Kate Bush – Running Up That Hill 12”

Following on from the hype surrounding Stranger Things, and the appalling rip of Hounds Of Love, here’s a quick rip of Running Up That Hill.

Hello, It’s Been A While…

Halloween passed with barely a whimper this year, a product that was destined to be curtailed by the crisis affecting many…distinct lack of funds in the family coffers. It’s sad because I was looking forward to trick or treating (such a nasty Americanism of the traditional Celtic celebration of Samhain) or Guising as I used to know it, with my two grandsons. Very few households displayed lights and decorations inviting the younger children to run up to the door expecting sweets to be delivered into their goody bags. After an hour or so of tramping around the neighbourhood we called it a night and retired back to my daughter’s house to inspect the evenings haul. The main contents were the cheap jelly sweets (Haribo) and mini bars of Cadburys and Mars branded chocolate sweets. A couple of juicy satsumas were unceremoniously tossed to the side in favour of the other more appealing contents. A reflection of how children perceive what is advertised and what is not being the preferred snack.

The perception of what is normal to children fascinates me, their ability to decipher information about their surroundings in ways that parents seem unable to manage (the satsumas incident being one of them). Once explained why the satsumas should be kept for eating at a later date my oldest grandson put the satsuma back in his bag, while my youngest (he’s 28 months), after watching everything that had gone before, shaking his head in disagreement, put his satsuma in his brothers bag. Gotta love him!

While I’m here, I better take a moment to discuss my mental health. I posted a comment yesterday briefly outlining that I am slowly getting back to my normal badassed self. Instead of hiding away from society, I am almost ready to venture back into the wider world. My first step was admitting that I was in denial…damn difficult to do. My second was realising the unconditional love from children can’t be diluted, it is what it is. My third step was learning not to rush; everything takes its own damn time to heal and it’s not going to change.

Because it was Halloween I felt that if I’m going to post something, it might as well be relevant. Kate Bush’s Hounds Of Love featuring the Stranger Things track Running Up That Hill was going to be relevant enough.

Kate Bush - The Whole Story

The first compilation of highlights from Kate Bush's work is still one of the better ways of getting introduced to her music, even 20-plus years after its original release. Bush made a special effort on behalf of this collection -- originally an LP -- by re-recording and remixing her debut hit "Wuthering Heights"; she felt that her teenaged vocal didn't properly represent the song and, in fact, at one point thought to re-do the vocals on several other of the early numbers included. The collection is an excellent overview, presenting the many sides of her music, and bookending her whole career through 1984, from her debut to her then newest single, "Experiment IV"; nor is it confined exclusively to major hits, as important lesser-charting entries are also featured. As with Bush's other LP-era releases, American listeners thinking of buying this collection should be aware that the British CD edition was mastered from tapes that were at least one generation up on their American counterparts and, thus, sounds distinctly better than the U.S. version.

Lionheart

Proving that the English admired Kate Bush's work, 1978's Lionheart album managed to reach the number six spot in her homeland while failing to make a substantial impact in North America. The single "Hammer Horror" went to number 44 on the U.K. singles chart, but the remaining tracks from the album spin, leap, and pirouette with Bush's vocal dramatics, most of them dissipating into a mist rather than hovering around long enough to be memorable. Her fairy tale essence wraps itself around tracks like "In Search of Peter Pan," "Kashka From Baghdad," and "Oh England My Lionheart," but unravels before any substance can be heard. "Wow" does the best job at expressing her voice as it waves and flutters through the chorus, with a melody that shimmers in a peculiar but compatible manner. Some of the tracks, such as "Coffee Homeground" or "In the Warm Room," bask in their own subtle obscurity, a trait that Bush improved upon later in her career but couldn't secure on this album. Lionheart acts as a gauge more than a complete album, as Bush is trying to see how many different ways she can sound vocally colourful, even enigmatic, rather than focus on her material's content and fluidity. Hearing Lionheart after listening to Never for Ever or The Dreaming album, it's apparent how quickly Bush had progressed both vocally and in her writing in such a short time.

The Kick Inside

Kate Bush's first album, The Kick Inside, released when the singer/songwriter was only 19 years old (but featuring some songs written at 15 and recorded at 16), is her most unabashedly romantic, the sound of an impressionable and highly precocious teenager spreading her wings for the first time. The centrepiece is "Wuthering Heights," which was a hit everywhere except the United States (and propelled the Emily Bronte novel back onto the best-seller lists in England), but there is a lot else here to enjoy: The disturbing "Man With The Child In His Eyes," the catchy rocker "James And The Cold Gun," and "Feel It," an early manifestation of Bush's explorations of sexual experience in song, which would culminate with "Hounds Of Love." As those familiar with the latter well know, she would do better work in the future, but this is still a mightily impressive debut.