The wit and charisma of Kate Bush by Graeme Thomson: going too far makes you what you are

Graeme is an old friend of the podcast. We’ve talked to him in the past about his books on Phil Lynott and John Martyn. ‘Under The Ivy: the Life And Music of Kate Bush’ first appeared in 2010, and was revised in 2015 after her Before the Dawn concerts and it’s now been updated again as, despite no new music or public appearances, her worldwide reputation has rocketed through the roof. We look back here at various key points in the story including ...
… why the way she made records was ahead of its time.
… the ‘70s footage and recordings that were “supressed”.
… the “reclusive” decade and how the press filled the vacuum.
… divinely daft and humorous TV appearances eg with Delia Smith: “Waldorf Salad - that’s got waldorfs in it!”
… her bohemian childhood and the powerful influence of male counterparts, particularly eldest brother and erotic poet John Carder Bush.
… the unconventional Smash Hits interview of 1981.
… the ‘Before the Dawn’ concerts and the reason she staged them.
… her seven-year stand-off with Top Of The Pops.
… her ‘70s rock group - the KT Bush Band (still going!) - and the songs they played eg The Stealer by Free, Brooklyn by Steely Dan, Shame Shame Shame by Johnny Winter.
… Danny Baker’s NME review - “nothing she writes about matters”.
… Pamela Stephenson’s vicious pastiche and Alan Partridge’s part in her comeback.
... Talk Talk, Blackadder, Monty Python, Powell & Pressburger, Oscar Wilde, Celtic folk, the Pre-Raphaelites and other early influences.
… and the advantage of never being cool.
Order 'Under The Ivy' here …
www.amazon.co.uk/Under-Ivy-Mu...
Find out more about how to help us keep the conversation going: / wordinyourear

[@mcolville]

I believe "recluse" is code for "does not talk to the press."

[@markkavanagh7377]

R.I.P. for Donald Sutherland who appeared in the great Cloudbusting video.

[@Anybloke]

Thanks. I will certainly be buying the book. One thing no-one ever mentions. Part of the reason Wuthering Heights was such a big hit in 1978 was because the novel was on the O Level English Lit curriculum that year. Millions of teenagers around the UK (myself included) were reading it.

[@samguberman2288]

I loved the original book but I'll need to get the updated one to read about The Before the dawn shows, I was lucky to see her twice, including the last night. I queued up from 7 am hoping for a returned ticket and at 18:45 the box office gave me the ticket, I just had to be there on sadly itwill probably her last live show.....I hope I'm wrong . The concerts were amazing and it was Incredibly emotional when Kate finally took to the stage, I'm not ashamed I got choked up along with I'm sure most of the audience.

[@acj2789]

I recall thinking Tori Amos showed a clear Kate Bush influence.

[@neilparnell2089]

Can't believe you went through all the people inspired by her and never mentioned Tori Amos, seems the most 'inspired' by Kate, apparently Kate is still recording has made at least one track in the last few years with Big Boi from Outkast , and Kate was good friends with Mark Hollis from Talk Talk , they tried collaborating in the 90's it didn't work out, but they socialised a bit after

[@philiphalpenny9761]

I was thinking the same thing. 'Cornflake Girl' was going round my mind as they discussed that point...Funny, hearing all three mentioning Bowie occasional gaffes...reciting the Lord's prayer at the Freddie Mercury's tribute concert comes to mind...Mr Hepworth said in podcast a few years ago that he had a genius for making people forget these faux pas...which is true.

[@ICENTUKAOS]

I wasn't aware of the Kate Bush / Mark Hollis link but it sort of makes sense. It may be somewhere in Ben Wardle's Mark Hollis book, I'll have to re read it

[@johnnowlan9963]

Some good remixes on KZbin 😎

[@nicknikipediacaulkin5943]

Great interview there, lads! I'm now going to order the book!

[@jonathancole833]

Actually Scotland's 1977 victory over England was achieved at Wembley and not Hampden Park, hence the greater incentive to invade the pitch and tear down the goalposts.

[@ByronWerner-qw5sh]

Closest I've heard anybody sounding at all close to Kate is possibly Anja Garbarek from Norway.

[@drees71]

Still a bit dismissive Mr Hepworth?! Please listen to A Coral Room, it's beautiful.

[@altair8598]

Didn't '50 Words for Snow' come out after the first edition so would have needed Graeme's attention? I've had to re-read and revise a book which is to be printed (though not necessarily published') and had to suffer the horror and tedium of completely re-paginating the index and re-numbering the section references following every time I discovered some late but interesting information. Dave - you've had several books published - do you do your own index, or has your publisher done it for you? Further complications in indexing are that one doesn't always like to use the same keyword for a noun or concept, or that the key topic runs over to the next page without it necessarily being used again; simple computer word recognition to index wouldn't necessarily pick up on that...

[@gloriab7801]

I think Joanna Newsom is ploughing a similar furrow, but is a far more profound artist than Kate.

[@MrDirtybear]

Ummm, I'd be with David Hepworth on Kate Bush. She finds whimsy too tempting. I like the idea of 'record maker' vs 'song writer'. Is this why she has released relatively few albums, her engagement with music through sampling can only get her as an artist so far. Some melodies or songs have to come to a performer whole, and be left relatively untinkered with. Comparing her with Brian Eno, who has tinkered endlessly with half songs and found sounds since 1973, and well... Maybe we wish he had stopped sooner or she had done more in the way of continuing to experiment-she'd have naturally found more whole songs fit for release....