Category: Newsbits round-up Page 3 of 7

Newsbits: Friends and supporters of this website, Dublin band Settler, have released their excellent second album, Hard Won, Hardwired – please check out the banner link above to read all about them and to see our own Brian Cloughley’s graphic work. Also access their main site to hear some great music clips and read the tour diary of our Chicago trip last year, hosted by I Wanna Be Kate producer Thomas Dunning (see how KBN&I connected they are?!!!). We wish them big success with their new CD, which I’ve been playing on rotation here this evening as I’ve been putting this update together – cracking stuff.

A very interesting Jive Magazine article on Kate’s resurgence in popularity with the dance culture can be read here (thanks Andrew)…BBC2 screened a clip of the Wuthering Heights video at the beginning of Alistair McGowan‘s slot urging people to vote Emily Bronte’s classic book to the top of the 100 Best Books poll. Alistair recounted how his introduction to the novel was as a result of hearing Kate’s first single back in 1978, and like many others he went out to find himself a copy of the book…Donal O’Mahony of The Tycho Brahe is interviewed in the latest issue of the Dublin Event Guide about the bands new CD Love Life (see September 17th 2003 news). He is asked “Without necessarily wanting to make unwelcome comparisons, there is one that can be made between ‘Love, Life’ and Kate Bush’s ‘The Hounds of Love’ album. She had the ability to make seemingly simple songs, but ones that contained immensely complex and subtle component parts. Like your new album, hers were absolutely gorgeous to listen to. Is the comparison fair? Donal: We have no problem with any comparison. She made albums that you would always come back to, both because of the quality of the production and because of her own quality. She made ‘Hounds of Love and ‘The Ninth Wave’, which was really one album but had two distinct themes to it. What happened with us, in releasing a double album, is that we just had way too many songs for a single one.” read more here…Hayley Westenra‘s version of Wuthering Heights can be heard here, also find an interview with Hayley here where she’s asked: “Who are you listening to at the moment? Hayley: Coldplay and I’ve just discovered Kate Bush’s songs. I think it might have been her first album – I’d love to record them all!” (thanks to Ben de Vos and Michael Leitz)

Les July sends in this article on Kate from a recent Women Who Rock magazine from the US… find a link to the Fil OK remix of Waking The Witch at this French KB site here (thanks Ben)…On the recently shown BBC TV Series “Burn It“, which is about thirty-something Mancunians and their messed up lives, whenever the local drug dealing character is featured Kate Bush tracks are quite clearly playing in the background! So far, Wuthering Heights, Wow & Babooshka have featured (thanks Gav)…John Roger noticed that Cloudbusting was played on Australian ABC radio, whose site featured the following comment: “Why is it that Geri Haliwell releases an album every 12 months but Kate Bush doesn’t? Is this some sort of cruel hoax perpetrated on us all? Methinks so. Kate we miss you, make a record for us real soon.” John also found this reference from Australian TV in 1978 (thanks John)…

A recent issue of Music Week, widely regarded as the bible to the UK record industry, has an interview with Rob Dickins, chairman at Warner Music for most of the ’80’s & ’90’s. Discussing his career highlights he talks about how he signed Prince, The Sex Pistols, Madonna, Enya & Simply Red. He also talks about Kate as “The one that got away”. He says “I would love to have signed Kate. I was waiting for a meeting at EMI when I heard Wuthering Heights through the door – I thought it was spectacular. I asked the secretary how I could get in touch with the artist. I was told that she didn’t have a manager, but was given her home number. I called Kate the next day and said I was interested in signing her publishing. She was 17 and very flattered, but needed advice. She called back a few days later and said she’d been advised not to sign with Warners, but EMI instead. I asked who had advised her and she said Bob Mercer. Bob was the general manager of EMI at the time”.

Running Up That Hill has been used in an advert for the new Channel 4 series in the UK – The Seven Ages of Britain (thanks to Russ Thomas and Kyla)… Laura Clifford was at a screening of the documentary “Tupac: Resurrected” which she says is narrated by Tupac himself and beautifully put together. During his school days at a Baltimore school for the performing arts as he spoke about the music that he was exposed to they played “Wuthering Heights,” accompanied by pictures of Tupac in ballet gear and a closeup of his handwritten list with Kate Bush noted (thanks Laura)…singer Happy Rhodes has performed And Dream Of Sheep at a recent Philadelphia concert…The Telegraph newspaper in the UK lists Don’t Give Up at number 3 in its Top 50 Duets listing. “There is no harmonic intertwining in this strangely disconnected duet, no blending of superstar voices and absolutely no vocal showboating. It is a kind of call and response between a man struggling with unemployment and his lover imploring him to keep the faith, though such is the sense of isolation in Peter Gabriel’s verse vocals that he seems removed from Kate Bush’s increasingly desperate murmurings of solace in the choruses. It was a quite devastating critique of the effects of Thatcherism, all the more powerful for its emotional understatement and lack of polemic. Key moment: The tremble in Bush’s pleading voice in that final heartbreaking chorus, filled with hopeless compassion.” (Thanks to MC)

Composer, performer and arranger Visnja (also a major Kate Bush fan) has reworked Wuthering Heights here (thanks and best of luck with your career Visnja)…this book on Amazon looks at songwriting and has various mentions of Kate – you can search inside the book and you’ll see quite a few interesting views on Kate’s abilities here. Vertical songwriting, anyone? (thanks Andrew)…The Kick Inside Tribute site has been revamped and now contains a sparkling new look, kudos to Jagdpanthers design efforts, the site now features downloadable snippets. You’ll find a link on the links page of this site here…Peter Gabriel‘s new “Best Of” 2 CD set called “Hit” is out now and features all tracks Kate is on: Don’t Give Up, Games Without Frontiers and No Self Control… a book called “Englands Hidden Reverse” by David Keenan notes that the experimental band Coil are big fans of Kate. She is mentioned several times as a source of inspiration. (thanks to Paul Elwick)…Mojo Magazine November 2003 issue lists Kate at No.43 in their Hall of Fame, above the likes of Bruce Springsteen, The Stone Roses, REM, U2 & Abba. No.1 was Elvis. (thanks MC)… The Nov 2003 of German magazine Audio features an article about CD box sets from EMI, including Kate’s This Woman’s Work collection and a free CD called “Platinum Pop”, featuring Cloudbusting from the set. (thanks to Michael Leitz)…finally the website of the Finnish version of the Pop Idols programme features a performance of Wuthering Heights. While the contestant didn’t make it, the panel spend a while chatting about Kate afterwards instead – see the video evidence here.

Newsbits: Tracy Story has found some photos of Kate on magician Simon Drake‘s website. Simon has updated his site with galleries which include pictures of him on stage with Kate during the 1979 Tour Of Life (including one or two not seen before) and also a recent one of Kate and her partner Danny (left) enjoying one of the exclusive events at his House Of Magic. One photo caption on the site from the tour reveals that the violin madly played by Simon on stag on the tour was Kate’s as a child and is now hanging on display in his House Of Magic. Simon is one of Britain’s most famous magicians and his site is well worth a visit here….DJ Andy Smith (Portishead) has issued a remix of Kate’s The Man With The Child In His Eyes on his new CD Document II, and people seem to like it. The CD was released September 15th. Read more and hear a clip here.

On the 17th October, Erasure’s Andy Bell told the Guardian newspaper of a recent visit he took to Kate’s house: “…Kate Bush is a long-term favourite he still adores. Bush is in the enviable position of seeing her popularity and enigma increase steadily, despite, or perhaps because of the fact that she hasn’t released a record or made a public performance for a decade. Bell’s favourite Kate Bush album is The Dreaming. “Probably because it was her first flop, and it made me feel better about our first flop, which was the 1995 Erasure album,” he says. “We went round her house in south London recently and she was everything I expected: she was really nice, she made us tea in a proper teapot, she had baked a cake, she had loads of cats, and she was really softly spoken. I was a teenager when she first came along and I still think she’s fantastic.” Read more here.

Dido mentions Kate in an interview with to The Guardian on the 3rd October. “…now she is taking a few lessons in career management from her early role models. “When I was 13 I got a record player for Christmas, so I went out and bought Hounds of Love by Kate Bush and Diamond Life by Sade, which both remain absolute classics. Those are two women who have got the right idea: they have a life, they have great careers, and they make records when they want to make records. Sade was also a hero for me when I was growing up because I used to see her around in Islington and she always looked so cool.” On the eve of the release of Dido’s second album, Life for Rent, Bush and Sade are there to remind her where she can go from here. “You have to find a way to make music without putting yourself on a treadmill,” she says. “Kate Bush and Sade do what they do brilliantly, they don’t try to be anything they’re not, and they carry on quietly and confidently. It’s like when I started, I kept being asked by the record company what my image was going to be. I don’t know! Me?” Read more here

Greg Gilligan send in this quote from actor Guy Pearce from the October Empire Magazine. In one question sent in by the movie mag’s readers he is asked what he thinks the best music video of all time is: “…I look back at Kate Bush videos, which was in the 70’s, and when you look back at some of them – as limited and new as they were – they’re in some ways even more effective than videos today. I like to have a look at Wuthering Heights and Babooshka every now again. Particularly because she looks gorgeous.” (thanks Greg – keen-eyed forum users will have spotted a very interesting story posted a while back by Krys about Guy, HomeGround and a certain dress from a certain 1989 video…)

Marinus de Goederen writes: “In the beginning of this year I flew to Abbey Road to record there for a day. (It was a prize I had won.) I’ve put my story online. It’s in Dutch, but hopefully I will write an English version too. I also added a picture of Kate Bush that is hanging in one of the halls over there.” Read Marinus’ account of his day, “Spinning In The Chair At Abbey Road” here. (thanks Marinus, lucky you!)…Donny on rec.music gaffa has noted that here Big Boi of the group Outkast has said “We’re also huge rock fans – AC/DC, U2, Aerosmith, the White Stripes, Kate Bush.” (thanks Donny)…singer Kate Ceberano is compared to Katehere. Irish singer Cara Dillon has released a new album “Sweet Liberty” and reviews (such as Q Magazine) are once again comparing her musical style to Kate’s (Cara is on record as being a huge Kate fan). Read more here (thanks Malcolm)…

On the 19th October The Observer newspaper in the UK have named Kate as the number one Greatest Eccentric In Music:“Popular music will always need eccentrics, the people who show mainstream life how things can be stranger, more beautiful, or just… different. These 10 singers, musicians and producers are, arguably, the most peculiar of all… Kate Bush – Number One because she brought her own brand of rural gothic eccentricity right to the very heart of the mainstream. In deepest Plumstead, she spent her teenage years running the Incredible String Band fan club, then studied mime under Lindsay Kemp, the man who gave Bowie similiar ideas about the poetic power of prancing about. To this end, La Bush even made leggings and spangly cat suits almost trendy for a brief instant. Her first moment remains her finest: ‘Wuthering Heights’, Emily Bronte’s gothic novel rendered as a three minute pop song. She later did the same for Molly Bloom’s solliloquy from James Joyce’s Ulysses on The Sensual World. Now a pop recluse without being an acid casualty, rumours persist that she is working on an album, the first since 1993. A major influence on inspired loons like Bjork, Tricky, even Tori Amos.” Read more here (thanks to Michael Leitz, Simon, Amanda Harrold and Sara Nicholson)

Yet another Top 100 singles survey here from Radio Cambridgeshire, Kate at 73 with Wuthering Heights…Channel 4 repeated theTop Ten Pop Princesses show from 2001 featuring Kate on 25th Oct. (sorry this didn’t make the news page in time but you can download a clip of this lightweight assessment of Kate’s career here – thanks to Charles Slane, and to Michael Leitz for the clip)…The Scotsman newspaper reports on a fashion show featuring Kate’s music here. Clips from Alan Partridge‘s Comic Relief mentions of Kate are available here…in the September 26th 2003 edition of the very popular U.S. magazine, Entertainment Weekly Kate gets a mention in an article called: “The Joy of Sets: Dreaming up these 25 playlists doesn’t mean we’re music geeks, right?” Kate’s Coffee Homeground is included in a list of “coffee” songs. (thanks to Tim Bertram)…online store Amazon is listing a DVD supposedly featuring a live version of Wuthering Heights here… Vix write to tell me that they are “indeed vocally inspired by Kate Bush” so check them out here… BBC Leeds are raving aboutFour Day Hombre (pictured), whose single First Word “effortlessly develops into a rock version of the Kate Bush hit Running Up That Hill without you even noticing the changeover.” The band are chmpioned by Radio 1 DJ Chris Moyles. Read more here…This Woman’s Work, written by Kate, published by EMI, performed by Maxwell, won an BMI Award in the category Pop. The awards “salute the top UK and European songwriters and publishers in the pop, urban, country, dance, college and film/TV music genres. The gala dinner and awards ceremony honors the most performed songs on US radio and television” Read more here…finally, while many of you wish for a long overdue proper DVD release of Kate’s music videos, Michael Leitz has compiled a list of known DVD compilations which feature something of Kate’s. They’re on a text file here(thanks to Michael Leitz and Cynthia Conrad for sending a lot of news my way as usual – cheers guys)

September 17th 2003: Newsbits: Carol Keogh of Dublin band The Tycho Brahe has selected Hounds of Love as one of her favourite albums in the latest issue of Hot Press, she remembers “sharing the genius of this with two of my oldest friends”. [Seán says: Their new album, Love Life, is to be highly recommended to Kate fans. In trying to describe the increasingly unique sound of the band (and Carol’s magnificent vocal work & lyric writing), Kate’s name, and a number of other singers, have often been mentioned by reviewers. Carol and Tycho member Donal O’Mahony’s previous band, The Plague Monkeys, were also often lazily compared to the Cocteau Twins. The main thing is that if you like refreshing, brilliantly produced, inventive and often highly moving music then this is for you. And so ends my plug!]

The September edition of Record Collector in the UK features an article entitled “Picture this”. They write: “It’s the 75th anniversary of the picture disc, and to celebrate, we present some of the choicest examples of the art.” One of those examples they present is Kate’s The Kick Inside…a streaming sample of Placebo‘s Running Up That Hill cover can be found here…Tricky mentions Kate again here…ON BBC Radio 1’s Live Lounge programme with Jo Whiley, Dido mentions Kate; “I did karaoke in Japan – oh, my god I had fun. I did Wuthering Heights by Kate Bush which was the worst rendition you’ve ever heard”…the New York Times reviews the Merreminne Dancers here, the music they dance to includes Kate…according to German TV Channel RTL a list of all time selling albums shows that Hounds Of Love has been her most successful in the country here…The Futureheads tell the NME (August 2nd): “We love Kate because she comes at music from a really spazzy angle. That’s the reason we covered ‘Hounds of Love’. It’s good pop with a strange arrangement”. (thanks to Katie Flack)…John found some (very) old news in a June 1985 issue of Zig Zag. In an interview with ‘Sid and Nancy’ Film Maker Alex Cox – “Would you like to do more promo videos?” Alex – “Nah, But with the Pogues yes. Or the Plugz. But I don’t really want to get into it. I’ve already turned down the opportunity to do a £100,000 Kate Bush video because, who needs it?”…Japanese digital TV showed the Secret Policeman’s Third Ball including Kate’s live Running Up That Hill on August 28th, also CS digital station CH230 aired the whole SNL show, including Kates first US TV appearance, on 30th August (thanks to Sozo Yamamoto)…in an interview from August 18th Brian Kennedy again mentions Kate’s influence…a Nottingham newspaper reports on a Top Of The Pops Starlets competition featuring a Kate impersonator…(newsbit thanks to Cynthia Conrad and Michael Leitz)

Newsbits: Placebo are re-releasing their latest album Sleeping With Ghosts (Hut Recordings) on September 22nd with a bonus CD of cover versions, Running Up That Hill included, apparently something that their fans have been requesting. According to The Sunday Mail in the UK, they will feature cover versions of songs by Boney M, Robert Palmer and Kate Bush when they play T on the Fringe at Edinburgh’s Corn Exchange on August 25th. Read morehere. (thanks to Michael Leitz, Marinus De Goederen, Kevin Tachman and Stewart)…David Nicholls, a writer on the popular UK TV series ‘Cold Feet’ is about to publish a new novel entitled “Starter For Ten“. Described as “painfully funny” by Elle magazine, the film rights have apparently been snapped up by Tom Hanks’ production company. The Kate connection? The central character Brian is a big Kate Bush fan (the novel is set in 1985) and the story is about his attempts to get onto the popular BBC quiz show University Challenge. The book can be ordered from Amazon. (thanks to Amanda Harrold)

Tracy Story says that those of us into jazz might want to check out the new project from Kate’s drummerCharlie Morgan here. (we hear that Tracy has been out and about playing some KB covers himself!)…Rolling Stone report that Greg Dulli returned to the stage for the first time in three years on 21st August at Los Angeles’ Spaceland to debut the new lineup of his band the Twilight Singers and their album, Blackberry Belle, due October 14th. They played seven of the album’s eleven tracks, as well as material from the first Twilight Singers disc and some of the eclectic covers (Kate Bush’s “Cloudbursting,” the instrumental portion of Derek and the Dominos’ “Layla”) fans have come to expect.” Read more here. (thanks to Michael Leitz)…On Monday August 11th VH1Classic in the US ran the Suspended In Gaffa video and a 1985 interview with Kate describing her religious upbringing and the impact purgatory had on her and the song. (thanks to Bill Richotte)…On August 5th, Charlotte Martin (see July 30th newsbits) covered ‘This Woman’s Work’ at her show at Hotel Cafe in Los Angeles, you may be able to download the track here. (thanks to Mike Gray)

“If you’re looking for a chillout compilation with substance, check out the Back to Mine series of mixes.” – Rolling Stone. Tricky will be offering fans an insight into the workings of a unique musical mind when he releases a compilation of favourites in the ‘Back To Mine‘ series. The Bristolian trip-hop innovator has frequently confounded expectation by citing the likes of Kate Bush as influences on his redefinition of hip-hop with the mid-nineties classic, ‘Maxinquaye’. The CD includes Kate’s Eat The Music and will be released on 15th September. Read more here. Actor Guy Pearce mentions Kate again in this interview. (Thanks to Marco)…Janet Tyson has written a book which may be of interest to anyone intrigued by The Song Of Solomon to be published in November, by EcceNova Editions in Canada. Read more here… Finally, Peter Chow has very kindly decided to share two never published photosthat he took of Kate at the 1994 fan club convention at the Hippodrome in London. (big thanks Peter! – click on the pics above for the larger versions)

Newsbits: Mike Gray writes: Women Who Rock (July/Aug ’03), a US magazine has an “In The Studio” section on page 15 and states “Kate Bush is busy working on a to-be-titled UK release. And we think it’s for real this time.” Then on page 58, she’s named 24th most essential Woman Who Rocked The World. In the article it says “British Enchantress Still Wants To Be Alone – Kate Bush has proven over her sporadic moments in the limelight that you can find success entirely on your own terms, reaching lofty heights by not compromising your ethics, beliefs or spellbinding voice…young female singers everywhere are inspired to follow their own muse and damn the consequences. Says one of her spiritual descendants, Charlotte Martin, “I remember when I first heard Kate’s voice and [was] impressed with the amount of control she had, and then remember the chills I got because there was so much emotion and conviction in her tone and in her words.” Mike tells me that it’s worth checking out the Charlotte Martin website (thanks Mike)….according to Armydreamers on the site forum, the 24th July editon of the daily news on Bulgarian TV (BTV) had a story about Yanka Rupkhina (from The Trio Bulgarka). She’s composing a new song dedicated to the late George Harrison. They interviewed her and talked about her career. The presenter said that Kate was the first one to work with the Trio and that after her Peter Gabriel and George Harrison followed her. The most interesting part was at the end when they showed pictures from Yanka’s personal collection. Most of them were of Yanka and Kate.” (thanks Armydreamers)

If you’re planning on being in Australia in September here’s an event worth checking out: “Join Able Productions and celebrate the 21st anniversary of Kate Bush’s album masterpiece The Dreaming…Saturday 13th September, Central City Library, Adelaide St., Brisbane. From midday see footage of Kate’s classic clips & live appearances AND…back by popular demand – Kate Bush Night, Alliance Hotel, Spring Hill from 8pm. Featuring DJ, dancefloor, giveaways, Taylor Gibson & “All Yours Babooshka” tribute show. Check out the site here, where you can vote for the clips you’d like shown. (thanks Kristian)…Capitol Records have just released a Go West greatest hits CD including “The King Is Dead”. Finally a remastered version to hear a little Kate in the background….Toddicus wrote to singer Donna Lewis in her fanmail forum discussing Kate Bush. Click on the most recent letter from him – she describes how she’s quite the Kate fan in hopes for a new album soon (thanks Toddicus)….Jamie is having another club night on the 2nd August, see June 28th news or check the site here)…pianist Joan Bujacich gets compared to Kate in this article here;”though Bujacich’s writing continues in the tradition of songwriting greats Carly Simon and Joni Mitchell, her music also journeys into riskier territory. She is sometimes compared to underground pop-music icons Kate Bush or Patti Smith.” (thanks to PDFM)

Newsbits: Alison Goldfrapp continues to promote the new album from Goldfrapp, Black Cherry (see May 24th 2003 news). In an article from the Guardian: “One of the big inspirations for Goldfrapp was Hounds of Love by Kate Bush, and there is a link between Bush’s articulation of female sexuality and Goldfrapp’s erotic decadence. “Lots of hippies liked Kate Bush where I grew up, so I associated her with bongs and incense and everything disgusting,” she says, bristling at the memory. “Then I heard this album. I realised that she was beautiful and interesting, which is not a common combination. It seems very deep somehow, and she doesn’t get talked about much these days, probably because she’s female. There was a time during my teenage years when everyone was doing ecstasy and going out to raves, and I was at home listening to Kate Bush. On ecstasy.”…the “Nashville dream pop trio” Venus Hum continue to be compared to Kate, in a live review they are said to wear “their influences — Kate Bush and the Cure — on their sleeves, making a stand for sweeping beauty through electronic dance beats, lush soundscapes, and an emotive soprano.”…On Thurs 31st July, 11.50pm German time, BR will be screening “Hits der 70er (4)“, including Kate’s performance of Wuthering Heights on “Szene 78”, one of Kate’s first TV appearances, read more here…

The July 15th edition of The Sunday Times featured an article by Toyah – ‘My First Crash‘: “My lawyer sends me a fax every week saying: “Drive slower.” He knows I’ve had quite a few car crashes in my life. One of the worst ones was bizarre. I was doing a concert in Norwich and I came off stage at 11pm. I had to be in Birmingham for 7 o’clock the next morning so I set off about midnight for a four-hour drive in my VW Golf. I had just bought Kate Bush’s latest CD, The Red Shoes, and I was listening to a song on it called Moments of Pleasure – a very special song about Kate’s mother who had died before she made the album. It’s the most beautiful song in the world. Some of the roads I was driving while listening to this album were really bendy, but some of them were quite straight Roman roads. As Moments of Pleasure came on, and I was really howling at this song with the tears streaming down my cheeks, I thought I was on a straight road but suddenly this sharp bend came out of nowhere. I was doing about 75mph and I missed the bend entirely, shot over a ditch (which slowed me down a bit) and ended up in someone’s front garden. I must have slammed on the brakes when I realised I was leaving the road, but I pranged a tree or two before coming to a sudden stop. Then I just sat there for a minute listening to the song finish. The local people got up when they heard a crash and came to see if I was all right. The car didn’t come off too badly considering the speed – there was just a big dent down the passenger’s side and dirty great tyre marks in their front garden. I reversed out of the garden, somewhat embarrassed, and was able to drive it home with my tail between my legs.”

Former Fuzzbox singer Vix says her singing style is inspired by Kate Bush and Debbie Harry here and check out her official site here (thanks Vix)..17 year old New Zealander Hayley Westenra is currently celebrating the release of her second album and international recording debut, Pure. “She agreed with her record company that she should aim to reach a wide audience, so she included a range of styles on the album, from the operatic In Trutina to the theatrical Kate Bush number, Wuthering Heights, Sir George’s pop composition Beat of Your Heart, and the Maori song Hine E Hine” read more here and here…Ulrik in Denmark has heard a new remix of Top Of The City on Danish national radio, it’s by a group called Day Breaker and the track is called “She’s No Good“…the June issue of an Italian music magazine has included a CD with a rock version of Wuthering Heights by Italian singer Cristina Donà. See this Italian KB site for more (thanks Roberto)…DJ Joe Gauthreaux (well known in New York see www.djjoeg.com) has been including the Infusion remix of Running Up That Hill (see May 24th news) in his live set. Kate fan Adam was at a 4th July party at the Paramount club – he writes: “…about 15 minutes before the end of the party I started hearing a faint familiar high-pitch voice. It was Kate, singing “if i only could” over and over again. I started grabbing my friends frantically, shouting in their ears that it’s Kate Bush. The remix is wonderful, very very high energy, then everything goes quiet for a second, and kate’s voice comes back with no drums, singing a whole segment of Running Up That Hill. Everyone loved it…this should be much bigger here, maybe by the end of the summer?” (thanks Adam)…from an article in The Guardian (1st July), the Futureheads played a gig at the Buffalo Bar in London: “…there is something grippingly odd about the Futureheads…partly, it is their eccentric choice of covers. Their marvellous version of Kate Bush’s Hounds of Love is totally unexpected: what is even more surprising is how thrilling its singularly feminine abandon sounds in their hands.” Read more here…

The Scotsman has a review of The Penguin Price Guide for Record & CD Collectors by Nick Hamlyn. Their article mentions “a Japanese double CD set of Kate Bush”. Michael Leitz passes on this info on the CD, (which is worth £500!): The Japanese promo double CD set they’re writíng about is called “Moments Of Pleasure – The Best Works 1978-1993” (Toshiba-EMI SPCD-1402/SPCD-1403), features 32 tracks and is limited to 100 copies. (thanks Michael – read the book review here)…please note that Ronald Garrison’s codex of Kate rareities can now be downloaded as a zipped file from this URL (thanks for making it available Ron)…Katie in Australia had the good fortune of seeing about 2 seconds of a vintage Kate appearance on Australian TV on a program, ‘Dimensions’ looking at the history of Australia. On the 30th June the programme screened was on the ‘The King and Queen of Pop Awards‘, a popular vote conducted through TV Week magazine. In 1978, Marcia Hines and John Paul Young were crowned the King and Queen of Pop. Kate presented the King of Pop Award on the 11th of October 1978. Dimensions featured a tiny clip of her standing silently next to the host of Countdown (our equivalent of Top Of The Pops). She had her tradmark long red locks down, was wearing something black and looked serious. All in all, a tiny but wonderful treat for the usually neglected Aussie Kate fans.” Thanks Katie – read more here (other newsbit thanks to Simon Fourmy, Simon Clark, Michael Leitz, PDFM and Cynthia Conrad)

Newsbits: A review in The Independent of an album by LSK which references Kate on one track here…Mark Donovan tells us that he came across this in the magazine “Sound & Vision” (June ’03). It’s in a story/interview with James Guthrie, regarding his mutlichannel (surround sound) SACD remix of Pink Floyd’s “The Dark Side of the Moon”. Guthrie co-produced “The Wall” and has worked with Floyd since then. Here’s what he said when asked if he wanted to remix another artist for multichannel CD: “You know what I would jump on immediately? I would love to do a surround sound mix of Kate Bush’s “Hounds of Love”. Kate is a dear friend of mine, and I’ve spoken to her about it – but I don’t think she’s ready to let go of it yet.” C’mon Kate, let him have it!….In the NME on 29th March 2003 – “Rock: What not to wear, “…As for the girls, note to Geri Haliwell, the only female who ever looked good in a leotard is Kate Bush”. And also in the NME on the 19th April 2003: Goldfrapp‘s Top 10 Songs/Albums. Number 6 – Hounds Of Love “The entire album reminds me of my first E. I’ll have to chose the title track ‘cos I can’t remember any of the titles. That’s probably because it’s associated with my first E as well!” (thanks to Katie in Australia)

Tristan just completed all the instruments pages on his French Kate site from A to Fairlight, including info (and several pictures of him playing the instruments!) here….Jamie asks that I mention a new club night that is starting up on Saturday 2nd August calledElectro Rox at somewhere called The Pleasure Unit in Bethnal Green, London. “We are two boys who both love Kate and slip Kate into our DJ set at oppurtunistic moments. Any Kate fans more than welcome, it’s free, see here for requests!”

Newsbits: Singer Brian Kennedy (interviewed elsewhere on this site) has been talking about Kate at the BBC Northern Ireland site here in reply to qustions that had been submitted to the site: “Cizza asks: Who were the stars that influenced you when you were younger? Brian Kennedy:The ones in the sky. I am afraid. I very rarely listened to music in the house. But as I got older, Kate Bush, and Jonie Mitchell were never off the stereo. Dave asks: Have you ever felt intimidated when you’ve gone to work with any artists in particular? If so how have you dealt with it? Brian Kennedy: When I get nervous, I get very hyper, and crack stupid jokes. But usually the most famous people I’ve ever met have gone out of their way to make me feel relaxed. I was lucky enough to go to Kate Bush’s house and I thought I would be really nervous but she was so friendly and talked about my first album, and I was so flattered that it was easy to just realise she’s an ordinary person too.”…on the BBC Scotland site in the sectionThe Vault there is a piece about Wuthering Heights: “Literary souls that we are here at The Vault, we’ve dug out our favourite book-related tunes to celebrate BBC’s The Big Read.” You’ll find the article here but as Micheal Leitz has pointed out to me, the article has several factual errors, (such as a demo initially catching David Gilmours attention and Kate’s age when the single was released.)

Ananova, the UK news website has posted a story with the headline “Kate Bush bans ukulele orchestra from using hit song'” here. “A ukulele orchestra is claiming Kate Bush has banned them from covering her hit single Wuthering Heights. The Ukulele Orchestra of Great Britain had hoped to feature the track on a new CD which is just finishing production. A demo CD by the group, produced by classical guitar star Richard Durrant, is already a hit with Radio 2 presenters Johnny Walker and Steve Wright. Both are said to be battling to be the first to play it on their shows – but only if Ms Bush allows The Ukes, as they’re known, to release it, reports The Argus. Mr Durrant believes the unusual arrangement has potential to be a massive hit and is still trying to persuade Kate to change her mind. The song has been replaced by a cover version of a Ms Dynamite number. He said: “It’s an incredible version of her biggest hit and I reckon it would be an instant hit again if it was released now. She’s incredibly sensitive about that particular number because she wrote it when she was very young and she’s very protective of it.” The Ukulele Orchestra of Great Britain believe that all genres of music are available for reinterpretation, as long as they are played on the ukulele. A spokeswoman for Kate Bush’s record company EMI, said: “Kate is working on her new album and is currently unavailable for comment.” Strangely it seems that the orchestra has previously released a version of the song on a CD called “A Fistfull Of Ukuleles” in the 90s, and as reported previously on this site they’ve played a live version at their concerts…the story has also been picked up in the gossip section of the CD Wow website. You can read the original report from The Argus paper here (thanks to Michael Leitz and Tony B) Update: here’s another article at the BBC.

Here’s this from a report in the Leamington Spa Courier (UK, 28th May), on a carnival which featured a performance of a Kate song: “Among the more eye-catching participants were the Minney family, who adopted lookalike costumes of television presenter Chris Tarrant, Star Wars character Count Dooku, singer Kate Bush and Mary Poppins. Helen Minney, 20, gave a startling performance of the Kate Bush song Wuthering Heights, complete with the necessary eccentric mannerisms. She said: “Kate Bush is my favourite singer, and I have been learning dance for years.”…RAI2 TV in Italy recently broadcasted a 1 hour special on the most interesting female voices (both Italian & foreign artists) through the 60’s, 70’s & 80’s. Kate was mentioned and a short clip of Wuthering heights live at Hammersmith Odeon was showed. The host presented her with these words: “The Pink Floyd protegée overwhelmed the world with her hits through the late 70’s and the 80’s, soon to be considered a deep influence for people like Madonna (!), Cindy Lauper (!!) and Sade (!!!) (thanks to Antonello Saeli)

One of Kate’s first TV appearances/performances on Szene 78 was screened recently in a 6 hour long special called “BR Rocknacht – Hits der 70er” much to the delight of German fans who caught the rare clip…also in Germany, the live version of Don’t Give Up byXavier Naidoo (see Oct 13th 2002 news) can now be found on his double live CD set called “Alles Gute Vor Uns”, released by SPV on 26 May, 2003. It features a recording from the concert in Munich, Kate’s part is, as previously mentioned, done by Yvonne Betz. (thanks to Michael Leitz)…Ron Garrison has finally finished his gargantuan codex documenting all known Kate rarities. He’s posted it in the files section at the Yahoo! Gaffa group. Non-Yahooligans might be able to get a copy if they ask Ron nicely enough:mondo_sinistro@yahoo.com Here’s what Ron had to say about it: It’s in Excel workbook format. It’s also ZIPped, making it about 280K instead of 1.5 MB. About 2/3 of this is Kate Bush stuff. About 270 sheets in all. About 135 folders of Kate tracks. About 1400 tracks in all.” (thanks to Cynthia Conrad for forwarding this to me – there’s a link to the Gaffa club on the links page)…Kate fans in print: Mon Buhigas has recently had a poetry book published under the name “Poemas Para Emilia“. It is written in Galician, not in Spanish, and it includes a Thank You section at the end under the name “Nunca Camiñarás Só” (You’ll Never Walk Alone) in which Kate Bush is mentioned as a source of inspiration. The first book written in Galician that mentions Kate? And Steve Shaw (pen name Steven Cain) has been influenced by Kate including his first non-fiction book, Sirius Moonlight: The Origins Of The Suppression Of The Feminine, in which he called the chapter on the evolution of feminism “This Woman’s Work”, and in his first modern gothic novel “One Star Awake” (not yet in print) in which there are numerous Kate references, including a Kate clone dancing in the famous Red Dress in the swirling mists of dry ice in a Gothic nightclub. (thanks to Mon and Steve) …finally Rick Pilcher noticed recently while watching the DVD of ‘A Nightmare On Elm Street 2 – Freddy’s Revenge‘ that the main character, Jessie, has a poster of our Kate on the back of his bedroom door.’  (big newsbit thanks to Cynthia and Michael)

Newsbits: As mentioned previously, an Australian outfit called Infusion have recorded a remix of Kate’s Running Up That Hill which looks set to possibly become huge this summer. DJ Pete Tong played it on the Essential Selection BBC radio show last night. Apparently it was ‘huge’ at this year’s Miami Winter Music Conference and is in all the latest dance charts. There’s a small clip of it here. The site with the clip have sold out of the promo 12″ copy of the track. They say: “it’s just out and it’s BIG. It’s the remix of Kate Bush vs Infusion “Running Up That Hill”. Quite simply, expect this to be THE progressive tune of the summer unless something better comes along which I highly doubt. Dreamlike at first building to a throbbing bassline, with the mental genius that is Kate Bush’s vocal prowess woven in around the sound, it’s nigh on perfection. Delicious.” The band have also recently remixed Bjork’s Pagan Poetry which was very popular. Read an interview with Infusion here, and their official site is here. (thanks to Gareth)…

Influential Jamaican musician Lee ‘Scratch’ Perry is asked in the new Mojo Magazine what he’s listening to, and he mentions Kate’s Lionheart, describing her as “an angel from England”…Midge Ure‘s Answers To Nothing CD has been re-released with an edit of his duet with Kate, Sister & Brother, as an extra track…There have been a lot of reviews of the new Goldfrappalbum “Black Cherry” that mention Kate: NY Newsday say: “Like its debut “Felt Mountain,” the British duo’s latest “Black Cherry” (Mute) is filled with dark, danceable numbers like the sinewy “Twist” and “Tiptoe,” which sounds like Kraftwerk commandeered by Kate Bush…”. Q Magazine: “Tiptoe’s attempt to merge old & new is a schizophrenic oddity, suggesting Kate Bush duetting with icy ’70s synth combo Suicide.”, Dotmusic: “…the best songs on this…album are the ones which sound most like the misty reveries of that debut. ‘Hairy Trees’, ‘Forever’ (like Kate Bush, cryogenically frozen) and the title track all have a sort of whirling, baroque atmosphere…” The Independent: “Critics swooned over Goldfrapp’s voice – an otherwordly composite of Björk, Shirley Bassey and Kate Bush. The S&M intimations of “Strict Machine” sound like Kate Bush and Kraftwerk performing a pervy “Spirit in the Sky”. And there’s an interview with Alison Goldfrapp in “Le Monde” here where she says that when she was young, she was very much impressed by songstresses like Kate (and others) and attracted by their theatricality “…quand j’étais petite, Kate Bush, Grace Jones et Chaka Khan m’impressionnaient beaucoup. J’étais attirée par leur côté très théâtral.” (thanks to Michael Leitz). A site offering some Kate Bush T-shirts is now online, see here or email Phil for more details.

Some German newsbits (with thanks to Michael Leitz and Cynthia Conrad): Parts of Wuthering Heights were used as incidental music in a German TV movie from 2001 called “Verbotene Küsse”, screened on Monday, 19 May, on ZDF…Disky have released a 2 DVD sampler called “Hits From The Past” that features TMWTCIHE (the 3rd disc from them with this video). Kate is on the DVD sleevehere…Kate’s most successful hit in Germany has been Running Up That Hill, the German TV channel RTL have compiled a list of hits based on their weekly positions in the official German Top Ten single charts since 1971. RUTH is placed at #742.The song was never #1, but 7 weeks in the Top Ten, see site here…the German music magazine Musikexpress features part 2 of an article entitled “The 50 best albums of the 80s” in its newest issue (May 2003). This time, the readers voted for their favourites (as opposed to part one that featured the choice of the magazine staff – see 15th March newsbit). Hounds Of Love is at #21.

Jaclyn Bell, who performed and won as Kate in the April 5th heat of Stars In Their Eyes, has been snapped up to star in a BBC show after winning the contest. The 16-year-old from Barrhead won the junior version of the popular soundalike show after wowing audiences as Kate, performing Wuthering Heights. Now Jaclyn, a budding actress, is to appear in The Key, a new BBC drama this summer which stars comedienne Ronni Ancona in a Glasgow tale. Jaclyn says: “Becoming Kate Bush was kind of my mum’s idea as she’s a big fan. We got the old albums out and I thought it was quite good and then I saw a video and thought ‘I like this’.” Her parents David and Linda are thrilled Jaclyn has been chosen for the show. David, 46, said: “We are just delighted. Jaclyn getting the chance to audition was marvellous. There were two rounds of auditions with her up against thousands. My wife is a Kate Bush fan and we have all the videos and all the records and Jaclyn loves watching them, so I think that’s where her inspiration came from.” The show will run over nine weeks and culminate in a live final on Saturday May 31st…

Lionheart & The Dreaming have been repackaged together by EMI, in the same way as The Kick Inside and Lionheart were last year. These are NOT the awaited remasters. The discs are apperently copy protected. You can order the set here (thanks to Alan Stonebridge)…A new techno mix of Babooshka can be found here (thanks to SWAN)…Birgitte writes that Running Up That Hill byWithin Temptation has just been released in the Netherlands only. You can email Birgitte if you’d like to arrange to buy a copy of this cover version, the price will probably be around 5.99 Euros plus postage…the 11th April broadcast in the US of Kate on SNL on the E! channel seems not to have happened, sorry to those who were looking out for it, if anyone has other info on screenings please let me know, a lot of US fans really want to see this…more remixes, Kate Bush “Cloudbusting 2003” White ENG 12 – circulating as Bush Babies “Bustin’ Clouds” this is a solid house reworking of the classic Kate Bush track that uses much of the original vocal and song in the mix. It is available for US$9.99 here…Spice feat. Cass vs Hernan @ Spacelab Yellow, Tokyo is reviewed here, the event featured “the mammoth Infusion vs Kate Bush’s ‘Running Up That Hill’, which he helped to arrange with Jamie Stevens…it was indeed a spine-tingling, arm-hair raising, goosebump-inducing five minutes all instigated by THAT key change. Utterly, utterly mad stuff. And that was just the first time it was played”…according to the Glasgow Daily Record, “Christina Aguilera has taken a leaf out of Kate Bush’s book for her new video. For the pop diva has copied Kate’s dark fantasy-style image for her new single Fighter.”… Sara Spade mentions Kate in her BBC diary here…trivia alert! In a recent Dutch newspaper interview, local dressage horse-woman Anky van Grunsven reveals that her dog “Bush” is named after Kate (thanks Birgitte)…She’s Having A Baby (dubbed version) was shown on French TV on 23rd March…in The Arbiter April 3rd edition Tori Amos describes her first record (with Y Kant Tori Read) as “Madonna and Kate Bush in a head-on collision after eating bad mushrooms.”…Yet another sampler featuring Kate’s Mná na hÉireann: “Best Of Celtic“, label WSM (Warner Music), released March 31…a new KB addition to the De Efteling theme park in the Netherlands where Kate filmed her special in 1978 can be seen here (thanks to Coos and Birgitte – Birgitte is organising a Dutch gathering for Kate’s birthday on July 25th 2003, read more here)…Monica Tessarin will be publishing the first Italian book on Kate this summer. Illustrations will be by Paulina Stuckey. See Monica’s site here…

Newsbits Round Up: Firstly thanks to all of you for all the nice things you’ve said about the new look site – thanks again to Brian for doing the new Wuthering Heights intro screen. Here are the latest newsbits:

It was Comic Relief night last night on the BBC. Ruby Wax took part in the Celebrity Fame Academy competition, in her online profile it reveals that her favourite song is Wuthering Heights. Please click here if you’d like to donate to this fantastic cause (thanks to Gareth)…Bruce Dickinson (Iron Maiden) played Heads We’re Dancing on his BBC 6 Freak Zone radio show on Sunday 9th March…a clip of Kate performing will be used onTOTP2 on BBC 2, Wednesday 19th March 6.20pm, a possible 25th anniversary tribute to Wuthering Heights? Also, the TOTP2 website features Kate in their online Top Trumps game. She scores as follows: Top Ten Hits – 6,  Number 1s – 1, Fashion Gaffes – 3, How Memorable – 8! (thanks to Krys, Gareth and Amanda Harrold)…new book “Urban Legends of Rock and Roll: You Never Can Tell” covers and disproves the ridiculous rumour from years ago about Kate appearing in Penthouse, more here…Moloko‘s new album is reviewed on Amazon.co.uk “a voice like a latter day Kate Bush, anything sung by vocalist Roisin Murphy is going to come out sounding like the post-Apocalyptic gospel, and producer Mark Brydon’s artistically complex arrangements are like hearing a new beautiful language”…

Kate is listed as the 134th best artist ever at the Acclaimed Music site which is a guide to essential recordings in the history of rock. Critics’ best-of lists of albums and singles have been compiled to “ultimate lists” of the most critically acclaimed music…TV ad for Radio One’s Battle Of The DJs includes part of Babooshka being played (thanks to Ben)…Marinus writes that on 17th April the popular Dutch band Within Temptation will release their cover version of ‘Running Up That Hill’ on single. It will only be released in Holland…Kate on Saturday Night Live airs in the US on E! on 11th April… several online stores (Amazon UK, Amazon Germany, JPC Germany) announce the release of a Kate Bush double CD containing The Dreaming and Lionheart for March 17/March 21. Another double pack? This is definitely NOT the remasters (thanks to Michael Leitz)…Jody Watley‘s new CD Midnight Lounge has a song called Don’t Give Up with a sample of the original song of the same name by Kate and Peter Gabriel, read more here…Record Collector February 2003 has this snippet from an old album review of the Kick Inside in their Time Tunnel feature: “What is this supposed to be? Doom-laden, ‘meaningful’ songs with some of the worst lyrics ever, sung with the most irritatingly yelping voice since Robert Plant.”…the German music magazine Musikexpress has an article entitled “The 50 best records of the 80s” (cover story) in its newest issue (March 2003). Kate at #21 with Hounds Of Love (“a timeless pop jewel”, “the Cloudbusting video with Donald Sutherland set a standard for video clips.”)

Kristian Fletcher in Australia sends this update on his Kate Bush Night that he’s organising: “Hello! As you may already know, I am putting on Kate Bush Night at the Alliance Hotel, Spring Hill (Brisbane Australia) on May 31st. It will celebrate 25 years since Wuthering Heights reached Number One in Australia. It will feature live covers by All Yours Babooshka, Brisbane’s Kate Bush tribute band (correct me if I’m wrong – is this the first ever Kate Bush tribute band?) with fantastic lead vocals by Taylor Gibson who will don the white dress and outrageous costumes as she masters the tricky moves of Ms Bush. They will perform 16 songs (possibly 19) and between sets a DJ will play remixes of Kate to fill the dancefloor. If the night is successful, we hope to tour the band around Brisbane/Queensland. (thanks Kristian)…Ben found Andy Bell from Erasure discusing Army Dreamers on the Amazon website: “She has real fairy blood. As for the lyrics, go figure, no-one over 35 would join the army, they like ’em young. Please come back, Katie – this woman’s work is still not done.”…Tony saw an article in a Dutch TV guide “VARA Gids” last week about Bert van der Veer who was celebrating the fact that 25 years ago he could call himself a TV director for the first time. “One of the first jobs was to direct “Top Pop”. I had to prove that I could do it. I was heavily motivated because Kate Bush came to the studio, and “Wuthering heights” had hit potential, we did make a beautiful take (for that time). The next day I was nearly sacked by the boss of “Top Pop” because I let Kate Bush work too hard and didn’t offer her a chair. I had the chance to meet her again in my studio with “Army Dreamers”, I offered her a chair but she wouldn’t sit at all” (thanks Tony) (big thanks to Cynthia Conrad for forwarding several news items my way – cheers)

On 1st March VH1 classics in the US played the “Running up that Hill” video. On the same night two African-American dancers did a number to Kate’s “This Woman’s Work” on the well known variety show Showtime At The Apollo, taped in Harlem, NYC. The audience chooses the winners by either applause or booing, and the dancers weren’t booed off – apparently this is very rare. In the season finale, New Jersey singer Rosado won with his version of This Woman’s Work. According to this report, “as soon as Rosado, a sharply dressed 18-year-old from East Orange, opened his mouth, the audience grew still. Singing “This Woman’s Work” – the Kate Bush song that has been popularized, in recent years, by neo-soul star Maxwell – he grabbed listeners’ attention right away with his eerily beautiful falsetto. By the time he ended the song with some astounding vocal swoops, he had made a greater impression than any of his competitors. Rosado was named the winner….

Erasure have said in an interview here that Kate inspired how they approached their recent single, a version of Peter Gabriel’s Solisbury Hill….Ben on the guestbook tells us that in the survey of the Best Q Covers Ever, Kate’s December 1993 cover (Q87) was the 4th favourite voted for by the magazines readers….On the DC Comics Vertigo X website, Neil Gaiman mentions listening to Kate while writing the Sandman. “What music were you listening to while you were writing THE SANDMAN? Early SANDMAN was an awful lot of Iggy Pop, and Talking Heads. I really liked the rhythms of the Talking Heads records. They were really nice to write to. Lou Reed. Michael Nyman, all the way through. By the early 90s there was Tori [Amos], Kate Bush, and a lot of Michelle Shocked. A lot of They Might be Giants and I think the Gothic Archies came right at the end. But there was an awful lot of everything.” (thanks to Jeremy & Tristan)….ten Peter Gabriel SACDs will be Released on April 14th, representing his entire back-catalogue. Fans will know that Kate features on Peter Gabriel 3, So and Shaking The Tree Greatest Hits….

Melanie Chisholm (former Spice Girl, Mel C) is featured in The Guardian newspaper – “Dusty Springfield, Annie Lennox and Kate Bush are Chisholm’s favourite female singers”….Tribe, a Southwestern Indiana percussion-based music group, have premiered “Modern Muses: Goddesses at Play”. The show will feature the music of Kate Bush, Dave Matthews, Leonard Cohen and original music by Lita Miller. Read more here….according to Rolling Stone, the soundtrack to She’s Having A Baby (the film that Kate wrote This Woman’s Work for), will be reissued in the US on March 25th….Patti Flynn wrote to me to say that This Woman’s Work was used as background music on the television show “Crossing Jordan” (starring Law & Order’s Jill Hennessy) in the US on January 27th. It accompanied a scene where a main character walks down a corridoor alone feeling helpless and guilty after the death of a co-worker (thanks Patti!)….

Wraith tells us that EastEnders’ UK TV actress Kacey Ainsworth likened her character “Little Mo’s” post-prison hair extensions to Kate’s coiffure (!)….Kristian is holding a “Kate Bush Night” at the Alliance Hotel, Brisbane (Australia) on May 31st 2003. It will celebrate 25 years since Wuthering Heights reached #1 in Australia. He is looking for fans that are interested in attending. He requires 3 musicians (keyboardist, drummer, guitarist) to play live covers on the night. If you can help out, please emailkf_sales@optusnet.com.au….The Independent newspaper reports that “Sunderland teenagers The Futureheads are a quirky pleasure, two words that rarely go together in my vocabulary […] for now they play rowdy, enjoyably shambolic stop-start indie pop, best captured on their new single “Carnival Kids” and their frankly astonishing cover of Kate Bush’s “Hounds of Love”….Cloudbusting has been used in the trailers for Channel 4’s recent two part documentary series “Leonardo’s Dream Machines” (thanks to Amanda Harold, John St. Clair Lang and Wraith)….

The BBC (6 Music) have a feature called “Album Of The Day”. Hounds Of Love is in their archive here, “A truly original work that has stood the test of time – if you haven’t got it already, it’s time you did!”….Bryan Simcott writes “Icelandic singer Pall Oskar who some might know from one of his early CDs with a beautiful, sexy and somewhat steamy version of Kate’s “Feel It”. His new CD, called Ef Eg Sofina Ekkiinott, features a version of My Lagan Love. He says in the sleeve notes that Kate is one of his fave artists and that he found her version of the song intriguing and mysterious and wanted to cover it in his own style (thanks Bryan)….Birgitte noticed an interview with a rap artist here – Q: If you could work with anyone in the world, who would be top of your list? A: Well, we tried to get Kate Bush for this album, but she wasn’t interested. Q: Why was she not up for it? A: I don’t know, she must of thought it was strange man.” (thanks Birgitte)….Birgitte also spotted Kate at number 4 in a TOTP2 Top 5 of “barmy babes” here (ahem)….

January 18th 2003: Newsbits Round Up: A lot of stuff to get through in this new year update, I’ve been a bit lazy since Christmas but I’m sure you’ll allow me that! Here we go with a whole heap of Kate Bush newsy bits:

The Top Of The Pops 2 website has just set up a new vote “Who’s the foxiest lady of pop?” There are 6 choices, 5 blondes including Madonna & Kylie, and Kate. They say “Did the sight, sound or thought of any of these pop temptresses keep you awake at night? Did you have a poster on your wall which you used to peck goodnight each evening?” The good news is that Kate is currently leading the vote here….female folk singer Bill Jones (short for Belinda) has released a new live CD called “Live at the Live” ( released on Brick Wall Music BRICK 004CD). This collection is described as “polished” by the BBC and includes a beautiful rendition of Kate’s Never Be Mine. Read more here….those who like music industry gossip website Popbitch will have recently read that “The 80s women are back. Claudia Brucken (Propaganda) and Kate Bush are set to release new albums in 2003.”….The January issue of Audio Music magazine mention Kate in their 25 years of pop retro, calling The Kick Inside “The debut album from the fairy of pop, a milestone. Purest romanticism, a kick for the heart. Do finally remaster, please”. They also single out Don’t Give Up from 1986 “In the end it’s Kate Bush who makes this a winner. The ballad of the century, irresistible.”

Birgitte in the Netherlands tells us that the Dutch amusement park De Efteling celebrated it’s 50th anniversary in 2002. She noticed a sign there when she went there last summer at the haunted castle (where Kate filmed the TV special in 1978). The translation of the sign (pictured here) is “Spooks, ghosts and skeletons try to please you in a macabre dance, but for TV recordings in 1978 they could not scare away Kate Bush”…in the UK Herald on 7th January Toyah Wilcox is interviewed and yet again she mentions Kate (interestingly described as Kate’s “best friend” by the writer). “Many of her contemporaries are still working and still relevant. Siouxsie Sioux, Kate Bush, Debbie Harry were all women who inspired a generation of teenage girls with more than platform soles, branded lollipops, and girl-power soundbites.”I think at the time people like us were still struggling in a real male area. I do think that people who liked me really suffered for it. Everything I did came from inside my head in a darkened room, so I probably attracted like-minded folk, whereas someone like Kate was very good at researching her music and lyrics.”….

Writer Neil Gaiman recently quoted Kate in his online journal for Friday, January 3, 2003. “Is there anything I’d change? Not really. I wish I had been a better writer when I was writing the first dozen Sandmans, and I wish the colour separations on Brief Lives hadn’t been so dreadful, but beyond that, it is what it is, and I’m content with that. “Be kind to your mistakes,” as Kate Bush so wisely said.”. Gamain mentioned her again in his journal on January 5th: “I was just getting to the point where I was running out of CDs to stick on the iPod, when I realised that I’d forgotten about Boxed Sets. And of course, that’s what they’re for: you buy them, play them once or possibly twice, and then put them back in the box and tidy them up and put them away somewhere inconvenient, faintly pleased that you’ve actually got Kate Bush singing “Ken is the leader of the GLC” on disc somewhere, but with no burning desire ever to hear it again in your lifetime.” (thanks to Jeremy and Tristan)

Recording artiste Lee Kaay will be performing a melody of Kate tunes on his forthcoming tour next year, the 4 songs are Cloudbusting, Hounds Of Love, The Big Sky and The Red Shoes….Australian newspaper The Melbourne Herald-Sun had an article on the albums due for release in 2003. Kate got a mention in the ‘also coming’ section. “Kate Bush: Another serial procrastinator, last year Bush started making noise about having an album, her first since 1993’s The Red Shoes, out this year. We’ll believe it when we see it.”….Larry tells us that Sound & Vision magazine mentions The Dreaming as an album worth releasing on DVD Audio or SACD here….The Independent in the UK likened Shakira‘s new “Mongoose” tour as “one of the loopiest shows from a mainstream artist since the heyday of Kate Bush” here….Lituanian singer Gintaré has been compard to Kate, Bjork and Enya (read more here)….Tankgirl writes that Kate is mentioned in the Dutch TV channel Nederland 3’s Top 2000 records a total of 5 times, the highest being Wuthering Heights at 95 (read more here)….the French magazine Jukebox has an article on Kate in the current issue (#187), see a scan here….Record Collector in the UK have a monthly feature called “Time Tunnel” where they look back at what happened in the music scene 25 years ago. In the current issue, they report about the events back in Dec ’77 and say that future editions will feature Kate shooting to fame in 1978 with Wuthering Heights….finally SWAN noticed that an online record store is boldly claiming that Kate’s new album is out in September here…(special thanks to Michael Leitz and Cynthia Conrad for keeping me up to date)

Newsbits: Andy Marvick found an interview with an up-and-coming British female
electronic artist named Harland here which mentions Kate (thanks Andy)…Marcel Rijs tells us of another German DVD from Sony featuring Running Up That Hill, with the poetic (ahem) title of  “Pop & Wave Hit Clip Mix 2″…ever wonder at the science behind a Cloudbuster? Have a read of this link here (thanks to Eddie)…Kalessin noticed that fantasy author Charles DeLint is a Kate fan. In his novel, Moonheart (1983), he writes: “this book was written under the influence of Alan Stivell, Silly Wizard and Kate Bush, to name the most prominent”…alternative version of December Will Be Magic Again on “Instant Xmas Hits 1” (thanks JB)…at the All Music site you can see how Kate did in the US charts with all of her albums here (thanks Marinus)…

Newsbits: Q Magazine have again published a poll of it’s reader’s 100 Greatest Albums of all time and Kate’s Hounds Of Love is at number 51. A previous Q poll a few years back had the album placed at number 48 but, as one person pointed out on the guestbook, there are 11 albums which make the top 50 this time which have been released since that last evaluation. Not bad at all then. Q describe the album as “Prog-rock’s only sexy record. Still sounds terrifying and sexy”…on Wednesday 27th November the BBC ran a documentary about EMI Records, Kate had a brief mention (cover of The Kick Inside shown and Don’t Give Up vocal played)…ITV showed a programme on Sunday 24th called Songwriters Forever. As well as Lennon and McCartney’s solo work, Kate’s work was featured and included were clips from Babooshka, Hounds of Love & This Womans Work. It also included old interview clips with Kate (thanks to Simon O’Donovan and J on the guestbook)…the BBC have added two more clips of Kate’s Top Of The Pops performances on their Kate Bush “star microsite”. Wuthering Heights from March 2nd 1978 and The Man With The Child In His Eyes from June 29th 1978. Check out the site here (thanks to Michael Leitz/Cynthia Conrad)…speaking of songwriters I’ve been told that you should check out this site, this singer/songwriter is a big fan of Kate and performs Cloudbusting live…here’s a link that Michael Leitz sent in of an interview with the British band Ladytron. They talk about their musical influences; “Kate Bush is amazing, there’s no one like her,” says Helen. “As for Joni Mitchell, she’s one for the girls. Boys just can’t understand her”…Yvonne Betz (who dueted on Don’t Give Up with Xaivier Naidoo on his last concert tour) is currently recording her first studio album and apparently she’ll be doing a cover version of Running Up That Hill…finally a “where is she now?” article recently popped up in the French magazine “Rock & Folk“. Fanch Oriant sends this scan from the November 2002 issue.