The June 2021 issue of the German edition of Rolling Stone is billed as a “big 80s special” with two versions of the front cover featuring Kate and Peter Gabriel respectively. Order the Kate cover here.
The magazine features include “Kate Bush and her triumph with “Hounds Of Love”, Peter Gabriel – from Prog to Pop with “So”, Noel Gallagher in an RS interview, 50 years of “Blue” by Joni Mitchell and articles about Ashe, Liz Phair, Garbage and Van Morrison.”
The new May/June 2021 issue of Classic Pop magazine in the UK (Gary Numan cover) has a 4-page Album-by-Album feature exploring Kate’s recorded work. Buy a single issue of the magazine direct from them and get it delivered to your door: bit.ly/2Rav5pa Also available from selected WH Smith High Street, WH Smith Travel, Easons, Tesco and McColls stores in the UK and Ireland.
It’s been fascinating seeing an ambitious project like this come together and become a considerable success! It is now 100% funded and will now definitely be produced with a publication date of December 2021. Michael and Marius have shared two more spreads from Finding Kate with us exclusively to illustrate what the inside of the book will look like. To recap: A pair of creative collaborators from Ireland, Michael Byrne and Marius Herbert, have launched a Kickstarter campaign to realise their goal of publishing a rather unique and beautiful book which “visually and textually celebrates the genius and the music of Kate”.
There are still two weeks left, as with book crowdfunding campaigns of this sort, to avail of rewards including having your name printed inside the book as a funder, all details on how to do that are here but these rewards are only available for the next 14 days.
Kate has added her name to a new campaign #BROKENRECORD organised by the Musicians Union’ in the UK calling for changes in the music industry, including equitable remuneration to support the next generation of artists. It takes the form of a letter to the UK Prime Minister, Boris Johnson. The signatories, over 150 in total, include Kate, Damon Albarn, Joan Armatrading, Billy Bragg, Brian Eno, Peter Gabriel, Annie Lennox, Paul McCartney, Stevie Nicks, Robert Plant, Robert Smith, Sting and many more. Full text of the letter below. (thanks to Pekka for letting us know)
Kate has donated six newly signed items to a cancer charity auction. She has signed one each of the Remastered in Vinyl box sets plus a copy of the How To Be Invisible book and a 50 Words for Snow CD. There’s also a Red Shoes promo box that has been donated by an ex EMI Marketing Director and a copy of the 2011 50 Words for Snow vinyl.
Cabaret vs Cancer is a small independent charity that works to raise money to support people living with the effects of cancer, especially children who have lost someone. Our very own Dave Cross has been an ambassador for the charity for two years now and has put together this, their first music charity auction. The auction also includes very special signed items from Kylie Minogue and Kim Wilde, plus other items from Elton John, U2, Steps, Iron Maiden and lots more. The auction is live now and will be open until Sunday 25th April – you can start bidding here! Well done, Dave, fantastic work on this!
In England, an expert panel of musical specialists have chosen Wild Man, Kate’s lead single from her 2011 50 Words for Snow album, to be included in a new list of 37 musical works that every primary school child (ages 5-11) should listen to. Ed Watkins, director of music at the West London Free School, who sat on the panel, said: “The list we have ended up with has music from the major world traditions, traces the history of popular music and celebrates British and European art music.” As well as works from ‘the Western Classical tradition’ – including Mozart’s Rondo all Turca, Beethoven’s Symphony No. 5 and Mussorgsky’s Night on a Bare Mountain, the list also features music from major world traditions including Brazilian Samba, Bhangra from Punjab and Argentinian Tango, as well as English folk sea shanties.
Pop songs on the list include Hound Dog by Elvis Presley, With a Little Help from My Friends by The Beatles, and Say My Name by Destiny’s Child. Kate’s Wild Man is categorised as “Art Pop”. Wild Man tells the story of sightings of the Yeti in the wilds of the Himalayas, and of the efforts by the narrator and others to protect him from discovery. “It is meant to be an empathetic view of a creature of great mystery really”, Kate said.
The Model Music Curriculum document explains how the song can be explored in the classroom: “From Bush’s acclaimed 50 Words for Snow, Wild Man tells of the sightings of the mythical Yeti in the Himalayas and of efforts to hide and protect him. The use of sound effects, riffs and spoken words will all be points to bring out as well as getting to grips with the words and imagery before/while listening to the music.”
Nick Gibb, the schools minister, said: “Music is a hugely important part of most people’s lives. This is especially true during the lockdown period, in which music has been used to inspire, soothe and energise us. “A rich variety of music should be part of the daily life of every school. We want all schools to have a rigorous and broad music curriculum, that inspires their pupils to love music, and stands alongside high levels of academic attainment.”
Mr Gibb said it was important that academic catch-up was balanced with “music, sport and arts” for children’s wider development. “After the most difficult of years, it’s time for a musical renaissance across England’s schools and I hope this will inspire a new generation of musicians,” he added. In primary school, teaching will focus on giving children the opportunity to listen to a range of style and sounds to broaden pupils’ musical horizons and encourage them to be open minded.
A feature in the i newspaper had images of the full list of 37 pieces:
A Kate Bush fan, well known online to so many, has very sadly left us. Rod McKie (who sometimes went by Roderick) was hospitalised with a serious brain haemorrhage in the last couple of weeks and today his wife, Lis, let us know that he has passed away. Rod was an accomplished newspaper and magazine cartoonist by profession. He was an endlessly engaging, considerate and insightful online friend to so many of us – his fellow Kate Bush fans. He’ll be sorely missed.
Rod was a terrific writer and he published a superb blog post in October 2014 that must surely rank among the greatest pieces written about Kate’s Before the Dawn shows – please do read it here. It will give you a chance to get to know Rod a little. Seán (with Rod’s permission) used several excellent extracts from this article when he put together his Before the Dawn podcast series – Rod just nailed it.
The world is great, life is great. Kate Bush is smiling at us, God is in his Heaven, and all is right with the world. Strangers are smiling at one another, and patting one another’s backs, as we shuffle out of the venue. It strikes me that Kate Bush has encouraged in her audience, love, compassion, sympathetic joy, and equanimity – those boundless states.
Rod Mckie, 2014
Sending Lis and all Rod’s family and friends our deepest sympathy. x
It was sad to hear about the passing of Kate Bush fan and very familiar name, John Beaumont, just recently. Our friend Sky Boswell has written a lovely piece remembering her friend – thanks, Sky. Keeping John’s family and loved ones in our thoughts.
“It was with great sadness that I received news about the passing of my dear friend and fellow Kate Bush fan, John Beaumont, on Saturday 13 March. He was 84 years young. John had been poorly following a fall last November that resulted in a broken leg. Fed up with the COVID restrictions, he’d popped out for a breath of fresh air and a short stroll. He ended up at Leeds Infirmary. It was while John was in hospital recovering from the break that other issues were discovered.
John was a regular contributor to HomeGround magazine, and attended many fan events throughout the 1980s and 1990s, including the Wuthering Hikes at Haworth and the Glastonbury gatherings to celebrate Kate’s birthday. He was born in 1937 so was one of the contingent of older Kate fans. He fell off the radar somewhat at the start of the computer age; he wasn’t interested in embracing IT so had no internet presence. However, he was an enthusiastic and regular correspondent and kept in touch with many of his friends that way. Each letter was beautifully hand-written, full of news, facts and recollections and, of course, John’s unique brand of humour! Sometimes I received as many as two letters in a week. He also liked to call friends for a good long natter.
John was a very witty and observant man and he loved music, being a great fan of the radio and embracing many genres of music. He was knowledgeable about films, too, especially Hammer Horror movies. Actress Ingrid Pitt was a favourite of his, he wrote to her regularly and attended several of her birthday parties. He was a fun loving man: energetic, enthusiastic about life, and always interested in meeting new people. His greatest love and hobby was steam engines – there is absolutely nothing you could teach John about this subject because he had studied it for much of his life, had his own model railway, regularly visited collectors’ fairs, and was a great source of information to other enthusiasts. Although he gave up driving a car a few years ago he still enjoyed railway journeys. Before retiring he’d been a bus driver for many years and could recount many an amusing tale about his days on the buses! Transport was important to John – it got him to so many of the places he wanted to explore, but he also loved the way vehicles worked.
In 2015 John came twice to the Black Bull public house in Haworth to see me perform my Kate Bush tribute, once in the spring and again at Halloween. He didn’t say much afterwards – that was John’s way – but one lady thought he was my Dad because, she said, he looked so proud of me while I was performing. In 2016 and 2017 there were big changes happening in my life so my proposed travel to Yorkshire was postponed. I was booked for the Haworth Festival in summer 2018, and planned to spend time with John then, but Fate stepped in once more and a particularly nasty bout of laryngitis followed by post-viral fatigue meant I was too unwell to travel. I’d made firm plans to visit John and other friends in the North of England last summer – but then the pandemic happened. I won’t now see my friend again.
John lived his life to the full. He was proud of his family, and carried on courageously when he lost his beloved wife, Pat, a few years ago. He had truly encyclopaedic knowledge of so much, and he never lost his spirit of adventure or his enthusiasm for life. When he smiled after telling a joke, he twinkled like a little boy. He was the man with the child in his eyes.”
Sky Boswell – 21 March 2021
A treasure trove of amazing images surfaced for the first time over the last couple of years – the work of photographer Max Browne, who had the privilege of documenting the final three nights of Kate’s run of shows at the Hammersmith Odeon, 12th-14th May 1979, to round out her legendary Lionheart tour. Of course, she famously never performed a full show of her own again till she returned to that very same stage 35 years later in 2014.
In what he calls “a lockdown self-published special”, Max has now produced a large format hardback landscape book with dust jacket, sized 13×11″, with all proceeds beyond the cost of this edition to be donated to charities supporting the “endangered animals of our world disadvantaged by Man.” The book is titled “Three Nights in Hammersmith“. The book images, consistently stunning, are presented in performance order, as Kate sang each song. Renowned photographer Jill Furmanovsky has contributed the foreword. The book can be ordered here.
From the press release: Industry comments on the photographs:
‘ . . a new book which will showcase his incredible photographs.’ (KateBushNews)
‘ . . a revelation to many:’ (Record Collector magazine)
‘ . . the best live shots of her . .’ (Jill Furmanovsky, RockArchive)
‘This is a treasure trove!’ (Guido Harari, Wall of Sound)
‘Nice stuff Max . .’ (Del Palmer)
From the site: “This book is a photographic presentation of the last three concerts of a tour that is now regarded as one of the greatest in Rock Music history. The 250 photographs by Max Browne included here illustrate why, song by song, as Kate Bush sings, dances and role-plays her way into legend at the Hammersmith Odeon, London, in 1979.”
“Three Nights in Hammersmith” is available to order now at this site. Author website: http://www.rockshots.co
A pair of creative collaborators from Ireland, Michael Byrne and Marius Herbert, have today launched a Kickstarter campaign to realise their goal of publishing a rather unique and beautiful book which “visually and textually celebrates the genius and the music of Kate”. The book is titled: Finding Kate and is described as a visual celebration of the music of Kate Bush. This is an unofficial book, not associated with Kate herself, but Michael has been a long time fan and admirer of Kate’s music – I’ve seen some pieces from the book and the writing is strong, obviously written with care and from a fan’s perspective. The illustrations promise to be “exciting illustrated visuals that will be new to her fans.” As with book crowdfunding campaigns of this sort, rewards for backers include having your name printed inside the book as a funder.
From the launch site: “Michael has been a long time fan and admirer of both Kate Bush’s music and creative spirit and in this book ‘Finding Kate’ he picks a selection of his own particular favourite ‘Kate’ songs, each one visually conceptualised as double page spreads with accompanying text detailing some song facts, together with his own personal insights into the music – all beautifully digitally illustrated by Marius. Plus there will be other interesting Kate related content and also a history by decade of her recorded work to date.”
“This will be a large coffee table style book with a page size of 300mm x 300mm (12 inches square). It will be a premium production and will contain 96 pages + cover of text and lavishly produced illustrations of different styles to the following spec:
It will be printed & produced to the highest standards by one of Europe’s leading book printers based in Italy and will ship worldwide.”
The May 2021 edition of Mojo Magazine features Kate on the cover and includes an article and unpublished archive interview. From the press release: “The genius of Kate Bush is explored from fresh angles: an unpublished interview, revelations from key collaborators, and the 40th birthday of Sat In Your Lap – the song that changed everything. In MOJO’s Kate Kompendium, the artist casts light on her creative urges in an unpublished interview. Plus: surprising new takes on Hounds Of Love, the Tour Of Life and a poignant window on her wilderness years.”
The editor tells me that “the main story is a long interview done in 1989 that was partially published in the Netherlands at the time. It’s around The Sensual World, but goes a fair bit deeper than most of the other interviews I have read from around that time. There are a bunch of other pieces, which include a very specific one about the making of Sat In Your Lap for its anniversary (new interviews with Hugh Padgham, Nick Launay, Geoff Downes). A good one about her videos, which talks to her collaborators and directors. A piece that touches on “druid philosophy” by Youth. Something about her in 2001. A bit more about the first tour. Lots to enjoy, hopefully.”
Pre-orders being sent out from 16th March 2021 from the Mojo site here. Appropriately enough, the cover photo is from her 1981 Company magazine feature shoot with photographer Clive Arrowsmith. You can read more about that session at his site here.
Update: Meanwhile, Mojo Magazine subscribers have been receiving a unique, enhanced design version of the latest issue which features a Kate Bush cover (below right), without all the usual text that appears on the regular edition (below left).
Brown Star Records in cooperation with Record Collector Magazine and the Kate Bush News website are delighted to announce the winners of the GRID OF LIFE Crossword Competition from the Kate Bush Record Collector special issue. The following five entries were chosen at random and all will receive a copy of the very limited edition I WANNA BE KATE: The Songs of Kate Bush – Remastered & Expanded EP, on heavyweight translucent aqua vinyl.
We would like to thank everyone who participated and submitted an entry to the competition. It was always very exciting when another one would show up in the inbox! It is truly regrettable that the delays in the postal services as a result of the current public health emergency and Brexit, and compounded by the Christmas holiday shipping season, has resulted in many people not having received their copies of the magazine in time to complete the crossword and submit an entry. We chose to extend the closing date from 30 January 2021 to 28 February 2021. Additionally, ALL the people who entered the competition will receive a unique code to download all 24 songs from the I Wanna Be Kate project with our complements. As the competition is now closed, for anyone who didn’t get a copy of the magazine, here is the crossword puzzle – enjoy! With thanks again to Jamie Atkins and everyone at Record Collector Magazine, this was so much fun! – Thomas Dunning
I Wanna Be Kate: The Songs of Kate Bush Remastered & Expanded is available here.
The new edition of Classic Rock Magazine (April 2021 with Pink Floyd cover) has a 6-page feature on Kate’s Tour of Life. It would seem to be the same article that appeared in the May 2014 issue of Prog magazine, also by Dave Everly, featuring interviews with Brian Southall of EMI and dancer/choreographer Stewart Avon Arnold.
The artwork from the Remastered in Vinyl box sets, previously displayed at the Remastered pop-up shop in December 2018, have finally been made available as lithographic prints on Kate’s official site. They include the covers of the vinyl box sets which featured album artwork from Aerial, The Sensual World and The Dreaming unadorned by any text. Also included are the beautiful portraits of Kate from the 12″ Mixes album and from the cover of the In Others’ Words collection. They can be ordered here: https://www.katebush.com/shop/Prints
Rather unexpectedly, no less than three Kate Bush books have already come along in rapid succession from smaller UK publishers in 2021. Hot on the heels of the “Kate Bush On Track: Every Album, Every Song” book by Bill Thomas (see news item and brief review here) there are two more slim paperback titles being released in March about Kate’s work.
First up is “The Kick Inside: In-depth” by Laura Shenton (Wymer Publishing). The press release states that “The Kick Inside is one of our first four titles in our In-depth series launched in March 2021. The book takes an in-depth look at the album; the history behind it; the story about its creation; the songs, as well as detailed discographies listing release variations around the world….author Laura Shenton MA LLCM DipRSL offers an in-depth perspective on The Kick Inside from a range of angles including how the album came to be, how it was presented and received at the time (live as well as on record), and what it means in terms of Kate Bush’s legacy today.“
The publishers were kind enough to send me on a review copy and the author sets out her approach in the preface – that no weighty personal opinions or analysis will be included from her, rather that “throughout this book you’re going to see lots of quotes from vintage articles.” And this 112 page book is indeed a rich smorgasbord of quotes; from interviews, articles, KBC fan club magazines, TV appearances and promotional materials – a resource writers and researchers now enjoy thanks to the vast archives of fan-curated info on the likes of Gaffaweb and the Kate Bush Encyclopedia site. All quotes are cited up front right there in the text.
In fact, the author relies so much on the quotes to do the heavy-lifting of narrating the story of Kate’s first album that perhaps she assumed they cover the whole album “in-depth”. This approach falls short of that; the songs L’Amour Looks Something Like You, Feel it and Room For The Life aren’t even discussed, which is a pity. There is a lot to be said for the tried and trusted track-by-track approach most other books take when considering albums. On the plus side, while I originally wondered why so much space was given to discussing Lionheart and that album’s singles, it actually feels very appropriate in the light of the later pages covering the Tour of Life – a big part in the story of The Kick Inside, after all. I only noticed a couple of factual errors in the text (not every song from The Kick Inside was performed in the 1979 shows – Oh To Be In Love wasn’t) and the 8-page photo section includes some nice photos of the various album cover and single cover variations from 1978/79. The book is published 12th March 2021 (priced at £14.99) and can be ordered direct from the publishers at the Wymer Publishing site here or on Amazon Kindle edition here.
The second book, “Kate Bush: Song by Song” by John Van Der Kiste, is one I have yet to see a copy of myself, but has already been delivered to some fans via Ebay and other sites. This is a 164 page paperback, that seems remarkably similar in structure and approach to the recent Bill Thomas book in that it “provides a thorough examination of the songs on all her singles, albums, and occasional recorded collaborations with other artists.” I’ll update this article with my thoughts about the book when I’ve seen a copy, but this again features a spread of 50 colour photographs and unlike the Thomas and Shenton books appears to include article citations in the endnotes section for those wanting to read further. Kate Bush: Song by Song by John Van Der Kiste (priced at £18.00) can be ordered from the publisher, Fonthill Media here or on Amazon UK here. As an Amazon Associate this site earns revenue to support running costs from qualifying purchases.
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