To celebrate the fact that Kate Bush is currently in the middle of her first run of concerts in 35 years, entitled ‘Before the Dawn’ Adéle Emmas lead singer and songwriter of Liverpool based Bird  gives us a personal take on her favourite Kate Bush moments.  Kate is without question one of the most influential, idiosyncratic, innovative and groundbreaking female artists to emerge from the UK in the last 40 years, and has just made history becoming the first woman in history to have eight albums in the Official Albums Chart at the same time.  Indeed Adéle tells us ‘ she’s one of the reasons I and probably so many other people started making music.’

And so without further ado, and resisting the temptation to state ‘a bird in the hand is worth two in the bush ‘ it’s over to Adéle

Running Up That Hill

This would be up there as one of my favourite songs of all time.  The synth sound, drumbeat, lyrics, everything about it is just genius.  I like the fact that it’s about the relationship between men and women and how if we could only reverse the roles we might have greater understanding of each other.  A lot of her songs are about gender and seeing the perspectives from both sides.

This Woman’s Work

This has to be one of the most beautiful, heart wrenching songs of all time.  I think I cry every time I hear it.  The story line’s about a couple who are going through the birth of their child but the mothers in a critical condition, the lyrics reflect on them looking back over their life together and what it must feel like to be a the man in this situation.  The line ‘Oh darling make it go, make it go away’ gets me every time.  Devastating.

Moments Of Pleasure

This is the kind of song that makes you appreciate life and the small moments that matter.  I love the way that she can make the listener totally connect to what she’s saying, she puts things across in such an honest and truthful way that’s so relatable, it’s like you’re completely stepping in her shoes.

http://youtu.be/D5P0v0kGauc

Cloudbusting

I remember my Mum forcing me to watch Kate Bush videos when I was a kid and I totally didn’t understand who this wild, high-pitched banshee woman was!  The video to Cloudbusting was the one I always remember being forced to watch.  It’s based upon the true story of philosopher Wilhelm Reich and his imprisonment for attempting to make rain machine.  I love the portrayal of the father and son relationship and the fact that Donald Sutherland plays the father and Kate plays the son.

The Coral Room

The piano on this song is stunning and again another amazingly, sad, touching song of hers.  The song is about the death of her mother and how a particular place or object can hold such a strong memory of a person.  I love the way all of her songs have such deep meaning and show great empathy.

http://youtu.be/iY9qUDkTgHk

Wuthering Heights

When Wuthering Heights first came out it must have been so intriguing and different to anything else out there.  I love the fact that Kate is a complete original, usually people are influenced by many others and you can usually make musical comparisons but she’s one of a kind.

King Of The Mountain

This song and album (Ariel) really reminds me of summer, I love the way certain albums and songs of hers are very seasonal and can remind you of particular times.  Not too sure, what she’s on about in this one but I love the instrumentation and the fact that she’s singing about Elvis.

Waking The Witch

I love the beginning of this song, it reminds me of that state of mind between being half-awake and half in a dream.  All of the phrases that are said by what appear to be her family i.e. “time to wake up love” are sweet and make you feel nostalgic for being a kid.  Then it goes in to some crazy, demonic sounding pagan chant so she completely flips it on its head there!

A Man With A Child In His Eyes

The fact that she wrote this when she was only thirteen is nuts, it’s such an amazing and mature song that even decades later it still stands up as one of her best.  Apparently, it’s one of the first songs that she played for Dave Gilmour and that’s when he decided to help her out and get her signed up.  Well in Dave.

An Endless Sky Of Honey

Lovely 42 minute long piece of music off Ariel.

http://youtu.be/JTP6tEZ8yzM

You can find Bird below and buy their fantastic debut album ‘My Fear And Me’ here

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