It’s 1983 and Kate Bush is, er, frankly, bushed. Five years previously, the symphonically spooky No.1 hit Wuthering Heights was the south London singer-songwriter’s hugely successful breakthrough – making her, aged just 19, the first female artist in global chart history to do so with a self-written song. Next came the astonishing The Kick Inside and Lionheart LPs, both released in 1978; her first No.1 album, Never For Ever in 1980; and, in the autumn of 1982, The Dreaming. On top of that there had been 16 singles, the six-week Tour Of Life in 1979, countless engagements around the world and a clutch of vocal collaborations, perhaps most notably for Peter Gabriel on his third self-titled record, aka Melt.
Each step had seen Bush bloom as a songwriter, vocalist, musician,…
