Bush Tucker Trial

I’m feeling a bit like I’ve turned into a grumpy luddite looking back at my last few blogs - but I have another tiny qualm. The fire was ignited after watching a new video released by Marina And The Diamonds, an interpretation of ‘Hollywood’ recorded with piano-whizz/producer Gonzalez. Oh it looks quirky and strange and my, doesn’t she look sexy. Wait sorry the phone’s going, I better get this… Oh right. It’s Kate Bush and she wants her fucking image back (she said ‘please’ but I don’t think she was very happy)

I know I did a blog about Marina And The Diamonds a couple of months ago saying how wonderful I thought she was; so call me fickle fanny, but after watching this video I felt just a little bored of it all. When Kate Bush was plucked out of obscurity, EMI saw unique talent and potential in her. Instead of throwing her straight into the limelight, the record company gave Bush some money “to grow up with,” so she was allowed to continue studying dance, MIME! and of course vocal skills, until she was ripe for the plucking. And she was! In 1977 she recorded her first album, and arrived with ‘Wuthering Heights’, which reached the number one spot in the charts and firmly cemented herself as one of the country’s most refreshing and unique artists. She was bizzare and beautifully brilliant. What I’m seeing now is a couple of artists who stand so loyally by her trademark over-expressive nature, theatrical costume and operatic tones. They all do it so wonderfully well, but where’s the joy in something that’s rehashed? Cooking up left-overs for dinner is pretty nice and you know it’s going to taste good because last night it was great, but sometimes you just want a meal cooked up from scratch. Shit analogy there, I’m starving.

Kate Bush was self-styled, choreographed her own routines (can you not tell?) and wrote her own music. She’s the real deal. And I think the likes of Marina and Florence are too, they are probably a bit eccentric and nuts inside and I’d just like to see a little more of it and a little less pouty sex bits and pastiches. A bit more dancing with cellos please, (well not exactly that – it’d be copying - but I want to see what creativity and ingenuity they can muster up. Perhaps a tango with a oboe or something.).

Eeeekkk I don’t know. I don’t want to go around bashing modern music like some kind of miserable, corduroy lovin’ borefest. But artists, be brave. Let go of your Bush…