# Kate Bush NEWS! (and another example of her being way ahead of her time) **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [March 13, 2011, 1:52am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/kate-bush-news-and-another-example-of-her-being-way-ahead-of-her-time/574482 "2011-03-13T01:52:51Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 17\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Equipoise](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/equipoise/32/151_2.png) [@Equipoise](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Equipoise)\ **Post date:** [March 13, 2011, 1:52am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/kate-bush-news-and-another-example-of-her-being-way-ahead-of-her-time/574482/1 "2011-03-13T01:52:51Z")
A new album is coming soon, but [before that, THIS!](http://katebushnetwork.com/forum/topics/its-official-new-kates-album?xg_source=activity) > [@](#): > > "Kate Bush releases an unusual new album “Director’s Cut” on May 16 on her own label Fish People, in conjunction with EMI. > > On “Directors Cut” Kate revisits a selection of tracks from her albums “The Sensual World” and “The Red Shoes”, a process that presents a fascinating portrait of an artist in a constant state of evolution. She has re-recorded some elements whilst keeping the best musical performances of each song – making it something of a director’s cut but in sound, not vision. > > A new version of “Deeper Understanding” will be released as a single in April. Although written some twenty years ago, the song may be more relevant today than ever… > > Kate is currently working on new material although no release date has been set for this. [“Deeper Understanding”](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OpQnjY9pj5s) is the perfect single to release first. It was WAAAY ahead of it’s time. A slightly science-fictiony story, it’s from the point of view of someone who is obsessed with computers, and buys a creepy program that consumes them. **Keep in mind that it was released in 1989, BEFORE the World Wide Web even existed!** It starts out: [QUOTE=Deeper Understanding] “As the people here grow colder I turn to my computer And spend my evenings with it like a friend” [/QUOTE] Later, as the program consumes them… [QUOTE=Deeper Understanding] "Well I’ve never felt such pleasure Nothing else seemed to matter I neglected my bodily needs I did not eat, I did not sleep The intensity increasing 'Til my family found me and intervened ``` But I was lonely, I was lost Without my little black box" ``` [/QUOTE] Here are the [full lyrics](http://gaffa.org/sensual/l_du.html), also included in that YouTube link above. I can’t wait to hear the new version, but I do hope she keeps the Trio Bulgarka. They’re so perfect in the original version. It sounds like she will. ---
**Author:** ![Equipoise](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/equipoise/32/151_2.png) [@Equipoise](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Equipoise)\ **Post date:** [March 13, 2011, 1:55am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/kate-bush-news-and-another-example-of-her-being-way-ahead-of-her-time/574482/2 "2011-03-13T01:55:13Z")
Here’s a [good article](http://www.guardian.co.uk/music/musicblog/2011/mar/12/kate-bush-directors-cut)that was in the Guardian about the work. ---
**Author:** ![whereismymind](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/49beb7/32.png) [@whereismymind](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/whereismymind)\ **Post date:** [March 13, 2011, 11:04am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/kate-bush-news-and-another-example-of-her-being-way-ahead-of-her-time/574482/3 "2011-03-13T11:04:15Z")
awesome…I like you. ---
**Author:** ![multimediac17](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/839c29/32.png) [@multimediac17](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/multimediac17)\ **Post date:** [March 13, 2011, 12:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/kate-bush-news-and-another-example-of-her-being-way-ahead-of-her-time/574482/4 "2011-03-13T12:15:37Z")
I’m so excited for this that I may vomit. A new album (kinda), plus remasters of _The Sensual World_ and _The Red Shoes_, plus the promise of _The Dreaming_ and _Hounds Of Love_ also to be remastered and released later in the year… after six years of near-complete silence this is all too much. I need a lie down. And the single she’s releasing from it is the one that I always thought deserved to be a single the first time around. Amazing. ---
**Author:** ![Equipoise](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/equipoise/32/151_2.png) [@Equipoise](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Equipoise)\ **Post date:** [March 13, 2011, 5:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/kate-bush-news-and-another-example-of-her-being-way-ahead-of-her-time/574482/5 "2011-03-13T17:20:47Z")
Yay, replies! I like both of you! The remaster of The Dreaming is the remaster that excites me most. It’s not only my favorite album by Kate, it’s my favorite album by anybody, ever. It’s my Desert Island Album. If I could only listen to one album for the rest of my life, it’s so layered and dense and full of so many ideas and colors and voices and original musical thoughts that it would keep me entertained. I’ve heard it hundreds of times and I can still hear new things when I listen to me. How much more will a remaster reveal? I may faint too. I’m surprised she didn’t choose to revisit some of the songs on her first two albums. As that article says, she had no control over the producton and while I do love the albums, it would be fascinating to hear a more modern take on some of the songs. ---
**Author:** ![suranyi](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/e36b37/32.png) [@suranyi](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/suranyi)\ **Post date:** [March 13, 2011, 8:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/kate-bush-news-and-another-example-of-her-being-way-ahead-of-her-time/574482/6 "2011-03-13T20:38:20Z")
Wow, that’s amazing. Can’t wait to hear it! ---
**Author:** ![gaffa](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/e68b1a/32.png) [@gaffa](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/gaffa)\ **Post date:** [March 13, 2011, 10:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/kate-bush-news-and-another-example-of-her-being-way-ahead-of-her-time/574482/7 "2011-03-13T22:22:25Z")
Remaster? Oh, please, please, PLEASE make new mixes, ideally surround-sound ones! “Remastering” is mostly bullshit - taking the stereo mix-down master and listening to it and producing a better digital master tape. That can produce five, maybe ten per cent improvement. But re **mix** ing could be _amazing_. Most of the flaws of a recording are produced during the mix-down from the multi-track. If you have a chance to hear the isolated tracks, most sound great, or can be made to sound great with a subtle amount of noise reduction and other processing. For instance, the Fairlight was an astonishing breakthrough. But it was 8 bit digital recording. Seriously, it was in the same class as an Amiga or Atari computer, and every PC and Mac blows it away in sound quality. Some of Kate’s best work is marred by this “wash” of aliasing noise from the Fairlight sampling process.\* If the original master tapes were captured into a DAW like Protools, the Fairlight samples could be replaced by better ones. _The Dreaming_ and _Hounds of Love_ with the audio quality of _Aerial_? This could be an improvement in audio quality like The Beatles _Love_. - You can hear it most readily on the title song on _The Dreaming_ on that Fairlight ORCH5 patch. ---
**Author:** ![DaveRaver](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/daveraver/32/1078_2.png) [@DaveRaver](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DaveRaver)\ **Post date:** [March 13, 2011, 11:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/kate-bush-news-and-another-example-of-her-being-way-ahead-of-her-time/574482/8 "2011-03-13T23:19:40Z")
The Trio Bulgarka must be rather elderly now if they’re still around. ---
**Author:** ![multimediac17](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/839c29/32.png) [@multimediac17](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/multimediac17)\ **Post date:** [March 14, 2011, 12:10am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/kate-bush-news-and-another-example-of-her-being-way-ahead-of-her-time/574482/9 "2011-03-14T00:10:31Z")
> [@Equipoise](#): > > The remaster of The Dreaming is the remaster that excites me most. It’s not only my favorite album by Kate, it’s my favorite album by anybody, ever. It’s my Desert Island Album. If I could only listen to one album for the rest of my life, it’s so layered and dense and full of so many ideas and colors and voices and original musical thoughts that it would keep me entertained. I’ve heard it hundreds of times and I can still hear new things when I listen to me. How much more will a remaster reveal? I may faint too. Replace _The Dreaming_ with _Hounds Of Love_ and I could have written that paragraph! _The Dreaming_ is in my top five of all time too, add in _The Sensual World_ and that’d probably be my favourite trio of consecutive albums by any artist, ever. ---
**Author:** ![Hunter\_Hawk](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/50afbb/32.png) [@Hunter\_Hawk](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hunter_Hawk)\ **Post date:** [March 14, 2011, 12:24am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/kate-bush-news-and-another-example-of-her-being-way-ahead-of-her-time/574482/10 "2011-03-14T00:24:00Z")
> [@Equipoise](#): > > [“Deeper Understanding”](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OpQnjY9pj5s) is the perfect single to release first. It was WAAAY ahead of it’s time. A slightly science-fictiony story, it’s from the point of view of someone who is obsessed with computers, and buys a creepy program that consumes them. > > **Keep in mind that it was released in 1989, BEFORE the World Wide Web even existed!** :dubious: People didn’t get obsessed with computers prior to the World Wide Web? Hunh. I did not know that. ---
**Author:** ![gaffa](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/e68b1a/32.png) [@gaffa](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/gaffa)\ **Post date:** [March 14, 2011, 2:35am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/kate-bush-news-and-another-example-of-her-being-way-ahead-of-her-time/574482/11 "2011-03-14T02:35:32Z")
> [@Hunter\_Hawk](#): > > :dubious: People didn’t get obsessed with computers prior to the World Wide Web? Hunh. I did not know that. The vast mass of the public didn’t get obsessed with computers prior to the World Wide Web. In 1989 the vast majority of the American public didn’t even have e-mail. For instance, I attended the 1991 World Science Fiction Convention in Chicago. There was a party exclusively for people who had e-mail addresses called the “@Party”. It was held in a _single hotel room_. One might consider the World SF convention to exceed the default level of geekiness of the general public, and out of [5,661 people there](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/49th_World_Science_Fiction_Convention), there were few enough to fit into a single hotel room. Two years after the release of _Deeper Understanding_. Yes, the song was prescient. ---
**Author:** ![Hunter\_Hawk](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/50afbb/32.png) [@Hunter\_Hawk](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hunter_Hawk)\ **Post date:** [March 14, 2011, 3:25am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/kate-bush-news-and-another-example-of-her-being-way-ahead-of-her-time/574482/12 "2011-03-14T03:25:50Z")
> [@gaffa](#): > > I attended the 1991 World Science Fiction Convention in Chicago. There was a party exclusively for people who had e-mail addresses called the “@Party”. > > It was held in a _single hotel room_. One might consider the World SF convention to exceed the default level of geekiness of the general public, and out of [5,661 people there](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/49th_World_Science_Fiction_Convention), there were few enough to fit into a single hotel room. I’m sure it was _totally_ because there were that few people who had email addresses and _totally_ not because it was a frickin’ lame idea for a party. I mean, email had been around for, what, 20 years by that time? And BBSes had been around for 15 or so? > [@](#): > > Yes, the song was prescient. The “antisocial nerd geeking out over \” has been a theme for at least the past few hundred years. ---
**Author:** ![Equipoise](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/equipoise/32/151_2.png) [@Equipoise](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Equipoise)\ **Post date:** [March 14, 2011, 3:52am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/kate-bush-news-and-another-example-of-her-being-way-ahead-of-her-time/574482/13 "2011-03-14T03:52:03Z")
Jesus, you’re in a bitchy mood. Go shit in somebody else’s thread. ---
**Author:** ![gaffa](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/e68b1a/32.png) [@gaffa](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/gaffa)\ **Post date:** [March 14, 2011, 4:04am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/kate-bush-news-and-another-example-of-her-being-way-ahead-of-her-time/574482/14 "2011-03-14T04:04:22Z")
> [@Hunter\_Hawk](#): > > I’m sure it was _totally_ because there were that few people who had email addresses and _totally_ not because it was a frickin’ lame idea for a party. I mean, email had been around for, what, 20 years by that time? And BBSes had been around for 15 or so? I know. When I first got on the Net, it was via [world.std.com](http://world.std.com), then later via [CBBS](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/CBBS), Randy Suess and Ward Christensen’s board, arguably the first BBS. I attended CBBS parties. I have some idea about nerd parties. You are welcome to your opinion of whether the idea for the party was lame, but I believe it is biased because you have grown up in a world where having an e-mail address is the most mundane thing imaginable. At ChiCon V, it was a very cool thing indeed. I met ESR and Clifford Stoll there when I dropped in. > [@](#): > > The “antisocial nerd geeking out over \” has been a theme for at least the past few hundred years. You’re moving the goalposts. The point is not if a particular behavior existed _at all_, but if it was well known enough for Kate Bush to have written a song about it. You are welcome to provide an example of another song about someone obsessing about a computer that was written before _Deeper Understanding_. ---
**Author:** ![multimediac17](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/839c29/32.png) [@multimediac17](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/multimediac17)\ **Post date:** [March 14, 2011, 4:12am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/kate-bush-news-and-another-example-of-her-being-way-ahead-of-her-time/574482/15 "2011-03-14T04:12:41Z")
On a related note, is anyone else a fan of what I sort of consider to be a sequel/sister song to ‘Deeper Understanding’, ‘My Computer’ from Prince’s 1996 album _Emancipation_? It has similar themes to ‘Deeper Understanding’ and even features Kate on backing vocals. ---
**Author:** ![Hunter\_Hawk](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/50afbb/32.png) [@Hunter\_Hawk](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hunter_Hawk)\ **Post date:** [March 14, 2011, 5:08am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/kate-bush-news-and-another-example-of-her-being-way-ahead-of-her-time/574482/16 "2011-03-14T05:08:41Z")
> [@gaffa](#): > > You are welcome to your opinion of whether the idea for the party was lame, but I believe it is biased because you have grown up in a world where having an e-mail address is the most mundane thing imaginable. Alternatively, I could be biased because I’d already been using email for almost a decade by that point. > [@](#): > > You’re moving the goalposts. The point is not if a particular behavior existed _at all_, but if it was well known enough for Kate Bush to have written a song about it. 😕 Bwuh? Christ, _Neuromancer_ was published in 1984. By 1989, cyberpunk was already on the downslope. > [@](#): > > You are welcome to provide an example of another song about someone obsessing about a computer that was written before _Deeper Understanding_. Robert Calvert wrote a full musical called _The Kid from Silicon Gulch_ in 1981. > [@Equipoise](#): > > Jesus, you’re in a bitchy mood. Go shit in somebody else’s thread. Don’t claim that things are WAAAY ahead of their time when they aren’t. ---
**Author:** ![gaffa](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/e68b1a/32.png) [@gaffa](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/gaffa)\ **Post date:** [March 14, 2011, 5:57am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/kate-bush-news-and-another-example-of-her-being-way-ahead-of-her-time/574482/17 "2011-03-14T05:57:50Z")
> [@Hunter\_Hawk](#): > > Robert Calvert wrote a full musical called _The Kid from Silicon Gulch_ in 1981. Wow, you had to dig for that one, a musical that nobody has even bothered to write a Wikipedia page about, described as “[a detective story about computer hackers.](http://www.encyclopedia.com/doc/1G2-3494800015.html)”, which doesn’t seem to have anything to do with the subject at hand. You may as well cite the Firesign Theater’s _I Think We’re All Bozos on This Bus_ and the PDP-10 references. The point is not if someone, somewhere had written something computer-related prior to _Deeper Understanding_, but a song about a person developing an obsessive relationship with their computer, a problem that has entered the cultural zeitgeist fairly recently.