Wednesday, September 28, 2005

Running Up That Hill (Again)

The Guardian reports that Kate Bush will finally be releasing her new single, the first in twelve years, next month, then a double album the first week in November (in the UK anyway).

We've seen some old clips of Kate recently due to, I suppose, the very small world of British showbiz. A while back we got the box set of the Secret Policeman's Balls (Amnesty Int'l benefits) and there she was, singing "Running Up that Hill" with her mentor Dave Gilmour. The oddest thing was a short clip of her (thanks Jeff) on Peter Cook's Revolver singing "Them Heavy People" where her performance was edited with clips of the ball from The Prisoner (the refrain of the song is "rolling the ball..."). And I swear I saw a young, pre-punk Billy Idol in the audience. Have to watch it again -- not entirely unlikely after all, given the small world of British showbiz.

It can be a good thing -- think of all the collaborations owed to it, not least of which would be Monty Python. All of them worked on various shows and projects and at just the right moment, together. Unlike the US, where people are instantly pigeonholed by their first success, it is possible in the UK to go from pop star to novelist to chat show host. But here -- well, maybe Fitzgerald was right, except when it comes to movies.

1 comment:

C. Margery Kempe said...

Yeah, and Jeff said that he and Glen Matlock show up in a lot of the Revolver episodes (hey, Marko -- have you seen them all yet?). But Roy Orbison? I guess that's a bit surprising, although I think he was better known and respected in the UK. I know the Beatles were really impressed to be touring with him.