Happy New Year folks! We’re still very much enjoying Aerial here at KBN&I and hope that you are too. A Coral Room is still knocking us out this week. We kick off 2007 with the news that Kate has written a special foreword to a MOJO Magazine Classic Special Edition on 60 Years of David Bowie (he’s the same age as my mum!). On sale 24th January in the UK and Ireland. Kate writes: “I was sitting in my bath, submerged in bubbles, when I heard David Bowie for the first time…” The magazine writes: “60 Years Of Bowie” A Mojo Classic special edition magazine is a month-by-month, year-by-year celebration of one of rock music’s greatest icons. Containing eyewitness stories, previously unpublished photgraphs, classic interviews, album reappraisals, the best Bowie songs from each era, plus a specially written forward by Kate Bush.” (can we just squeak that as huge ‘we are not worthy’ Bowie fans at KBN&I this is a dream come true!…eeep)
Category: Other artists Page 6 of 11
Update 27th February: The Futureheads scored a new entry in the official UK Singles Chart today at number 8!
The Futureheads have released their critically acclaimed version of Kate’s Hounds Of Love in the UK on Monday and according to Homeground Magazine’s Dave Cross “the single is showing in the top ten of the midweek sales flashes…the position may drop a bit by the time the final chart is revealed on Sunday, but it’s looking good to stay in the ten.” (Trivia note: this would be the first Kate-penned top ten hit in the UK singles chart since Running Up That Hill in 1985, if you discount the sampling of Kate’s voice singing a line from Cloudbusting on the 1992 Utah Saints number 4 dance hit Something Good. It’s also the first time that music downloads will be a factor in the singles chart success of a Kate composition.)
The track has received excellent reviews. From the Top of The Pops website: “If Hayley Westenra is reading this, THIS is how you do a cover of a Kate Bush song, opera girl! The ‘Heads take a ’70s new wave power pop approach to songwriting, and then play as if they have too many good ideas and really, really short attention spans. Which can make listening to them feel like someone yelling interesting words from a dictionary, using a variety of comedy voices. Taking this ‘swots on caffeine’ approach to a genius pop song from another wayward talent ranks up there with jumbo Kit Kats as one of the great ideas of our time. Where Kate’s voice swooped and cajoled, the ‘Heads jibber and burp. Where her backing track was all drummy clatter, theirs is jagged guitars and urgent harmonies. Making this a rare example of a cover version that actually adds to your enjoyment of the original.”
The Gigwise website also reviews the single: “…both artists versions of Hounds Of Love excel in flair and panache, but the Futureheads bring something else to it – they stamp, with authority, their own stop-start guitar jabs and vocal ebullient flavour to the song. Voices and melodies materialise from every crevice and coagulate to form what has now become the spell-binding Futureheads trademark.” Drowned In Sound said “Sunderland’s finest haven’t just left their own indelible footprints on here, but merely stamped the remnants of Ms. Bush’s quirky ballad into the carpet with last night’s dinner’s morsels, and if it weren’t for some long time dead bloke from Tupelo, would surely be gracing the top of the charts by this time next week.” BBC Teletext: “Cover versions aren’t always a good idea, especially when the song was a classic to start with – but the Futureheads have done a grand job with their version of this Kate Bush hit, chucking in guitars and harmonies, upping the tempo and giving it their own sense of identity. A winner.” Metro newspaper has named it single of the year and given it 5 stars. You can read even more articles and reviews of The Futureheads in this site’s forum’s Medialog section.
Newbits: An interview with one of Kate’s engineers on The Dreaming album, Nick Launay, is on this site: “You engineered Kate Bush’s album, The Dreaming. How did that come about? Hugh Padgham, who during that year had become very popular doing Sting and Phil Collins, was engineering the Kate Bush album but didn’t have time. He heard some of the Public Image stuff, realized that I’d very quickly learned how to get those kind of big drum sounds, which were his thing, and I knew how to do it and got the whole vibe of that. So he suggested to Kate Bush that she should talk to me and maybe I should work with her because he couldn’t. He was basically producing The Police and Kate was producing herself, so all she wanted was an engineer. So I got put on the Kate Bush album, which I did for about two months. That was just incredible. Kate is still to this day one of the most gifted people I’ve ever met. She was just born with incredible talents. That’s a wild album, The Dreaming. It is a very wild album. It was the first one she produced on her own…she had all these wild ideas. She would come in in the morning and go, in her very high voice, “Nick, can we make the drums sound like cannons?” So we would go in and try to make this drum kit sound like it was cannons going off – every kick drum, every snare. We made up these corrugated iron tunnels coming out of the drum kit, and we would mike up the tunnel. It was very interesting, and it was just one of many things that we did, like miking up the piano in different ways. The thing about Kate Bush, and I’d say this about quite a few artists that I’ve been very lucky to work with, is that basically they’re all born with talents. These people are born with this talent that not only gives them the ability to play instruments, but songs come to them in complete form. It’s not just the lyrics, it’s the whole music, and whenever you work with these people who are rare, they usually tend to succeed.” (thanks to Teenkick78 on the forum)
Here’s a recent photo of Del Palmer playing his custom Chris Larkin guitar. Chris is a guitar maker living in Kerry in Ireland and his site features a gallery of musicians with the instruments he has made for them. Perhaps we’ll hear this guitar on KB8? Read more at the Chris Larkin Guitars site…in the new special edition of Q Magazine they have yet another of their list extravaganzas “The 1010 Songs you MUST Own”. Kate appears at least three times. Don’t Give Up in “50 Best Duets”, And Dream Of Sheep in the chillout list and in “60 songs for the tired and emotional” they have her version of Rocket Man. Wuthering Heights does get a nice mention in Tim Rice-Oxley’s (of Keane) “20 songs that would rule the airwaves on Keane FM: ”I just can’t imagine how she ever wrote the melody. It’s a classic – a gothic story set to music. She was so young…it’s depressing, actually.” (thanks to Goldfishnation on the forum)
Something I missed mentioning in the last newsbit roundup, an article on the Glastonbury festival this year: “Fans have started arriving at the site of this year’s Glastonbury Festival, with festival goers turning up to a soggy site. Early reports however say that the site is slightly muddy, due to the heavy rainfall over the last couple of days, but organisers are predicting a sunny afternoon. Michael Eavis said: “There are quite a lot of people already on site – workers and the like – and it is pretty buzzing already, despite the rain. Because the ground is so dry, it has soaked up pretty well. The rain is predicted to clear this afternoon and the sun to come out.” Extreme measures are also apparently being taken by the festival to keep the rain at bay. According to BBC News, a spokesperson said that Eavis is to employ a cloudbusting gun, inspired by Paul McCartney’s recent display of weather control during a concert in Russia. The former Beatle was playing in St Petersburg when he sprayed dry ice into the rainclouds to keep his fans dry. Eavis is allegedly digging out his own home-made cloudbuster – last used at the festival in 1971 – which was designed by 1960s psychologist and inventor Wilhelm Reich who believed that ‘orgone radiation’ from the atmosphere caused clouds to turn to rain. The machine would be used several miles away to “break up” the clouds before they reach the site. The spokesperson said: “It is a bit of a joke. In a way it is using psychological powers to keep the rain away. He’s (Eavis) still trying to get the machine working.” (thanks to Kevin Tachman)…many of you have been writing in to say that Kylie Minogue‘s new video for her single “Chocolate” displays strong similarities between her choreography and that used in ‘Running up that Hill’ and ‘Love and Anger’. A possible tribute to Kate? The video can be seen at her official site (thanks Peter Sioen)…Susan Egan‘s Kate cover (see July 4th newsbits) is going to be Wuthering Heights, album out on Sept 7th. Susan has a big career in US theatre and cabaret and has provided voicework on animated films such as Hercules and Spirited Away. (thanks Robert)…Sony Music Italy have sent me a press release about Laura Valente‘s cover of Wuthering Heights (see July 4th newsbits): “Laura Valente, one of the most beautiful pop italian voice and ex-member of Matia Bazar group, has come back on the stage. She interprets as soloist a difficult english text, “Wuthering Heights”, taken from the novel by Emily Bronte and composed by Kate Bush. Italian DJ Mr. Conte re-arranges this song in a new special dance version. Many covers were composed all over the Europe in the past, but the great interpretation by Laura Valente exceeds the other ones for her modulations on the voices.”
Burkhard in Germany writes that Kate’s 1978 TV appearance from Bio’s Bahnhof was shown recently on German TV. The famous red dress clip was shown as part of a tribute to the show’s presenter Alfred Biolek. Looking back, Biolek said that this was her first ever TV appearance and that he was sitting in the EMI office in London to talk about musicians who could join his show in the future. He heard Wuthering Heights in the background and asked for the singer and invited her to appear. (thanks Burkhard)…Kate featured a little while back in I Am Not An Animal on UK TV (basically an animated programme about a group of talking animals). In this particular episode, a record was made which featured parts of various songs, Kate’s being one of them. Steve Coogan is one of the guys behind it, so I guess that’s why Kate was included?…on a recent Radio 2 programme on dance music in Ibiza, Running Up That Hill (Infusion remix) was played. The presenter said that while in miserable rainy England the song could be taken one way, in Ibiza, with the sun and the all round general happiness, the song took on another meaning, they then played the song and it worked! (thanks to Louise Carrington)…Ellen Greene (a stage/cabaret actress best known for originating the role of “Audrey” in both the play/film of “Little Shop of Horrors”) will include a cover of “The Man With The Child In His Eyes” on her upcoming album “In His Eyes” from Rainbo Records. Read more here. (thanks Robert)…There was an interesting article in the back of the NME (with The Hives cover) a couple of weeks ago on Kate. Ross Millard from upcoming band The Futureheads explains why he loves Kate and how they perform Hounds Of Love in their live sets. It also gives an interesting take on what to buy at the bottom of the article, and a big picture of Kate. (thanks to Claire Southwick and Priya)…Irish singer-songwriter Rhiannon has been compared with Kate recently on national radio. Described as a “highly innovative songstress and composer”, her web site is here. (thanks to Liam O’ Brien)…and finally in case you aren’t aware, Sozo continues to update his impressive translation of my site in Japanese here. (thanks Sozo, I hope the fans in Japan appreciate all your hard work!)
Newsbits: The Top of the Pops website have the Hayley Westenra clip of Wuthering Heights to view, accompanied by these words: “We see what you’re doing here Hayles. Shaking your locks, dramatically draping your shawl whilst running round a castle. Yes, you really are Cathy! Just one prob, it looks like a parody of Kate Bush, who actually wrote the song. Hoo-rah.” See it here (thanks to Collin)…Claudia Brucken and pianist/composer Andrew Poppy are about to release an album, produced by Paul Humphreys (OMD). Entitled Another Language, it’s described by Paul as a “very naked and acoustic ‘one instrument and one voice’ album” which will feature cover versions of songs by artists as diverse as Radiohead, Elvis, Kate Bush and Franz Schubert. Release date is planned for the end of April, the track they’re covering is believed to be Running Up That Hill. Read more at the Orchestral Manouvres In The Dark site here (thanks to Kestrel)…Kate is placed at No.6 in the April edition of Mojo’s Top 100 Epic Rock Tracks. The song is of course Wuthering Heights and it is moving ever closer to that top spot. Queen are at No. 1 (thanks to Ben)…
14th March 2004: Newsbits: Charlotte Martin, who has covered This Woman’s Work live, has recorded Cloudbusting during the sessions for her upcoming album and although it won’t appear on the album it should make it onto an ep or single as an extra track. She has also played it live recently too on Jan 19th at the Hotel Cafe in LA. Read more here. (thanks Doug) Update: Mark Gray has given me this link to download Charlotte’s studio rendition of Cloudbusting which she has made available to her fans, also there is a live version availablehere (thanks also to Mark for the pic of Charlotte with Kate vid, Mark’s Charlotte site is here)…
Galway singer-songwriter Albert Niland has recorded an acoustic version of Wuthering Heights for the popular Tom Dunne radio show on Today FM in Ireland. It’s gotten a great reaction, and I’ve heard it played several times, always unusual to hear a male performer tackle the song. Says Dunne, himself the former lead singer with Something Happens: “His acoustic session and particularly his version of Wuthering Heights was stunning, best reaction we’ve had to a new artist on the show in ages. He is a major new talent”. See the radio show’s chart here, also see Albert’s site.
February’s Observer Music Monthly had an interview with Outkast in which Big Boi repeated his praise of Kate. “I consider me and Dre to be funkateers, man. Growing up we listened to everything and I think that gives us the ability to make a free-flowing type of music. It doesn’t matter whether it’s country, reggae or rock and roll. My favourite artist of all time is Kate Bush.” Interviewer Chris Campion noted that at that point Big Boi’s mobile phone rang and he had Babooshka as his ring tone! (thanks to Rob Jones). Also Big Boi (who clearly has a very romantic perception of Kate’s daily life) is quoted in Sweden’s biggest morning paper Dagens Nyheter: “Her productions are not of this world. I’ve tried to get hold of her to do a collaboration. She’s said to live in a castle somewhere. She has no furniture, just a piano where she plays Mozart all day. She’s said to be crazy or have had her heart broken.” (!)
Kate was mentioned on CNN Headline News on March 9th on “The Music Room” during a piece on 16-year-old NZ singer Hayley Westenra and the release of her version of Wuthering Heights. Hayley has the best-selling debut album in the history of UK’s classical charts (thanks to Tim Bertram)…Swedish singer-songwriter Nicolai Dunger performed a cover of The Man With The Child In His Eyes on Swedish TV. Go to this site then choose the link for “TV-husets webb-tv” at the bottom of the page to see the video clip. (thanks Helena)…Sky News “gossip guru” Neil Sean reported on Feb 13th: ” I hear that 70s and 80s warbler Kate Bush, famous for hits like Wuthering Heights, is to get the West End musicaltreatment. A source told me: “We are working on a storyline idea. She had such a wonderful collection of songs.” Read it here (thanks to Michael Leitz)…BBC Radio 6 have compiled a poll of the 20 songs that saved lives, Kate and Peter Gabriel were number 8 with Don’t Give Up, read more here (thanks to Rachel). Also on BBC Radio 2 recently Jonathan Ross played Hounds Of Love on his Saturday morning show, Stuart Maconie played Don’t Push Your Foot On The Heartbrake on The Critical List and This Woman’s Work was played on Sarah Kennedy’s show…US band Eisley have been compared to Kate in this review: “Imagine if Kate Bush had been a young American eccentric instead of a British one, and you get a good idea of the foundation Eisley are quietly laying for themselves. Fantastical lyrics, wispy melodies, and good guitar parts – what’s not to like?” (thanks to Linda Parham)
According to Billboard Greg Dulli’s Twilight Singers are planning to record an EP of covers, to be titled “She Loves You” and due for release this summer by One Little Indian. Tracks include the Billie Holiday-popularized “Strange Fruit,” John Coltrane’s “A Love Supreme,” Kate Bush’s “Cloudbusting,” Mary J. Blige’s “Real Love” and the Rufus and Chaka Khan chestnut “Ain’t Nobody.” (See also Aug 24th 2003 newsbit – thanks to Michael Leitz)…Finally, last September Kate had her name registered as a European trademark till the year 2012 to cover all manner of products, still under the Novercia company name. Find it by doing a search for “Kate Bush” at the Office for Harmonization in the Internal Market site here (thanks to Doron)
Just a few days after we had posted news of Kate’s latest collaboration with him, it is with great sadness that we heard today of the sudden death of composer, conductor and arranger Michael Kamen. Michael suffered an apparent heart attack in his London home on Tuesday. He was known for his many film soundtrack recordings as well as his collaborations with pop and rock musicians over the years. His work with Kate included a recording of her version of the song Brazil for the 1985 Terry Gilliam film, as well as orchestral arrangements on the albums Hounds Of Love, The Sensual World & The Red Shoes, adding his magic to songs such as The Fog, Moments Of Pleasure, Hello Earth and This Woman’s Work. As we know he had also written string arrangements for her eighth studio album just weeks before his death. Despite having recently revealed that he was diagnosed with multiple sclerosis in 1996 he nevertheless remained extremely active, crediting his late mother with teaching him the three “W”s – wisdom, wit & warmth. Fans on this site’s forum have placed their thoughts and wishes with his family and friends. (also see MichaelKamen.com)
Update: The Ninth Wave website is reporting that it has contacted Emma Murphy. According to them she says that she “participated last year in the recording of the song “Bertie”. The orchestration of this song (done by the very “Celtic” Bill Thorpe) is for recorders and viols.” 
Two members of the classical group Da Camera will be performing on Kate’s new album. Emma Murphy is described by BBC Radio 3 as “the Stirling Moss” of the recorder world, while Susanna Pell (also a member of the Dufay Collective) is regarded as one of the world’s leading viol players. Together with Steven Devine on harpsichord they have previously perfomed a concert programme entitled A Celtic Celebration which “mixes traditional folk music with dance tunes, including some from Playford’s Dancing Master, together with more “standard” Baroque Music, either directly from or inspired by the celtic musical legacy.” Da Camera (founded in 1997 by Murphy and Devine) play music from five centuries – from the “Estampie” and “Passamezzos” of the fifteenth and sixteenth centuries to works from the present day. Their recent recording session with Kate for her new album is mentioned here and here. (thanks to Brian Cloughley for spotting this)
As I mentioned last June, Mick Karn is playing bass on Kate’s eighth studio album, as reported on the website of his label Medium Productions. The same site (now newly designed) has updated with the latest Karn news with the following headline: “”Kate Bush – Mick appears on Kate Bush’s next album, 4 years in the making. Mick plays bass on the track ‘How To Be Invisible’. We have no release date at this stage.” Obviously this could just be the working title of the track. Nevertheless, this is interesting news. The source would seem to be reliable and they have no reason to fabricate the information..
In an incredible tribute to Kate, Tricky writes an article in this month’s MOJO magazine (July ’03) on how Kate’s 1978 album, The Kick Inside, changed his life. “Some of the greatest singers in the world…you can spot their influences. But Kate Bush has no mother or father. I’d be an average musician, like everyone else, if it wasn’t for her.” He goes on to recall how he first heard the album: “Her music has always sounded like dreamland to me…I have so many copies of The Whole Story lying around the world.” He says that his track Strugglin‘ was inspired by Breathing, “just the texture, the suffocation of it”. He concludes by writing: “When I hear The Kick Inside now, I still wish I’d written those songs. I don’t believe in God, but if I did, her music would be my bible. Her music sounds religious to me. She should be treasured more then The Beatles. That she isn’t is probably down to her own personality, because she can walk away from everything, and not make albums, and I so respect her for that. Just to live your life, and not play the game – to me, that’s success.”
Ben on the guestbook lets us know that on Friday 10th January singer Julia Fordham chose Wuthering Heights on BBC Radio 2’s “Tracks Of My Years”. Her comments were as follows: “I remember seeing her on TV and I was really seduced by her. She is so individual, unique and original. And she has this strength and beauty and vulnerability. She’s a lovely artist and a big influence on me and I am really looking forward to her new record.” She’s currently promoting her Concrete Love album.
And, on Wednesday 15th January Andy Bell from Erasure chose Kate’s Army Dreamers on the same show. He said that he and Vince had once visited Kate’s house and asked her to produce their Wild album but unfortunately she was too busy. He also said that she makes fantastic music and that there is just so much on each of her albums. He concluded by saying that “Army Dreamers and Breathing are two of the greatest anti-war songs ever”. According to the Erasure website, they recorded a version of Running Up That Hill for their forthcoming album Other Peoples Songs, but it did not make the final cut. Possible future b-side? (Thanks to Ben)
Here’s this from the Alison Moyet chat forum site: “Have you ever crossed paths with Kate Bush, and if so, did you get to chat to each other?” Alison Moyet: “I’m very impressed by Kate Bush. She is pure uncompromising talent and I can only feel envy at the apparent flawless way she has managed her career. Both commercially and creatively successful and still an enigma. Clever mare!…saw her once at a party Kirsty (McColl) had some years back…she looked as shy as I felt and we never spoke.” (thanks to Russ Thomas for spotting this, he urges us to check out Alison’s acclaimed new album, Hometime).
Also, Boolbar sent me a quote from pop singer Rhianna, she’s currently promoting her new album Get On and is a very vocal Kate supporter! From the article at the Manchester Online site: “Ask any pop girl for their primary influence and more often than not the answer will be Madonna, and before you know it they’ll call their child Romeo. Leeds-bred, mad-haired Rhianna would be more likely to say Kate Bush. And indeed she does. “She’s my inspiration really,” giggles the 19-year-old coyly. “She’s my idol really, she was so free in her way of writing, she didn’t care about who was trendy and who was cool, she just did her own thing. It was always, `Kate Bush is weird’, but it’s cool to be different, I was always the different kid at school and I was shy with myself. But I’m proud of that now, I’ve learned to accept that my hair’s just too big, and I’m not gonna wear the same clothes as everybody else. And with this job as well, it’s good to be a little bit different, so I’m kind of finding my niche really.” Also here’s a quote from her official site about her influences while growing up: “Kate Bush was popular, she was in the charts, but she was cool. She’s a character. And you get the idea that she’s so free”. (thanks Boolbar)
Over the past few weeks music artists have been choosing Kate’s tracks as favourites on BBC Radio 2. Ben on the guestbook writes: “When Beth Orton chose The Man With The Child In His Eyes on yesterday’s Radio 2 show (Oct 10th) she said “this song kills me. It’s a classic and it’s from my fave Kate Bush album The Kick Inside. The song is full of hope – that there is the right man out there”. Also Steve Balsamo picked This Woman’s Work, Rhianna chose Wuthering Heights and Brian Kennedy selected Running Up That Hill, all on Radio 2’s Ken Bruce Show. On another show, latin pop singer Shakira chose Wuthering Heights, John on the guestbook says that she said “that her sister used to play it to her all the time when she was a lass”. Sarah Kennedy included Wuthering Heights in her “Songs we either love or hate” feature, listeners vote in for song that irritates them the most. Sarah did say at the end that she liked the song.. To top it all off Dale Winton played the live version of L’Amour Looks Something Like You on his BBC show.
Jerry Dreiss lets us know about this from the October issue of Pulse (free magazine produced by Tower Records) in an interview with Peter Gabriel by Bill Forman. Forman mentions that: “the new Gabriel track “I Grieve” has an understated inspirational quality not unlike “Don’t Give Up,” Gabriel’s stunning 1986 duet with Kate Bush, who has been even more elusive than Gabriel this past decade. (“I saw Kate a couple of months back and I think she’s making noises again,” smiles Gabriel. “I mean, she was being a Mum for a while, and I think also her Mum had died before that, which sort of knocked her sideways. But I know she’s back in the studio, so hopefully we’ll hear something from her soon.)” Thanks Jerry, read the interview here. [Newsbit round up and links updates coming later this week, thanks to all for sending them in.]
On his weekly BBC Radio 2 show “Sounds Of The Seventies” last week, Steve Harley played Wow by Kate, introducing the song with “there are even those who dont go too big on Kate Bush, I pity them”. After the song he casually mentioned: “I saw Kate Bush a few weeks ago, and I am pleased to say she is recording as we speak. My drummer Stuart Elliot is playing on the album and says she is bang on form”. You may still be able to catch a recording of the show at his website here. (thanks to Linda on the guestbook.) Here’s this entry on Steve from the excellent Gaffaweb dictionary: “Leader of the group Cockney Rebel, in a less well known credit Harley also provided vocals for the first version of the Andrew Lloyd Webber musical The Phantom Of The Opera. Having donated half of Cockney Rebel to the recording of the album The Kick Inside, Harley further gave of himself on 12 May 1979 by appearing at a benefit concert at the Hammersmith Odeon in memory of the late Bill Duffield, with whom Harley had worked in the past.”
Mick Karn has recorded bass with Kate on her new album. The session took place earlier this year according to his official website. Karn previously played on The Sensual World album in 1989 on the trackHeads We’re Dancing. Karn first came to prominence as a key member of the British art-rock band Japan, his unique bass playing skills contributing to the global success of the band. Mick first met Kate when they both took part in the Prince’s Trust concert in July ’82. (thanks to Detlev Behrens)