FEATURE:
As Long As You're Not Afraid to Feel
IN THIS PHOTO: Kate Bush in 1983/PHOTO CREDIT: Brian Griffin
Kate Bush’s Stunning Catalogue: Where to Start?
__________
THERE have been a few articles…
IN THIS PHOTO: Kate Bush on the set of the video for The Big Sky (from Hounds of Love)
published over the past few weeks in reaction to Kate Bush’s Running Up That Hill (A Deal with God) storming charts around the world. It features in the current season of Netflix’s Stranger Things, and it is set to appear again. I am writing this on 7th June so, by the time this is published, the song may well have reached number one either here or in the U.S.! As it is, the song hit number eight in the U.S. – Bush’s highest chart position in the county; Running Up That Hill (A Deal with God) originally went to thirty there on its released in 1985. I have sort of covered this before, but a lot of articles have responded to Bush’s new chart blitz with beginners’ guides to her work - where to start in terms of the albums and the songs that you need to listen to. It is useful to have a guide so that you can narrow things down and then, when you have a taster, expand from there. I will end with a playlist of songs across her ten studio albums that should give new finders of Bush’s music a helpful and varied exploration. For me, I always say to start at the start: in this case, her debut album, The Kick Inside. I feel you can only really get a true sense of an artist’s evolution if you go from their debut album and work forward. If you are a young listener and have heard Running Up That Hill (A Deal with God) and love the song, then Hounds of Love is an album that you will cherish and treasure.
In terms of music of hers you can listen to for free or very little, her albums and interviews are on streaming platforms and sites like YouTube. I would say to start by spending a few hours watching interviews and documentaries with her. This provides a good overview of her career and who Kate Bush is. There is a lot out there that will keep you engrossed. Rather than use streaming services solely when it comes to Kate Bush’s music, have a taste of her studio albums. Some casual yet essential research like this is both enjoyable and informative. You can discover her great videos and interviews but, in terms of the music, which albums you like best. From 1978 to 2011’s 50 Words for Snow, Bush’s music has altered and changed. One cannot say there is a distinct ‘sound’. You may be a bigger fan of her 1980s output; some might prefer her more modern output. From there, make a list of three studio albums to own on vinyl. This is a good starting point and, as a listening experience, owning her albums on vinyl is the way to do it! Rough Trade are pretty useful when it comes to her albums on vinyl; you can shop around if they do not have the ones you want in stock. If your budget is quite low – as vinyl can cost quite a bit! -, I would say the C.D.s are also really good. Make a playlist of your own with your favourite Kate Bush songs. Alongside the physical albums, you also have a selection of her songs you can listen to on the go.
There are a couple of other things that I would also advise new listeners to do. I have previously advised books that you can get that give you a greater impression of who Bush is. I think, if you are starting out, her lyrics book, How to Be Invisible, is essential. Having this hamper of Kate Bush songs, albums and a book is a nice foundation for anyone. As I say, from there, there are multiple options regarding expanding and building that collection. I think that Bush being back in the charts should be applauded! More than that, she is an artist who endures because of the sheer brilliance and originality of her songs. The Guardian wrote their own guide as to which tracks new listeners should start with. They discussed how Bush was successful and established right at the start of her career:
“It’s fair to say that hardly anyone would have predicted Bush becoming such a revered and influential artist, when she emerged in 1978. She was immediately hugely successful – her debut single Wuthering Heights went to No 1, the accompanying album The Kick Inside sold a million copies – but her public image seemed to be that of a dippy-hippy throwback who’s every other word was “wow”, and this image was burnished further by the unbridled outlandishness of her TV performances and videos. Trained in interpretative dance and mime, from the start Bush was not at home to accepted notions of cool.
In truth, The Kick Inside was packed with evidence of how extraordinary she already was. Its 13 tracks were culled from a longlist of 120, written throughout her teens, and contained songs about menstrual pains and masturbation. The title track told the story of a woman killing herself after becoming pregnant by her own brother. It should go without saying that these were not normal topics for a platinum-selling singer-songwriter 44 years ago. She claimed to be influenced by David Bowie, Elton John and Roy Harper, but you wouldn’t have known if she hadn’t said it: from the start, she sounded only like herself.
Even at 19, there was a certain steely self-possession in her approach. Offered the seemingly unmissable opportunity to launch her career in the US with a place on Fleetwood Mac’s Rumours tour, she declined: if she was going to perform live, she wanted it to be an audio-visual extravaganza – as on her 1979 Tour of Life and, again, on 2014’s Before the Dawn shows – and you couldn’t do that in a 20-minute support slot. Her American record company was so furious at the snub, it refused to release her next three albums in the country.
Then, rather than capitalise on her sudden initial burst of commercial success, her music got stranger and richer. The cover of 1980’s Never For Ever depicted a bizarre phantasmagoria billowing out from under Bush’s skirt, which seems like a pretty accurate interpretation of how listening to her music increasingly felt, and continues to feel like: a deeply weird, frequently beautiful and occasionally unsettling world that you immerse yourself in.
Her videos and TV appearances, meanwhile, became more elaborate and idiosyncratic: it would be lovely if Running Up That Hill’s fresh success leads people to her amazing performance of the song on the chatshow Wogan, Bush singing behind a lectern, as if delivering a speech or a sermon, while her band, clad in dark robes, slowly advance from the rear of the stage. She produced more huge hits – 1985’s Hounds of Love was her biggest-selling album, despite its second side containing some of the most abstruse music of her career; her lengthy 2005 “comeback” Aerial shifted over a million copies – alongside stuff that was more coolly received, most notably 1982’s dense and demanding The Dreaming (its artistic reputation has nevertheless rocketed over subsequent decades). Occasionally, the most critical voice about Kate Bush’s work has belonged to Kate Bush. She “never liked” her rushed second album, Lionheart, and memorably described her short musical film The Line, the Cross and the Curve as “a load of old bollocks”. Her 2011 album Directors’ Cut consisted entirely of reworked songs from 1989’s The Sensual World and 1993’s The Red Shoes, complete with the implicit suggestion that she wasn’t happy with the original versions.
From the moment that Wuthering Heights appeared – a swooning, swooping ballad sung in a keening soprano, at the height of punk – Bush has always seemed entirely apart from whatever else is going on in the charts. In the long term, that has meant her music has never dated. Running Up That Hill feels completely different from everything else in the Top 10 in 2022, but it felt completely different from everything else in the Top 10 in 1985 as well. In the interim, it hasn’t taken on any patina of age; it resolutely doesn’t sound of its era”.
There will be quite a lot of listeners who have discovered Kate Bush through Stranger Things or Running Up That Hill (A Deal with God). That is a good thing. Rather than stick with that song and Hounds of Love, it is worth thinking about starting your own collection and what you might select. I am not sure what the future holds regarding new music or older music of hers being brought to the screen. I think the success Running Up That Hill (A Deal with God) has achieved this year so far will lead to new projects and books pretty soon. I have said before how a new greatest hits collection is long-overdue. Maybe Bush, pleased at the success of her Hounds of Love hit, will green-light a new package. To end this feature, I have compiled a playlist of Kate Bush songs for those new to her work - or those who need a bit of a refresher course. Let’s hope that, throughout 2022, Bush continues to grow in stature and reach new people. Adding fresh blood and ears in the direction of her music. It is humbling and exciting seeing waves of new fans joining…
HER massive and adoring fanbase.