FEATURE:
The Dreaming Into a Reality…
IN THIS PHOTO: Kate Bush in Abbey Road’s Studio 2 on 10th May, 1982/PHOTO CREDIT: Steve Rapport
Why There Needs to Be Regular Kate Bush Listening Parties
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I am not sure how many…
there have been held this year because, of course, it is impossible to know. I am referring to Kate Bush listening parties. Specifically, ones that are playbacks of her albums. In September, I was in central London to hear Hounds of Love played in full for its fortieth anniversary. There, Leah Kardos – who has written a 33 1/3 book for Hounds of Love – discussed the masterpiece album, and her love of Kate Bush. On 6th November, I was lucky enough to take to the stage with Kardos at Avalon Cafe to discuss Aerial. That was the night before its twentieth anniversary. On both occasions, I was moved and had such a great time. It was better second time around, as I got to talk about Aerial and ask questions and pose them to Leah Kardos. Organised by Ethan, Avalon brought together a small-but-passionate group of Kate Bush fans to hear the second disc of Aerial, A Sky of Honey. A couple of things struck me before I had even stepped onto the stage. For one, the average age of the audience was, I’d say somewhere in the mid-twenties. Maybe even younger that this. Seeing as Aerial came out when they were all small children – and some of them might not have even been born! -, this was really humbling and truly inspiring! I will follow up on this in a companion piece I am publishing tomorrow. However, Ethan was in his early-twenties too. A relatively newcomer to the wonders of Kate Bush, I was also amazed at why there are so few listening parties for Kate Bush! At Avalon Cafe, we got to talk about (and listen to) this late-career masterpiece. For the night, the space was decked out with Kate Bush pictures. It was like this cool hub/shrine. We all got to drink, chat and revel in the mastery and genius of Kate Bush!
It was a magical and hugely fun night! More than anything, it allowed us to listen to half of a remarkable double album. It does happen that often. I like to think I have my eyes and ears on most of the Kate Bush happenings. I have not heard about listening parties being held. It made the Avalon event rare. It made me wonder why we need to wait for anniversaries. The Aerial one was perfect because it had to happen this month. Marking twenty years of this album, it is only right to show it some love. However, think about the next big anniversaries coming. Aside from 50 Words for Snow turning fifteen next year – fifteen is such a non-event anniverssary, and maybe not the Kate Bush album people would want a listening party for -, we have to wait until 2028 for the fiftieth anniversary of her debut, The Kick Inside. The Sensual World turns forty in 2029. In 2030, that is when Never for Ever turns fifty. Those would be perfect moments to celebrate those albums. However, that does leave a couple of fallow years! Why not reconvene to spotlight The Dreaming next year instead of waiting until 2027 to mark forty-five years? I think that a listening party for The Dreaming next year would be perfect. Then Lionheart or The Red Shoes in 2027, The Kick Inside in 2028, The Sensual World in 2029, Never for Ever in 2030, then 50 Words for Snow in 2031. You could celebrate The Dreaming on its fiftieth in 2032, but that is an eternity away! We do wait for anniversaries, but after the wonderful Aerial listening party, it really stoked something in me. I am thinking of marking The Kick Inside’s fiftieth with something special, though I am desperate to get involved with a listening party next year. Putting the needle down on The Dreaming and discussing that album. I am not sure who could speak, though there are Kate Bush writers and fans who could.
Perhaps it would seem random and odd not to tie it with an anniversary, though one of the major takeaways from that Aerial at 20 event at Avalon Cafe was that there is an appetite. People do want to sit and listening to the albums and then learn more about them. There are podcast episodes where you can hear about her albums, though that in-person incentive is key. Getting together and the physicality of her music. Discussing it and hearing it in a space. I was surprised that Aerial’s listening party attracted such a young audience, as Hounds of Love’s was an older audience. I guess, as the albums were released twenty years apart, you would expect the fans of Hounds of Love (1985) to be older. However, Aerial was twenty years ago and it is far less well-known that Hounds of Love. It is one that hardly gets played or talked about. Whereas Hounds of Love had a fair few anniversary features in September – though not as many as it deserved! -, Aerial got a poultry one: a great retrospective admiration from The Quietus. I was perhaps the only other person who wrote about Aerial on its twentieth Kate Bush News ran a week or features that took us inside the album too). It is a travesty and a shame that so little was written about. King of the Mountain, the only single from the album, is played now and then on radio, though there is no reason why more of the songs could not be. Such a remarkable, varied and beautiful album, kudos to Ethan and Avalon Cafe for showing some much-deserved love for the 2005-released Kate Bush album. I am thinking The Dreaming should be next. Maybe next year? It turns forty-four in September, so a good excuse to get us all together. The album ends with the sensational Get Out of My House. Hearing that blare out and feeling people’s reaction to that in the room would be…
A real sight to behold!