Strange Phenomena: The Music of Kate Bush

It started as an excerpt on a radio show called Personal Call in 1980. Only a verse and part of a chorus were ever played. “I was waiting for the flat note in the middle,” she said as the tape faded out. And for years, fans have wondered about this mysterious song. Is it called … Continue reading Bonus: Humming

Welcome to a special episode of Strange Phenomena. This week is the first “mailbag” episode. Over the last year and a half of this show, I’ve gotten messages from listeners about different episodes and their thoughts on some of the songs I’ve discussed so far, including some corrections (oops!). So this week, we get to … Continue reading Bonus: Let the Weirdness In #1

And now the end is here! Wrapping up this third season of the show, Cecilee is by herself to discuss a song from Zaine Griff’s 1982 album Figvres, called Flowers, which our lovely Kate Bush lent her vocals to! In this episode, Cecilee talks about the references in the song to French literature (who is … Continue reading S03E22 – Flowers (Zaine Griff song)

Ready to travel to new dimensions? Maybe even be a daring time traveler? Then you can be with a discussion of this week’s song, an album track from The Unknown Soldier, by British folk artist Roy Harper, called You (The Game Part II)! Kate and an old family friend, a certain David Gilmour, pop up on this … Continue reading S03E21 – You (The Game Part II) (Roy Harper song)

On to the last Peter Gabriel/Kate Bush song….. for now! Like the previous two Peter Gabriel songs we’ve talked about on the show, Games Without Frontiers is an album track. But unlike the previous ones, this was a successful single. In fact, it was Peter’s first top 10 hit in the UK and the biggest hit, to … Continue reading S03E20 – Games Without Frontiers (Peter Gabriel Song)

Now on to Peter Collaboration #2, the UK top 40 hit No Self Control, track number 2 on his 1980 album Melt. Peter Gabriel may have written this song, but in the production and song theme, No Self Control shares some parallels with Kate’s music as we would come to know it on her upcoming album The Dreaming. World instruments … Continue reading S03E19 – No Self Control (Peter Gabriel Song)

And so now begins the collaborations portion of this third season of the show! There will be a total of five collaboration episodes this season, three of them with the same artist: Peter Gabriel. I Don’t Remember was first sung by Peter and Kate together on stage for the Bill Duffield benefit concert in May … Continue reading S03E18 – I Don’t Remember (Peter Gabriel Song)

Ready to dive into a discussion of a rather obscure and strange little number? We hope so! Kidnapped On a Building Site is one of Kate’s most obscure songs, a raw piano/vocal unreleased demo of a song that was never fleshed out. In fact, we’re not even sure where this song came from, but a few … Continue reading S03E17 – Kidnapped on a Building Site

For a song that was probably meant, like The Empty Bullring, as a quick runthrough as she acclimated herself to a new studio, Kate sure came up with something beautiful and criminally underrated. This week, we’re discussing a b-side featuring just Kate and her piano, the flip of December Will Be Magic Again, called Warm and Soothing, a song … Continue reading S03E16 – Warm and Soothing

Almost 38 years ago, a mysterious holiday song was released to the record-buying public. Not just any holiday song. December Will Be Magic Again! The history of this song is a curious one indeed. First premiered to the public on the Kate Bush Christmas special in late 1979, December Will Be Magic Again didn’t get an official … Continue reading S03E15 – December Will Be Magic Again

Time to take a trip back in time to a track that was recorded well before Never For Ever: the lovely little song Passing Through Air. Released as the b-side to Never For Ever‘s final single Army Dreamers, Passing Through Air was recorded in 1973 at the age of fifteen, when Kate was still a teenager writing songs by herself in … Continue reading S03E14 – Passing Through Air

Welcome to another episode of the show! This week we’re digging into Ran Tan Waltz, a sprightly little number that was released as the b-side to Never For Ever‘s second single Babooshka. Rather fitting that Ran Tan Waltz, a song about a dysfunctional marriage, was the flip side of a song also about a dysfunctional marriage. Cecilee is joined by … Continue reading S03E13 – Ran Tan Waltz

After a short break, we’re back with a new song episode. So come disappear through a window and out of your mind into our discussion of The Empty Bullring, the first released non-album track of Kate’s career so far and the first b-side of this season. The Empty Bullring was the b-side to Never For Ever‘s lead single Breathing. … Continue reading S03E12 – The Empty Bullring

Big news today in the Kate Bush world: all of Kate’s albums, plus new rarities, are being released in remastered editions on vinyl AND CD! The first seven are coming out on November 16, 2018 in individual and box set form, with the rest (Aerial, Directors Cut, etc) to follow on November 30, 2018! Woohoo! … Continue reading Bonus: Kate Bush Remastered!

Can you believe we’re now at the end of a third album? Of course there are still the b-sides and collaborations to go, but all the album tracks from Kate’s third album Never For Ever have now been discussed and dug into! Our guests for this last song will be familiar to listeners: Zoey P and … Continue reading S03E11 – Breathing