FEATURE:
Kate Bush’s 50 Words for Snow at Fifteen
IN THIS PHOTO: Kate Bush in a promotional image for 2011’s 50 Words for Snow/PHOTO CREDIT: John Carder Bush
A Wonderful Album That Warrants Wider Exposure and Investigation
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I will end with…
a couple of reviews for Kate Bush’s 50 Words for Snow. Released on 21st November, 2011, it turns fifteen soon. This final anniversary features looks at what could have been. The Mercury Prize was held last month, and among the nominees was Paul McCartney for The Boys of Dungeon Lane. I wondered whether Kate Bush ever had interest in the awards. I could have seen 2005’s Aerial getting a nod. 50 Words for Snow would have been shortlisted. Perhaps not wanting to go to a ceremony and unconcerned with awards, you wonder what could have been if 50 Words for Snow were shortlisted. It could have beaten off 2012’s winner, Alt-J’s An Awesome Wave. I have said before how a short film could be made of the seven tracks. Whilst the only connection is cold asnd snow – except for the final track, Among Angels -, I do feel like a narrative could work where we get this mix of the beautiful and dark. A story that could have been scored by these amazing songs. This was Kate Bush at perhaps her most ‘un-Pop’. In terms of there being longer tracks that were more like Jazz pieces. It was interesting when she spoke with Jamie Cullum for a promotional interview. His interpretations of the tracks as this successful artist. Kate Bush talking about Jazz. You can see it as part of an archive here. It was a wonderful chat that was so different to anything else. I am dropping it in below, so that you can hear the whole thing. Such an interesting that. 50 Words for Snow sharing D.N.A. with some classic Jazz composers. The Dave Brubeck Quartet song, Take Five, was mentioned at one point. Bush said how she does not listen to other people’s music when writing her own, though I feel like she would have referenced Jazz albums when composing 50 Words for Snow. Billie Holiday was also mentioned. I also wonder if she was in mind when writing this album.
Also though there is some animation around the songs on 50 Words for Snow, it would have been wonderful seeing something like a short film. Bush did make a 1993 short film, The Line, the Cross and the Curve. That was based around her album, The Red Shoes. In 2013, Beyoncé released a self-titled visual album. Two years earlier, Bush could have released a visual album. Arguably, she was the first woman to release a visual album. That 1993 achievement. I feel that this story where we get visuals of the songs could give the album more exposure. People rate it quite low when rating her albums. I feel like it is this wonderful and immerse work. I love the Jamie Cullum interview, as she talks about Steely Dan. Her love for 1977’s Aja and 1980’s Gaucho. Getting to chat about music in a different way. Other promotional interviews for 50 Words for Snow did not talk about Steely Dan. I think it gives new dynamics and layers to 50 Words for Snow. In terms of possible influences and what Bush was channelling. I could see her listening to Aja and that inspiring tracks on 50 Words for Snow. For Radio Monte Carlo, Bush did say that she wanted snow to be the central theme as it is magical. She said how it is “a really fascinating thing”. Its life being brief and beguiling. Most artists would reference snow in a song. Bush took that further and made an album with that imaginative side of snow in her mind. I think the fact that a lot of the audio interviews from 2011 are not available takes something from 50 Words for Snow. This charming clip, where Bush was speaking with Lauren Laverne. I do think that it should have got more praise and love. Many of the reviews were glowing, yet 50 Words for Snow is never seen as one of her best albums. That is a shame. Even though Tom Jones sort of mangles reading from an autocue, he did present Bush with a 2012 Sky Arts Pop award for 50 Words for Snow. It was great that she did get that nod, so maybe a Mercury nomination would not have been so bad? She was happy to be seen in public at least. I feel lie 50 Words for Snow is this ultimate vinyl album. You put it on and have to listen to everything. Not skipping tracks. The fact it is not easily separated and digestible was intentional. Bush worried digital music was threatening the album, so she recorded one that is very much demanding of people’s time and commitment, rather than having a lot of shorter songs people could listen to whilst ignoring the rest.
Go and listen to all of the archive interviews from 2011 and what Bush said about 50 Words for Snow. I’ll end with a couple of very positive reviews. Starting with Jude Rogers and what she write for the BBC. The fact that the record is strange and magical is quintessential Kate Bush. Always different and never resting, you do wonder what her next album will sounds like. I can imagine it having similarities with 50 Words for Snow:
“Six years after Aerial’s bursts of summer sound, Kate Bush’s winter album arrives, each track exploring the long Christmas months. They reflect a season which brings out the profound and absurd in equal measure – the feelings of longing and loneliness that emerge as the dark nights bed in, the party-hat silliness that pops up when the same nights stretch out. 50 Words for Snow initially aims for the former value, with Bush’s son Bertie taking the opening vocal on Snowflake. "I was born in a cloud," he sings eerily, like the ghost of Little Lord Fauntleroy; he is constantly falling, all "ice and dust and light". His mother keeps appearing – he sees her "long white neck" – promising to find him, but we don’t find out if she does. On paper, it’s a lovely concept. On record, it treads an exceedingly fine line between the sublime and the ridiculous.
But this is classic Kate. On 1993’s The Red Shoes, Prince had to play second fiddle to Lenny Henry on Why Should I Love You?; on Aerial, Rolf Harris performed on two songs. But Bush has always been almost wilfully uncool, and this time around is no different. Take Stephen Fry taking the lead on the title-track, whispering fifty synonyms for the white stuff, from the lovely "blown from polar fur" to the frankly daft "phlegm de neige". It sounds embarrassingly cold, perhaps because of his ubiquity – if only Vincent Price was still alive, or Ian McKellen was available. Another guest, Elton John, fares much better on Snowed in at Wheeler Street, partly because his voice takes on a gentler quality than usual, partly because the song maps the movements of lost love very beautifully, and partly because John was Bush’s first hero; you can hear this depth of feeling as their voices mesh together.
The album only really reaches the heights Bush has set for herself when she appears centre stage. Her voice is noticeably older now, full of earth, heft and husk, and works stunningly well with little more than her piano’s sustain pedal – especially in Misty, her already widely-commented-upon love song for a snowman. Giving Raymond Briggs’ famous concept an X-rated twist – he is "melting in my hand", the next morning "the sheets are soaking" – its 13 minutes are spellbinding. The album’s finale, Among Angels, is even better, a torch-song for a friend in need, with a stunning central lyric: "I can see angels standing around you / They shimmer like mirrors in summer / But you don’t know it." Throughout, the piano sets a magical mood, all dark, loud and heavy.
Just after the song’s start, you also hear Bush stop for a second, take her fingers off the keys, and whisper the word "fine". In Lake Tahoe, the song also breaks suddenly at 8.44, leaving Bush to exhale one sharp, startling breath. 50 Words for Snow may threaten to lose its way in the blizzard sometimes, but it is moments like these – jolting us from her world for a moment, reminding us of how all-embracing her talent can be – that show just how much she can move us with her fire and ice”.
The radio interviews in 2011 are fascinating. Europe stations and U.S. too. Each one revealing different things. I do love this one with Larry Flick for Sirius XM. Such a complex album, it did reach five in the U.K. In 2011, I think more traditional Pop was more favoured and successful. Yet plenty of people bought this album that was more Jazz. Chamber Pop perhaps. A masterpiece that I feel would gain more praise if people checked out the interviews and spent time with it. I also wonder, if Bush were to perform live again, whether she would stage 50 Words for Snow. Among Angels was part of the encore for her 2014 residency, Before the Dawn, though turning it into a suite or performing the album in full would be magnificent. I will end with Treble Zine and their thoughts. Some highlight songs where she collaborated with others – including Elton John on Snowed in at Wheeler Street – as the weaker moments. Though this review says they add vigour and new energy. The space and beauty of 50 Words for Snow means it rewards repeated listens before you can appreciate it. Many not wanting to spend time fully digging into the gorgeous 50 Words for Snow:
“Kate Bush released only one album during the ’00s, the epic double feature Aerial, but in spite of her absence, her influence has continued to loom large over pop music in recent years. Florence and the Machine has maintained a heavy dose of Hounds of Love in her pop anthems, perhaps the most visible charting artist to do so since Kate herself, though there are definitely others. Bush’s artful grandeur has seeped into the works of Bat For Lashes, My Brightest Diamond and, to a lesser degree, St. Vincent. She’s gotten big ups from Big Boi, and is apparently part of some unifying theory of hip-hop, according to a ganja-fueled stage routine by Das Racist. As heartening as it is to see Bush’s legacy loom large in newer acts, however, sometimes you just can’t beat the real thing.
Bush’s tenth album and her second this year following the collection of re-recorded material, The Director’s Cut, 50 Words For Snow is a snapshot of an artist who, even after a much sparser output in recent years, continues to operate from an advanced playbook. The album is identifiably Kate’s, in terms of aesthetic details, sheer idiosyncrasy, and her inimitable vocals. But it’s also far less immediate, a kind of loose concept album of lengthy ballads that unfold slowly and venture into subtly haunting spaces via artful, atmospheric arrangements. And as with all of Bush’s best material, it’s charmingly weird.
As implied by its title and admittedly goofy cover art depicting a woman kissing a snowman (carved in snow no less), 50 Words For Snow is a winter album. It’s not a Christmas album, though Bush already had the holiday record covered back in 1980 (“December Will Be Magic Again“). Rather, this is an album of songs designed for listening in the coldest winter months, when the snow piles high outside and sunlight is just a fleeting visitor only to disappear for days at a time. And as such, it’s absolutely gorgeous. The arrangements on the album’s seven songs, which range from six to 13 minutes in length, are spacious and delicate, frequently evoking the breathtaking post-rock of late-period Talk Talk, albeit given Bush’s own eccentric stamp of authenticity. There is a majesty to these songs that can be easily appreciated upon first listen, but their minor, delicate details encourage repeat listens. It’s an immersive experience, by design I would imagine, akin to that of slowly being blanketed with tiny frozen flakes.
When exploring these wintry themes lyrically, Bush begins to reveal more of the unconventional nature of her songwriting. In the incredible opening track, “Snowflake,” Bush is snow personified, with phrases like “I am ice and dust/ I am sky” and “Be ready to catch me” projecting an almost literal image of falling from the sky. That, however, is just the beginning. Bush trades verses with Sir Elton John on the heartbreaking “Snowed In On Wheeler Street,” narrating an epic and continually tragic romance that references World War II and 9/11. Then there’s the outstandingly peculiar “Misty,” which finds her building a snowman only to, apparently, have sex with him, and it ends just as well as you’d expect: “So cold next to me/ I can feel him melting in my hand/ melting, melting, in my hand” It’s strange, but oddly affecting, in a way that only Bush herself could deliver so convincingly.
Though the vast majority of 50 Words For Snow consists of beautifully sparse art-pop ballads, those few moments in which Bush and her collaborators raise the tempo provide some welcome invigoration. First single “Wild Man,” with its Fleetwood Mac-style melody and bizarre choral vocal featuring Andy Fairweather Low, follows second-hand Yeti sightings through a powerful pop epic. The psychedelic, trip-hop styled title track, meanwhile, finds Bush coaching and counting along with actor Stephen Fry, who runs down a very literal list of 50 synonyms that range from the poetic (“elderfalls”) to the absurd (“blown from polar fur,” “whippoccino”).
On 50 Words For Snow, Kate Bush juggles a heady mix of graceful abstraction and curious humor, much like she always has. But no matter how exaggerated the latter, it’s actually that sense of grace and beauty that ultimately defines 50 Words For Snow. It’s an album that asks of ample time and attention from the listener, but pays repeated dividends on that investment. As the mercury continues to drop and the sky grows ever more grey, this album will provide excellent company”.
As this wonderful album turns fifteen on 21st November, it makes me wonder about getting it heard. Is this something Gen Z and Alpha can listen to? There are few popular contemporary artists who have recorded anything like 50 Words for Snow. More and more are turning to physical formats and want to listen to albums in full. I think this is a perfect album to give to a younger listener. So immersive and full of wonderful imagery, Bush’s curiosity for beautiful snow and how it comes and goes. I love all of that! This sumptuous thing. Bush said to Jamie Cullum how Director’s Cut – an album released in May 2011 where she revisited songs from The Sensual World (1989) and The Red Shoes (1993) – was technically tedious and longer to complete than expected. An opposite experience with 50 Words for Snow. She took this momentum from Director’s Cut into the new one. Among Angels was written during a break in Director’s Cut. Bush estimates 2008 or 2009. Lake Tahoe was the first song she wrote for 50 Words for Snow. She then honed in on snow rather than winter. We do not really get snow in the South a lot. It is evocative. Maybe we will get some this winter. A big reason that the wonderous 50 Words for Snow is…
AN essential listen.