Read Ebook {PDF EPUB} Under the Ivy The Life & Music of Kate Bush by Graeme Thomson Bush, Robert John. Born on April 4, 1920 in South Ockendon, Robert John Bush worked hard to win a scholarship to the Grammar School at Grays, and later won a place at medical school to become a doctor. He married Hannah Bush in early 1943. Together they had three children: John Carder Bush (1944), Paddy Bush (1952) and Kate (1958). His voice can be heard in the song The Fog, in the extended version of The Big Sky (The Meteorological Mix) and also among the voices calling to the heroine of The Ninth Wave between the songs Under Ice and Waking The Witch. KT Bush Band. Band formed in 1977 by Brian Bath, Vic King, Del Palmer and Kate Bush. After practicing in Greenwich and East Wickham Farm, they made their live debut in April 1977 at the Rose Of Lee in Lewisham. The set list consisted of standards like Come Together, 'I Heard It Through The Grapevine', 'Tracks Of My Tears', but also early versions of Kate Bush songs like James And The Cold Gun, Saxophone Song and Them Heavy People. During the summer of 1977 the band played various venues in and around London, a grand total of 20 gigs. When Kate Bush started recording her debut album The Kick Inside, she actually recorded versions of 'Them Heavy People' and 'James And The Cold Gun' at De Wolfe Studios in London with the KT Bush Band, but in the end, the band members were not used for the album recordings. Also, an attempt to release a single of the KT Bush Band's version of Johnny Winter's 'Shame Shame Shame', recorded at Graphic Sound studios in Catford was halted either by Kate's family or EMI Records. Although many of the band's gigs were filmed, photographed and recorded, none of these have surfaced. In 2016, Brian Bath reformed the KT Bush Band together with Vic King and new members Steve Bevan on drums and Jodie May on vocals. They have played various live gigs in the UK. Under The Ivy: The Life & Music Of Kate Bush. Book written by Graeme Thomson. Originally published on 1 May 2010, a revised and updated edition followed on 11 April 2012. According to the cover text: "The first ever in-depth study of one of the world's most enigmatic artists, 'Under The Ivy' combines a wealth of new research with vigorous critical scrutiny. Featuring over 70 new interviews with those who have viewd from close quarters both the public artist and the private woman, this compelling biography offers numerous fresh perspectives on a unique and elusive talent." Critical response. According to a review in New Statesman, "This is a very badly written book. If Thomson were never allowed near a simile again, it would be a good thing for the English language. However, he has done a fantastic amount of research, is extremely sympathetic to his subject, and - when he is not being figurative - can hit on exactly the right thing to say." Mojo added: "Mapping a path through the life of this enigmatic songwriter is not easy, but Graeme Thomson's superb book manages to do just that." The Anti-Room wrote: "Apart from the sheer wealth of information – from studio recordings, to childhood trivia, music critic Graeme Thompson has vast knowledge of his subject. His enthusiasm and general interest are part of the reason this is such an engaging read. Media perceptions of Kate as fey or eccentric are challenged and the stories he has gleaned from countless sources shape a more accurate picture of a fascinating creative talent. A must-read for fans and recommended for any fans of biography." Classic Prog Rock: "It's certainly a book that will keep Kate's very many fans pretty happy for some time to come." And finally, the Irish Times: "The best music biography in perhaps the past decade. an absorbing, painstakingly researched and downright fascinating book. After this magnificent read. you will come to appreciate her work that bit more. And if that isn’t the point of music biography, what is?" Under the Ivy: The Life & Music of Kate Bush by Graeme Thomson. I've written about the new/old Bush album, Director's Cut , for the Guardian . Released on May 16, the album "revisits a selection of tracks from The Sensual World and The Red Shoes , re-recording some elements whilst keeping the best musical performances of each song". You can read my thoughts here. Some of what I wrote was adapted for yesterday's news story about the album, and a few things were edited, so I've included the full text below: So the rumours are true. Kind of. We’ll have to wait patiently – is there any other way to wait for a Kate Bush record? - for an album of new material, but the news that Bush will release Director’s Cut on May 16, an album of new versions of songs originally included on The Sensual World (1989) and The Red Shoes (1993), provides plenty to ponder. Director’s Cut is a typically atypical Bush curveball: risky and potentially very exciting, but perhaps most of all surprising, because she has rarely spent much time raking over her past moves. Although her music is frequently defined by a haunting, mossy nostalgia and repeat excursions to the shadowy dream country of childhood, in her attitude to her work Bush has always been resolutely forward-facing. There has been only one rather cursory greatest hits album in 33 years, reluctantly released in 1986 to capitalise on her greatest commercial triumph, Hounds of Love . She hasn’t toured since 1979. She has chosen not to release her Live at Hammersmith Odeon video, recorded on that tour, nor her collection of groundbreaking videos, Hair of the Hound , on DVD. Deluxe editions of her albums, freshly scrubbed and featuring bonus discs of outtakes and rarities, have been notable by their absence. For an artist as fully in control of her career as Bush, these are conscious creative choices. She once said: “I can’t possibly think of old songs of mine because they’re past now. And quite honestly I don’t like them anymore.” Director’s Cut might well suggest a softening in this attitude, but it’s telling that, in finally looking back, she has chosen not to simply disinter but to reinvent: to build something new on the skeletons of her old songs. Rather than The Sensual World and The Red Shoes , we might have expected her to revisit her earliest records. On her first two albums, The Kick Inside and Lionheart , she wasn’t in control of the production process and the results often felt to her like a compromised, overly polite version of the sound she heard in her head. The Whole Story included a version of "Wuthering Heights" with a new vocal and a beefed up sound, but few would claim that it improved on the original. However, since 1980’s Never for Ever , and certainly by The Dreaming in 1982, she had been a driven, obsessive, autonomous presence in the studio, spending months and later years building self-contained musical worlds entirely to her own exacting specifications. Her back catalogue is generally agreed to be one of the finest and most carefully cultivated in pop, but it’s not flawless, and the fact that of all her records she has chosen to revisit The Sensual World and The Red Shoes makes sense: the former has some fabulous songs but in places sounds oddly flat and somehow squeezed, while The Red Shoes is her most predictable album, recorded at a time of personal upheaval and which too often fails to soar. Bush has in the past been critical of both. Director’s Cut will keep some elements of the original recordings of a selection of songs – I haven’t yet seen a track listing - from these records while introducing new ones. It will be fascinating to hear what she has chosen to change, and add, and whether these will be radically revised interpretations or mere tweaks. Her voice, deeper and more resonant these days, will certainly be one point of difference, while production techniques have altered beyond recognition since these albums were made. Should we worry that this news is evidence of a songwriter in decline? I don’t think so. Her last album Aerial , released a little over five years ago, was evidence of a muse in rude if unhurried health, while we are told she is working on new material which the grapevine suggests will be released before too long. If Director’s Cut is perhaps anti-climactic for those waiting for new material, here’s one final thought which falls somewhere between sobering and thrilling: this release may be the closest we ever get to hearing Bush do something which most other artists regard as routine, which is to reinvent and reappraise their songs by performing them on stage. She may have no desire to play live or be the dazzling visual presence she once was, but this is the first time since her tour in 1979 that Bush has made an effort to reinterpret and recontextualise her back catalogue. Not a tour of life, perhaps, but a significant reimagining nonetheless. Unusual, unexpected, a little bit strange, Director’s Cut is a classic Bush move. I can’t wait to hear it. Graeme Thomson is author of Under the Ivy: The Life & Music of Kate Bush (Omnibus Press) Kate Bush.