Kate Bush

[Meowi]

Does anyone else like Kate Bush?
Well, I guess if you do - lets talk!

I love Cloudbusting and Houdini :angel:

[Dodfather]

Does anyone else like Kate Bush?
Well, I guess if you do - lets talk!

I love Cloudbusting and Houdini :angel:

I have a LOT of love for Kate Bush! She's the closesy Britain has come to female meusical genius - haha! I still think it'sa disgrace that she hasn; been given the OPutstanding Contribution Brit award when fools like Robbie Williams can get it!

Fave songs include:

Wuthering Heights
The Man With The Child In His Eyes
The Wedding List
Babooshka
This Woman's Work
Mrs Bartolozzi
Sexual Healing (b-side to King Of The Mountain single. Bizarre yet brilliant cover version!)
Don't Give Up
Running Up That Hill
Hounds Of Love
Rubberband Girl
etc etc etc....

[Remy]

Kate and Stevie both have the mystical, magical aura plus beauty to boot. I love Kate's songwriting. My fave has got to be Sensual World.
Oh, and running up that hill - is part of a megamix (it's called We Make It Good mix) that also includes Stand Back, and the version over there is incredible! (sped up, and the bass line is heavier)

[Dodfather]

Kate and Stevie both have the mystical, magical aura plus beauty to boot. I love Kate's songwriting. My fave has got to be Sensual World.
Oh, and running up that hill - is part of a megamix (it's called We Make It Good mix) that also includes Stand Back, and the version over there is incredible! (sped up, and the bass line is heavier)

Wow - where can I get this???

[Black_Moon]

Kate is my favourite British artist ever. The Dreaming... I could write a book on how much I adore that album. I'd also consider her one of the most influential musicians of all time; loads of singer-songwriters cite her as influencing them in some way.

If I had to whittle it down to my top three favourite songs she's ever made, I'd choose:
Running Up That Hill (A Deal With God)
Night of the Swallow
Watching You Without Me

I adore her, thanks Meowi for starting this thread.

[Remy]

Wow - where can I get this???

check your PM inbox in a few minutes :)

[Black_Moon]

check your PM inbox in a few minutes :)

Please can you send it to me too? It sounds really interesting!

[Remy]

Done! :o

[David]

I'm a fan of hers, too. She's funny & rocking. I don't really see the connection with Stevie Nicks, however, but I do see a connection with Lindsey Buckingham.

[Meowi]

I love that she was her own boss, she made the album how she wanted it.
Its kinda funny how she never charted in the US until Hounds of Love :confused

I don't think there is a Stevie connection.
Stevie is much more by the book, while Kate isn't afraid to experiment.
Stevie mainly writes about relationships, whilst Kate writes more 'out there' songs - naratives.

[wheart]

Kate is my favourite British artist ever. The Dreaming... I could write a book on how much I adore that album. I'd also consider her one of the most influential musicians of all time; loads of singer-songwriters cite her as influencing them in some way.

If I had to whittle it down to my top three favourite songs she's ever made, I'd choose:
Running Up That Hill (A Deal With God)
Night of the Swallow
Watching You Without Me

I adore her, thanks Meowi for starting this thread.

The Dreaming is Kate's masterpiece and one of my favorite albums of all time. It doesn't get any better, or any weirder! Favorite tracks: Leave It Open, Suspended in Gaffa, Pull Out the Pin

[Meowi]

The Dreaming is Kate's masterpiece and one of my favorite albums of all time. It doesn't get any better, or any weirder! Favorite tracks: Leave It Open, Suspended in Gaffa, Pull Out the Pin


I love that song! :blob2:

[Fiver]

Me too! Suspended in Gaffa is my favorite Kate Bush song so far.

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The background vocals sound like Chinese opera, but it works so well within the song.. love how she layers her music and throws in instruments and sounds you'd never expect, but don't seem out of place. Amazing.

I bought The Dreaming sometime after New Years and now it's hard to decide whether to get an FM, Stevie, Lindsey, Christine or Kate Bush album next.. I try to alternate.

So far I have The Kick Inside, Lionheart and The Dreaming, love all three and can't wait to hear Hounds of Love. I've heard some say it's her best.

[Meowi]

Me too! Suspended in Gaffa is my favorite Kate Bush song so far.

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The background vocals sound like Chinese opera, but it works so well within the song.. love how she layers her music and throws in instruments and sounds you'd never expect, but don't seem out of place. Amazing.

I bought The Dreaming sometime after New Years and now it's hard to decide whether to get an FM, Stevie, Lindsey, Christine or Kate Bush album next.. I try to alternate.

So far I have The Kick Inside, Lionheart and The Dreaming, love all three and can't wait to hear Hounds of Love. I've heard some say it's her best.

You'll soon be in for a real treat! :thumbsup:

[petep9000]

I love Kate and have listened to her music since I was in college around 1991. But some of her material is a little 'out there', and even after years of listening I find it hard to enjoy.
'Suspended in Jaffa' is a good example, I can't warm up to it. But, some of my Kate favorites include:

Eat The Music
Moving
The Saxophone Song
Strange Phenomena
Oh To Be In Love
Them Heavy People
Hounds of Love
The Sensual World
Rocket's Tail
Never Be Mine
Love and Anger
This Woman's Work
Cloudbusting
Running Up That Hill
Breathing
and Wuthering Heights (but not the version on 'The Kick Inside', I prefer the re-recorded version on her 'The Whole Story' collection)

[BellaDonna93]

I LOVE KATE!!!!

Kate was actually my 1st REAL influence...I listened to only her music between the fall 2006 and the spring/summer 2007. And I translated all her songs into Swedish, to learn more english and to make sure what it was she sang abouot :D And so without Kate, I wouldn't have learned that much english xD
Love her and her music!

[HejiraNYC]

I LOVE KATE!!!!

Kate was actually my 1st REAL influence...I listened to only her music between the fall 2006 and the spring/summer 2007. And I translated all her songs into Swedish, to learn more english and to make sure what it was she sang abouot :D And so without Kate, I wouldn't have learned that much english xD
Love her and her music!

Were you able to translate "Bang goes another kanga on the bonnet of the van" into Swedish?

[Meowi]

Were you able to translate "Bang goes another kanga on the bonnet of the van" into Swedish?

LOL!
Anway, her story now is very similliar to Chris, Kate released an album in 2005, and no one has heard of her since. :shrug:

[HejiraNYC]

LOL!
Anway, her story now is very similliar to Chris, Kate released an album in 2005, and no one has heard of her since. :shrug:

Well, she sang the theme song for "The Golden Compass" in 2006. It wasn't a good song, but it's better than nothing! I hope that now that her kid is in school, she would start recording more. At this rate she will be 60 by the time she releases her next album!

[Meowi]

Well, she sang the theme song for "The Golden Compass" in 2006. It wasn't a good song, but it's better than nothing! I hope that now that her kid is in school, she would start recording more. At this rate she will be 60 by the time she releases her next album!

Apparently she is so quite that no one had known she had a child.
People recently had been giving her a hard time, on privacy. But I think otherwise, I mean she could have gone done a very different and sad road.

[ragandbone]

Yes, I am big fan: I have all her albums, most on vinyl.
She is quite unique, but I suppose she shared, with Stevie, a penchant for fairy tale and ballet, and perhaps also black and white film stars. Regina Spektor sometimes reminds me a bit of Kate Bush.

The band Ra Ra Riot did a very good cover of "Suspended in Gaffa" not that long ago.

[Sahara]

I'm a fan of hers, too. She's funny & rocking. I don't really see the connection with Stevie Nicks, however, but I do see a connection with Lindsey Buckingham.
That's a really astute point. :nod: I think Kate is a one-of-a-kind like Stevie, but she also pushes musical boundaries like Lindsey.

[HejiraNYC]

Oh, this reminds me... I have noticed a blitzkrieg of TV ads for the chick flick "Dear John" recently and I hear this song playing in the background featuring a male voice and a female voice singing in harmony. The first time I heard it, I could have sworn it was Kate Bush... but then I just couldn't reconcile this seemingly ****ty movie with the greatness that is Kate, so I concluded it wasn't her. So who is singing on this song? I'm too lazy to look it up...

[Meowi]

Oh, this reminds me... I have noticed a blitzkrieg of TV ads for the chick flick "Dear John" recently and I hear this song playing in the background featuring a male voice and a female voice singing in harmony. The first time I heard it, I could have sworn it was Kate Bush... but then I just couldn't reconcile this seemingly ****ty movie with the greatness that is Kate, so I concluded it wasn't her. So who is singing on this song? I'm too lazy to look it up...

I'll have to check it out!

[chazlightyear]

I found out recently that i used to live in the same village as her on the outskirts of London at the same time, i must have passed her house every day on the way to work Never saw her once!

[BellaDonna93]

Were you able to translate "Bang goes another kanga on the bonnet of the van" into Swedish?

LMAO!! No, I really don't think so...actually..LOL :blob1:

[Black_Moon]

I'm a fan of hers, too. She's funny & rocking. I don't really see the connection with Stevie Nicks, however, but I do see a connection with Lindsey Buckingham.

I agree, except I think Kate's a better producer if I'm being honest - Lindsey has a tendency to go too far, whereas Kate's learned when to stop producing. Both are musical geniuses though.

[goldustsongbird]

I like Kate, but I've found I can only take her in small doses.

[LiamMcConville]

Oh, this reminds me... I have noticed a blitzkrieg of TV ads for the chick flick "Dear John" recently and I hear this song playing in the background featuring a male voice and a female voice singing in harmony. The first time I heard it, I could have sworn it was Kate Bush... but then I just couldn't reconcile this seemingly ****ty movie with the greatness that is Kate, so I concluded it wasn't her. So who is singing on this song? I'm too lazy to look it up...

Shockingly - it's Martha Wainwright & Snow Patrol. The song is called Set the Fire to the Third Bard. :shrug: I thought it was KB too, the first time I heard it.

[tilthefirefades]

Upon reading this, I looked her up on youtube, and must say that I am umm..:confused: that.

Maybe shes just not for me, but she is definitely different from anything i've ever heard haha

Reminds me a lot of Lady Gaga, who is influenced by her anyway.

[Fiver]

Awww... sadness. But, yeah I guess not everybody's gonna like her.

I know some people who love her later stuff but can't listen to her first few albums. Her voice was much higher pitched.. squeaky. I'd say by the time she did Never For Ever her voice was more uh.. accessible? I personally love all the albums from The Kick Inside to The Dreaming, though.

But.. I love showing people the Wuthering Heights video with the original audio. It's madness. :] Freaks em out.

[tilthefirefades]

Awww... sadness. But, yeah I guess not everybody's gonna like her.

I know some people who love her later stuff but can't listen to her first few albums. Her voice was much higher pitched.. squeaky. I'd say by the time she did Never For Ever her voice was more uh.. accessible? I personally love all the albums from The Kick Inside to The Dreaming, though.

But.. I love showing people the Wuthering Heights video with the original audio. It's madness. :] Freaks em out.

haha yes wuthering heights was the first one i watched :laugh:

But Running Up That Hill is brilliant! Maybe I need to keep listening to her

[Fiver]

haha yes wuthering heights was the first one i watched :laugh:

But Running Up That Hill is brilliant! Maybe I need to keep listening to her

Oh yeah, I love that song! I don't own the album yet, unfortunately... :( I ended up buying it off of itunes.. I usually prefer to listen to whole albums, but I couldn't pass that one up.

Been blowin' through all my extra cash trying to buy FM/Stevie/Lindsey/Christine and now Kate Bush albums. Choosing which is next is difficult. Life's hard. :lol:
Wuthering Heights was my first Kate Bush song, too. Didn't really know what to think, heheh.. then I watched a couple other vids on youtube and her weirdness started to grow on me.

I love the interview and her explanation of the song Babooshka.

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[Black_Moon]

Oh yeah, I love that song! I don't own the album yet, unfortunately... :( I ended up buying it off of itunes.. I usually prefer to listen to whole albums, but I couldn't pass that one up.

Been blowin' through all my extra cash trying to buy FM/Stevie/Lindsey/Christine and now Kate Bush albums. Choosing which is next is difficult. Life's hard. :lol:
Wuthering Heights was my first Kate Bush song, too. Didn't really know what to think, heheh.. then I watched a couple other vids on youtube and her weirdness started to grow on me.

I love the interview and her explanation of the song Babooshka.

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Whenever I watch her interviews, I always think, "Aww, bless her!" She's so adorable.

[Fiver]

Haha, me too! And so different from the lady ya see onstage.

[Meowi]

Tillthefirefades, have we converted you?

Look at this everyone!
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OMG, the look at her at 1:45/2:00 :):):)

[Dodfather]

Oh yeah, I love that song! I don't own the album yet, unfortunately... :( I ended up buying it off of itunes.. I usually prefer to listen to whole albums, but I couldn't pass that one up.

Been blowin' through all my extra cash trying to buy FM/Stevie/Lindsey/Christine and now Kate Bush albums. Choosing which is next is difficult. Life's hard. :lol:
Wuthering Heights was my first Kate Bush song, too. Didn't really know what to think, heheh.. then I watched a couple other vids on youtube and her weirdness started to grow on me.

I love the interview and her explanation of the song Babooshka.

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Cliff Richard??!! Oh Kate, you're amazing but just, no. Especially in terms of musical progession and change, surely not?! Then again, it's all subjective I suppose...

[tilthefirefades]

ok, I have an update, I have completely fallen in love with her music as of late! :D

Cloudbusting is great! It's what broke me in, even Wuthering Heights isn't so bad now :nod:

[TrueFaith77]

^^It's time to hear the albums. I recommend just getting them in order.

[Fiver]

ok, I have an update, I have completely fallen in love with her music as of late! :D

Cloudbusting is great! It's what broke me in, even Wuthering Heights isn't so bad now :nod:

Awesome! :thumbsup: Hope you enjoy it all much as I do. As soon as I heard the first album, I was hooked. That song Kite is stuck in my head right now. :blob1:

I'm with TrueFaith77 on this, I'd get em in order too. She just got better with each album.

[HejiraNYC]

^^It's time to hear the albums. I recommend just getting them in order.

As much as I love Kate, I have to admit that her first couple of albums were not my favorite. That's not to say that they are necessarily bad recordings... but they lacked the kind of grandiose eccentricity that I love about Kate. The first two albums were just a bit too sugary and innocent for me to sit through repeated plays.

This is how I would approach Kate:

1. The Whole Story- This is a well-edited selection of highlights from her early albums along with one original new track and a re-recording of "Wuthering Heights." I especially love all the pictures of the artwork on the singles- just gorgeous stuff.

2. The Hounds of Love- This is Kate's finest hour.

3. Aerial- Kate's second finest hour. I love everything about this album- even her Elvis impersonation on "King of the Mountain." It's rather distressing that she did almost zero promotion behind this album because it is such a masterwork. The second disc, "Sky of Honey," is my summer soundtrack.

4. The Dreaming- Now that you've heard where she ended up, you can hear where she first took a sharp left turn to the bizarre. Peter Gabriel released his first "world music" album the same year Kate released this album- her own "world music" album. It's all there- Celtic fiddle, didjeridoo, Brazilian rhythms. She also brays like a donkey and plots a bank heist. Lots of fun here!

5. The Red Shoes- I have always considered this to be kind of like The Dreaming II. It doesn't sound anything like The Dreaming, but it is full of that kind of bold-faced experimentation with different musical styles. But this is no longer the bold, feisty, political, angry Kate of yore. This is the more mature, reflective, somber Kate, who is both older and wiser.

6. The Sensual World- This is Kate's "girl power" album. The title track starts it all with Kate vicariously exploring "the power of a woman's body" via lines borrowed from James Joyce's Ulysses. Later she is mourning the sense of loss and renewal of childbirth in "This Woman's Work," and then ending up imagining the limitless possibilities of a girl's life on "Rocket's Tail." This is perhaps one of Kate's most cohesive-sounding set of songs.

7. Never For Ever- This is where the cracks begin to appear in Kate's placid veneer. Here she goes from the typical girl next door to the woman next door with a fetish for young boys. You know something's not quite right once you hear her screaming "Violin, violin, violin, violin!!" like her life depended on it.

8. Kick Inside or Lionheart (interchangeable)- These are the left-side bookends. They are interchangeable because they are stylistically and thematically indistinguishable. Here she portrays herself as that precocious teenager who was probably reading Bronte in her attic bedroom rather Tiger Beat magazine. Still, despite the lush production, the songs are about as deep as petrie dishes. The girly angst is there, along with her bloodied, broken hymen. I would save these for last because it really allows you to appreciate the mature artist she eventually evolved into. But the song "O England, my Lionheart" is also the song that perfectly captures the dyed-in-the-wool British-ness of this gal. It is a pure paean to her homeland without the slightest bit of irony, which ironically, eventually became a recurrent theme in her latter work.

[Meowi]

Awesome! :thumbsup: Hope you enjoy it all much as I do. As soon as I heard the first album, I was hooked. That song Kite is stuck in my head right now. :blob1:
Beelzebub is aching in my belly-o.
My feet are heavy and I'm rooted in my wellios.
:nod:

[Fiver]

:]

'I look at eye level, It isn't good enough
And then I find out, when I take a good look up
There's a hole in the sky with a big eyeball
Calling me'

That verse makes me think of a freaky dream I had as a kid. :p

Come up and be a kite, and fly a diamond night!

[iamnotafraid]

Does anyone else like Kate Bush?

I like her duet with Peter Gabriel on "Don't Give Up".

I've got one of her albums..........somewhere.

[Meowi]

I really like the Dreaming, it's one of those albums, were you can listen to every song.

[Pyewacket]

I've loved Kate since 1982, when I tracked down "The Dreaming," hated it, then couldn't believe how weird it was, then couldn't stop listening to it, and then finally loved it. That tends to be the experience many listeners have with her -- that which makes her so compelling is also what makes her challenging (is also what sets her apart from the pack).

My name here, Pyewacket, was chosen in deference to Kate (points to anyone who can figure out why). And as another tribute, in 2005, I created this mashup of one of Kate's songs along with the horror film that (in part) inspired it. I used two versions of the song along with clips from the film and at least four of her videos to make it work.


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Kate has many similarities to Stevie in that she has a penchant for the mystical, her lyrics can be highly personal, but the details are usually obscured by poetry, and she got her start in the early 70s (one of her biggest hits was written in 1972, when she was just 14). But I agree, she's a lot more like Lindsey in that she's a fearless innovator and experimenter with all types of music and sound. I believe that the Lindsey and Kate have actually riffed off one another...listen to "Tusk" and then "Sat In Your Lap" (which came out a year later) or to "Running Up That Hill" and then "Big Love" (which came out two years later).

Here's a fun fact I bet you didn't know: Kate was offered a chance to tour with Fleetwood Mac in 1979 and (perhaps to her detriment) turned the offer down. She instead did her own headlining tour of Europe (but might've broken into the American market had she accepted).

[daniellaaarisen]

Favorite Kate song of the moment: "A Coral Room"

[Meowi]

I got the Lionheart yesterday after a long search.
Great album.

[Meowi]

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WOW!

[~*BellaDonna*~]

Very much. :)
Some of my favorites include "Babooshka","Wow", "Hammer Horror" and "Breathing".