FEATURE:
The Retour of Life
IN THIS PHOTO: Kate Bush in a promotional image for 2011’s Director’s Cut/PHOTO CREDIT: John Carder Bush
Almost Ten Years Since the BBC’s Kate Bush Documentary, When Will We See Another?
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IT is almost a decade…
ILLUSTRATION CREDIT: Jon McCormack
since the last television documentary about Kate Bush. The Kate Bush Story: Running Up That Hill was made and released around the time of her 2014 residency, Before the Dawn. A perfect opportunity to focus on a music icon, it featured contribution from fellow artists, fans and those who collaborated with her or were instrumental in terms of career – such as Del Palmer, Elton John and David Gilmour. I am going to come to a positive review for that documentary. I am glad something was made around Kate Bush, though it felt lacking. At only an hour, no true fan of Kate Bush can say it was either authoritative or comprehensive. It skimmed the surface and gave new fans a taster and insight. Apart from that, there were definite drawbacks. Entire albums are largely skimmed over. It wasn’t really a deep dive or provided any surprises. There were some good contributors, though there were some odd inclusions, omissions and decisions (including leaning too heavily on Steve Coogan!). Songs from Kate Bush were played by people on their phones rather than speakers. Baffling considering how committed to great sound quality Bush is and how lousy all music sounds through phones! The whole documentary had a distinct low-budget and televisual feel. It is okay for an easy watch, though it is hardly visually interesting or has anything in it that stands in the mind. There has been nothing since for those who want more. For those who want a proper and authoritative representation of Kate Bush. No matter what the BBC or anyone else says, The Kate Bush Story: Running Up That Hill was not comprehensive or complete. So limited and full of gaps – with some problems and a rushed feel – I do worry that the BBC will stubbornly feel their 2014 documentary is complete and there is no need for another. Why should Kate Bush only have one documentary made about her?! It made me think about how something different and properly passionate needs to come to the screens.
PHOTO CREDIT: Clive Arrowsmith
I am not completely down on the documentary. It did give you a glimpse into Kate Bush’s career. Some big names got to speak about her. I have covered this before though, with each year that passes, there seems to be this urgency and notable gulf. I will start with some information about The Kate Bush Story: Running Up That Hill. This is what the BBC said:
“Documentary exploring Kate Bush's career and music, from January 1978's Wuthering Heights to her 2011 album 50 Words for Snow, through the testimony of some of her key collaborators and those she has inspired.
Contributors include the guitarist who discovered her (Pink Floyd's David Gilmour), the choreographer who taught her to dance (Lindsay Kemp) and the musician who she said 'opened her doors' (Peter Gabriel), as well as her engineer and ex-partner (Del Palmer) and several other collaborators (Elton John, Stephen Fry and Nigel Kennedy).
Also exploring their abiding fascination with Kate are fans (John Lydon, Sidi Larbi Cherkaoui) and musicians who have been influenced by her (St Vincent's Annie Clark, Natasha Khan (aka Bat for Lashes), Tori Amos, Outkast's Big Boi, Guy Garvey and Tricky), as well as writers and comedians who admire her (Jo Brand, Steve Coogan and Neil Gaiman)”.
I want to finish this section with a review for The Kate Bush Story: Running Up That Hill. It has its plus points for those who want an overview and more general look at the career and influence of Kate Bush. Although it does feel dated now, it is good that there was a celebration for Kate Bush. The Guardian had their say:
“When Kate Bush got her £3,000 record deal from EMI at 16, she used some of it to pay for dance classes with the legendary choreographer Lindsay Kemp. In last night's The Kate Bush Story: Running Up That Hill (BBC 4), a documentary about the singer-songwriter broadcast on the near-eve of her first tour in 35 years, he remembered how he had to coax her forward from the back row – . "She was as timid as hell … but once she started dancing, she was a wild thing" – and a few months later found an LP pushed under his door.
It was Bush's first album, The Kick Inside, released in 1978, with the song Moving dedicated to Kemp. "I didn't know she had any aspirations to be a singer," he says. "She never talked about herself." Fellow contributor Elton John called her "the most beautiful mystery", and recalled how at his A-lister-stuffed civil partnership ceremony she was the only person anyone wanted to speak to.
Guests, contributors and soon even formerly ignorant viewers like me were in awe of the talent displayed and then intelligently discussed and dissected by John, Kemp and other respected experts, such as David Gilmour, Peter Gabriel, John Lydon, Tori Amos and Del Palmer, Bush's bandmate and partner from the 1970s to 1990s. Neil Gaiman was on hand to hymn her fearlessly literary inspirations and lyrics, from – of course – Wuthering Heights (from which she derived her first single, in March 1978) to Molly Bloom's soliloquy from Ulysses in the title track of her 1989 album, The Sensual World.
Bush herself appeared only in old interview footage – so young, so fragile, so shy, but full of the sureness and certainty that only talent brings – but what emerged was a wonderful, detailed portrait of that talent. Although it gave her precocity its full due (she had written The Man With the Child in His Eyes by the time Gilmour came to listen to her when she was 14), it also gave proper weight to her evolution and her later, less commercial, still astonishing work. Why it chose to close on a stupid jarring joke by Steve Coogan, I do not know. But the rest of it succeeded in making Bush and her work less of a mystery but no less beautiful for that”.
It is maddening that there has been nothing more expansive on the screen about Kate Bush since 2014! Since then, Before the Dawn has taken place. She has reissued her studio albums more than once. There has bene a lyrics book, a number one success with Running Up That Hill (A Deal with God) – thanks to Stranger Things –, in addition to her being announced as this year’s Ambassador for Record Store Day. New artists are influenced by her and carrying on her legacy. There is scope for established fans like Björk and Big Boi to join the likes of The Last Dinner Party and Florence Welch (Florence + The Machine) who can unite to express why Kate Bush means a lot to them. It seems a lot since 2014 has happened that could be added to a documentary willing to give Kate Bush more than an hour! It seems unlikely that a British broadcaster or production company would want to commission anything. They may want involvement from Kate Bush. Whilst not impossible, it is less likely that she would be involved. It would not be visual anyway. A best-case scenario is her providing audio interview so that this can be integrated into the documentary and narrate important parts of her career. Maybe a Netflix or Apple TV+ production. With more money and investment from the U.S., it would afford opportunity to create something visually impressive and expansive. Include more of Bush’s music. A new documentary would not to be a multi-part thing. Maybe a feature-length documentary. Running between two and three hours. Even though it would seem restrictive or not quite as long as it could be, it would give much more time to explore all of Bush’s albums, her live work, her influence and so much more. Not only could the singles and interview/live footage get HD remastering. We could gave songs or hers represented through animation and different visual techniques. I have been thinking about the recent video for The Beatles’ I’m Only Sleeping and how that gave new insights and nuances to the classic song.
I know there have been audio documentaries and various bits about Kate Bush since 2014. When you add it all up, there has not been too much! Considering how she is reaching new generations and she is very much inspiring so many people and very relevant, the reluctance to finance a genuinely and inarguably compressive documentary that is impressive, visually brilliant and goes deep is beyond me! I know most Kate Bush fans would like something new. There would be the money out there. Plenty of people would want to contribute. Maybe a chance to get members of Kate Bush’s family like her brother John (Jay), son Albert (Bertie) and Paddy (her brother). Getting Kate Bush on board now might not seem as hard and implausible as it would have been in 2014. She has been in more retrospective mood and is keen for her music to reach new audiences. I also feel like, if she does not want a big part in the documentary, she at least would give her permission for her videos to be used. For a filmmaker to produce something magnificent and enduring. An artist like Kate Bush warrants more than she has got. In terms of putting something on the screen. Next year sees some big anniversaries. Hounds of Love turns forty. Aerial is twenty. Never for Ever turns forty-five. It is a big year that provides perfect excuse to put together a new Kate Bush documentary. One that has different angles and structure to ones that have come before. A unique selling part in terms of the narrative, depth and detail. Mixing animation and different visual aspects. Incredible and varied contributors speaking in between these legendary tracks and some remastered and HD clips. It would be passionate and complete! As we look ahead to the tenth anniversary of Before the Dawn – which compelled the BBC’s 2014 Kate Bush documentary -, we must consider the fact nothing since has come to light in terms of a television documentary. It begs the question as to…
WHY has it not happened?!