US musician Les July has been in touch to let us know about an unheard piece of music, Magnolia Road, from the greatly missed Del Palmer. Les writes: “You may not know this but I worked with Del on his CD, “Point Of Safe Return”. We knew each other via Facebook and he had always been a fan of my Kate tribute (see here), but he had no idea I was also a horn player. I did the horn arrangements for the song and gave it a Miles Davis , ‘Sketches of Spain’ kinda vibe and he LOVED that. Unfortunately, due to a flood in his studio, the track that I played on, “Magnolia Road” could not be put on the record. He sent me an email explaining what happened, how sorry he was and that one day, he intended for the world to hear what he considered to be my great work. I made a video slide show with pictures in tribute, using the song. This is a song of Del Palmer that no one has ever heard.“

Lovely to hear Del’s voice, thank you so much, Les. See more from Les at his Facebook page here and Instagram here.

The new issue of Uncut Magazine (January 2025) hits the news-shelves this coming Friday and features Kate on the cover and a full feature and archive interview within. The issue is available to order online here. “In this revelatory lost interview from 2011, Kate Bush holds forth on fame, the internet, pop music, fantastical creatures and the time she nearly burned her house down…”

The feature brings Kate’s story bang up to date by chatting to Paul Simmons of Timorous Beasties about the illustrated editions (we almost had a yeti cover!), designer Jonathan Barnbrook about producing the lettering on the recent special edition vinyl releases and how he designed the lettering for the reworked Fish People logo, and animator Gayle Martin also discusses working with Kate on the recent Little Shrew animated short film.

In this shorter minisode Darrell from Bush Telegraph chats with Alan Skidmore, the saxophonist on Kate’s 1975 The Saxophone Song, recorded when she was only 16. Alan talks about his recording session and briefly meeting the young Cathy in the studio. Alan, known as “Skid” in the jazz world, has had a prolific career working with all the jazz greats. His amazing playing is not only highlighted on Kate’s song in the podcast, but we also get to hear another phenomenal track he plays on.

You can subscribe to the Kate Bush Fan Podcast on iTunes, Audible, Spotify or on any podcast app you happen to use, such as Podcast Addict or Tunein or listen below on Soundcloud.

At a time when we’re already buzzing at Kate’s confirmation that she is working on ideas for a new album, it has been announced that Kate and her son Albert McIntosh have been nominated as art directors in two categories in next year’s 67th Grammy Awards in the USA. Her 2023 illustrated vinyl release of Hounds of Love, The Baskerville Edition is nominated for Best Recording Package, while The Boxes of Lost at Sea art pieces (also editions of Hounds of Love) have been nominated for Best Boxed or Special Limited Edition Package. You can read more about these releases on our original news item here. Congratulations to Kate and Albert and team! We are sure you must be delighted by this. Winners will be announced on the day of the Grammy ceremony in Los Angeles on February 2nd 2025.

The Grammy Awards, established in 1958, are awarded annually by The Recording Academy of the United States for outstanding achievements in the music industry. They were originally called the Gramophone Awards, as the trophy depicts a gilded gramophone. There are a whopping 94 categories covering not just every genre of music but also for the likes of record packages, historical recordings, production, engineering, composition and arrangement. Most of these less glitzy Grammy trophies are presented in a pre-telecast “Premiere Ceremony” in the afternoon before the Grammy Awards telecast, a live show dominated by the most popular “general field” pop categories. Previously Kate was nominated three times for a Grammy; in 1988 for Best Concept Music Video (The Whole Story), in 1991 for Best Alternative Music Album (The Sensual World) and in 1996 for Best Music Film (The Line, the Cross and the Curve).

Significantly, in terms of Kate’s profile and status in the USA, these are Kate’s first Grammy nominations in nearly 30 years, with Forbes magazine musing that “clearly Recording Academy voters seem interested in recognizing her work and her talent.” This follows Kate’s biggest chart success ever in the USA in 2022 with Running Up That Hill and her induction last year into the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame. Forbes also notes that while Kate faces tough competition in the two fields, “she should be considered a serious contender for one, if not both awards. She is one of many artists who have never won a Grammy whose legacy has grown throughout the years.”

The Baskerville Edition of Hounds of Love, adorned with artwork by Timorous Beasties, was notable for its innovation for being the first ever vinyl record to have a solar powered LED light specially developed and built for the project by Kate and her team. The circuitboard was exclusively designed for the package so it would fit into the standard thickness of the gatefold sleeve. The release was accompanied by a special Cloudbusting-themed short film written and directed by Kate. Read more about the Grammy for Best Recording Package on Wikipedia here.

Meanwhile Kate has made a donation for each sale of The Boxes of Lost at Sea artworks to War Child, a charity Kate has recently also supported with the release of her beautiful Little Shrew animation. Inside The Boxes of Lost at Sea are two vinyl records, each with a UV print on a side without grooves, on white vinyl. Kate said of them last year: “The idea was to create a hybrid of an album and a piece of artwork you could hang on the wall. They’re based on something I designed for an auction for the charity War Child” Read more about the Grammy for Best Boxed or Special Limited Edition Package on Wikipedia here.

Kate has this morning announced the third release in her series of illustrated reissues, following Hounds of Love (The Baskerville Edition), and The Dreaming (The Escapologist Edition). 50 Words For Snow (The Polar Edition) is available to pre-order now, and will be released online and in stores on the 15th November as a double album on 180g vinyl. It is once again illustrated by Timorous Beasties and designed by Fish People, with a gatefold sleeve, metallic belly band with embossed text, poly sleeve and stickers. Each record will also come with a special snowflake design Christmas card. It was printed at Pozzoli and pressed on black vinyl at Record Industry from new lacquers cut by Bernie Grundman of the 2018 remasters by Kate and James Guthrie. It is available to pre-order on Kate’s site here: https://music.katebush.com/buy/50-words-for-snow-polar-edition/ but you can also check with your local record store and ask them to pre-order it for you.

Update: Thanks to our linguist friend, Tristan, for deciphering the Inuktitut words (one of the principal Inuit languages of Canada) on The Polar Edition’s “belly band”. It reads: ᐸᐃᐱᑎ ᐅᖃᐅᓲᑦ ᐊᐳᑎᒧᑦ which is spoken as Paipiti uqausuut aputimut which approximately translates as “50 Words For Snow” – additionally Kate’s full name is transliterated into Inuktitut as ᑲᐃᑦ ᐳᔅ on the reverse side of the belly band. So now you know!

Wonderful, wonderful news this morning! Kate has given an interview to Emma Barnett on the BBC Radio 4 Today programme (listen back to it here) to announce the launch of a new short film she has written and directed to raise money for children affected by war. She also talks about her plans to make a new album. The black-and-white, four-minute animation, called Little Shrew, is set to a shorter edit of her 2011 track Snowflake and aims to raise money and awareness for the charity War Child. (be sure to read the story of Little Shrew on Kate’s official site)

Little Shrew is released on Kate’s official website today. It is free to watch, but Kate encourages viewers to support organisations helping children in conflict. Kate says: “I would like to ask that if you watch the animation, please make a donation to War Child, or to another charity that aids children in war.” War Child are accepting donations at their site here. The short film, which Kate worked with illustrator Jim Kay to create, was partly inspired by Russia’s invasion of Ukraine in February 2022. “I started working on it a couple of years ago, it was not long after the Ukrainian war broke out, and I think it was such a shock for all of us,” Kate explained.

“It’s been such a long period of peace we’d all been living through. And I just felt I wanted to make a little animation that would feature, originally, a little girl. It was really the idea of children caught up in war. I wanted to draw attention to how horrific it is for children.

“And so I came up with this idea for a storyboard and felt that, actually, people would be more empathetic towards a creature rather than a human. So I came up with the idea of it being a little shrew.” Reflecting on the impact of conflict on children, Kate said: “I think war is horrific for everyone, particularly civilians, because they’re so vulnerable in these situations. But for a child, it’s unimaginable how frightening it must be for them.”

Kate added: “I think we’ve all been through very difficult times. These are dark times that we’re living in and I think, to a certain extent, everyone is just worn out….We went through the pandemic, that was a huge shock, and I think we felt that, once that was over, that we would be able to get on with some kind of normal life…But in fact it just seems to be going from one situation to another, and more wars seem to be breaking out all the time.” The Guardian newspaper in the UK have already given Kate’s animated film a five star review “…this devastating film will make you weep at war’s violence against children.” Also, concept artist on the Little Shrew animation, Jim Kay, writes about working with Kate over on his official site.

War Child are accepting donations at their site here

About her next album, Kate adds that she is “very keen” to start working on new music. She said there are “lots of ideas” she wants to pursue, telling BBC Radio 4’s Today programme: “I’m really looking forward to getting back into that creative space, it’s been a long time.” BBC report.

In 2022, with war breaking out in Ukraine, I decided I wanted to make an anti-war animation. In particular, I hoped to draw attention to the children caught up in war.

I based the storyboard around the song, Snowflake, which was sung by my son when he was a child. I think his performance is extremely moving and although I‘d originally written the song to capture his beautiful descant voice before he entered adolescence, it has taken on a haunting new meaning within the context of this animation.

I knew I wanted the featured character to be a child caught up in war, so I made a very rough, off the cuff story board.

Although I’d initially thought to make the character a human child – a little girl – I settled on the idea of a Caucasian pygmy shrew (Ukrainian shrew): a tiny, fragile little creature. I felt that people might have more empathy for a vulnerable little animal than a human…

This little shrew would take a journey on a moonlit, winter’s night through a war-torn city, initially unaware of what was going on around her in this land of the giants. She can sense that she’s being called by a kind of spiritual presence… HOPE.

She starts to search for HOPE. Sometimes hope is all there is to hang on to.

War Child are accepting donations at their site here (and be sure to read the story of Little Shrew and all the talented people involved on Kate’s official site)

The new trailer for the movie The Legend of Ochi features a TOTEM remix version of Kate’s song Hounds of Love, and it sounds fantastic! Teases of the “hounds” vocalisations start as early as 15 seconds into the clip, but later Kate’s actual vocal from the 1985 single explodes onto the trailer soundtrack along with stirring drums and orchestration. TOTEM (Patrick Buchanan and David James Rosen) were also responsible for another memorable remix of Running Up That Hill for the Stranger Things TV series in 2022 – Kate has clearly been impressed by their work.

We think we can see why Kate would have been charmed by the film, it even stars one of the kids from Stranger Things! The Legend of Ochi is an upcoming American fantasy adventure film written and directed by Isaiah Saxon in his feature film debut. The film stars Willem Dafoe, Emily Watson, Finn Wolfhard and Helena Zengel. It is scheduled to be released by A24 on February 28, 2025. We have no idea if the track will feature on the film soundtrack itself (by composer David Longstreth), but this is a brilliant use of Kate’s iconic track to promote this charming movie. The trailer music was also composed in conjunction with composer Ursine Vulpine (aka Frederick Lloyd).

On the film company A24’s site, the story is given thus: “In a remote northern village, a young girl, Yuri, is raised to never go outside after dark and to fear the reclusive forest creatures known as the ochi. When a baby ochi is left behind by its pack, she embarks on the adventure of a lifetime to reunite it with its family.“

Already known for covering Running Up that Hill live back in June 2022, US singer Halsey has announced that the song “I Never Loved You” is inspired by Kate Bush. The singer also pays visual homage to Kate on social media with a photo shoot recreating the Clive Arrowsmith “blue gauze” photograph of Kate used for the cover of the January 1982 issue of Company Magazine.

The track is featured on Halsey’s upcoming new concept album, The Great Impersonator, which takes influence from many different artists and eras, thematically tied to artists who’ve influenced her. Halsey also sent a message to her subscribers upon the song’s release to detail the dark story behind it: “This song cuts deep….a woman lies ill-fated in an Emergency Room. She’s holding on with all her might, in hopes her lover will show to say goodbye. He arrives, too late and defensive. Who was driving the car that hit her?”

We were very sad to hear the news that the great Canadian actor, Donald Sutherland, has died at the age of 88 after a long illness. He was the star of well over 100 films including Don’t Look Now, Kelly’s Heroes, M.A.S.H and The Hunger Games, but Kate Bush fans will of course always remember Donald for his appearance in the Cloudbusting video in 1985, playing the role of Wilhelm Reich. We send our condolences to his family and friends. A brilliant actor.

Donald spoke about making the video with Dazed in 2015: “Barry Richardson, who was the hairdresser on Nic Roeg’s Don’t Look Now, asked me if I’d do a music video with Kate Bush. I told him no and we went on to other conversations. A couple of days later there was a knock on my door. I lived in the Savoy Hotel (in London). On the river. Suite 312. I loved it there. So cosseted. So private. Only the floor butler rang the door. I opened it. There was no one there. I heard a voice saying hello and I looked down. Standing down there was a very small Kate Bush. Barry had told her where I lived. What can you do? She wanted to explain what her video was about. I let her in. She sat down, said some stuff.

All I heard was ‘Wilhelm Reich’. I’d taken an underground copy of his The Mass Psychology of Fascism with me when I went to film (Bernardo) Bertolucci’s Novecento in Parma. Reich’s work informed the psychological foundations of Attila Mellanchini, the character Bernardo had cast me to play. Everything about Reich echoed through me. He was there then and now he was here. Sitting across from me in the person of the very eloquent Kate Bush. Synchronicity. Perfect. She talked some more. I said OK and we made ‘Cloudbusting’. She’s wonderful, Kate Bush. Wonderful. I love that I did it. (What do I remember) about doing it? I remember being in the car and the hill and them taking me, taking Reich, away and looking back through the back window of the car and seeing her, seeing Reich’s son Peter, standing there.“

In 1985 interviews (and ever since) Kate expressed her delight and good fortune at having secured Donald to play the part in her film: “When we were thinking about someone to play the part of the father, we just sort of instantly came up with Donald Sutherland, and everyone laughed, because it’s like, you know, he’s one of the greatest actors in the world, really, and we jokingly thought “yeah, yeah wouldn’t it be great.” So we did actually approach his agent, who immediately said no, he couldn’t because he’s just too busy. But a friend of ours knew a friend of his, who asked him, and he gave us three days of his time in between shooting two other films. And I still can’t believe he did it.

It was a wonderful thing for him to do, give us that time. Made it a very, very special thing for me…I still can’t get over the fact that he did it! It was great! It means a lot to people that someone who is supposedly so famous and inaccessible makes the effort to make themselves accessible for such a little project. I was extremely moved by the fact that he did it; it meant a tremendous amount to me. And to work with him – Jesus, I thought I would never have the luck. I was his co-star! Ridiculous!…He puts out such an energy of sensitivity to the situation that I just had to re-act to him. He was – As far as I was concerned, whenever we were shooting, he *was* my dad. He’s wonderful.”

The Pyramid Stage is home to the world famous Glastonbury Festival, which over the years has seen performances from the likes of David Bowie, to Dolly Parton and Sir Elton John. A newly released photograph of the site has garnered attention from Glastonbury, the BBC and other media outlets. From the press release: “From one stellar legend to another, this image captures the King of the Stars; Orion taking centre-stage. This year, Award-Winning Landscape Astrophotographer, Josh Dury set about capturing a photograph in celebration of year’s Glastonbury Festival.” See the full dazzling image, entitled Starstruck, below:

He says this photograph brings together the ‘pyramid’ that is music, photography and astronomy. Josh would like to dedicate this image to his greatest music influence, Kate Bush. He would like to thank her for the inspiration and emotional connection that her music has played in the creation of his astro-images. The concept for this self-portrait image was conjured from listening to Kate’s song, Reaching Out from her album, The Sensual World; to visualise the narrative of ‘reaching out’ through the stars, in the hope that one day, she will take centre stage. See more of Josh’s work at his website: www.joshduryphoto-media.com

UPDATE June 11th: The guitar has sold for £21,000, and was reported on by the BBC here. Sadly in 2023 we lost the great Ian Bairnson, the Scottish guitarist who played on many tracks on Kate’s first two albums and also backing vocals on Oh To Be In Love and beer bottles on Room For The Life. Later he recorded bass voices on the song Delius and went on to play guitar on Leave it Open from The Dreaming album. But, he is probably best known to fans for his iconic guitar solo on Wuthering Heights which closes out Kate’s hit single. Kate remembered Ian on her official site last year: “…he had a lovely, warm smile and he played the inspired solo on Wuthering Heights with a broken arm. He was still wearing the cast! He was in a lot of pain but soldiered on and like all great artists, he truly suffered for his art. Making my first album was pretty daunting and I was working with people I’d never met before. Ian was kind and supportive and that meant such a lot. Thank you, Ian.”

The instrument responsible for that unforgettable solo, his 1974 Gibson Les Paul Custom 20th Anniversary electric guitar, manufactured in the USA, is now up for auction as part of a sale of Ian’s guitars he used during his amazing career. Ian also played this guitar on his band Pilot’s big 1970s hits Magic and January. The website Guitar Auctions will conduct the auction on 11th June 2024 with starting estimates valuing it at between £5,000-£10,000 (view Lot 269 on the Guitar Auctions site here)

From the catalogue description:

“This guitar was purchased by Ian in 1974 from Take Five, Shaftesbury Avenue, London and was his main guitar from the beginning. The guitar features on work with Pilot, the Alan Parsons Project and Kate Bush, including her first four studio albums, most significantly used the solo of her debut chart topping single ‘Wuthering Heights’.

An excerpt from Ian’s website states “Guitar players broadly fall into two main groups – those who consider themselves as “Strat” players and those who are “Les Paul” type players. I have always loved Les Pauls. Ever since I was about fourteen years old I wanted to play one. I prefer the sheer power and kick of a Gibson Les Paul. I bought mine as soon as I could afford one. It came from a shop called Take Five in Shaftesbury Avenue in London and cost me 315 pounds in 1974. It is a Custom model but over the years I have changed bits and pieces and now it looks more like a Standard. I suppose it is true to say that I built a career using only a Les Paul and a Marshall fifty watt amplifier. I never plugged anything between the guitar and the amp. If we wanted effects on the sound, we used the studio effects. They are far better quality and besides … I couldn’t afford that kind of equipment. This guitar has been with me through everything from the early recordings – Pilot, Parsons Project, Kate Bush etc right up to “Time Machine” and Pilot’s “Blue Yonder” CD.”

“Ian Bairnson was a session guitarist before joining up with former Bay City Rollers’ David Paton and Billy Lyall to form the band Pilot in 1973, where he contributed the harmony guitar parts to their hit single ‘Magic’. During his time with Pilot, he first collaborated with the record producer Alan Parsons on their debit self-titled album and it was this relationship that helped incorporate most of the band’s members into the Alan Parsons Project. One distinctive guitar solo of note was on the track ‘I Wouldn’t Want to be Like You’ that featured in the 1977 film ‘I Robot’ From 1978, Bairnson started sessions with Kate Bush, recording guitars on her first four albums, ‘The Kick Inside’, ‘Lionheart’, ‘Never for Ever’ and ‘The Dreaming’. The most notable track was Kate Bush’s debut single ‘Wuthering Heights’, where he can be heard with this same guitar playing the solo towards the end of the song. Wuthering Heights stayed at the top of the UK charts for four weeks.” (view Lot 269 on the Guitar Auctions site here) We’ll leave the last word on this to Dr. Jones…

If you haven’t yet read Graeme Thomson‘s excellent biography of Kate, Under The Ivy – The Life and Music of Kate Bush, next month it’s out on June 27th in a paperback Omnibus Remastered edition featuring a new cover by acclaimed designer Luke Bird (British Book Awards ‘Designer of the
Year’ shortlist 2023, 2021) and a foreword by the Irish writer Sinéad Gleeson
(Constellations, This Woman’s Work). I’ve always found this to be far and away the best written biography of Kate Bush out there, along with the superior likes of Tom Doyle’s 50 Visions of Kate Bush and of course, the essays in John Carder Bush’s superb Inside the Rainbow. The book has been revised and updated for 2024 which of course means coverage of Kate’s biggest hit single to date, Running Up That Hill, in 2022. Graeme Thomson has written acclaimed studies of, amongst others, Elvis Costello, George Harrison, John Martyn and Philip Lynott. He writes regularly for many publications. Also, keep an eye on our site and social media for news of a giveaway competition to win a copy next month, courtesy of the lovely people at Omnibus! Pre-order: Amazon (UK) | Waterstones | Bookshop.org (local UK shops)

From the press release: “The critically acclaimed definitive biography of Kate Bush, revised and updated for 2024, with a new foreword by Sinéad Gleeson. Detailing everything from Bush’s upbringing to her early exposition of talent, to her subsequent evolution into a stunningly creative and endlessly fascinating visual and musical artist, Under The Ivy is the story of one woman’s life in music. Written with great detail, accuracy and admiration for her work, this is in equal parts an in-depth biography and an immersive analysis of Kate Bush’s art.

Focusing on her unique working methods, her studio techniques, her timeless albums and inescapable influence, Under The Ivy is an eminently readable and insightful exploration of one of the world’s most unique and gifted artists.

The text has been updated to include coverage of Bush’s return to the top of the charts in 2022 following the extraordinary resurgence of ‘Running Up That Hill.’ An eye-opening journey of discovery for anyone unfamiliar with the breadth of Bush’s work, Under The Ivy also rewards the long-term fan with new insights and fresh analysis.”

“Under The Ivy is respectful, but it gets us pretty close to the temple. This is the perfect book for aficionados or even the merely curious” Paddy McAloon (Prefab Sprout)

“Graeme is a fantastic biographer, warm and wise. He brings Kate’s interior and exterior lives to life, in vivid colours” Jude Rogers, author of The Sound of Being Human

“Written in prose that from time to time seems linked umbilically to the very same ‘otherworld’ from which Kate Bush’s art manifests” Jim Kerr (Simple Minds)