Under the Ivy, Graeme Thomson
Under the Ivy, Graeme Thomson
List: $29.95 | Sale: $20.97
Club: $14.97

Under the Ivy
The Life and Music of Kate Bush

Author: Graeme Thomson

Narrator: Mia Hutchinson-Shaw

Unabridged: 18 hr 26 min

Format: Digital Audiobook Download

Published: 06/27/2023


Synopsis

In this updated edition of Graeme Thomson’s critically acclaimed biography, a near-exhaustive survey of Kate Bush’s life surveys everything from her upbringing in South London to her stunning return to live performance in August 2014.The original edition of Under the Ivy was called one of the best music biographies ever, and this updated edition adds a wealth of new research to include the complete scope of Bush’s oeuvre. With over seventy new interviews and in-depth analysis of her triumphant return to the stage after thirty-five years, this is the most complete Kate Bush biography and a must for any fan.Detailing everything from her upbringing to her early exposition of talent to her subsequent evolution into one of the most stunningly creative and fascinating visual and musical artists alive today, Under the Ivy truly is the story of one woman’s life. This is in no way a superficial rumor-mill, however, as Thomson writes with great detail, accuracy, and above all admiration for her work, this is in equal parts a biography and an analysis of Kate Bush’s art.Focusing on her unique working methods, her studio techniques, her timeless albums, and inescapable influence, Under the Ivy is a true exploration of one of the world’s most underappreciated yet gifted artists. Eminently readable, this book will be an eye-opening journey of discovery for somebody unfamiliar with Bush but will also reward a long-term fan with new insights and fresh analysis

About Graeme Thomson

Graeme Thomson is one of Britain’s leading music writers and the author of critically acclaimed biographies of George Harrison and Elvis Costello. He has written for the London Observer, New Statesman, Oxford American, the Telegraph, Time Out, MOJO, and Rolling Stone, and contributes regularly to the Guardian, Uncut, the Herald, and The Arts Desk.

About Mia Hutchinson-Shaw

Mia Hutchinson-Shaw is a queer actor and voice artist based in NYC. She came to narration with a background in classical and period-drama theater and trained in the UK at the Royal Conservatoire of Scotland. When not performing, she is thrifting for her next outrageous, colorful clothing item, getting on her soap box about low-waste living, or hunting handmade jewelers for a new item for her collection of giant earrings.


Reviews

Goodreads review by Peter

I've been a fan of Kate Bush ever since the video for Cloudbusting blew my tiny young mind. But information on Kate was always frustratingly thin on the ground - just who is this reclusive, mystical pixie and how did she come to be? In this superb biography Graeme Thomson traces the origin of a musi......more

Goodreads review by Michael

Caveat: This is a long and somewhat ponderous review, and it was a tricky one for me to write. I don’t believe that I really did the subject matter justice. There is too much material here to condense into a review that makes thematic sense. That said, it was important to me to have it here in one p......more

Goodreads review by Spencer

TL;DR: I found Under the Ivy to be at times informative, boring, detailed, testing, sexist, infuriating, often badly written, and at all times oddly uninterested in exploring its subject in any meaningful way, or through any rigorous mode of analysis other than personal opinion. First the good: - Th......more


Quotes

“The best music biography in perhaps the past decade…Absorbing, painstakingly researched, and downright fascinating…A magnificent read.” Irish Times

“[An] excellent biography…Expertly unravelling her contradictions and motivations. In addition to his faultless research…Thomson’s prose is often as rich and as eloquent as Bush’s own writing.” Record Collector