by Above her novel compositions and utterly unique approach to songcraft, Kate Bush’s enduring appeal across her diverse work is one of inviting warmth.
There’s never a whiff of satisfied pretensions or intellectual gatekeeping. Pick any one of Bush’s ten studio albums or smattering of singles and rarities—to be partially compiled on the upcoming The Best Of Other Sides release—and you’ll find an inexorable tide washes over you and pulls you into her musical world, at times daftly eccentric, sensuously intimate, or shimmering with a deep human universality.
Whether it’s The Kick Inside’s baroque pop bluster, Hounds of Love’s ethereal trance, or Aerial’s sunny domesticity, Bush always manages to somehow offer a translation of our dreams, weaving a slice of art-pop to move and transport us over indulge in avant-garde self-marvels.
Every record takes you by the hand and unveils something half-true or partially remembered, glowing with the faint residue of idle reverie that can both ward off reality while also trying to make sense of it. It’s an uncanny gift Bush possesses, never straying into new age silliness and always anchored in something profound, even if she’s dressed like a vampire bat on Never for Ever’s back cover.
It’s likely anybody who knows Bush’s work will be innately familiar with her albums, not being the kind of artist that elicits cursory interest. But whether serving as a reminder of how many jewels lie in her voluminous oeuvre beyond the singles or indeed a highlight to the layperson yet to be pulled into her spell, we celebrate Bush’s pioneering body of work and pick five numbers off the beaten track that dazzle as much as any of her defining numbers.
Five fantastic Kate Bush deep cuts:
‘The Saxophone Song’
Striking a UK number one with her debut ‘Wuthering Heights’ single, 1978’s The Kick Inside takes elements of the era’s progressive rock and orchestral chamber-pop, yet pushes such lofty creative ambitions to a realm that serves her keen sense of theatre without ever lapsing into overblown pomp. Landing just in punk’s aftermath, Bush’s bold baroque art-rock made just as much sense in the new wave with her captivating originality.
One of the many tapes Bush had demoed with Pink Floyd’s David Gilmour as early as 1975, ‘The Saxophone Song’ is another glittering pearl that showcases just how confident Bush was as a songwriter still in her teens. A love letter to one of her favourite instruments, The Kick Inside’s alluring second track flashes an almost romantic longing for the sax’s curves and siren chants, Bush crooning, “There’s something very special indeed / In all the places where I’ve seen you shine, boy” as session jazz tenor Alan Skidmore toots and bleats sumptuously on one of Bush’s most beguiling cuts.
