never forever

I once read a review of a Billie Holliday album, and the reviewer wrote, 'She sang, and singing was never the same again.' That, right there in a nutshell, is how I feel about Kate Bush. The first time I heard Wuthering Heights on the radio it rocked me back on my heels, and it still does.

The Kick Inside was released in 1978, and I've bought every new album she's put out since then, and I haven't done that with any other artist. In 1979, I saw her play live three times at the Hammersmith Odeon in London. The third concert was a benefit gig, at the end of her tour, in which she performed jointly with Peter Gabriel and Steve Harley.

In 1980, I queued for hours outside HMV, Oxford St, to get my copy of her latest album, Never Forever, signed. I eventually made it inside the store, and to within 20 feet of her, and had to give up my place in the queue and leave, I can't remember why but I kick myself (inside and outside) now.

Kate Bush fans have to be patient you see. I've learned that the hard way since I left that queue in HMV. She's released only ten albums, of original material, in 40+ years. We shrug at a wait of 4, 6, 12 years. It's always worth it.

To fill the time, I recently bought her book of lyrics, How To Be Invisible, published in 2018, only to discover I've been singing along wildly inaccurately to some of her songs for decades, but I don't care.

Sadly, I couldn't make it to any of her recent Before The Dawn shows in London, but a friend sent me a piece of the 'poem confetti', shot from cannons to shower the audiences, and I keep it pressed between the pages of her book - the V&A have a piece of it too, pressed behind glass so, you know, these things are considered precious, and I'm not quite as geeky as I sound.

Kate Bush. Equal parts brilliant, beautiful, baffling, and bonkers, but always utterly unique. Of course I'll wait another 8 years for her next album, why wouldn't I? That album title, Never Forever, now seems like a brilliant piece of foreshadowing on her part, the wait will seem like forever, but it never is.

This is one of my favourite images of Kate, from her Director's Cut album.