Kate Bush News

January 18th 2003: Newsbits Round Up: A lot of stuff to get through in this new year update, I’ve been a bit lazy since Christmas but I’m sure you’ll allow me that! Here we go with a whole heap of Kate Bush newsy bits:

The Top Of The Pops 2 website has just set up a new vote “Who’s the foxiest lady of pop?” There are 6 choices, 5 blondes including Madonna & Kylie, and Kate. They say “Did the sight, sound or thought of any of these pop temptresses keep you awake at night? Did you have a poster on your wall which you used to peck goodnight each evening?” The good news is that Kate is currently leading the vote here….female folk singer Bill Jones (short for Belinda) has released a new live CD called “Live at the Live” ( released on Brick Wall Music BRICK 004CD). This collection is described as “polished” by the BBC and includes a beautiful rendition of Kate’s Never Be Mine. Read more here….those who like music industry gossip website Popbitch will have recently read that “The 80s women are back. Claudia Brucken (Propaganda) and Kate Bush are set to release new albums in 2003.”….The January issue of Audio Music magazine mention Kate in their 25 years of pop retro, calling The Kick Inside “The debut album from the fairy of pop, a milestone. Purest romanticism, a kick for the heart. Do finally remaster, please”. They also single out Don’t Give Up from 1986 “In the end it’s Kate Bush who makes this a winner. The ballad of the century, irresistible.”

Birgitte in the Netherlands tells us that the Dutch amusement park De Efteling celebrated it’s 50th anniversary in 2002. She noticed a sign there when she went there last summer at the haunted castle (where Kate filmed the TV special in 1978). The translation of the sign (pictured here) is “Spooks, ghosts and skeletons try to please you in a macabre dance, but for TV recordings in 1978 they could not scare away Kate Bush”…in the UK Herald on 7th January Toyah Wilcox is interviewed and yet again she mentions Kate (interestingly described as Kate’s “best friend” by the writer). “Many of her contemporaries are still working and still relevant. Siouxsie Sioux, Kate Bush, Debbie Harry were all women who inspired a generation of teenage girls with more than platform soles, branded lollipops, and girl-power soundbites.”I think at the time people like us were still struggling in a real male area. I do think that people who liked me really suffered for it. Everything I did came from inside my head in a darkened room, so I probably attracted like-minded folk, whereas someone like Kate was very good at researching her music and lyrics.”….

Writer Neil Gaiman recently quoted Kate in his online journal for Friday, January 3, 2003. “Is there anything I’d change? Not really. I wish I had been a better writer when I was writing the first dozen Sandmans, and I wish the colour separations on Brief Lives hadn’t been so dreadful, but beyond that, it is what it is, and I’m content with that. “Be kind to your mistakes,” as Kate Bush so wisely said.”. Gamain mentioned her again in his journal on January 5th: “I was just getting to the point where I was running out of CDs to stick on the iPod, when I realised that I’d forgotten about Boxed Sets. And of course, that’s what they’re for: you buy them, play them once or possibly twice, and then put them back in the box and tidy them up and put them away somewhere inconvenient, faintly pleased that you’ve actually got Kate Bush singing “Ken is the leader of the GLC” on disc somewhere, but with no burning desire ever to hear it again in your lifetime.” (thanks to Jeremy and Tristan)

Recording artiste Lee Kaay will be performing a melody of Kate tunes on his forthcoming tour next year, the 4 songs are Cloudbusting, Hounds Of Love, The Big Sky and The Red Shoes….Australian newspaper The Melbourne Herald-Sun had an article on the albums due for release in 2003. Kate got a mention in the ‘also coming’ section. “Kate Bush: Another serial procrastinator, last year Bush started making noise about having an album, her first since 1993’s The Red Shoes, out this year. We’ll believe it when we see it.”….Larry tells us that Sound & Vision magazine mentions The Dreaming as an album worth releasing on DVD Audio or SACD here….The Independent in the UK likened Shakira‘s new “Mongoose” tour as “one of the loopiest shows from a mainstream artist since the heyday of Kate Bush” here….Lituanian singer Gintaré has been compard to Kate, Bjork and Enya (read more here)….Tankgirl writes that Kate is mentioned in the Dutch TV channel Nederland 3’s Top 2000 records a total of 5 times, the highest being Wuthering Heights at 95 (read more here)….the French magazine Jukebox has an article on Kate in the current issue (#187), see a scan here….Record Collector in the UK have a monthly feature called “Time Tunnel” where they look back at what happened in the music scene 25 years ago. In the current issue, they report about the events back in Dec ’77 and say that future editions will feature Kate shooting to fame in 1978 with Wuthering Heights….finally SWAN noticed that an online record store is boldly claiming that Kate’s new album is out in September here…(special thanks to Michael Leitz and Cynthia Conrad for keeping me up to date)

Newsbits: Andy Marvick found an interview with an up-and-coming British female
electronic artist named Harland here which mentions Kate (thanks Andy)…Marcel Rijs tells us of another German DVD from Sony featuring Running Up That Hill, with the poetic (ahem) title of  “Pop & Wave Hit Clip Mix 2″…ever wonder at the science behind a Cloudbuster? Have a read of this link here (thanks to Eddie)…Kalessin noticed that fantasy author Charles DeLint is a Kate fan. In his novel, Moonheart (1983), he writes: “this book was written under the influence of Alan Stivell, Silly Wizard and Kate Bush, to name the most prominent”…alternative version of December Will Be Magic Again on “Instant Xmas Hits 1” (thanks JB)…at the All Music site you can see how Kate did in the US charts with all of her albums here (thanks Marinus)…

Newsbits: Q Magazine have again published a poll of it’s reader’s 100 Greatest Albums of all time and Kate’s Hounds Of Love is at number 51. A previous Q poll a few years back had the album placed at number 48 but, as one person pointed out on the guestbook, there are 11 albums which make the top 50 this time which have been released since that last evaluation. Not bad at all then. Q describe the album as “Prog-rock’s only sexy record. Still sounds terrifying and sexy”…on Wednesday 27th November the BBC ran a documentary about EMI Records, Kate had a brief mention (cover of The Kick Inside shown and Don’t Give Up vocal played)…ITV showed a programme on Sunday 24th called Songwriters Forever. As well as Lennon and McCartney’s solo work, Kate’s work was featured and included were clips from Babooshka, Hounds of Love & This Womans Work. It also included old interview clips with Kate (thanks to Simon O’Donovan and J on the guestbook)…the BBC have added two more clips of Kate’s Top Of The Pops performances on their Kate Bush “star microsite”. Wuthering Heights from March 2nd 1978 and The Man With The Child In His Eyes from June 29th 1978. Check out the site here (thanks to Michael Leitz/Cynthia Conrad)…speaking of songwriters I’ve been told that you should check out this site, this singer/songwriter is a big fan of Kate and performs Cloudbusting live…here’s a link that Michael Leitz sent in of an interview with the British band Ladytron. They talk about their musical influences; “Kate Bush is amazing, there’s no one like her,” says Helen. “As for Joni Mitchell, she’s one for the girls. Boys just can’t understand her”…Yvonne Betz (who dueted on Don’t Give Up with Xaivier Naidoo on his last concert tour) is currently recording her first studio album and apparently she’ll be doing a cover version of Running Up That Hill…finally a “where is she now?” article recently popped up in the French magazine “Rock & Folk“. Fanch Oriant sends this scan from the November 2002 issue.

The Kick Inside & Lionheart have been released as a double pack by EMI (this is NOT the new remasters we are still waiting for – just the usual CDs with simple cardboard slipcase). The double pack is available from amazon.com. Also, EMI Records issued two German DVDs featuring Kate songs on Nov.18th. The Greatest Eighties features Army Dreamers and The Greatest Love features Hounds Of Love. A 2 CD set called RTL Christmas Megastars Vol. 3 features December Will Be Magic Again. (thanks to John Roger and Michael Leitz)

Newsbits: Paramount Picture’s 90th Anniversary Memorable Songs is a CD that “features popular songs that were featured in some of Paramount Pictures most successful motion pictures”, including Kate’s This Woman’s Work from “She’s Having A Baby”, read more here about this Sony release…the BBC’s Top Of The Pops website has five excerpts (Real Player) from Kate performances (Wow, Them Heavy People, Running Up That Hill, Hounds Of Love, and And So Is Love) here in their newly launched “microsite” on Kate, one fan commented that he had previously never heard of the Them Heavy People clip, so it could be a rare one (thanks to Cynthia and Michael Leitz)….a writer in The Guardian mentioned Kate in an article about a football club manager who was persuaded by “Heathcliffian tossing and turning” to pack his bags.”Heathcliff, it’s me, Cathy come home, I’m so cold, let me in-a-your window oh-uh-oh-oh-oh-uh-ho-oh.” That – as those of us who marvelled at a pert Kate Bush shrieking away like the great grandmother of all banshees on Top of the Pops – is the lung-busting chorus of Wuthering Heights. A chorus which, as anyone who’s muddled through GCSE English knows, refers to the haunting of the once-rugged Heathcliff by the ghostly figure of Cathy on the Yorkshire moors.” Read more here….Underground hip-hop icon Cage, a member of the Smut Peddlers, uses samples from Cloudbusting (the violins) in his song A Crowd Killer from his album Movies For The Blind (thanks to Michael Leitz)….a part of “Under Ice” was heavily aired in Japanese TV, in Fuji Television‘s ad for its drama series “Bara-No-Jujika (Rose Cross)” which starts this month. Fuji Television also used Night Scented Stock four years ago, which signs someone important in their drama section likes Kate. (thanks to Sozo Yamamoto, who keeps this site’s Japanese translation ticking over! – read more here.)…Sandra on the guestbook tells us that in Rolling Stone magazine’s Women in Rock issue, The Kick Inside was listed at #42 on the 50 most important albums by women chart (thanks Sandra)

A whole load of Newsbits!: Don’t forget to go to www.q4music.com and vote for Kate’s albums on their 100 best albums poll (thanks to Damien Bryce)….VH1 100 Greatest Women Update: From the guestbook: “VH1 did a really good piece on her. Toyah said some beautiful things about Kates work, Toploader, who sing to Kate’s records at home, and Midge Ure contributed. They showed excerpts from various videos and even the lady herself made a small comment. It looked like she was filmed around the Red Shoes time. All in all it made me really proud of her, and also she really did stand out amongst the others. Tori Amos made a comment too, singling out Kate’s production skills.”….Michael Leitz: “Xavier Naidoo, German soul star, currently on tour in Germany, is doing a cover version of Don’t Give Up at his concerts. Kate’s part is sung by Yvonne Betz. The studio version can be found on his second solo CD called “Zwischenspiel/Alles Für Den Herrn”. Both the live and the studio version have received excellent reviews in the German press….fashion designer Jean-Paul Gaultier launched his Spring/Summer 2003 collection using Wuthering Heights on the catwalk as well as trapeze artists. Designer Emanuel Ungaro also used Kate’s music to accompany his latest creations on show, during the Paris pret-a-porter shows. (thanks to Michael Leitz, Cynthia Conrad and Swan)….Bill Richotte writes; “The trailer for the new Pierce Brosnan movie Evelyn uses “Don’t Give Up”, which isn’t so unusual, but as the trailer progresses, they have re-scored the song, adding orchestration and such, kinda cool. Here is the link….In Brazil, The Secret Policeman’s Third Ball has also been released on DVD, see here, also the German label “In-Akustik” will release a DVD called “The Secret Policeman’s Balls – In Concert” on Oct 14th that features Kate’s live performance of Running Up That Hill with David Gilmour, see here….The BBC have a “TOTP2 wallpaper” featuring Kate. Three different resolutions ready for download here, the beautiful shot of Kate is from the newly released BBC Top Of The Pops book. (thanks to Michael Leitz)….On Sept 25th MTV USA did a show called “No Hit Wonders.” Kate was referenced in mention to singer/actress Milla Jovovich (Fifth Element, Million Dollar Hotel), who released an album back in 1994. They compared her single “Gentlemen Who Fell” as a “weird combination of Enya meets Kate Bush, but not nearly as good.” (thanks to Collin Kelley)….an article on Kate has appeared in the current issue of Swedish magazine “Rock” (thanks Magnus)….Running Up That Hill has been recently added to a compilation CD called “Promises & Memories” in Italy. In the booklet included is a small photo of Kate performing “The Dreaming” on an Italian show called “Discoring” back in 1982, and a very positive review of the track. (thanks to Antonello Saeli)….Jenn Crowell in Washington DC writes: “there is an article on “Generation X” writers in the Sept./Oct 2002 edition of Pages, a US literary magazine, in which I mention Kate Bush as one of my major pop culture influences, I’m a novelist, and my novel Necessary Madness, which came out in the US and UK a few years back, actually quoted a line from Hounds of Love by name.” (thanks Jenn)