Category: Kate Bush – Remastered (2018)

In something of a surprise to us (considering this is an expensive box set containing 7 individual albums) Kate’s Remastered Part 1 CD set has actually entered the official UK album charts at number 51! Perhaps in the digital/streaming age there are new rules governing what qualifies for the album chart now, but this is still very nice to see! Both vinyl box sets (I and II) and Hounds of Love also popped up in last week’s midweek charts on the strength of early sales of the remastered products.

More chart figures for you (with thanks to Matt, chart-wiz over on our site forum!)

UK albums top 100:
Number 51 – Remastered 1. (CD box set) 2634 sales

UK vinyl chart
Number 7 – Remastered in vinyl volume 1
Number 9 – Remastered in vinyl volume 2
Number 10 – Hounds of Love
Number 14 – The Red Shoes
Number 26 – The Kick Inside
Number 39 – The Sensual World

UK Physical Chart (CDs & vinyl)
Number 33 – Remastered 1 (CD box set)
Number 61 – Hounds of Love
Number 69 – Remastered in Vinyl volume 1
Number 73 – Remastered in vinyl volume 2
Number 89 – The Red Shoes
Number 93 – The Kick Inside

We’ve been updating our Facebook page with the daily imagery from Kate’s official Facebook/Instagram accounts – firstly the 7 days till Part 1 was released on November 16th and now a 10 day countdown till part 2 of Kate Bush – Remastered (Aerial, Director’s Cut, 50 Words For Snow and The Other Sides rarities collection). The daily imagery and selected lyric quotes have been a nice touch. We’ve never experienced a release schedule like this before, so we’re enjoying it while it lasts! (collages selection by Darrell Babidge)

With all the buzz surrounding Kate Bush – Remastered it’s little wonder that Mojo Magazine have yet again featured Kate on the cover of their new issue, out next Tuesday (an outer plastic bag cover which contains a best of 2018 CD and Elvis DVD is shown above – see inner magazine cover below). This issue includes a full review of the Remastered box sets. From the Mojo site:

“SENSUAL, SECRETIVE, OBSESSIVE: the story of Kate Bush: Recording Artist is a rich and dramatic quest for control and possession of her art – one which her raft of newly remastered albums underlines with an unmistakeably personal touch. In new material from interviews with Tom Doyle, Bush relives the highs and lows of her hunt for perfection in the latest MOJO magazine, in UK shops from Tuesday, November 20, and available to buy online now.

“It would’ve been nice if some of the stuff I did wasn’t always so hard,” she told Doyle as she discussed all her greatest moments in depth. Above all, it’s the story of Bush’s increasingly specific sonic visions and the initiative she took in bringing them to life.

“I think music is very visual,” she said. “On Never For Ever, there was quite a bit of that… trying to imagine being there. It’s that thing of being in this place, isn’t it? That you’re talking about or singing about. So, then you’re trying to create what it looks like and who’s there.” Included in our Kate Bush coverage: a full review of the new remastered box sets, plus Ian Rankin on her lyrics, which are published in book form by Faber & Faber on December 6.” 

Note: The plastic bag cover in the image above contains a CD and DVD. The magazine inside the package has this cover:

The first major review is in and it’s very good! Writing in today’s new edition of Uncut Magazine, Erin Osmon reviews the 4 box sets that make up Kate’s Remastered in Vinyl releases. As well as reserving high praise for the included rare tracks on these collections, the reviewer is careful to assess the improvements in the remastered sound of Kate’s classic songs, something we’ve been very curious to hear about…

“The drums on “Running Up That Hill (A Deal With God)” pound with a more robust and exuberant energy, mirroring the heartbeat thump the song still elicits, 33 years after its release. The same goes for the frantic rhythms of “Sat In Your Lap”, which are fuller and more bouyant. The instrumentation of “Wuthering Heights” at last feels in balance with the track’s striking vocals, as if they too were invited to perform from the stage, rather than projecting towards the singer from the pit.

The layered likes of “Babooshka” feel more natural too, with evident care paid to the very bucolic potential of these recordings, even the ones heavily adorned in synthesisers and effects.”

“Pretty much every Bush tune you might possibly want to find is at last lined up and easy to navigate, and that the woman herself ostensibly chose the songs and sequence makes it that much more alluring. Despite its pedestrian title, Remastered In Vinyl is exceptional in its completeness.”  8/10

You can get this issue of Uncut from the magazine’s site here.

KATE BUSH – REMASTERED. It’s finally happening! Kate is releasing her entire back catalogue, fully remastered, on brand new vinyl and CD editions! For vinyl lovers, this means that long-out-of-print records, including ones that have in recent years commanded insane prices on the secondhand collector market (The Red Shoes and Aerial, we’re looking at you!) will now be available to purchase in the shops again, plus you have the joy of listening to even Kate’s earliest albums in sparkling new remasters for the first time, on your preferred format. All the audio has been remastered by Kate and James Guthrie except for Before The Dawn on CD which is the original mastering.

Update: Seán discusses the remasters in the Kate Bush Fan Podcast  – listen here:

Update: 5th October – Kate has posted on her official site about the reaction to the news:

Response to the Remasters…

I just can’t believe the fantastic response to yesterday’s announcement of the Remastered project. I’m totally blown away! It’s really exciting and incredibly rewarding for everyone involved to see it being received so positively.
I really wasn’t expecting such an overwhelming reaction. Thank you.
All best wishes,
Kate

As well as the 10 Kate Bush studio albums being made available for purchase separately on vinyl and CD, Kate is also releasing box set Remastered collections – four box sets on vinyl and two box sets on CD. The vinyl albums – all Kate’s studio work – will be released in 4 separate boxes, the first two on November 16 and the latter two on November 30. The CD boxes will be staggered on the same dates.

The four vinyl box sets are called Kate Bush – Remastered in Vinyl I, II, III and IV and present Kate’s 10 studio albums across three individual box sets, with the fourth set being a brand new 4LP rarities collection of 12″ mixes, remixes, b-sides and covers. The first three LP box sets feature artwork imagery from The Dreaming, The Sensual World and Aerial, unadorned by any text, to mark each era of recordings they contain. The rarities LP box set features a portrait of Kate on the cover. The Red Shoes is now presented in a double vinyl gatefold sleeve format. Note: The Before the Dawn live album set has already been made available by Fish People since 2016 in its own 4LP box.

PRE-ORDER Kate Bush Remastered in Vinyl I (LP Box Set – The Kick Inside, Lionheart, Never For Ever and The Dreaming)

PRE-ORDER Kate Bush Remastered in Vinyl II (LP Box Set – Hounds of Love, The Sensual World, and The Red Shoes*)

PRE-ORDER Kate Bush Remastered in Vinyl III (LP Box Set – Aerial*, Director’s Cut* and 50 Words For Snow*)

PRE-ORDER Kate Bush Remastered in Vinyl IV (LP Box Set – a NEW 4LP rarities collection of 12″ mixes, remixes, b-sides and covers)

*double vinyl album

The two CD box sets are called Kate Bush – Remastered Part I (featuring her first 7 albums), and Kate Bush – Remastered Part II which features Aerial, Director’s Cut, 50 Words for Snow, Before the Dawn and a brand new 4CD rarities collection of 12″ mixes, remixes, b-sides and covers called “The Other Sides” Note: The rarities CDs will only be available as part of the second CD box set.

PRE-ORDER Kate Bush Remastered – Part I (CD Box Set – The Kick Inside, Lionheart, Never For Ever, The Dreaming, Hounds of Love, The Sensual World and The Red Shoes)

PRE-ORDER Kate Bush Remastered – Part II (CD Box Set – Aerial, Director’s Cut, 50 Words For Snow, Before the Dawn, and The Other Sides, a NEW 4CD rarities collection)

The Other Sides – Track-listing of rarities discs (vinyl and CD):

PRE-ORDER LINKS FOR INDIVIDUAL REMASTERS: