The first thing you hear on the song is drummer Stuart Elliott playing a drum pattern previously programmed on a Linn drum machine by Del Palmer, followed by a classic sound from the Fairlight. And I thought, ‘well, no, why not a deal with God!'” But a deal with God proved to be too daring a title, God forbid: “We were told that if we kept this title that it wouldn’t be played in any of the religious countries, Italy wouldn’t play it, France wouldn’t play it, and Australia wouldn’t play it! Ireland wouldn’t play it.” The compromise was to release it as Running Up That Hill in the single version, and Running Up That Hill (A Deal with God) on the album. The lyrics propose the idea of a man and a woman swapping roles in a relationship, the result a greater understanding between them: “And really the only way I could think it could be done was either… you know, I thought a deal with the devil, you know. One of the first songs Kate Bush worked on in her studio was Deal With God, the title she intended to give that song. And there is something about the character of a sound – you hear a sound and it has a whole quality of its own, that it can be sad or happy or… And that immediately conjures up images, which can of course help you to think of ideas that lead you on to a song.” Kate Bush with a Fairlight CMI
During the work on The Dreaming she used the instrument a lot more, and by 1983 she decided to purchase one of her own and make it her go-to tool for music writing: “Most of the songs were written on Fairlight and synths and not piano, which was moving away really from the earlier albums, where all my material was written on piano. Bush first used it on the album Never for Ever, making it world-famous with the sound of breaking glass on the single Babooshka. Developed in Sydney, Australia, the Fairlight CMI was an innovative synthesizer, sampler and a digital audio workstation that once released in 1979 was famously adopted by Peter Gabriel. That Fairlight she mentioned was possibly the most important piece of gear in that studio. I think that’s the next step.” Kate Bush in the studio. It would be lovely to be able to draw the sort of room you wanted your voice to be in.
#Kate bush hounds of love genres simulator
We have a room simulator called a Quantec, which is my favorite. 24 tracks doesn’t seem to go anywhere with me. We normally use 48 tracks now, even if it’s for a vocal idea or something. In an interview at the time she talked enthusiastically and quite proficiently about her new recording space: “We have a Soundcraft mixing deck, a Studer A-80 tape machine, lots of outboard gear, and Q-lock. Her wish to self-produce her albums and control her artistic destiny with no compromise was another reason for the new studio. At £90, the going rate for one hour of recording at Abbey Road, The Dreaming cost her and EMI an arm and a leg. Her style of work, ever experimental and in seek of unique ways of expression, was tough on the wallet when using commercial studios. Musically, the most important contribution of the new house on her next album was a newly built recording studio. I sit at my piano and watch skies moving and trees blowing and that’s far more exciting than buildings and roads and millions of people.” Kate Bush, 1983 Song writing became a very different experience: “The stimulus of the countryside is fantastic. I’d wake up in the morning and find I couldn’t move.” Taking a U turn from the hustle and bustle of promotion activities, photo shoots, interviews and life in the media, she purchased a house in Kent and retired to domestic bliss in the country. Kate Bush experienced a period of deep fatigue after the release of The Dreaming: “I was just a complete wreck, physically and mentally. All three contributed to her next album in varied ways, and the result was the classic, fantastic and timeless album Hounds of Love. A change was in order, and it took a three-pronged approach: new house, new studio, new dance teacher. It was a sort of cry really.” While the album climbed to #3 in the UK album charts, it did not do that well in sales numbers, and the singles it produced did not fare well either. Bush said of that album: “It was very dark and about pain and negativity and the way people treat each other badly. Ensconced within the confines of a recording studio for hours on end during the many months it took to complete the record, the result was what many saw as an experimental and difficult album. Her last album, The Dreaming, released in September the previous year, took a heavy toll and considerable amounts of energy to complete.
#Kate bush hounds of love genres professional
In 1983 Kate Bush was in need of a change in her personal and professional life.