FEATURE:
From East Wickham Farm to Bracing the Snow
ALL PHOTOS: John Carder Bush (from his book, KATE: Inside the Rainbow)
John Carder Bush’s KATE: Inside the Rainbow at Five
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I am a little late marking…
the fifth anniversary of John Carder Bush’s KATE: Inside the Rainbow as that happened on 22nd October – so I am about a month out! Regardless, whilst others have not marked the anniversary, I think it is as important as any album anniversary and it is a significant work. Here are some details regarding the book:
“KATE: Inside the Rainbow is a collection of beautiful images from throughout Kate Bush’s career, taken by her brother, the photographer and writer John Carder Bush. It includes outtakes from classic album shoots and never-before-seen photographs from sessions including The Dreaming and Hounds of Love, as well as rare candid studio shots and behind-the-scenes stills from video sets, including ‘Army Dreamers’ and ‘Running Up that Hill’.
These stunning images will be accompanied by two new essays by John Carder Bush: From Cathy to Kate, describing in vibrant detail their shared childhood and the early, whirlwind days of Kate’s career, and Chasing the Shot, which vividly evokes John’s experience of photographing his sister”.
I would recommend that everyone buys the book, as it is great value for money and here are shots of Bush that nobody else had taken; a very real and revealing look at an artist through the years. I also wanted to mark KATE: Inside the Rainbow at five because, since 2015, there has not been another photo collection.
There have been some magazine spreads which feature rare photos but, in terms of a good hardback that allows you to view a range of magnificent photos, then I think John Carder Bush’s book is best. It is a bit strange that there have not been other photo collections, and this is something I have raised before. Maybe it is the case that a lot of great images are press images and it would be hard to put them into a book, but there is Guido Harari’s The Kate Inside that is available – it is quite expensive, so not everyone can afford it. I would love to see another coffee table book with unseen photos, as there has been an absence considering how many terrific shots of Kate Bush there are. In any case, do go and investigate KATE: Inside the Rainbow, as one can see the affection and natural bond between brother and sister through the book. Rather than narrate every section of the book, I wanted to share a few personal highlights and pick up on some of the commentary and narration from John Carder Bush. In the opening, he inscribes “This book is for my sister, Kate, as a memoir shared inside the rainbow, and as ongoing thanks for the precious gift of a bow many years ago that led me to a path along which I am still travelling”.
The introduction explains how ordinary life transformed as Kate Bush became known: “During those years, it was though I was surrounded by a pulsating system of remarkable creativity – it actually felt as though I was living life from inside such a phenomenon”. I love the idea that there was this rainbow and sense of light that Kate brought to John and, in return, he tried to capture her at her truest. The book, Cathy, was published privately in 1986 – the reprint was announced in 2014, and Carder Bush explained how he could remember the details and photos like they were very recent. KATE: Inside the Rainbow is an updated and expanded chronicle of Kate Bush through her career. I like how John Carder Bush describes holidays in Ireland (their mother was Irish) and how the Irish side was quite vibrant, whereas the English side was pretty grey. The introduction shows us Kate Bush transforming from Cathy to the Kate; how there was always music, and, because of the English and Irish roots, there was a great mixture. Even though Kate took to the piano and would play often, none of the family felt it was the start of a prosperous career. I have written about this before but, in the book, John Carder Bush tells how Kate was part of the first generation where her parents were not trying to make them follow in their footsteps.
Despite that, there was fear (from her mother especially) that she was squandering her chance of further education by pursuing music and, with it, a safety and security that would have been very much on everyone in the family’s mind. There is great honesty and emotion in the introduction. He writes how, though friends noted how grown-up Kate was becoming, for him, “she was still little Cathy”. It is touching how Carder Bush notes that there was an exact moment – August 1974 – where he noticed his sister’s adult beauty blossoming. I wonder whether that spurred him to photograph her more and do so through her career, rather than just journal her childhood years. By then, Kate was sixteen, and it would only be a year until she stepped into a studio to record songs that would appear on her debut album, The Kick Inside. As Kate took up dance and mime, he could see her blossom and blaze this trail. The family relationship and dynamic changed when Wuthering Heights became a success, and there was this continuing bloom and transformation. I shall leave the introduction there, but one finds so much detail regarding the family and how martial arts was both important in regards a connection between Kate and her brother, and how it (kyudo especially) connects with photography.
There are some beautiful shots before we get to the first album where John Carder Bush was shooting promotional images. To see Kate Bush as a child through to her teens is revelatory and fascinating, and there is this affinity she has with the camera. She is never too relaxed or playing up to the camera. Instead, Bush is at ease but there is this magic that she projects that is hard to put into words. It is also worth remarking, before moving on, how there was a period between Kate Bush as a girl and when her career started when she hated having the camera pointed at her. Her early and middle teenage years was that period, and I guess there was this sense that it might seem intrusive to photograph her – which is why there are relatively few images of her from that time. John Carder Bush started photographing his sister professionally from October 1977 (just before her second album, Lionheart, came out), and he had never worked with colour photography up until that time. I wonder how John Carder Bush felt when seeing others photograph his sister and whether he was every uncomfortable. It must have been strange for him but, as he remarks in the book, people could always tell when a photo of Kate was his – “It may also have something to do with where the photos were taken: it was always where we were living”.
I will give a brief impression of each album but, starting with Never for Ever in 1980 – the first album of Bush’s where her brother became heavily involved -, and I like the description for the Babooshka single shoot. Carder Bush sanded and varnished the floor himself and, using a wide lens, he wanted to capture Kate and the body of the double bass (which we see her using in the video). We learn about the rehearsal time that went into videos like Army Dreamers, and one marvels at the variety and quality of the photos from 1980! My favourite are ones taken during breaks of the Army Dreamers video where Bush is seen with a young boy (an extra from the video) and an almost mother-son bond is present; others see her reading notes and having her make-up touched up. These candid and rare shots go way beyond the press photos and very structured photoshoots – just seeing this young songwriter in a way nobody else would have. The access John Carder Bush had meant we get so many great shots and, towards the end of the Never for Ever chapter, there are photos of Bush playing a violin; great ones of her and her (and John’s) brother Paddy, and one particularly striking one where she is outside and seen crouching underneath a brick archway. I am not sure where that was taken, but it is one of my favourite shots from that period.
The Dreaming was, as John Carder Bush noted, not what people who were expecting The Kick Inside got…but it ranks as “one of her most artistically daring” (albums). Carder Bush (I shall refer to John as such as to avoid confusion and, as I am not keen on addressing people by their first names, I will call Kate ‘Bush’) says – in the chapter for The Dreaming -, how he wished he’s learned to play instruments so he could be more involved with his sister’s music, perhaps, but his photo for the album cover is remarkable! I think the photos for this album are his finest to that point. In outtakes for the cover for the Sat in Your Lap single, Bush is in a dunce’s hat and looks solemnly to the floor; in another, she holds a globe in her hand. Again, one of my photo highlights from this chapter – like the candid one from Army Dreamers -, is Bush and a dancer/extra during the shoot of There Goes a Tenner where Bush is standing on his shoulders. It is a fantastic shot, and it can almost be seen as a metaphor for Bush’s growing career and how, though stepping into dangerous territory at times, she was climbing high and had this assuredness. Perhaps the most important chapter is when Hounds of Love came out in 1985. So far from when Carder Bush was photographing his sister as a child and this musical talent was emerging, she was now a star and creating music that few could have dreamed she had in her even a decade previous!
If the album cover seems natural and like it was easy to shoot, getting the two hounds (two big Weimaraners) still and comfortable was a chore! There are great outtakes where Bush is smiling because the dogs were moving around, but the album cover is the shot we get on KATE: Inside the Rainbow’s cover: one of these timeless images that underline’s Bush’s beauty and this almost effortless allure. The Pop music on Hounds of Love is, as Carder Bush notes, accessible yet “so incredibly heavy and insightful in its content” that one can listen over and not get bored. We get some detail regarding where the shots were taken and the process and, whilst Carder Bush gives credit the make-up team and others who were involved in the shots, he was the one who captured those final live moments and turned them into a still, immortal image. We see some wonderful stills from the Cloudbusting video shoot (as there was a lot of natural light over the hills of Oxford), and one can sense genuine pride when he talks about the single cover being this perfect moment. The shots for Running Up That Hill (A Deal with God) are terrific, and not only are there stills from the video shoot, but images with Bush’s back to the camera as she has the song’s title written on her back. Carder Bush was mixing colour photos with black-and-white, and the images he took when the Hounds of Love (single) video was being filmed are brilliant – and, as Bush directed it, the brother was photographing his sister behind the camera and her composing her own images! The Hounds of Love section is one of the most full and vivid chapters of the book, and one of my all-time favourite images of Bush is her in black-and-white, on the floor with pearls in her hand. It is such a beautiful composition, and I really love the look she gives to the camera!
1986 is a year where Bush released her first greatest hits collection, The Whole Story, and it is unusual, I think, as original images were shot – normally, artists use archive photos or do not use photos at all. The black-and-white cover shot is Carder Bush’s favourite and, when that was being shot, his wife, Vivienne, was going into labour with his first son – it is so touching that his son was about to be born when he was capturing his sister and there was this combination of new and urgent life and stillness. In some ways, there are comparisons between the covers for The Dreaming, and The Sensual World where Bush’s mouth is the prime spot. In The Dreaming’s cover, we see a gold key on her tongue (it relates to the song, Houdini, where she/the heroine would slip the key to Houdini before a trick so he could then use it to unlock the bolt/chains), and there is a rose covering Bush’s mouth for The Sensual World. Both are gorgeous shots, but the fact the latter is in black-and-white not only differs from Carder Bush’s previous covers, but the eyes really stand out! Both the cover for the album and its eponymous single had colour alternatives, but we see the black-and-white used instead. The same is true for This Woman’s Work - and I wonder whether Carder Bush, subconsciously, was reverting back to the Cathy days and trying to capture his sister in a new (but familiar) way. My picture pick from the chapter is where there is a painted background (scribbles of green, orange, blue and pink) where Bush is sat on a chair and rests her chin on her right hand. It is such a beautiful shot and one where she provides this big smile.
I shall put The Red Shoes and Carder Bush’s shots after that album in the same passage but, four years after The Sensual World, we could hear and see Bush changing as an artist. It may be strange to say, but she does appear womanlier and different to how she looked during The Sensual World – maybe that is as a result of slight ageing, but she looks incredible! Even though The Red Shoes is the first album cover not to feature Bush, the famous pair of feet/red shoes took a while to get down! One might think ballet shoe shots look the same but, as Carder Bush remarked: “We were amazed that a pair of feet in ballet shoes could show such variety in what they had projected”. In spite of there being tragedy in the lives of Bush and her brother – their mother died in 1992 -, there was a lot of change and new beginnings. I think the photos from that time are gorgeous, and I especially love a picture of Bush at the piano with her eyes closed. Although there is a promotional shot of Bush for 50 Words for Snow in the book (I wonder why none were taken by Carder Bush for Aerial?!) – of her in fake fur and a hat looking into the distance -, the majority of the final shots are from the album, Director’s Cut – where Carder Bush thanks his son, Gavin, for “taking me by the hand into the digital age”.
There are a couple of great colour photos – including one where Bush is wearing a green costume with a big white ruff – that are especially beautiful. One photo sees Bush pointing her finger out with a stern look on her face! I wonder what the motivation for the shot was and what they were trying to articulate. My favourite are two stunning black-and-white images. One is Bush hugging a cat (who looks straight at camera as she nuzzles him/her with her eyes closed), and it is a great composition – again, I wonder whether there was a particular angle (pardon the pun!). My favourite shot, I think, should have been the album cover. It is Bush holding up some camera film with scissors in her right hand as she - dressed in a white shirt, black tie and black gloves (like a Johnny Depp character) – examines the shots and prepares to make the cut (with some eyeliner and lipstick, she has this classic, smoky look that is stunning!). On the back cover, John Carder Bush remarks how every image “forms part of a golden thread”; storytelling has always been a part of Bush’s work and “it has been a privilege to capture these photographic illustrations that accompany these magical tales”. Aside from the press images that were taken in 2014 for Bush’s Before the Dawn residency, we have not seen any publicity or album photos since. I hope, if there is another studio album, we get this return of the brother-sister partnership, as the photos throughout KATE: inside the Rainbow are amazing!
From the girl at the family home looking relaxed and safe through to Bush dressed as a solider (Army Dreamers), a sword-wielding temptress (Babooshka), to her playing Peter Reich in the Cloudbusting video (as Donald Sutherland played her ‘father’, Wilhelm), we have seen this amazing transformation through the lens of her brother, John (or Jay, as Bush might have called him). Make sure you get the photobook as, five years after its release, I think it carries a lot of weight and is an essential piece of Kate Bush fan kit! The words are thoughtful and beautiful, and one gets these remarkable photos captured through the decades. I shall leave things there, but I was eager to return to a book that is very precious in my collection. Perhaps not as detailed and biographical as a biography, I feel the photos and Carder Bush’s notes give us a more intimate look at Kate Bush and (he explains) why she is so remarkable to shoot. I love the behind-the-scenes snaps, and they carry as much potency as Bush gazing into the camera for a single/album cover shoot. Even though these photos carry more emotional and personal significance to John Carder Bush, he allows the reader to witness these amazing shots and truly bring us…
INSIDE the rainbow.