FEATURE:
Kate Bush and 2022: Part Two
IN THIS PHOTO: Kate Bush in 2005/PHOTO CREDIT: Trevor Leighton
Books, Magazines, and the Rest…
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IT is no surprise…
IN THIS PHOTO: Kate Bush in 1985/PHOTO CREDIT: Guido Harari
that Kate Bush has been dominating 2022. In terms of her impact and new attention, it is pretty much down to one song: the magisterial and mighty Running Up That Hill (A Deal with God). I covered that song in the first part of this two-run salute. Bush has posted several updates to her official website. Thanking fans for buying and streaming Running Up That Hill (A Deal with God), and how touched and stunned she is by all the reception it has accrued! There has been another side to Bush’s success this year. Away from the titanic resurgence of a classic song, there has also been a lot of affection for Bush elsewhere. Apart from the countless tweets and posts acknowledging her supernatural talent and incredible endurance and importance, there have been magazines articles, books and features written about her. I guess I have written more than my fair share of Bush features, but we celebrated forty years of The Dreaming back in September. Her amazing and still-underrated album has reached new fans. This feature from Salon is particularly interesting and insightful. There are some very important anniversaries in 2023. Aside from Bush turning sixty-five in July, The Kick Inside (her debut album) is forty-five in February. The Red Shoes is thirty in November, and it will be about fifty years since Bush recorded some of her earliest demos. She was laying down some very interesting songs in 1973.
This year has seen no new Kate Bush music, but there have been new investigations and spotlights shone on her music. MOJO’s October issue responded to the success of Running Up That Hill (A Deal with God) by doing a deep dive of its parent album, Hounds of Love. That 1985 masterpiece was given a song-by-song examination by artists and creatives. I guess a lot of people would have heard RUTH (as I will abbreviate to from now on), but not necessarily the entire album. Consider the second side, The Ninth Wave, and cuts like Under Ice or The Morning Fog might have been new. One of the first side’s tracks. Mother Stands for Comfort is also alien to most new fans. It was good for MOJO to do that salute and study of a timeless and hugely influential album. The Dreaming was given a substantial and passionate write-up in UNCUT. where Peter Watts interviews people involved with the album. It was nice to see an album still a little misunderstood and overlooked get a new lease and dose of love – rather than just rehashing old articles. Whilst those magazines focused on particular albums, Classic Pop published a magazine in September that was dedicated to the career-spanning brilliance of Kate Bush. Inspired by Stranger Things’ use of RUTH, it was a chance to broaden the conversation when it comes to Bush’s remarkable career.
They explored her wide-eyed beginnings, through to her critical and commercial success. There were interviews with KT Bush Band members, official photographer, founder of KateBushnews.com, and Kate herself. Classic Pop took a look at Bush’s musical collaborations. There was a brilliant top forty and in-depth album profiles, plus a fascinating look at the storytelling in Kate’s songs. UNCUT also did an ultimate music guide to Kate Bush. They wrote about her videos, reviewed the albums, and revisited her 2014 residency, Before the Dawn. I know there will be new Kate Bush books next year. It is hard to say exactly what form they will take but, given everything that has happened this year, I can see at least a couple coming out! The same goes for magazine articles. I would imagine there’ll be some for The Kick Inside’s forty-fifth anniversary. Its first single, Wuthering Heights, is forty-five in January, so there may be something about that. We will wait and see. There were a couple of Kate Bush books published this year. Someone who has published a few books about Bush, Laura Shenton’s Kate Bush: A Visual Biography is a treat:
“From producing her own albums, to designing her own stage performances, Kate Bush has been an innovator throughout her career. With hits such as ‘Wuthering Heights’, ‘Babooshka’ and ‘Running Up That Hill’, her music has always been ethereal and her endearing image has often been regarded as one of mystique. The creativity and the conviction with which she has made her music continue to be an inspiration to not only her legions of fans, but many of her peers. In celebration of Kate’s entire career to date and complemented with a narrative by Laura Shenton MA LLCM Dip(RSL), this visual biography is packed with photos – many of which haven’t been published before (including several from her 1979 tour)”.
IN THIS PHOTO: Kate Bush in 1978/PHOTO CREDIT: Gered Mankowitz
Perhaps the most notable release of the year relating to Kate Bush came from Tom Doyle. His excellent and unique biography, Running Up That Hill: 50 Visions of Kate Bush, is a really great read that everyone should own. I would recommend it as a post-Christmas gift for the Kate Bush fan in your life. This is what Waterstones say about the book:
“Re-examining the life and career of one of our most enigmatic pop stars, Doyle's revelatory volume draws from his own interviews with Kate Bush alongside insights from fellow musicians such as Dave Gilmour and John Lydon to create a rounded portrait of an enduring legend.
Kate Bush: the subject of murmured legend and one of the most idiosyncratic musicians of the modern era. Comprising fifty chapters or 'visions', Running Up That Hill is a multi-faceted biography of this famously elusive figure, viewing her life and work from fresh and illuminating angles.
Featuring details from the author's one-to-one conversations with Kate, as well as vignettes of her key songs, albums, videos and concerts, this artful, candid and often brutally funny portrait introduces the reader to the refreshingly real Kate Bush. Along the way, the narrative also includes vivid reconstructions of transformative moments in her career and insights from the friends and collaborators closest to Kate, including her photographer brother John Carder Bush and fellow artists David Gilmour, John Lydon and Youth.
Running Up That Hill is a vibrant and comprehensive re-examination of Kate Bush and her many creative landmarks.
MEDIA REVIEWS
'Approaching its subject from inspired angles...probably the best Bush book to date' * 4/5 Record Collector *
'Running Up That Hill offers a range of new ways to appreciate the single-minded inspiration that it springs from' * 9/10 Uncut *
'Funny and illuminating. A refreshing take on one of our most complex, gifted artists' * 4/5 Mojo *
'A very beautiful book' -- Chris Hawkins, BBC Radio 6
'An unconventional but insightful biography of the famously reclusive singer songwriter" * Choice Magazine *
'A great gift for a music fan' * My Weekly Magazine *
'A comprehensive rejection of the caricatures that still cling stubbornly to the subject's name' * The Herald *
'(A) celebration of the famously elusive figure" * Woman and Home *
'Even familiar stories or well-worn anecdotes come to life... Doyle imbues them with a freshness. A thoroughly enjoyable read.' * Super Deluxe Edition”.
There have been many articles written about Bush, and I would advise you to seek them out! It has been a strangely eventful year for Kate Bush and her music. Nobody would have guessed that she’d go into 2022 and have this chart success! Breaking records and reaching a whole new generation, it sets up a very interesting 2023. Who knows what the year will bring. Maybe not new music…but there will definitely be a lot of love and coverage. Maybe a book or two, alongside a slew of articles and magazine features. It shows that forty-five years after she came into the music world with a bang, her music still holds…
IN THIS PHOTO: Kate Bush photographed in 1979 for her one-off BBC Christmas television special/PHOTO CREDIT: TV Times/Future Publishing/Getty Images
SUCH beauty and power.