FEATURE:
If These Walls Could Sing
IN THIS PHOTO: Kate Bush at Abbey Road Studios
Kate Bush and Abbey Road Studios
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I am writing this feature…
PHOTO CREDIT: Abbey Road Studios
on Saturday, 10th September. It has been suggested by Big Boi that, on Thursday (15th), we may get a collaboration between him and Kate Bush. It will be confirmed one way or the other very soon. There has been a good bit of news when it comes to Bush and hearing her voice in a forthcoming documentary. One might not associate Kate Bush and Abbey Road Studios. Naturally, one links The Beatles with the studios, but Bush has actually recorded there a few times. Some of her very best work has been made there. Someone who has had a long fascination with its walls and hallowed spaces, one feels she would have recorded there more were it not for the expense and the fact that, as an exacting and experimental artist and producer, the bill for EMI could have cost quite a bit more than it actually did! Regardless, here the Kate Bush Encyclopedia give us details about when Bush worked in and was associated with the great Abbey Road Studios:
“Kate worked at Abbey Road Studios on the albums Never For Ever, The Dreaming, and Hounds Of Love in Studio 2, and the orchestral parts for the albums The Sensual World and The Red Shoes. On 17 June 1981, the music video for the song Sat In Your Lap was recorded in the cavernous Studio 1, a huge space about half an acre in size. On 12 November 1981, Kate attended a 50th anniversary party for the studio, and cut the birthday cake alongside singer Helen Shapiro. In March 1986, she recorded a performance of the song Under The Ivy for the 100th broadcast of The Tube.
Kate about Abbey Road Studios
Being on your own in Studio 2 is a fascinating experience. I felt like there were at least ten other people there with me... I think it's a combination of all the people who have performed there over the years and their combined creativity. (Brian Southall, Abbey Road, 2002. ISBN 978-0711991118)”.
I don’t think that anyone expected Kate Bush to be involved in a new documentary about the studios. As a fan of The Beatles and especially Paul McCartney, I wonder whether the fact that Paul’s daughter, Mary, swayed her. She is directed the documentary-film, and it is coming to Disney+ soon. Kate does not appear on film I understand, but we do get audio input. Kate Bush News explains more about If These Walls Could Sing:
“Filmmaker Mary McCartney has debuted her film about the legendary Abbey Road Studios, If These Walls Could Sing, at the Telluride film festival. The documentary includes interviews with members of Pink Floyd, Elton John, Kate, Ringo Starr and Mary’s father, Paul McCartney. From classical to pop, film scores to hip-hop, “If These Walls Could Sing” explores the breadth, diversity, and ingenuity of Abbey Road Studios. Intimate interviews with leading artists, producers and composers paired with vivid archive footage and session tapes give exclusive access to these famously private studios. From Elton John to Jacqueline Du Pre to Jimmy Page, from Kate Bush to Paul McCartney to Celeste, all found their musical language in Abbey Road Studios. Audiences will experience the creative magic that makes it a revered and sacred space that still produces many of the most recognised records today and makes Abbey Road the most famous and longest-running studio in the world.
Director Mary McCartney
Variety writes: “Kate Bush makes a rare modern appearance in the documentary, albeit audio-only. “It’s amazing having Kate in there because she produced her third album there, directed her video in there… I kind of made contact with her. I know she doesn’t do interviews, but I know she feels real affection for Abbey Road, so over time she kindly agreed to do an audio piece that she wrote and sent to me. Just having her voice talking about the space is pretty special as well.” In the Variety review of the film, they note that “resurgent star Kate Bush talks about the studio’s historic reluctance to repaint, lest even the slightest alteration affect the sound…”
If These Walls Could Sing will be streaming on Disney+ at a date to be announced”.
IN THIS PHOTO: Director Mary McCartney
Ninety years after the studios opened, it is long overdue that a documentary/film should come out about it. I love the fact that Kate Bush is one of the contributors. Not only is it rare to hear her voice – apart from the Woman’s Hour interview this year -, but we also get to hear her recollection and reflections about the iconic studios. I have never visited myself, but I know a lot of the artists and albums associated with the great studios. I think that a film like If These Walls Could Sing will give us intimate access and provide revelations and history. I was just thinking about the fact that Abbey Road Studios opened in November 1931. A year later, the BBC was founded. Quite a seismic time in terms of British culture! It has been an unexpectedly busy and broad year in terms of Kate Bush news this year! Few would have expected much at all but, with Stranger Things catapulting Running Up That Hill (A Deal with God) to the top of the chart, books and magazines revolving around her, a Woman’s Hour interview and now this inclusion in If These Walls Could Sing, it has been very interesting. A whole new generation of fans have discovered Bush and her music. Documentaries, magazines and books allow greater understand of her. I think If These Walls Could Sing is especially important to Bush, as she will have fond memories of her time working within Abbey Road Studios. It will be fascinating to hear her feelings and memories. It is another unexpected, welcomed and wonderful bit of news. Let us hope that 2022 and 2023 gives us a lot more of…
THE legendary Kate Bush.