Kate Bush News

The latest episode of The Lyric Show podcast, which explores “the art and business of song”, presented by David Bailey features Kate Bush fans discussing what Kate’s powerful classic song, Running Up That Hill, means to them. So lovely to hear familiar voices like Paul Thomas, Thomas Dunning, Sky Boswell and Ben McGarvey on the show! The discussion about Kate happens 20 minutes in to this episode. Listen on Mixcloud here or below.

One of the most searingly affecting uses of Kate’s music on a television series in recent memory was on the phenomenally successful Channel 4 drama series, “It’s a Sin“. The acclaimed five-part miniseries, written by Russell T Davies, is set from 1981 to 1991 in London and depicts the lives of a group of gay men and their friends who lived during the HIV/AIDS crisis in the United Kingdom. The drama was the most-watched in Channel 4’s history. In a feature in today’s Guardian newspaper, Davies and director Peter Hoar discuss the 80s music used in the soundtrack, and how Kate personally gave permission for the use of Running Up That Hill for the episode:

Peter Hoar: I knew I was being cheeky putting Kate Bush in. Russell had written [songs] in and everyone knew that as they were in the script and were going to be paid for. Others such as Kate Bush hadn’t. But this song felt right. We initially had it over the scene with them all sat around the table. I’m glad it’s not there now as the song is saying the same thing as that scene. They’re sat there just thinking: we don’t know what to do. Jill is taking responsibility, but what can they say? That song is about women and men swapping places, and certainly the idea of taking someone’s place is pertinent. It could have been any of them. Ritchie hasn’t been perfect, but he’s done nothing wrong. He’s behaved in a way that he had every right to. It just so happens that in this particular instance there was something else going on and he fell foul of it. He regrets it, as you can see, but he’s proud in lots of ways.

Russell T Davies: We took the song off at one point, do you remember? Someone said they weren’t sure about it and Peter very kindly took it off. The whole scene fell apart.

Peter Hoar: And then, of course, the wonderful Kate Bush gave Russell permission to use it directly.

Russell T Davies: You do have to ask permission and she doesn’t often give it.

It’s a Sin can be watched in the UK and Ireland on the All4 player.

As in 2018 Kate has once again made the list of nominees for the 2021 Induction to the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame in the USA – a nice acknowledgement of her work of course, and there is an element of public voting (see fan vote here) BUT it’s probably unlikely Kate will receive the honour. The announcement has been widely reported across the music press this afternoon.

The Rock & Roll Hall of Fame announces the Nominees for #RockHall2021 Induction – and the Fan Vote is now open. Watch the official announcement here, then head to https://t.co/9DIz8WWd6Z pic.twitter.com/tGuSzyvEYT

— Rock Hall (@rockhall) February 10, 2021

Kate joins an eclectic short-list for the honour which also includes Foo Fighters, Jay-Z, Rage Against The Machine, Iron Maiden, Carole King, Chaka Khan, Devo, Tina Turner, Dionne Warwick, New York Dolls, Fela Kuti, LL Cool J, Mary J Blige and Todd Rundgren.

In order to qualify for the honour, the Hall requires an individual artist or band to have released their first commercial recording at least 25 years before their first nomination.

The Class of 2021 will be announced in May, decided by a voting body comprised of more than 1,000 artists, historians, and music industry members, as well as a fan vote on the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame’s website.

An alternate of the main publicity shot Kate took for the Aerial album has surfaced online, by photographer Trevor Leighton. How’s your lockdown hair game this morning? Mine…not quite as lustrous as Kate’s, I’m afraid!

The Instagram account of Abbey Road Studios has shared a snowy animation of the December Will Be Magic Again single cover along with one of the original recording sheets from the session! The song was recorded in 1979 but released for Christmas 1980. Fascinating to see the booked recording times for the track that day (from 2.30 in the afternoon to 10pm) and that the final mixing of this iconic Christmas tune carried on well into the early hours of the morning. (With thanks to Brian Cloughley for letting us know)

 

 

 

 

 

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One of the joys of working on this unique Kate Bush special edition magazine from Record Collector magazine was the fact that they agreed to donate the fee from the work done on selected collectable articles to a charity of our choice. The work on those beautiful illustrated features, involved the collected efforts of many fans around the world, and was a joy for me to manage and facilitate. I am so happy that we can instantly send £650 (much-needed funding) to the same charity that Kate Bush selected to be the pre-Christmas beneficiaries of her amazing Remastered Pop-Up Shop initiative in December 2018. Please consider also making a donation this Christmas to Crisis UK here if you’ve enjoyed reading this wonderful, fantastic fan-focused Kate Bush magazine! – Seán Twomey, with special thanks to the Record Collector Special editor Jamie Atkins from all us fans

Well, we told you it was going to be a feast! Here’s just the barest sneak glimpse at some of the pages from the Record Collector full colour special devoted to Kate Bush. It hits the shops next week on December 3rd. Personally I’ve really enjoyed helping the editor to put this magazine together over the last few months – a LOT of hard work from a bigger team of genuine fans than you might have expected. Once again, this one is for us fans. This really is just a tiny fraction of the pages and pages of fully illustrated collector features as well as a comprehensive UK discography, in-depth guides to collectables and memorabilia, all of her studio albums revisited by some of RC’s finest writers, fans and musicians on what Kate means to them, unpublished photographs, the story of HomeGround the Kate Bush fan magazine, an evocative piece on her remarkable live comeback, and so much more. I even wrote an article in it! PRE-ORDER YOUR ISSUE HERE!

Something we’ve never seen before – an ENTIRE full colour issue of the legendary Record Collector magazine devoted to Kate Bush. It hits the shops December 3rd 2020. This magazine has always taken Kate very seriously over the years as an artist who also happens to have a highly collectible body of work. As such they always put Kate’s fans front and centre. This “bookazine” is no exception, pages upon pages of content here illuminate just what Kate means to fans AND for the very first time is rich with illustrated features about collecting the music that we love – and there has been significant input from Kate’s fans to make this very special indeed. We’re excited. Do not miss! ORDER YOUR ISSUE HERE!

Here’s what Record Collector says: “This latest RC special gives fans the definitive guide to collecting one of the most extraordinary musicians of our times with a comprehensive UK discography, in-depth guides to collectables and memorabilia, all of her studio albums revisited by some of RC’s finest writers, fans and musicians on what Kate means to them, unpublished photographs, an evocative piece on her remarkable live comeback, and so much more. Available for pre-order: 5 November. Release date: 3 December – Note: Due to lockdown, there may be a slight delay with dispatch of your order.”

First image has surfaced of an amazing new Prog Magazine cover – a feature on Never For Ever – nice work, guys, that’s a framer…thanks to Prog Magazine for the cover image. The new issue is on sale on Wednesday 28th October. Celebrating 40 years of Never For Ever with an in-depth making of the album cover feature.

The issue also features: Hawkwind, Kevin Goldey, Eddie Jobson, Jacqui McShee of Pentangle, Dyble Longdon, Tears For Fears, Jakko Jakszyk, John Petrucci, Gazpacho, Enslaved, Aphrodite’s Child, Motorpsycho, Galahad. Ordering details will be available at the Prog site here: https://www.loudersound.com/prog

It’s surreal to think that this box set is actually 30 years old. Released a year after The Sensual World while Kate was in the thick of recording what would become The Red Shoes, it was the first time she had officially gathered together a lot of the “odds and sods”, B-sides and 12″ mixes from her then 12-year career. The box sets contained all 6 of Kate’s studio albums released up to that point. Expensive sets at the time for fans, especially those just wanting those extra tracks, they are just as sought after today on the collector market. In fact the huge 9 vinyl disc LP version of the set (8 CD and 8 cassette versions were also released) can sometimes fetch eye-watering prices now, depending on condition and the inclusion of those all important KT stickers! The box set even contains some tracks that didn’t make it to The Other Sides remastered rarities collection from 2018, including The Empty Bullring, Not This Time, Ken (from the Comic Strip film “GLC”) and the four Live on Stage EP tracks. At the time it almost felt like Kate was looking back on a long career in music and that this was gathering up her life’s work…here’s the note she included in the accompanying booklet of photographs:

Has it really been twelve years already?… Is this how it was Rip Van Winkle? Looking through these photos I haven’t seen for years, and listening to B-sides of singles I’d forgotten about, has been an interesting exercise for me.
I think my music and I have changed a lot, and when I was making the first album, which at that time was my greatest goal. I never imagined that a box-set of my work would be out in 1990 and I would still be making albums. That’s a nice feeling.

Whoever you are – thank you for listening and please be kind to my mistakes…. because I’m not.

Many, many thanks to EVERYONE involved in making these albums, and to the photographers whose work appears here: – Gered Mankowitz, Terry Walker, Brian Griffin, Guido Harari and especially John Carder Bush

I would like to dedicate this special edition to the special memory of Alan Murphy and Gary Hurst.

With love,

Kate Bush

xx

Kate Bush, 1990

Beautiful photo by John Carder Bush on the cover there from the sessions for The Ninth Wave! The editor has sent us a press release: MOJO The Collectors’ Series: KATE BUSH DIRECTOR’S CUT 1958-2020. MOJO is delighted to present its finest writing on Kate Bush in a collectable single deluxe volume.

As one of the most original and extraordinary figures in music, Kate Bush deserves to be saluted in style – and that’s exactly what this sumptuous 132-page magazine does. Drawing on MOJO’s many exclusive interviews with the singer down the years, plus a wealth of archive features and rare and iconic images, DIRECTOR’S CUT 1958-2020 traces Kate’s remarkable story from her pre-fame days recording demos with Pink Floyd’s David Gilmour and breakthrough success with Wuthering Heights and The Kick Inside album, right through to the creation of the mid-’80s masterpiece Hounds Of Love and on to her millennial return to live performance with 2014’s breathtaking Before The Dawn shows.

Among the other wow-some treasures you’ll find within its covers are an unguarded 1980 Sounds interview conducted by writer Phil Sutcliffe, Tom Doyle’s epic four-hour encounter with the singer after she returned from a decade’s hiatus with 2005’s Aerial album, a run-down of Kate’s 50 greatest songs and guide to all her key albums. Plus much more besides. Unbelievable indeed!

KATE BUSH DIRECTOR’S CUT 1958-2020 is available in shops and to buy online at www.greatmagazines.co.uk/mojo-specials from October 1, 2020.