FEATURE:
We, the Fish People
The Kate Bush Hounds of Love Reissue, and a Possible Name for the Fans?
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THIS is a bit of a bodge…
IMAGE CREDIT: Kate Bush/Fish People/LOGO DESIGN: TIMOROUS BEASTIES
of a couple of bits of news that was announced recently. In the next Kate Bush feature, I am exploring the possibilities for 2023. A few projects that fans would definitely welcome coming to light. It does seem that, following some news about her catalogue moving. The Kate Bush News website provided more details:
“Interesting news this lunchtime, Kate’s official Fish People site and social media channels have been updated with a brand new logo design! The updates come as she announces via her official site that from March 1st 2023 she is moving her album catalogue from Warner Music Group over to The state51 Conspiracy with the following albums:
The Dreaming
Hounds of Love
The Sensual World
The Red Shoes
Aerial
Directors Cut
50 Words For Snow
The Kick Inside (USA only)
Lionheart (USA only)
Never For Ever (USA only)
Kate will be re-releasing the Hounds of Love album in special presentations of vinyl and CD later in the year. A brand new range of Fish People merchandise featuring the new logo design has also been launched, including a soon to be released jigsaw, vinyl slipmats and aprons! The news item finishes with this note: “Fish People continue to have an ongoing positive relationship with WMG”.
That is all exciting. As I wrote in a previous feature, does this mean that she is getting things in order for a new album to come about? Perhaps. We do know that there is going to be a Hounds of Love reissue later in the year. As Super Deluxe Edition write, this classic 1985 album is going to get a new release. I do wonder whether there will be any extras or surprising on the reissue at all. Seeing how the album has found a new audience this past year or so, could we see something extra added to the standard album? That would be an incredible treat:
“Kate Bush’s 1985 album Hounds Of Love will be reissued on CD and vinyl later this year, it has been announced.
The album spawned the hit single ‘Running Up That Hill’ which reached number three back in 1985 and then hit number one in the UK last year thanks to its inclusion in Netflix’s Stranger Things. The album spawned three other top 40 UK singles in ‘Cloudbusting’, ‘Hounds of Love’ and ‘The Big Sky’.
Side 2 is home to the conceptual The Ninth Wave which was performed live on stage in its entirety during Kate’s Hammersmith Odeon residency in 2014 and, from Kate’s back catalogue, only the 1986 hits compilation The Whole Story has sold more copies in the UK than Hounds Of Love.
Hounds Of Love remains the only Kate Bush studio album that has been expanded into any kind of ‘deluxe’ edition when in 1997 EMI issued a new CD edition as part of its Centenary celebrations with a modest six extra tracks.
Guitarist David Rhodes on performing with Kate Bush in Before The Dawn
This Hounds Of Love reissue news was actually a footnote in an announcement posted on Kate’s website about the fact that she is moving her albums from Warner Music Group to independent music company The state51 Conspiracy. Here’s the list of albums that are impacted:
The Dreaming
Hounds of Love
The Sensual World
The Red Shoes
Aerial
Directors Cut
50 Words For Snow
The Kick Inside (USA only)
Lionheart (USA only)
Never For Ever (USA only)
Kate also shows off new logos for her ‘Fish People’ label at the same time.
There is no detail about Hounds Of Love as yet. The exact wording is “We’ll be re-releasing the Hounds of Love album in special presentations of vinyl and CD later in the year. We’ll keep you posted”.
What would you like to see on a Hounds Of Love reissue?”.
That last question about what we’d like to see on the reissue. I have said how one of the B-sides from that time, Under the Ivy, has to be there. It is a song not available on Spotify, and it has not been performed live. Bush did not bring it to life during her 2014 residency when she performed other tracks from Hounds of Love. The B-side to Running Up That Hill (A Deal with God) it is arguably her best B-side. Written quickly after the rest of the album was completed, you wonder whether it could make it into the reissue. I think photos from that time would be a nice addition. Maybe some remixes of tracks from Hounds of Love, plus a few other audio bits. I am not sure how many demos are available that could be included. There will be in the vaults, but perhaps Bush does not want to have them released and included. In any case, having a reissue of Hounds of Love into the world will mean it is discovered and loved by a new generation. Like last year, it does seem like there is going to be a lot of activity in the Kate Bush universe. Maybe there is news coming about new music, but that Hounds of Love announcement is something that we can all look forward to. Before getting to a thought I had, there is also some wonderful Fish People merchandise. Bush set up the label prior to 2011. The first album she released on the label was 2011’s Director’s Cut. As this was an album of reworked versions of songs that appeared on previous albums, it seemed like a move where she could have control over her past and present. Rather than cuts ties with EMI completely, Bush wanted her own label, so that she could work at her own pace and release albums in the way she wanted. That was followed up by 50 Words for Snow (also released in 2011). You can find some great Fish People merchandise that is well worth getting.
PHOTO CREDIT: Kate Bush/Fish People
Something cryptic and intriguing also appeared on the official Kate Bush website. If you click on the ‘O’ that appears on the right-hand side, you can read what is written below. It makes me wonder a couple of things. The writing does seem like the concept on an album. It seems like a concept in itself. Something almost idyllic and fantastical, it seems like a combination of Hounds of Love’s The Ninth Wave and some reaction to the modern world. There is a four-part concept that could come to life when you read what is written. Of course, there are Fish People in the Marvel universe, but Kate Bush’s version is fascinating:
“Fish People were a civilisation which became lost around 900 BC. Little is known about them other than they walked out from the seas onto the land one day when no-one was looking. It is believed that they were centuries ahead of their time. Their culture was not defined by wealth or social status and they abolished all violence as they believed in the harmony of nature and the equality of all oceans.
Their mystical language was thought to originate from The Tethys Trench. They could speak simultaneously to all aquatic creatures and to most of the humans in the Western Hemisphere. There were certain frequencies in their language that could only be understood by small crustaceans and very young children.
The full meaning of where their distinctive letterforms came from, has been lost. Many believe that these originated from the complex migrational paths of birds and a cellular-level understanding of the underwater mammals that had moved around them.
Fish People were said to have walked back into the seas one night when everyone was having dinner and it was foretold that they would again return to land when their teachings would be needed to heal a wounded world.
PHOTO CREDIT: Kate Bush/Fish People
The fishing pole has interesting roots. 900 BC is an important year in terms of its evolution, but Bush seems to have created something that is less of a label mission statement. I read it as a possible tease for an album but, as there seems to be this Fish People model and philosophy, I wonder whether it should be the name given to fans. It is not the most attractive sounding or fragrant name, but we have been searching for a collective term. Maybe naming the fanbase after Hounds of Love or something else Kate-related. I think that Fish People is a better name. It does seem that Bush is expanding her label in some way. I presume the Hounds of Love reissue will come out on Fish People. She wants to do more with the label, but I don’t think it will extend to signing artists. It is going to be more in-house. This new text does seem to hint that there is at least some new direction and idea in her head. I think that the Fish People would be a terms for us Kate Bush superfans. As there is not a fanzine anymore, I do wonder whether there could be anything more collaborative when it comes to the label and fans. As the Fish People do seem to be this ancient race, it does seem like a chance for us to claim some ownership. Maybe this new writing forms the idea of an album base, or it might just be the philosophy of the label. I do hope that it makes its way into something bigger. 2023 is starting as excitedly and busy as last year. There is no stopping the Kate Bush juggernaut. With some recent developments, cryptic writing, and that Hounds of Love reissue coming soon, we are all pumped and ready for…
THE year ahead.