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The thing is she doesn't need to prove anything, to follow trends. She's an accomplished musician, has a great voice and those have given her a faithful fan base. Okay, sometimes she's a bit mad, but the music scene is healthier with mavericks like her and Gabriel and McAloon and various others than the mass-produced androids that last three years at most before vanishing into obscurity.

Oh, and sorry if I'm getting into anorak territory, but the title track to A Kick Inside was pretty much as dark as you can go.

As well as Elvis, there's a Citizen Kane reference in the new single---Rosebud.

(Okay, I'll get my parka and go!).

Don't forget your flight bag with sarnies and a thermos.

Mart

How can I carry all that and my notebook and pen for the train numbers????

What about your camera and tripod?

Mart

I didn't mean "mad" in a critical way, Tarquin. It's a label that, although I disagree with it, has been applied to Ms B since she first came to the attention of the public almost 30 years ago. She seldom, if ever, explains her lyrics, which is infuriating for those that cannot be bothered looking for meaning and are incapable of using their own life experiences as a way to interpret.

Without Kate leading the way, a good dozen or more female artists might not have retained their independence. On the rare occasions she's done TV interviews, she's come across as nervous but interesting. Best examples were both with Michael Aspel: in the late 1970s, on Ask Aspel, when she sounded like a yokel when interviewed and, bizarrely for a kids' TV show, performed Kashka From Baghdad; then 12 years ago, on his ITV chat show, when she did Moments Of Pleasure.

Last night was the first time I'd heard King Of The Mountain; it'll no doubt take some time to get used to it---and it's not as obviously catchy as the similarly themed Jordan: The Comeback---but hopefully the new album will be a classic. Just a shame we've had to wait so long since The Red Shoes.

STV up here used to show promo videos between programmes on Saturdays, and showed Wuthering Heights two weeks running. I didn't catch the name at first, and from the singing thought it was a comeback by Esther Ofarim!

That first Aspel interview revealed that, like me, she hadn't read Wuthering Heights, and had just caught a few moments of a BBC adaptation where Cathy's ghost was trying to get into the house through a window. It spooked me as a kid, and obviously stayed with her too.

Was 1979 not about the only tour she ever did? She's done some live stuff, but seldom a tour.

1979 was indeed the only Kate Bush "Tour" and a lot of top notch "Boots" exist as well as the official release on video of the Hammersmith show. She was performing tracks which would appear on her first three albums. I wasn't there, I was way too young to know who she was and I only got into her around the time of "Hounds Of Love." She's one of those artists who being into means having everything and their music becomes a cornerstone of your life as per Gabriel, Floyd, Springsteen etc.

She has appeared sporadically over the years, performing a track or two here and there. You can get pretty much everything on bootlegs and it's worth searching out some of the better '79 recordings and a version of "Running Up That Hill" with David Gilmour playing the Fairlight riff on lead guitar. It's incredible.

It will be SO awesome to walk into a shop on release day and pick up the new Kate Bush album, fuck all this downloading bollocks!

Not many things make me proud to be English these days, football fans and our awful government have seen to that but our musical heritage STILL makes me very, very proud.