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Austra- Lose It (Paper Bag Session)
When I saw Austra a few weeks ago, the one disappointing part of an otherwise great show was that she let her back-up singer handle the high notes in Lose It instead of doing them herself. That makes it especially nice to see her go for them here, even if the notes aren’t flawless.
The song itself loses none of its catchy-ness or power in this stripped-down form, and performing it in this way exposes the melancholy and desperation of the lyrics. The Kate Bush comparisons I saw in some reviews of Austra always felt gratuitous to me (I love Kate a lot, but not EVERY female singer owes a debt to her), but this shows there’s at least a tiny bit of merit to them, even if Austra’s facial expressions are no match for Kate’s.
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Kate Bush- The Big Sky
It’s a testament to just how good Kate Bush is that she can make such ridiculous and cheesy music videos and still be taken seriously as an artist. I’ve been listening to a lot of Kate Bush in the last week since I got both The Sensual World and Hounds of Love on vinyl (The new Audio Fidelity marble vinyl remaster is well worth the money, the sound quality is amazing), and The Big Sky has stood out as a song that resonates much more than it used to.
Lyrically, it’s a bit simple, one of the multitude of songs about being a misunderstood dreamer focused on the skies, but its religious allusions and “tell ‘em, sisters” female call to arms add a bit more heft than similar songs might have. The song’s extraordinary quality stems largely from its intense percussion and masterful use of layered vocals to drive the song forward. The vocal layers allow Bush to wander and focus on emotion in her vamping in the last third of the track, and that allows her to fully express the joy inherent in the song, the joy of someone who knows they’re about to take flight.
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So yesterday I went to Ocean City with my cousins, and was pleasantly surprised to find that there’s a legit record store on the boardwalk now. Since I have pretty much no willpower when it comes to not buying things I want, I got a bunch of records.
- Kate Bush- The Sensual World
- Stevie Nicks- The Wild Heart (So underrated. It’s not quite as good as Bella Donna, but how can you not love an album with Wild Heart, Stand Back, and Beauty and the Beast?)
- Bob Dylan- Blood On The Tracks
- Joni Mitchell- Blue (I was really happy to find an original copy of this and not have to pay $30 for the remastered version which is all 6 different stores I went to recently had. I might still buy the remaster once I have a job though. Side 2 of this is maybe the best side 2 of any album ever.)
- Joni Mitchell- Hejira
You’ve probably noticed that most of these records are 30+ years old, and are records I really should have already. That’s what happens when you try to start a record collection and your parents/family “aren’t really into” music and don’t have any records you can steal.
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Kate Bush- Breathing (live at the Comic Relief Benefit 1986)
You know why Kate Bush is awesome? Because she can make a song sung from the perspective of a fetus in the womb shortly after a nuclear holocaust genuinely moving and not ludicrous. I don’t know why she’s so reticent to perform live (she’s only done 4 live appearances since 1980, and two of those were just guest appearances at Peter Gabriel and David Gilmour concerts) since she does a stunning job here, especially at the “oh quick, breathe in deep!” part at 2:33 where all of the gravity and hopelessness of the song shows in her facial expressions. Kate is a performer who is both praised and derided for the theatricality inherent in most of her songs, but this performance proves that her work stands up to (and is possibly improved by) being stripped down and presented in its barest form.
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Words can not adequately describe how amazing this completely insane video is. You just need to watch it. That being said, I will do my best to sum it up.
Lynda Carter (Yes, Wonder Woman) performs a medley of Bad Company’s “Rock and Roll Fantasy”, Tina Turner’s “Proud Mary”, KISS’ “Made For Loving You”, and Bette Midler’s “Friends” that just gets crazier and crazier with each transition. The first minute is relatively normal, which makes the Tina Turner outfit, flesh colored bodysuit with giant pink headdress, and tuxedoed gorilla back-up singers that follow even better. If this is what used to happen on variety shows, their comeback is long overdue.
This version of Made For Loving You makes me wish Kate Bush had covered it, I bet she could’ve rocked that outfit back in the days of the “Babooshka” video.
(via ComicsAlliance)
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On the Shared Sisterhood of Kate Bush’s “The Big Sky” & Lady Gaga’s “Dance in the Dark” →
Full disclosure: I have such a wild crush on Gina Abelkop. She read this piece aloud on Saturday night and even sang bits of Kate Bush’s “The Big Sky” and Gaga’s “Dance In the Dark”—while reading this essay—and the whole experience was just rad.
This piece is pretty epic and really well done. I was skeptical that it could work, but the prose ties the two songs together nicely and I see how the initial connection could be made. This is why I said you all needed to know Kate Bush, she influences and relates to EVERYTHING!
Source: ohrohin
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Kate Bush - The Dreaming (1982)
- “Sat in Your Lap” – 3:29
- “There Goes a Tenner” – 3:24
- “Pull Out the Pin” – 5:26
- “Suspended in Gaffa” – 3:54
- “Leave It Open” – 3:20
- “The Dreaming” – 4:41
- “Night of the Swallow” – 5:22
- “All the Love” – 4:29
- “Houdini” – 3:48
- “Get Out of My House” – 5:25
Notes: Wow, I just noticed that this album is older than I am! Incredible, to think how long ago it came out and how fresh and unusual it still sounds. Many have loved and tried to emulate Kate, with very little success…how can I describe an artist to special and unique she truly has to be seen and heard to be understood? And even then she often isn’t! If you haven’t heard Kate Bush yet, and even if she isn’t the type of music you expect you’d normally listen to - do yourself a favour, you’ll be glad you did.
For fans of: Bjork, Patrick Wolf, M83, beautiful female singers, unique arrangements, eccentric artists.
Download: http://www.mediafire.com/?g2h9b1abbsu7jts
Uploaded by: AlyssaPandaEyes
Trust me, you all want to download this right now. I promise you won’t regret it. Kate Bush is so awesome that she’s managed to be a primary influence on everyone from Joanna Newsom to Big Boi from Outkast (Not to mention every woman to play a piano since the 70’s). Prince worked on a track with her, and his contribution made it less amazing. That’s how good she is. Seriously, you need to know her.
Source: damnfinemusic
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[Flash 9 is required to listen to audio.]Kate Bush- Come Together (Beatles cover)
So remember how earlier today I said a new Kate Bush track was a big deal because it’s so rare to hear anything new from her? When it rains it pours, because another new track was released this weekend, a soundboard recording of a live cover of The Beatles’ “Come Together” done in the 70’s. It was quickly pulled down by her ex-boyfriend and band member Del Palmer, but it’s great and deserves to be heard. Her unique vocal style adds a lot to the song, and her band does a nice job as well.
Anything live from Kate is a big treat, since she has only done 1 tour in her entire career, and that was in 1979. Since then she’s only done 5 live performances, and 2 of those were just guest appearances where she sang with others. (She performed “Don’t Give Up” live with Peter Gabriel in 1986, and sang the part of The Doctor in “Comfortably Numb” at a 2002 David Gilmour concert, which was also her last live appearance.)
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Kate Bush- Wuthering Heights
I realized after that last post that I’ve never actually posted great Kate Bush songs, so let’s fix that right now with the best music video of all time. It never fails to make me smile. Her interpretive dancing and facial expressions defy description.
I am forever thankful that no one has caught me trying to sing this song, it’s not pretty. But then the notes are out of reach for pretty much anyone. Even Pat Benatar had to lower the key to sing it. Lea Michelle (Rachel from Glee) has said she’s obsessed with this song, so maybe it’ll be in the show at some point, and she’ll either do an amazing version or it’ll be butchered by that auto-tuned Kidz Bop sound some of the Glee songs get.
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A new Kate Bush track leaked onto the internet today. This is cause for celebration, since she’s released exactly one album and done one soundtrack song in the last 17 years. The track itself is nothing special and meanders too much, although her voice sounds beautiful and this is probably only half of the song. It was supposedly written for the Disney movie Dinosaur (yeah, I don’t remember it either) but Disney rejected it. Parts of the song sound very reminiscent of the (much much better) song A Coral Room from her Aerial album, and of her song Lyra on the Golden Compass soundtrack, so it seems likely she reworked this track into those songs.
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[Flash 9 is required to listen to audio.]Screw the menstruation and oppression crap, this is the real deal.
That Balk loves Kate Bush also makes me happy. That said, “Eat The Music” is good and certainly worth listening to, but nowhere near the apex of her genius (It is however a song that can stand up to having a 9-minute remix track. The 12” mix is great). For that, you’ve got to go to The Dreaming/Hounds of Love or tracks like “Under The Ivy”, “A Coral Room”, and videos like Babooshka and Wuthering Heights.
Random trivia: Kate Bush and Prince worked together on a song for her The Red Shoes album, “Why Should I Love You”. Prince actually made the song worse though, the original demo recorded before his involvement is much better.
Source: alexbalk
