FEATURE:
The Ultimate Commitment
IN THIS PHOTO: Kate Bush photographed on 4th April, 1978 whilst promoting her debut album, The Kick Inside, in Holland
The Need and Dilemma Associated with a Kate Bush 33 1/3 Book
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I have been re-reading…
IN THIS PHOTO: Leah Kardos, journalist, author and senior lecturer in Music at Kingston University wrote a 2024-released book for Kate Bush’s Hounds of Love as part of the 33 1/3 series/PHOTO CREDIT: Madeline Randall
Leah Kardos’s fabulous Hounds of Love book for the 33 1/3 series. You can purchase it here. The series is a fabulous look inside albums. Every year, there is a pitch for submissions. One of the reasons I like the 33 1/3 series is because it focuses on an album, and yet we get this conversation around the artist and some biography. What I love about the Hounds of Love entry is that we get a bigger picture. Kardos talks about Bush’s work prior to Hounds of Love and we get some lead up, rather than jumping straight to 1985 or into the songs. There is a chapter called The First Woman, where we see the ways Kate Bush has been the first woman to achieve remarkable feats and break records. Here is some further information about a book every Kate Bush fan should own:
“This book charts the emergence of Kate Bush in the early-to-mid-1980s as a courageous experimentalist, a singularly expressive recording artist and a visionary music producer.
Track-by-track commentaries focus on the experience of the album from the listener's point of view, drawing attention to the art and craft of Bush's songwriting, production and sound design. It considers the vast impact and influence that Hounds Of Love has had on music cultures and creative practices through the years, underlining the artist's importance as a barrier-smashing, template-defying, business-smart, record-breaking, never-compromising role model for artists everywhere.
Hounds Of Love invites you to not only listen, but to cross the boundaries of sensory experience into realms of imagination and possibility. Poised and accessible, yet still experimental and complex, with Hounds Of Love Bush mastered the art of her studio-based songcraft, finally achieving full control of her creative process”.
It is shocking that this is the only book in the 33 1/3 series dedicated to Kate Bush. I understand The Dreaming (1982) was written or was going to published by there was an issue. I think every Kate Bush album should be written about, because you get so much background and the period between albums is fascinating.
Not every album is as good as Hounds of Love, and it may be harder to invest as many words about, say Lionheart (Kate Bush’s second studio album, released in 1978). I do feel there are at least five of her albums that should get the 33 1/3 treatment. I have written about this before, though I am approaching it from a different angle. Aerial (2005) is an album, a double album, a tonne can be written about. The Dreaming needs to be revived. Never for Ever (1980) could have a wonderful book written about it, as could The Sensual World (1989). Although Laura Shenton has written a book about this album – and The Dreaming, for that matter -, I do feel that there is more to be said about The Kick Inside. Laura Shenton’s in-depth book about The Kick Inside can be purchased here. Apart from, as Leah Kardos notes in her Hounds of Love book, was Kate Bush owed an entry into the esteemed series. It is perhaps her most influential album. Definitely her most popular. I will come to The Kick Inside, though this interview, gives us some insight into why Leah Kardos tackled Hounds of Love for a brilliant 33 1/3 book:
“How would you describe your book in one sentence?
My book analyses the music, ideas, creative methods and far-reaching influence of Kate Bush’s 1985 masterpiece Hounds Of Love, one of the most visionary albums of the twentieth century.
What drew you to this album?
When I was considering what to pitch for the open call back in 2022, Kate Bush was experiencing a bit of a miraculous year – the resurgence of ‘Running Up That Hill (A Deal with God)’ was setting records and had put her back at the top of the charts all over the world. I was also acutely aware that there hadn’t yet been a volume in the series about one of her albums. Bush is such a special artist in my world, and I have always felt an empathic connection with her music – its sensitivity, intelligence, generosity and magic. It just made perfect sense to choose her.
It turns out that Hounds Of Love is a gift to write about. There’s so much musical, sonic-cinematic and conceptual detail to consider. And this period of her creative life in the early-to-mid-1980s is fascinating for many reasons – her developing process and aesthetic, her hard-won autonomy, her uniquely expressive handling of the Fairlight CMI (Computer Musical Instrument). I feel like people often forget about her technical mastery, that she was (and still is) an elite producer of records. It’s wild that she had achieved all of this by the time she was in her mid-twenties.
What was it like writing the book?
Working on my last book, Blackstar Theory: The Last Works of David Bowie (2021), was such an intense experience compared to this one, which was fun and hugely pleasurable. That book covered Bowie’s final three works so it was a treat to spend so much time and have so much space to sit with a single album. Once the book was done, I went through a period of feeling sad because I missed how it felt to work on it!
The tricky part was trying to strike a balance between writing something accessible for the newer, younger fans, who probably weren’t even born in the 20th century, and also making the book a worthwhile experience for the hardcore Love-hounds who already know everything. I also had to prioritise the story that I wanted to tell, which was about how Hounds Of Love marked Bush’s arrival as an artist and music producer of culture-changing influence.
Did you learn anything new about the album that you didn’t know going into the project?
I learned so much, even though I thought I knew the album well going in. Subtle connections and correspondences between sides A and B that I hadn’t noticed before emerged through the study. Thematic, conceptual, musical and sonic echoes that bounce between the worlds of day and night. I found it really instructive to observe how Bush engaged with the press during this period, how she seemed very energised to chat about her studio and the technical aspects of her creative process but was quite reticent to speak about meanings or pin her work down with definitive answers. It showed me an artist inspired by possibilities, who desired to keep those possibilities open. I tried to apply some of that world-building spirit to my writing about the music itself.
Are there any interesting stories or points that didn’t make it into the final book?
Yes, loads! Though, being an academic I wonder if other people would have found that stuff as interesting as I did? The tight 33,000 word count meant I had to jettison a lot of tangential research that I had accumulated along the way – stuff on Bert Lloyd and whaling shanties and witch trials, oceanic metaphors in literature, myth and psychoanalysis, Arthurian Avalon, etc. There were also some extended investigations into the Fairlight CMI and the technical ins and outs of designing sounds and sequencing song compositions with it. Being a music technologist myself, I was completely fascinated with how technology transformed Bush’s creative process. I ended up cutting most of this stuff but for a smattering of references. Hopefully readers will be able to pick up on the breadcrumbs and investigate further, should they so wish”.
I have always thought about pitching an idea. The Kick Inside is my first choice, as it is my favourite album ever. It turns fifty in 2028, so it would be a suitable second entry into the 33 1/3 series. Laura Shenton’s book is authoritative, though I would be interested to interview those involved making the album, some modern artists who have talked about it and its legacy now. Also, what is great about 33 1/3 and Leak Kardos’s book is that she is forensic about the music. In terms of the kit used and a real dig into the compositions. Laura Shenton does this a bit, but I feel I could take a different approach and still add something to this album without repeating what has come before. In reality, I feel authors like Tom Doyle and Graeme Thomson (who have written Kate Bush biographies) could do a 33 1/3 book. What is apparelling is that they are handy little books that are authoritative without being exhausting and too long-winded. 120-160 pages in a wonderful paperback, pocket-sized book (I mean, a large pocket in a raincoat!), that I see as an extensive form of linear notes. That dig inside an album and the recording. It is an ultimate show of passion and fandom writing a book. The time commitment is something that is an issue. I have to work a full-time job and, if I was lucky enough to write a 33 1/3 book, I suspect I would need to quit my job or reduce my hours – neither of which I can afford to do. You do not get paid to write the book, but you would get a share of the sales. I am not sure how much, but it is less about the money side of things and more about the love of that artist/album. I feel The Kick Inside is an album that people do not discuss and relatively little is known. It is compelling, as you can talk about the early years of Kate Bush and the lead-up to her recording the album in 1977. I feel it is more influential today than it ever has been. The associated success of its debut single, Wuthering Heights, after the film of the same name came out earlier this year. One of its stars, Margot Robbie, recreating Kate Bush’s Wuthering Heights dance in a clip that was shared online. Artists like CMAT and Billie Eilish have nodded to the album or, in the case of the former, covered Wuthering Heights.
There are a lot of positives when it comes to a book for 33 1/3. In terms of how to approach an album like The Kick Inside. For me, it would be a case of leading in with Kate Bush’s upbringing and the seeds of her debut album and then ending with its relevance and impact. I am not a musicologist and am not a musician, so my approach to the songs would be some insight and personal analysis. As I say, interviewing musicians involved with the album would be great, and even speaking with producer Andrew Powell It is a shame only one Kate Bush album is in the 33 1/3 series, and so many more of her albums should be in there. There used to be a strict – or a bit looser – policy that only one album per artist could be in the series, to keep things broad and varied. So that there is not this repetition. However, given justification, a second album could be permitted. As has been the case with Radiohead (OK Computer and Kid A), The Beach Boys (Pet Sounds and Smile), David Bowie (Low and The Rise and Fall of Ziggy Stardust and the Spiders from Mars), and The Rolling Stones (Exile on Main St. and Some Girls). I think that The Kick Inside is more important and better than Some Girls so, if The Rolling Stones can have a second book, why not Kate Bush?! One of the most influential artists today, her debut is one that deserves examination and closer inspection. The drawbacks would be the time commitments and maybe having to sacrifice work. If I could fit it around work and write it and still earn a wage, then the temptation is huge. As it turns fifty on 17th February, 2028, there is this need and huge desire for me, or someone else, to write about The Kick Inside. This year’s proposals have already been submitted, but you can look at the books in the series and the incredible range of wonderful albums. A pitch in 2027 for a publication in 2028 or late-2027? Perhaps a harder sell to get a second album for the same artist in the 33 1/3 series, I feel there is plenty of justification when it comes to the…
GENIUS Kate Bush.