Kate Bush inspires awe, reverence. Never a hit artist in the US, she nonetheless enjoys a substantial cult following.
But being a Kate Bush fan requires a lot of faith. For the first four years of her career, albums arrived on a fairly regular basis. Then there was a 3 year gap between albums; then a four year; and then...12. Then after a six year gap there were, surprisingly, two albums, Director's Cut (a reworking of two previous albums) and her latest, 50 Words For Snow.
You won't have a lot of interviews in support of either of them; after her first flush of fame, Kate shied away from doing much press. Which is what makes Graeme Thomson's book, Under The Ivy: The Life and Music of Kate Bush, such a useful book, providing a glimpse into her rather sheltered world.
There have been other biographies of Bush before, but Thomson’s is easily the most comprehensive. It’s not because he got any cooperation from the elusive musician; neither Bush, or those in her inner circle, granted Thomson any interviews. Nonetheless, he provides good overall coverage of her life and career, drawing on new interviews with people who have worked with her, both musicians and those at the record company who championed her career.
Thomson is obviously a fan, and sometimes comes across rather starry-eyed; he never gets overly critical and downplays anything that might be too harsh (for example, he cites a London Sunday Times story on Bush as being a “hatchet job,” but offers no specifics as to why). He’s also occasionally naïve, as when he says of Bush’s early career “It’s equally astonishing nowadays to recall the amount of emphasis placed on Bush’s sexual side.” Why “astonishing”? “Nowadays” the amount of emphasis placed on a performer’s "sexual side" makes what Bush went through seem positively demure (and she’d be especially mortified to have her every moved clocked on Facebook or Twitter).
You also wish he’d talked a bit more of how Bush and her loyal family set up a business plan that gave her unprecedented control over her career; something other artists could certainly benefit from. But he’s good at offering more insight into her private life, something she’s rarely touched on in interviews, and detailing how each of her albums has come together, not to mention the fullest account yet of her brief period in the “KT Bush Band” prior to releasing her first album. He doesn’t fully crack the enigma of who Bush is, but uncovers more about her than anyone else, in addition to offer a full assessment of her creative work.
Kate Bush website
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