@@uppercutgrandma4425 what do you mean by that? she has had a few number ones and she inspired many artists even heavy mental bands some were inspired by Kate Bush
Yes, I agree… I've listened to 'Wuthering Heights' as a tale and almost like a movie… AND as some critics have said… the song is better than any movie.
Nellie S I’m pretty sure she’s doing great. I heard a rumour she back in the studio recording. Although given our current virus problem, who knows when that work will surface!
She's the perfect role model for anyone serious about music. You can't be more involved than she is. She even has her own studio at her home and has since her fifth album.
Indeed, which makes me think Beth should consider judging a video of ‘Pastorale’ by List & Shaffy: ru-vid.com/video/%D0%B2%D0%B8%D0%B4%D0%B5%D0%BE-IJsrqyfFOSk.html The best duet ever. The language is Dutch, but I think the role playing does half of the translation. He’s the sun. She’s the earth. Come on, Beth, you can do it. You’ve reacted to weird old Dutch songs before. Liesbeth List ceased to be a few days ago. Ramses Shaffy died about 9 years ago. They are legends.j
Before she was 19. The album was released when she was 19, but some songs she wrote before. She wrote Wuthering Heights when she was 18, but she wrote ‘The man with the child in his eyes’ when she was only 13.
@eric5374: she had just turned 14, by two or three weeks, when she started working on ‘The Man With the Child in His Eyes’ - similarly, “Wuthering Heights’ came earlier too. However, she reworked everything, time and again, until finally satisfied - which she seldom ever was!
Yes, as the others have already pointed out, Kate is very skillfully singing out of key for macabre effect. Thanks to Steve, Annette and Keefie for noticing too. Keefie, I cut Beth a little slack just because she is younger, and today's youth really have no real concept of life BEFORE the computerized era. It's kind of like an abstract concept to them. It's kind of sad how we're losing our sense of talent and genius in ALL the arts. Are there ANY new songs that don't have computerized auto-correction of pitch in vocals anymore? I don't know because I can't listen to "modern" music anymore. Our children have lost the capacity to appreciate that someone like David Gilmour can sing a song like "Young Lust", then turn around and sing like "The Show Must Go On", then sing like in "You Know I'm Right." On top of that, he and his bandmates are the actual writers of most all of their songs too! On top of that, David plays guitar quite skillfully and has a signature sound. One his guitar solos is regularly voted as "one of the best ever", sometimes "THE BEST" in rock history. ("Comfortably Numb" -Pulse live version). On top of that, he is very skilled with many other instruments, including steel guitar and saxophone. Of course he also backed Kate Bush for a live performance of "Running Up That Hill." I fear the day may come when our youth CAN'T make music anymore. BTW, here ru-vid.com/video/%D0%B2%D0%B8%D0%B4%D0%B5%D0%BE-Ily36PPJmRc.html is Pat Benatar singing Wuthering Heights as intended. Peace.
One thing to consider is that this vocal is supposed to mimic the winds of the North Yorkshire moors. Once you get that, it becomes a work of utter genius.
Absolutely love her singing. And it's fascinating how aware of the camera she was. When the one on her right side started to zoom in on her she immediately looked in that direction and started underlining the vocals with her eyes. A damn great vocalist and a complete performer
She's 13 years old when she wrote it and maybe a year or so older when she recorded it... it was one of the demo recordings that David Gilmour (Pink Floyd) paid for and recorded at EMI and it was so good that it was included on the album 'The Kick Inside' and released as a single ... there are other two demo songs that made the album (one of them is Saxophone Song ... can't remember the other one).... the most amazing thing about Man With The Child... apart from the vocal performance is how (HOW???) does a kid write those adult lyrics????
I understand that when Kate Bush was in the school choir she was always made to sing in the lower section and she was jealous of the girls who sang high. So when she got to do her own thing, she damned well did what she wanted!
New Falconer Records Someone on the .gaffa Usenet forum alleged that she’s naturally a mezzo. I think she’s more of a soprano - after all, she can belt up to soprano C and can connect into whistle range - but more of a dramatic one, who feigns a lyric sound. She does tend to have a pulled sound in the upper notes, that sounds almost like her voice has been warped in speed.
@@gillianomotoso328 I watched an interview with her a few years ago; Kate bush was asked if she could still hit the notes in Wuthering Heights. She replied that she still can if she has to.
Musical Neptunian Ooh! Those notes aren’t that high for a soprano (G#3 - F#5). I mean, footage from her first show has loads of passages exploring the fifth octave... heck, “Violin” goes up to F6! And she belts up to C#6 in a performance of “The Wedding List”. But she might have just trained herself into being a soprano for the time and then settled into mezzo by later on in her career. Her melodies became lower and her voice richer and more chest-dominant as time went on.
@@musicalneptunian I figured she could. She did some high notes on Director’s Cut iirc and it made me go “oh she’s still capable of singing high, she’s just choosing not to”
Kate Bush is truly amazing and I love her. When she sang this particular song she was aiming to sound like a ghost. So she’s over playing the high head voice in order to achieve a spooky sound. So much more than a singer, she’s a performer. Her voice is unique but different to this on much of her other material.
It's not just mechanical. It's expressing the intense feelings of Cathy in Emily Bronte's novel, "Wuthering Heights". Kate Bush, as a teenager, wrote this song after having read this book. She was moved by the story; thus, this masterpiece of a song.
Good review Beth. I'm old enough to remember this one when it was in the charts and the word I'd use for the reaction many of us had to it is "enchantment." We'd just never heard anything like it. Kate is a complete one-off IMO, probably a genius.
I remember it as well. She sounded like no one else. Much parodied at the time. Very distinctive and interesting. She was the first female artist to write her own UK number one single btw.
I believe I remember seeing a doco that stated that she actually wrote it when she was 12, saved it and showed/played it to David Gilmour when he first agreed to listen to her, before promoting her...Amazing!
Can still remember when I heard Kate Bush for the first time. I was shocked, gobsmacked by her singing. It was in 78 and i was a spotty kid more concerned about KISS and Black Sabbath than a pretty girl with a bizarre voice - or so i thought! Englands finest female artist.
@@nellies All my friends listen to Kate Bush and we're all roughly 20, she's super popular with people into art I suppose. The Kate Bush fanclub is strong aha
Strange, isn't it? A lot of metal-heads (me included) really switched on to Kate back in '78 ...and ever since. I think it's that creativity and uncompromising drive to express herself with scant regard for convention.
Kate is a Monster! She is a great composer, songwriter, singer, piano player and even producer! She always tells U stories (picks them put of books or whatever she likes) and does it so well! She is a true artist and almost nobody dares to cover her music.
This is her very early in her career. She expanded her register quite a bit in the mid 80s and was very creative with her voice especially on The Dreaming and Hounds Of Love.
@@nellies You misunderstood my point. I'm not saying this isn't original or distinctive. I'm saying she just use one technique throughout the song (head voice with just a tiny bit of chest voice here and there)
@@kutnersuicide I mean you could just listen to the remake she did in 1985 if you don’t like the original. It’s got a much more rounded sound but still in the same key with the same notes. She belts a supported G5 at the end too which she doesn’t do in the original.
Amazing analysis. I have listened to KAte Bush for 44 years and only recently investigated why she is so special. Genius composer, singer, musician, and dancer.
I’ve been in love with Kate Bush since the release of this. She was my first ever celebrity crush. I still listen to all her work, she has a lot of songs that are pretty much ageless. Thanks for this, Beth!
I loved her from the first I heard her. Her voice with unique lyrics and captivating music instantly grabbed me. One of my desert island artists for sure.
Kate Bush is a non-linear singer. A national treasure, to be sure. There is no one like her. The weirdness in her music contains echoes of another world, like being in a fairytale or the afterworld. Whenever anyione mentions Kate Bush, the Beatles song, ‘And I Love Her’ starts playing in my mind. Thank goodness for Kate Bush.
When you also factor in she used to sing these lyrics while taking part in huge dance numbers on tour (she also studied and mastered various forms of dance). Then you can fully grasp the total genius of Kate’s technical abilities. A total master at such a young age 💗💗
NOT AT ALL! Kate released Wuthering Heights in '77, more than a year before Tori Amos hit the scene in '79. If anything, it is Tori who was inspired by Kate. *{;-) **_R_*
There's something forlorn and sad in KB's music. It's like the epitome of a beauty you can understand but never embrace, like a dream world that's behind a glass plate. You can have glimpses of it, but you know you'll never be able to reach. Ah, sod it, I'm not making any sense. Though I'm a thirty-plus years long fan and will be until the day I bloody croak !
I would describe the singing as a fairy dancing, gently touching flowers, sparkling, golden, colorful. The conversation between voice and instruments lifts each other, flowing smoothly and vividly. I just love when I'm carried away, taken into a beautiful landscape. Beautiful piece
@@ckconey4083 There is a spanish singer who make similar music, she is called Virjinia Glück. You should listen to a song called "Si tu quieres". I don't like my country's music, but this artist is in another level.
I never had listened to her until Big Boi from OutKast said that Kate Bush and Bob Marley were his favorite artists of all time so I thought I should check her out. Mind blown!!!
@@nellies No it's not. If you asked a bunch of people what song comes to mind when you hear the words "pop song" it would not be this song. Not even close. A '"pop" song by definition, has to be popular and well known. This song never even charted in the USA.
@@nellies I can be wherever I want. How am I a hater? Because I disagreed with you? I know the song was popular in Europe and lots of people like it. That's fine - enjoy it. People misuse the word 'hate" as much as they misuse the word 'iconic."
True, Kate Bush "..is not for everyone", she is for the people that really know, understand and appreciate what music is..and that often means musicians with a divisive artist like our Kate. I know of very few people, that are not heavily invested in music production, that see Kate Bush as anything other than a bit weird. Whereas, if you understand music, you still may not like her style but it is far more likely that you will. She is one of the few things in this land that makes me proud to be British...cos Lord knows, it ain't the royals!!
Kate Bush is the true Queen of England. Even though she’s 20myears old here, it sounds like her voice isn’t even done developing yet. By the time she gets to the Never Forever album her voice has become even quirkier and slightly deeper.
I actually remember the first time I ever heare Wuthering Heights, lying in bed before going to school, Graham Dene on Captial Radio, saying 'you've never heard anything like this' and I really hadn't. I have to admit, I thought it was weird the first time, but after a while I loved it, and I was so glad I saw her in concert, the Lionheart tour, when I did.
Aw, I loved this - thank you. my all time favourite singer, and your joyful, almost playful analysis made me smile so much. I'm off to binge on Kate Bush again! Thank you!!
Kate Bush’s emotive haunting voice holds man, woman and child in its thrall. She’s a theatrical Master. Even if you’re listening only for its pulse, Kate Bush’s heartbeat does not disappoint.
I am a massive Kate Bush fan and remember listening to this when it came out on the radio. It was just so different and I couldn't decide whether I liked it or not. I bought her album after listening to her second single, 'The man with the child in his eyes' which to this day is one of my favourites.
I just discovered Kate Bush about 3 days ago, I`m 67 and I can`t believe I have never heard of her up until this point. I just love her voice and her movements in the ``Wuthering Heights`` video, when she was in the red dress. She is a true artist and a one off at that.
I love Naturtrane....amazing...saw a live version w/Spliff on Rockpalast and loved when you see the guitar player telling her towards the end higher, higher....hopla!!
Kate Bush is what u call an artist who is outside the box. She is not like anyone else nor does anyone else copy her. One of those 1 in a million artist out of nowhere. For her to hit big in late 1970s with punk, disco, corporate rock and other crap incredible. She ranks up with influential artists at same time like Elvis Costello
I was a total Kate Bush nerd in the 80s. I'm in the United States so I didn't know any other Kate Bush fans. I played Wuthering Heights once for a girlfriend and she said that was a Pat Benatar song. I thought she was crazy, but she pulled out a Pat Benatar album and sure enough Pat had done a cover of Wuthering Heights. I had no idea. But I had a lot more respect for Pat Benatar after hearing that!
loved this. Always loved Kate Bush. She never been afraid to just be herself and do her own thing no matter if people think she's strange. She's iconic and as you say has influenced many others. You made some interesting notes about her singing and performance. :)
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@Beth Roars, Haley Westenra did a cover of this song. If you haven’t heard it, you should give it a go…and maybe compare/contrast the styles.? Check out Dimash Kudaibergen…he has incredible range!
this is so unique even the greatest artist haven't even come close to what Kate has done with this track and to think she was only 18 years old when she created this masterpiece alone puts it on another level. as there will never be another beatles, there will never be another Wuthering Heights
I love that even while you're analyzing her vocal technique and color you're enjoying how she performs 💕 Watching Kate sing Wuthering Heights never gets old, it's like being entranced
Kate can't hit those notes anymore. She sings in a completely register now. Remember she wrote this when she was a teenager. I love Kate and her music. She makes musical art. Truly a one off. Masterful
Kates performance is like a performing theater musical in its uniqueness and at its highest artistic form. She's more than a incredible singer, her expressions and body motion are amazing and as fluid as her music. I've heard several great artists perform this song but they never could reach the depth of her voice resonance and richness. There will never be another artist equal to her.
Music to me is the underutilized language of the soul. Music is truth. As my wife declines with Alzheimer's it's clear that music appreciation is last bastion of the mind.
Everytime I listen to kate, or this song espesially I fall in love. Its basically mdma in song form. Its a freecvensy song, more then melody. It hits cells, breath, embraces you then treats you like a three in the wind. Its like a windy day kisses you on the temple.
I was ensorcelled by Kate Bush in December of 1978 when she made an appearance on Saturday Night Live singing "Man with a Child in His Eyes" and was lucky to discover her. She was a cult artist in America and a big star in the rest of the world.
Her intent was to sound like a ghost, which Cathy was at that point in the story. Also, this was the first female to have a #1 on the UK charts as singer who also wrote the song.
Pat Benatar covered this song and did very well, I thought. I actually heard the Benatar rendition first. When I encountered Kate's original a bit later, my first thought was that someone at the radio station had accidentally switched a turntable to 45 RPM to play an album cut!
It's what a great artist does: approaches things their own way, how they feel is right....not what other people think and want.....how she pronounces "Heathcliff" ..always gets me..so original, creepy, haunting, different, amazing 🙂
Thank you. I used to talk to Del Palmer and I realized he never got over losing her in their intimate relationship and never moved on to this day. His bass and sound engineering was critical to her success but she puts her creativity before anything that is for her success. She comes first, second and third. Never last.
Thank you for reacting to this. Two other wonderful songs of hers are "The Man with the Child in His Eyes" (from the same album) and "This Woman's Work," from her album, "The Sensual World."
Try to listen to GET OUT OF MY HOUSE from the album THE DREAMING and feel the tension she puts in the song just by her voice. Incredible but not for everyone.
My boyfriend showed me this song about a year ago. Today i heard it in the radio at work and it just made me feel happy somehow xD I can enjoy that weirdness and i'm happy for that
I would recommend Sat in Your Lap and Army Dreamers because KB experiments with using different ranges within the same song. Also, I would check out La India because she usually sings in several octaves!
There is a singer in Brazil ( she is probably a bit old by now too ) called Tetê Spindola that has the same kinda of voice. When I heard Kate Bush it reminded me of this Brazilian singer.