Nobody will ever convince me that 'Wuthering Heights' is anything less than brilliant.
This compilation has a newer version of her signature song with re-recorded vocals, a slightly more mature voice than the original single and track that appeared on her debut album 'The Kick Inside' in 1978.
It takes nothing away from the youthful spontaneity and sweeping drama of the first issue and adds more fullness to the production.
In other words, IMHO, you CAN improve on perfection.
Although this compilation is titled 'The Whole Story' obviously it's not. It was released in 1986 and although not prolific (no albums between 1993 and 2005) Kate has released new works since then. This compilation does contain some of my favourites up to that point though.
Like 'Wuthering Heights', 'Cloudbusting' was also based on a book - a memoir Kate read, 'A Book of Dreams' about philosopher Wilhelm Reich and his son Peter. They used a rain-making machine called a cloudbuster.
'Babooshka' draws on an older woman's paranoia that her husband doesn't love her anymore. She writes to him under the guise of 'Babooshka' a younger woman. The husband falls for the writings of this fictitious character because she reminds him of his younger wife. Oh boy !! The Russian flavour of the song was enhanced with the use of a balalaika played by none other than Kate's older brother Paddy.
Perhaps my all-time go-to favourite song of Kate's is 'Running Up That Hill (A Deal With God). There is nothing I don't like about this track. Her phrasing, the background throbbing drum and LinnDrum, Kate playing the synth and brother Paddy once again gets a mention on his balalaika.
Oh, and that voice! Then to top it off, she did an interpretive dance on the music video.
It has everything I want from a Kate Bush composition. The backstory it tells is the eternal differences between men and women and how there may be understanding if they could swap places for a while. Rather than making a deal with the devil, Kate chose a deal with god.
Apart from her own catalogue of work there are a couple of collaborations worth mentioning. The obvious one is when she sang 'Don't Give Up' with Peter Gabriel and the whole video clip was of the two of them locked together in a desperate embrace. An interesting sidenote is that the video was directed by Godley and Creme, ex 10cc. members. Also of note, Peter Gabriel wrote it with Dolly Parton in mind but she turned it down.
Another collaboration, not quite as successful, was with Prince for her track 'Why Should I Love You' off the 'Red Shoes' album. I covered this in yesterday's review of Prince so .....
Perhaps the quirkiest thing I've seen and heard from Kate is her version of Elton John's 'Rocket Man'. She recorded it for the album "Two Rooms: Celebrating the Songs of Elton John & Bernie Taupin" and it was also released as a single. Kate did the song as reggae driven and seeing her playing a ukulele in the music video is insane.
I tend to put Kate in a column to the side along with some other female artists who strike a similar chord with me. I'm not saying they are all the same genre or style or sound but I have the same feeling for them. I'm talking about people like Laurie Anderson, Patti Smith, Grace Jones and more recently Lorde. They are all somehow pleasingly slightly 'off' .. there's a quality that bounces between genius and uncomfortable and retains an edge to everything they do.
Kate Bush - The Whole Story is still being written.
No comments:
Post a Comment