Kate Bush started her career at the top, the spellbinding 'Wuthering Heights' giving her a number one hit single with her first release. Yet from there, artistically at least, the only way has been up. For while the sales of both singles and albums over the five decades since have had their peaks and troughs, every new release has seen Bush refuse to be boxed in by past success but instead continue to take the musical chances that have characterised her career from day one. Across ten studio albums, including director's cut reassessments of two of them, and a live record of the 2014 Hammersmith Apollo residency, Kate Bush has constantly sought new ground, reinventing her sound time and again. She has often strayed from the commercial path of least resistance to examine the less travelled musical byways that have provided the inspiration for an extraordinary body of work, quite unlike anyone else's. With a string of platinum albums and hit singles to her credit, Kate's is a fascinating journey. This book examines her entire recorded catalogue from The Kick Inside through to Before The Dawn, hoovering up all the B-sides and the rarities along the way. It's a comprehensive guide to the extraordinary music of Kate Bush.
Singer-songwriter Kate Bush's eclectic style with its diverse lyrical themes defies easy categorization, and has earned the admiration of fans, peers, and critics alike, while an eclectic roster of guest artists has appeared on her work. This provides a thorough examination of all her songs on singles, albums, and collaborations with other artists.
A MUST-HAVE COLLECTION OF RARE AND UNSEEN PHOTOGRAPHS OF KATE BUSH. WITH ESSAYS BY HER BROTHER, JOHN CARDER BUSH, ABOUT KATE'S LIFE AND CAREER. Stunning and unique images from throughout Kate Bush's career including: Outtakes from classic album shoots and never-before-seen photographs from The Dreaming and Hounds of Love sessions Rare candid studio shots and behind-the-scenes stills from video sets, including 'Army Dreamers' and 'Running Up that Hill' Includes original essays from Kate's brother: From Cathy to Kate: Describes in vibrant detail their shared childhood and the whirlwind days of Kate's career Chasing the Shot: A vivid evocation of John's experience of photographing his sister 'For me, each of these images forms part of a golden thread that shoots through the visual tapestry of Kate's remarkable career. Storytelling has always been the heartbeat of Kate's body of work, and it has been a privilege to capture these photographic illustrations that accompany those magical tales' John Carder Bush
Selected and arranged by the author, and with a new introduction by novelist David Mitchell, How To Be Invisible presents the lyrics of Kate Bush published together for the first time. 'For millions around the world, Kate is way more than another singer-songwriter: she is a creator of musical companions that travel with you through life. One paradox about Kate is that while her lyrics are proudly idiosyncratic, those same lyrics evoke emotions and sensations that feel universal. Literature works in similar mysterious ways. Kate's the opposite of a confessional singer-songwriter ... You don't learn much about Kate from her songs. She's fond of masks and costumes - lyrically and literally - and of yarns, fabulations and atypical narrative viewpoints. Yet, these fiercely singular songs, which nobody else could have authored, are also maps of the heart, the psyche, the imagination. In other words, art.' David Mitchell
Kate Bush has written some of the most memorable songs in pop music history. Wuthering Heights, her debut single shot to number 1 in 1978 and she remains something of an enigma over a quarter of a century later. A singer, songwriter, musician, dancer, actress and director, Kate has inspired a devoted following around the world. Rob Jovanovic traces the story of Kate Bush's career, from her up-bringing in the Essex countryside through her first forays into music with a series of home recordings, to her number 1 debut album that propelled her to international stardom. Including exclusive interviews with studio musicians and choreographers, Jovanovic's biography emphasises both her voracious talent and her intensely private personality.
The critically acclaimed definitive biography of Kate Bush, revised and updated for 2024, with a new foreword by Sinéad Gleeson. Detailing everything from Bush's upbringing to her early exposition of talent, to her subsequent evolution into a stunningly creative and endlessly fascinating visual and musical artist, Under The Ivy is the story of one woman's life in music. Written with great detail, accuracy and admiration for her work, this is in equal parts an in-depth biography and an immersive analysis of Kate Bush's art. Focusing on her unique working methods, her studio techniques, her timeless albums and inescapable influence, Under The Ivy is an eminently readable and insightful exploration of one of the world's most unique and gifted artists. The text has been updated to include coverage of Bush's return to the top of the charts in 2022 following the extraordinary resurgence of 'Running Up That Hill.' An eye-opening journey of discovery for anyone unfamiliar with the breadth of Bush's work, Under The Ivy also rewards the long-term fan with new insights and fresh analysis.
Wuthering Heights is the name of Mr. HeathcliffÕs dwelling. ÔWutheringÕ being a significant provincial adjective, descriptive of the atmospheric tumult to which its station is exposed in stormy weather. Pure, bracing ventilation they must have up there at all times, indeed: one may guess the power of the north wind blowing over the edge, by the excessive slant of a few stunted firs at the end of the house; and by a range of gaunt thorns all stretching their limbs one way, as if craving alms of the sun. Happily, the architect had foresight to build it strong: the narrow windows are deeply set in the wall, and the corners defended with large jutting stones. Before passing the threshold, I paused to admire a quantity of grotesque carving lavished over the front, and especially about the principal door; above which, among a wilderness of crumbling griffins and shameless little boys, I detected the date Ô1500,Õ and the name ÔHareton Earnshaw.Õ I would have made a few comments, and requested a short history of the place from the surly owner; but his attitude at the door appeared to demand my speedy entrance, or complete departure, and I had no desire to aggravate his impatience previous to inspecting the penetralium. One stop brought us into the family sitting-room, without any introductory lobby or passage: they call it here Ôthe houseÕ pre-eminently. It includes kitchen and parlour, generally; but I believe at Wuthering Heights the kitchen is forced to retreat altogether into another quarter: at least I distinguished a chatter of tongues, and a clatter of culinary utensils, deep within; and I observed no signs of roasting, boiling, or baking, about the huge fireplace; nor any glitter of copper saucepans and tin cullenders on the walls. One end, indeed, reflected splendidly both light and heat from ranks of immense pewter dishes, interspersed with silver jugs and tankards, towering row after row, on a vast oak dresser, to the very roof. The latter had never been under-drawn: its entire anatomy lay bare to an inquiring eye, except where a frame of wood laden with oatcakes and clusters of legs of beef, mutton, and ham, concealed it. Above the chimney were sundry villainous old guns, and a couple of horse-pistols: and, by way of ornament, three gaudily-painted canisters disposed along its ledge. The floor was of smooth, white stone; the chairs, high-backed, primitive structures, painted green: one or two heavy black ones lurking in the shade. In an arch under the dresser reposed a huge, liver-coloured bitch pointer, surrounded by a swarm of squealing puppies; and other dogs haunted other recesses.
For Kate Bush, and indeed many in her strong fanbase, The Kick Inside is the album that started it all. Her 1978 debut was certainly attention grabbing; it propelled her to fame and got the ball rolling for a phenomenal career as a much appreciated musician and admired female talent. With the iconic 'Wuthering Heights', the young Kate had captured people's imagination with her original songwriting style and of course, her unique voice. In this book, music 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. As the author explains: "Basically, the book covers how the album was made, what was going on with the music in terms of the artist's intentions, how it did musically and commercially and what happened next." The narrative is essentially driven by contemporary interviews with the artists with small bits of music theory where relevant... in some cases they delve into the structure / key signatures / time signatures, based on the original sheet music without straying away from being an engaging read for non-musicians.
The bloody thrill of transformation is the focus of The Dreaming, Kate Bush's 1982 artistic breakthrough. Bush is the post-punk era's Queen Princess and Godmother, pop's embodiment of fairy. Her thirty year career has been a long dialogue with the myths and legends of human transformation, from the Gothic romance of her first hit, Wuthering Heights, to the spellcasting of her latest album's How To Be Invisible. This book will be imagistically rich and prismatically structured, interweaving the old tales of she-bears and werewolves, Donkeyskin and Coyote, with historical accounts of Houdini's wife, bank robbers like Machine Gun Molly and warriors like the revolutionary war hero Deborah Sampson. Some of these tales directly inspired Bush's lyrics, others illuminate them; all are part of the tapestry of truth and exaggeration that Bush took up with The Dreaming. These time-traveling elements will feed and interact with the book's consideration of the early 1980s, a moment of extreme gender experimentation in pop, with glam boys renaming themselves as New Wavers and rocker girls either going super-butch a la Chrissie Hynde or crazy femme a la Cyndi Lauper and Nina Hagen. Always an arena for boys to be girls and girls to be boys, pop reached science-fiction levels of androgyny with New Wave. Kate Bush's own theatrical style in concert and in photographs, her lyrical gender-jumping and the hard softness of her musical approach epitomized the unsettled nature of gender in pop at this time. With The Dreaming, where Kate Bush is boy as often as girl - and sometimes neither or both - this young, ambivalent sex symbol did battle with the culture industry attempting to enclose her in a swirly-girly image; her assault was particular to this moment, yet connects to centuries-old battles to protect or demonish the feminine ideal.
