mozo-pg
11-07-2012, 08:39 PM
I posted this a while ago but what's old is new, eh? Your thoughts on the book/review?
Book Review
Graeme Thomson (2010), “Under the Ivy: The Life & Music of Kate Bush” (Omnibus, London)
As the title suggests, Thomson’s book covers both revelations from Kate’s personal life and her music, always done in a respectful manner and with vivid details and interesting anecdotes. The author clearly admires Kate’s work yet his review includes critiques of Kate’s music and visual arts. This book does read as an objective account versus simply a fan reporting on everything about Kate through an uncritical lens.
The writing style is clear and accessible, often linking to the book’s concept of how Kate’s life outside of music influenced her art. For example, Thomson notes “...the desire to break down the barriers we erect in adulthood can be felt in many of her songs”. The book is well-researched and many of the author’s descriptions are supported by interviews he conducted with a wide range of people connected to Kate’s life.
The most striking element in the book is Kate’s story of self-discovery that extended beyond music and dance to encompass her own philosophy based on her exploration of arts and literature and how this intersects with her engagement with life, family, friends, and nurturing environment. Moreover, one is struck by her immense talent that was not only based on a natural gift but cultivated through tremendous self-discipline that started early in her life.
Kate’s life is depicted as fairly privileged with plenty of support from parents and siblings and opportunities for musical growth and development from a young age. She clearly did not have a life of struggle and torture that inspires many artists’ work. Instead her life was full of adventure, joy, laughter, and a close-knit family.
There was musical talent throughout the family with diverse influences of classical, folk and pop music. These influences later permeate in Bush’s own musical vision of non-conventional form, that included mime and dance. Clearly these influences move beyond a strictly intellectual base to incorporate intuition and emotion and to embrace a wide range of art forms, from television, literature, theatre, to poetry and even movies.
Thompson adeptly examines the grace and complexity of Bush’s lyrics, with its unabashed sensuality, exploration of strange characters, and bridges between unconscious and conscious life. An interesting point about Kate’s lyrics, likely an appealing point among male Progressive Ears readers, is that her lyrical content is uniformly positive about men.
The chapter on Kate’s school years is what one might expect: a girl not engaging in a conventional curriculum and this environment not really shaping her art. A theme that permeates Kate’s life is an intense need for privacy, explaining her early rejection of live performances. This period also had significance in Kate’s musical growth as her original writing skills flourished from poems to song, from violin at school and to piano at home. Kate’s recordings found their attention with David Gilmour at this young age, something she kept private at her school. Gilmour’s approach was one of immense support versus producing or profiting from her work. Kate, despite performing well in school, left before graduating to pursue a full time musical career.
It is interesting to see how adept Bush was at such a young age at protecting both her financial and artistic success. It was during this period that her music, mime, and dance coalesced into the magic everyone soon fully appreciated although, over time, Kate became more sophisticated at producing her music. It was interesting to learn that prior to Kate’s early recording career that she actively gigged with a band (KT Bush) in the local bar circuit. There was an incredible amount of hard work behind’s Kate’s success.
The author picks up his pace when he deals with the craft of music making, specifically starting with Kate’s recording of her first album, “The Kick Inside”. Thomson is not writing from the perspective of a musicologist or as someone with deep technical knowledge about music. His layperson’s description of creating and producing her first album is excellent. He convincingly conveys what it must have been like when Kate was creating The Kick Inside. Thomson often refers to the influence of progressive rock on Kate’s diverse style and sound.
There is a major focus on the lyrics, Kate’s approach to making the album and her collaboration with the producer and her fellow musicians. One definitely gets a feel for what things must have been like in the studio. One is struck by the tenacity of Kate’s strength in dictating (maybe too strong a word), very early on, her preferences on how her music was presented to the public.
There is a consistent theme of Kate unaffected by stardom and continually striving to improve as an artist. The book shows how commercialism and fame can negatively impact on music and how artistic vision can be thwarted by the industry. The background on Kate’s only tour ever, “Tour of Life”, gives one perspective one the enormous investment in this show and how Kate was a totally captivating and innovative performer with incredible determination to present her vision. It’s a particularly interesting element because attention is directed to providing logical explanations to answer the enigma on why Kate has not toured for the thirty years since her first tour.
The story traces Kate’s evolution as an artist throughout her entire recording career, ending with a detailed overview on her most recent album, “Aerial” (at the time of writing this review). A significant portion of the book explores Kate’s uneasy relationship with media who often distorted her work and kept her on guard. This likely explains, besides the exhaustion, why Bush’s public appearances were often in television studios not live concerts. Throughout her career the focus clearly remained on her music whereby her paths crossed with a diverse range of musical artists and producers who were most often captivated with Kate’s beauty and sensuality.
Book Review
Graeme Thomson (2010), “Under the Ivy: The Life & Music of Kate Bush” (Omnibus, London)
As the title suggests, Thomson’s book covers both revelations from Kate’s personal life and her music, always done in a respectful manner and with vivid details and interesting anecdotes. The author clearly admires Kate’s work yet his review includes critiques of Kate’s music and visual arts. This book does read as an objective account versus simply a fan reporting on everything about Kate through an uncritical lens.
The writing style is clear and accessible, often linking to the book’s concept of how Kate’s life outside of music influenced her art. For example, Thomson notes “...the desire to break down the barriers we erect in adulthood can be felt in many of her songs”. The book is well-researched and many of the author’s descriptions are supported by interviews he conducted with a wide range of people connected to Kate’s life.
The most striking element in the book is Kate’s story of self-discovery that extended beyond music and dance to encompass her own philosophy based on her exploration of arts and literature and how this intersects with her engagement with life, family, friends, and nurturing environment. Moreover, one is struck by her immense talent that was not only based on a natural gift but cultivated through tremendous self-discipline that started early in her life.
Kate’s life is depicted as fairly privileged with plenty of support from parents and siblings and opportunities for musical growth and development from a young age. She clearly did not have a life of struggle and torture that inspires many artists’ work. Instead her life was full of adventure, joy, laughter, and a close-knit family.
There was musical talent throughout the family with diverse influences of classical, folk and pop music. These influences later permeate in Bush’s own musical vision of non-conventional form, that included mime and dance. Clearly these influences move beyond a strictly intellectual base to incorporate intuition and emotion and to embrace a wide range of art forms, from television, literature, theatre, to poetry and even movies.
Thompson adeptly examines the grace and complexity of Bush’s lyrics, with its unabashed sensuality, exploration of strange characters, and bridges between unconscious and conscious life. An interesting point about Kate’s lyrics, likely an appealing point among male Progressive Ears readers, is that her lyrical content is uniformly positive about men.
The chapter on Kate’s school years is what one might expect: a girl not engaging in a conventional curriculum and this environment not really shaping her art. A theme that permeates Kate’s life is an intense need for privacy, explaining her early rejection of live performances. This period also had significance in Kate’s musical growth as her original writing skills flourished from poems to song, from violin at school and to piano at home. Kate’s recordings found their attention with David Gilmour at this young age, something she kept private at her school. Gilmour’s approach was one of immense support versus producing or profiting from her work. Kate, despite performing well in school, left before graduating to pursue a full time musical career.
It is interesting to see how adept Bush was at such a young age at protecting both her financial and artistic success. It was during this period that her music, mime, and dance coalesced into the magic everyone soon fully appreciated although, over time, Kate became more sophisticated at producing her music. It was interesting to learn that prior to Kate’s early recording career that she actively gigged with a band (KT Bush) in the local bar circuit. There was an incredible amount of hard work behind’s Kate’s success.
The author picks up his pace when he deals with the craft of music making, specifically starting with Kate’s recording of her first album, “The Kick Inside”. Thomson is not writing from the perspective of a musicologist or as someone with deep technical knowledge about music. His layperson’s description of creating and producing her first album is excellent. He convincingly conveys what it must have been like when Kate was creating The Kick Inside. Thomson often refers to the influence of progressive rock on Kate’s diverse style and sound.
There is a major focus on the lyrics, Kate’s approach to making the album and her collaboration with the producer and her fellow musicians. One definitely gets a feel for what things must have been like in the studio. One is struck by the tenacity of Kate’s strength in dictating (maybe too strong a word), very early on, her preferences on how her music was presented to the public.
There is a consistent theme of Kate unaffected by stardom and continually striving to improve as an artist. The book shows how commercialism and fame can negatively impact on music and how artistic vision can be thwarted by the industry. The background on Kate’s only tour ever, “Tour of Life”, gives one perspective one the enormous investment in this show and how Kate was a totally captivating and innovative performer with incredible determination to present her vision. It’s a particularly interesting element because attention is directed to providing logical explanations to answer the enigma on why Kate has not toured for the thirty years since her first tour.
The story traces Kate’s evolution as an artist throughout her entire recording career, ending with a detailed overview on her most recent album, “Aerial” (at the time of writing this review). A significant portion of the book explores Kate’s uneasy relationship with media who often distorted her work and kept her on guard. This likely explains, besides the exhaustion, why Bush’s public appearances were often in television studios not live concerts. Throughout her career the focus clearly remained on her music whereby her paths crossed with a diverse range of musical artists and producers who were most often captivated with Kate’s beauty and sensuality.