly desperate murmurings of solace in the choruses. It was a quite devastating critique of the effects of Thatcherism, all the more powerful for its emotional understatement and lack of polemic. Key moment: The tremble in Bush’s pleading voice in that final heartbreaking chorus, filled with hopeless compassion.” (Thanks to MC)

Composer, performer and arranger Visnja (also a major Kate Bush fan) has reworked Wuthering Heights here (thanks and best of luck with your career Visnja)…this book on Amazon looks at songwriting and has various mentions of Kate – you can search inside the book and you’ll see quite a few interesting views on Kate’s abilities here. Vertical songwriting, anyone? (thanks Andrew)…The Kick Inside Tribute site has been revamped and now contains a sparkling new look, kudos to Jagdpanthers design efforts, the site now features downloadable snippets. You’ll find a link on the links page of this site here…Peter Gabriel‘s new “Best Of” 2 CD set called “Hit” is out now and features all tracks Kate is on: Don’t Give Up, Games Without Frontiers and No Self Control… a book called “Englands Hidden Reverse” by David Keenan notes that the experimental band Coil are big fans of Kate. She is mentioned several times as a source of inspiration. (thanks to Paul Elwick)…Mojo Magazine November 2003 issue lists Kate at No.43 in their Hall of Fame, above the likes of Bruce Springsteen, The Stone Roses, REM, U2 & Abba. No.1 was Elvis. (thanks MC)… The Nov 2003 of German magazine Audio features an article about CD box sets from EMI, including Kate’s This Woman’s Work collection and a free CD called “Platinum Pop”, featuring Cloudbusting from the set. (thanks to Michael Leitz)…finally the website of the Finnish version of the Pop Idols programme features a performance of Wuthering Heights. While the contestant didn’t make it, the panel spend a while chatting about Kate afterwards instead – see the video evidence here.

Newsbits: Tracy Story has found some photos of Kate on magician Simon Drake‘s website. Simon has updated his site with galleries which include pictures of him on stage with Kate during the 1979 Tour Of Life (including one or two not seen before) and also a recent one of Kate and her partner Danny (left) enjoying one of the exclusive events at his House Of Magic. One photo caption on the site from the tour reveals that the violin madly played by Simon on stag on the tour was Kate’s as a child and is now hanging on display in his House Of Magic. Simon is one of Britain’s most famous magicians and his site is well worth a visit here….DJ Andy Smith (Portishead) has issued a remix of Kate’s The Man With The Child In His Eyes on his new CD Document II, and people seem to like it. The CD was released September 15th. Read more and hear a clip here.

On the 17th October, Erasure’s Andy Bell told the Guardian newspaper of a recent visit he took to Kate’s house: “…Kate Bush is a long-term favourite he still adores. Bush is in the enviable position of seeing her popularity and enigma increase steadily, despite, or perhaps because of the fact that she hasn’t released a record or made a public performance for a decade. Bell’s favourite Kate Bush album is The Dreaming. “Probably because it was her first flop, and it made me feel better about our first flop, which was the 1995 Erasure album,” he says. “We went round her house in south London recently and she was everything I expected: she was really nice, she made us tea in a proper teapot, she had baked a cake, she had loads of cats, and she was really softly spoken. I was a teenager when she first came along and I still think she’s fantastic.” Read more here.

Dido mentions Kate in an interview with to The Guardian on the 3rd October. “…now she is taking a few lessons in career management from her early role models. “When I was 13 I got a record player for Christmas, so I went out and bought Hounds of Love by Kate Bush and Diamond Life by Sade, which both remain absolute classics. Those are two women who have got the right idea: they have a life, they have great careers, and they make records when they want to make records. Sade was also a hero for me when I was growing up because I used to see her around in Islington and she always looked so cool.” On the eve of the release of Dido’s second album, Life for Rent, Bush and Sade are there to remind her where she can go from here. “You have to find a way to make music without putting yourself on a treadmill,” she says. “Kate Bush and Sade do what they do brilliantly, they don’t try to be anything they’re not, and they carry on quietly and confidently. It’s like when I started, I kept being asked by the record company what my image was going to be. I don’t know! Me?” Read more here

Greg Gilligan send in this quote from actor Guy Pearce from the October Empire Magazine. In one question sent in by the movie mag’s readers he is asked what he thinks the best music video of all time is: “…I look back at Kate Bush videos, which was in the 70’s, and when you look back at some of them – as limited and new as they were – they’re in some ways even more effective than videos today. I like to have a look at Wuthering Heights and Babooshka every now again. Particularly because she looks gorgeous.” (thanks Greg – keen-eyed forum users will have spotted a very interesting story posted a while back by Krys about Guy, HomeGround and a certain dress from a certain 1989 video…)

Marinus de Goederen writes: “In the beginning of this year I flew to Abbey Road to record there for a day. (It was a prize I had won.) I’ve put my story online. It’s in Dutch, but hopefully I will write an English version too. I also added a picture of Kate Bush that is hanging in one of the halls over there.” Read Marinus’ account of his day, “Spinning In The Chair At Abbey Road” here. (thanks Marinus, lucky you!)…Donny on rec.music gaffa has noted that here Big Boi of the group Outkast has said “We’re also huge rock fans – AC/DC, U2, Aerosmith, the White Stripes, Kate Bush.” (thanks Donny)…singer Kate Ceberano is compared to Katehere. Irish singer Cara Dillon has released a new album “Sweet Liberty” and reviews (such as Q Magazine) are once again comparing her musical style to Kate’s (Cara is on record as being a huge Kate fan). Read more here (thanks Malcolm)…

On the 19th October The Observer newspaper in the UK have named Kate as the number one Greatest Eccentric In Music:“Popular music will always need eccentrics, the people who show mainstream life how things can be stranger, more beautiful, or just… different. These 10 singers, musicians and producers are, arguably, the most peculiar of all… Kate Bush – Number One because she brought her own brand of rural gothic eccentricity right to the very heart of the mainstream. In deepest Plumstead, she spent her teenage years running the Incredible String Band fan club, then studied mime under Lindsay Kemp, the man who gave Bowie similiar ideas about the poetic power of prancing about. To this end, La Bush even made leggings and spangly cat suits almost trendy for a brief instant. Her first moment remains her finest: ‘Wuthering Heights’, Emily Bronte’s gothic novel rendered as a three minute pop song. She later did the same for Molly Bloom’s solliloquy from James Joyce’s Ulysses on The Sensual World. Now a pop recluse without being an acid casualty, rumours persist that she is working on an album, the first since 1993. A major influence on inspired loons like Bjork, Tricky, even Tori Amos.” Read more here (thanks to Michael Leitz, Simon, Amanda Harrold and Sara Nicholson)

Yet another Top 100 singles survey here from Radio Cambridgeshire, Kate at 73 with Wuthering Heights…Channel 4 repeated theTop Ten Pop Princesses show from 2001 featuring Kate on 25th Oct. (sorry this didn’t make the news page in time but you can download a clip of this lightweight assessment of Kate’s career here – thanks to Charles Slane, and to Michael Leitz for the clip)…The Scotsman newspaper reports on a fashion show featuring Kate’s music here. Clips from Alan Partridge‘s Comic Relief mentions of Kate are available here…in the September 26th 2003 edition of the very popular U.S. magazine, Entertainment Weekly Kate gets a mention in an article called: “The Joy of Sets: Dreaming up these 25 playlists doesn’t mean we’re music geeks, right?” Kate’s Coffee Homeground is included in a list of “coffee” songs. (thanks to Tim Bertram)…online store Amazon is listing a DVD supposedly featuring a live version of Wuthering Heights here… Vix write to tell me that they are “indeed vocally inspired by Kate Bush” so check them out here… BBC Leeds are raving aboutFour Day Hombre (pictured), whose single First Word “effortlessly develops into a rock version of the Kate Bush hit Running Up That Hill without you even noticing the changeover.” The band are chmpioned by Radio 1 DJ Chris Moyles. Read more here…This Woman’s Work, written by Kate, published by EMI, performed by Maxwell, won an BMI Award in the category Pop. The awards “salute the top UK and European songwriters and publishers in the pop, urban, country, dance, college and film/TV music genres. The gala dinner and awards ceremony honors the most performed songs on US radio and television” Read more here…finally, while many of you wish for a long overdue proper DVD release of Kate’s music videos, Michael Leitz has compiled a list of known DVD compilations which feature something of Kate’s. They’re on a text file here(thanks to Michael Leitz and Cynthia Conrad for sending a lot of news my way as usual – cheers guys)

September 17th 2003: Newsbits: Carol Keogh of Dublin band The Tycho Brahe has selected Hounds of Love as one of her favourite albums in the latest issue of Hot Press, she remembers “sharing the genius of this with two of my oldest friends”. [Seán says: Their new album, Love Life, is to be highly recommended to Kate fans. In trying to describe the increasingly unique sound of the band (and Carol’s magnificent vocal work & lyric writing), Kate’s name, and a number of other singers, have often been mentioned by reviewers. Carol and Tycho member Donal O’Mahony’s previous band, The Plague Monkeys, were also often lazily compared to the Cocteau Twins. The main thing is that if you like refreshing, brilliantly produced, inventive and often highly moving music then this is for you. And so ends my plug!]

The September edition of Record Collector in the UK features an article entitled “Picture this”. They write: “It’s the 75th anniversary of the picture disc, and to celebrate, we present some of the choicest examples of the art.” One of those examples they present is Kate’s The Kick Inside…a streaming sample of Placebo‘s Running Up That Hill cover can be found here…Tricky mentions Kate again here…ON BBC Radio 1’s Live Lounge programme with Jo Whiley, Dido mentions Kate; “I did karaoke in Japan – oh, my god I had fun. I did Wuthering Heights by Kate Bush which was the worst rendition you’ve ever heard”…the New York Times reviews the Merreminne Dancers here, the music they dance to includes Kate…according to German TV Channel RTL a list of all time selling albums shows that Hounds Of Love has been her most successful in the country here…The Futureheads tell the NME (August 2nd): “We love Kate because she comes at music from a really spazzy angle. That’s the reason we covered ‘Hounds of Love’. It’s good pop with a strange arrangement”. (thanks to Katie Flack)…John found some (very) old news in a June 1985 issue of Zig Zag. In an interview with ‘Sid and Nancy’ Film Maker Alex Cox – “Would you like to do more promo videos?” Alex – “Nah, But with the Pogues yes. Or the Plugz. But I don’t really want to get into it. I’ve already turned down the opportunity to do a £100,000 Kate Bush video because, who needs it?”…Japanese digital TV showed the Secret Policeman’s Third Ball including Kate’s live Running Up That Hill on August 28th, also CS digital station CH230 aired the whole SNL show, including Kates first US TV appearance, on 30th August (thanks to Sozo Yamamoto)…in an interview from August 18th Brian Kennedy again mentions Kate’s influence…a Nottingham newspaper reports on a Top Of The Pops Starlets competition featuring a Kate impersonator…(newsbit thanks to Cynthia Conrad and Michael Leitz)

Newsbits: Placebo are re-releasing their latest album Sleeping With Ghosts (Hut Recordings) on September 22nd with a bonus CD of cover versions, Running Up That Hill included, apparently something that their fans have been requesting. According to The Sunday Mail in the UK, they will feature cover versions of songs by Boney M, Robert Palmer and Kate Bush when they play T on the Fringe at Edinburgh’s Corn Exchange on August 25th. Read morehere. (thanks to Michael Leitz, Marinus De Goederen, Kevin Tachman and Stewart)…David Nicholls, a writer on the popular UK TV series ‘Cold Feet’ is about to publish a new novel entitled “Starter For Ten“. Described as “painfully funny” by Elle magazine, the film rights have apparently been snapped up by Tom Hanks’ production company. The Kate connection? The central character Brian is a big Kate Bush fan (the novel is set in 1985) and the story is about his attempts to get onto the popular BBC quiz show University Challenge. The book can be ordered from Amazon. (thanks to Amanda Harrold)

Tracy Story says that those of us into jazz might want to check out the new project from Kate’s drummerCharlie Morgan here. (we hear that Tracy has been out and about playing some KB covers himself!)…Rolling Stone report that Greg Dulli returned to the stage for the first time in three years on 21st August at Los Angeles’ Spaceland to debut the new lineup of his band the Twilight Singers and their album, Blackberry Belle, due October 14th. They played seven of the album’s eleven tracks, as well as material from the first Twilight Singers disc and some of the eclectic covers (Kate Bush’s “Cloudbursting,” the instrumental portion of Derek and the Dominos’ “Layla”) fans have come to expect.” Read more here. (thanks to Michael Leitz)…On Monday August 11th VH1Classic in the US ran the Suspended In Gaffa video and a 1985 interview with Kate describing her religious upbringing and the impact purgatory had on her and the song. (thanks to Bill Richotte)…On August 5th, Charlotte Martin (see July 30th newsbits) covered ‘This Woman’s Work’ at her show at Hotel Cafe in Los Angeles, you may be able to download the track here. (thanks to Mike Gray)

“If you’re looking for a chillout compilation with substance, check out the Back to Mine series of mixes.” – Rolling Stone. Tricky will be offering fans an insight into the workings of a unique musical mind when he releases a compilation of favourites in the ‘Back To Mine‘ series. The Bristolian trip-hop innovator has frequently confounded expectation by citing the likes of Kate Bush as influences on his redefinition of hip-hop with the mid-nineties classic, ‘Maxinquaye’. The CD includes Kate’s Eat The Music and will be released on 15th September. Read more here. Actor Guy Pearce mentions Kate again in this interview. (Thanks to Marco)…Janet Tyson has written a book which may be of interest to anyone intrigued by The Song Of Solomon to be published in November, by EcceNova Editions in Canada. Read more here… Finally, Peter Chow has very kindly decided to share two never published photosthat he took of Kate at the 1994 fan club convention at the Hippodrome in London. (big thanks Peter! – click on the pics above for the larger versions)

Newsbits: Mike Gray writes: Women Who Rock (July/Aug ’03), a US magazine has an “In The Studio” section on page 15 and states “Kate Bush is busy working on a to-be-titled UK release. And we think it’s for real this time.” Then on page 58, she’s named 24th most essential Woman Who Rocked The World. In the article it says “British Enchantress Still Wants To Be Alone – Kate Bush has proven over her sporadic moments in the limelight that you can find success entirely on your own terms, reaching lofty heights by not compromising your ethics, beliefs or spellbinding voice…young female singers everywhere are inspired to follow their own muse and damn the consequences. Says one of her spiritual descendants, Charlotte Martin, “I remember when I first heard Kate’s voice and [was] impressed with the amount of control she had, and then remember the chills I got because there was so much emotion and conviction in her tone and in her words.” Mike tells me that it’s worth checking out the Charlotte Martin website (thanks Mike)….according to Armydreamers on the site forum, the 24th July editon of the daily news on Bulgarian TV (BTV) had a story about Yanka Rupkhina (from The Trio Bulgarka). She’s composing a new song dedicated to the late George Harrison. They interviewed her and talked about her career. The presenter said that Kate was the first one to work with the Trio and that after her Peter Gabriel and George Harrison followed her. The most interesting part was at the end when they showed pictures from Yanka’s personal collection. Most of them were of Yanka and Kate.” (thanks Armydreamers)

If you’re planning on being in Australia in September here’s an event worth checking out: “Join Able Productions and celebrate the 21st anniversary of Kate Bush’s album masterpiece The Dreaming…Saturday 13th September, Central City Library, Adelaide St., Brisbane. From midday see footage of Kate’s classic clips & live appearances AND…back by popular demand – Kate Bush Night, Alliance Hotel, Spring Hill from 8pm. Featuring DJ, dancefloor, giveaways, Taylor Gibson & “All Yours Babooshka” tribute show. Check out the site here, where you can vote for the clips you’d like shown. (thanks Kristian)…Capitol Records have just released a Go West greatest hits CD including “The King Is Dead”. Finally a remastered version to hear a little Kate in the background….Toddicus wrote to singer Donna Lewis in her fanmail forum discussing Kate Bush. Click on the most recent letter from him – she describes how she’s quite the Kate fan in hopes for a new album soon (thanks Toddicus)….Jamie is having another club night on the 2nd August, see June 28th news or check the site here)…pianist Joan Bujacich gets compared to Kate in this article here;”though Bujacich’s writing continues in the tradition of songwriting greats Carly Simon and Joni Mitchell, her music also journeys into riskier territory. She is sometimes compared to underground pop-music icons Kate Bush or Patti Smith.” (thanks to PDFM)