Kate Bush’s records, and the British habit of gathering over them.
Two subjects, one obsession. The first is the work itself: ten studio albums made largely on her own terms, from a teenage debut in 1978 to a snowbound record in 2011. The second is what listeners do about it, which in this country usually involves a village hall, a borrowed PA and far too much tea.
Everything here is written by people who have lived with these albums for years. We take the music seriously and the organising even more seriously, because the second one is where most fan projects quietly fall apart.
Original photography commissioned for this journal. Every image here was made on the day, in the field, for the page it sits on.
What you will find here
Three strands, and they keep running into each other
We started writing about the albums. Within a year we were writing about parking, public liability cover and where to hire a hundred chairs in Sheffield on a Sunday. Both halves belong on the same site.
Album by album, in order, with the studio detail that usually gets left out: the Fairlight, the home studio in Kent, the two very different sides of a 1985 record, the long silences between releases.
Mass dances on public parks, listening nights in back rooms, record fairs, quiz nights and the annual pilgrimage north. What actually happens at them, and what they cost to run.
The unglamorous half: choosing a date, booking a hall, insurance, first aid, accessible entrances, telling people it exists. Written for someone who has never organised anything before.
Several hundred people, one routine, and a great deal of red fabric
The mass tribute dance began in Brighton in 2013, when a group of performers taught a park full of strangers the choreography from the 1978 Wuthering Heights video. It has since become a summer fixture in dozens of cities, usually in July, usually raising money for a local cause, and almost always slightly chaotic in the best way.
We have been to a fair number of them. What surprises newcomers is how little dancing ability the day requires and how much of it is really about standing in a field with people who understand exactly why you are there.
Our guide covers what to wear if you are not confident in a leotard, how the rehearsals work, and how to bring a group without losing half of them at the station.
The Kick Inside, and 1978A nineteen year old at number one with a song she wrote herself, and what came next.
The planning checklistOne page you can print, tick and hand to whoever volunteered to help.
Before the Dawn, 2014Twenty two nights at Hammersmith, thirty five years after the first tour ended.
Other subjects
Three guides from other desks
Live music
Wayout Live
For Italian-language reporting on reggae and world music played live, Wayout Live covers tours, historic clubs and summer festivals, including Sud Sound System and Salento reggae, with dates, venues and record names throughout.
Civic life
Denney for Idaho
For readers who need plain facts about Idaho elections, the Denney for Idaho civic information guide sets out voter registration, Idaho, step by step, county clerks, polling places and state records.
Island life
Salish Sea Civic Notes
Salish Sea Civic Notes is an editorial guide to civic and masonic life on the San Juan Islands, covering masonic lodge officers, island service clubs and the ferries, fairs and markets that shape the year in Friday Harbor and Roche Harbor.
Other subjects
Three more from other desks
Public figures
Le Tableau Francais
For readers who want the definitions and sources behind a French figure before drawing conclusions, Le Tableau Français sets out how public indicators on the economy, living standards and the environment are actually measured.
Film
The Noir Dossier
For listeners who want a structured way into American film noir of the 1940s and 1950s, The Noir Dossier sets out the style, the hard-boiled pulps behind it and the move into neo-noir, chapter by chapter.
Records
Monsieur Lezard
For French-language readers, Monsieur Lézard covers records, turntables and listening rituals, from French independent labels and vinyl care to sleeve design and Sunday listening at home.
Other subjects
Two more from other desks
Touring
The 4 Lads
For readers who follow how records are made and moved, the Four Lads Archive gathers touring paperwork, session sheets and notes on pressing and storage, at touring and record collecting.
Cities
Le Diamant Noir
For listeners planning a trip across the Channel, a Marseille neighbourhoods media outlet covers the Cours Julien, the Panier and the Vieux-Port through thresholds, slopes and traces of reconstruction, plus markets, museums and Calanques visits.
The short version
Four numbers we keep coming back to
1978First UK number one written and sung by the same woman
TenStudio albums released between 1978 and 2011
22Consecutive nights at Hammersmith in 2014
44Years between her first UK number one single and her second
Where we stand. This is a listeners’ site, written from the stalls and from the hired hall. We describe the records, the sessions behind them and the events that have grown up around them, and every photograph and illustration here was commissioned for the page it appears on. If you own material you believe we have used without permission, write to us through the about page and we will take it down while we look into it.
