Kate Bush in the studio, 23rd October 1983. Photo by Sunday Mirror /Mirrorpix/Getty Images.
Legendary singer and performer, Kate Bush, has announced the release of The Other Sides, a 4-disc rarities collection that arrives on March 22nd, and it must have put her in a celebratory mood because, for the first time, she’s also officially released the video for her 1991 cover of Elton John’s “Rocket Man.” Watch it below:
Bush’s ukulele-led, reggae interpretation was originally recorded for an Elton John tribute album, Two Rooms, and topped the charts when it was released in 1991. Now, she’s given the space-faring, self-directed music video its first ever official release.
The avant-garde, black and white clip was intended to honour the song’s original guitarist, Alan Murphy, who sadly passed away before the clip was shot.
Writing about the “Rocket Man” cover on her website, Bush says:
“… Elton and Bernie Taupin were putting together an album called Two Rooms, which was a collection of cover versions of their songs, each featuring a different singer. To my delight, they asked me to be involved and I chose Rocket Man. They gave me complete creative control and although it was a bit daunting to be let loose on one of my favourite tracks ever, it was really exciting. I wanted to make it different from the original and thought it could be fun to turn it into a reggae version. It meant a great deal to me that they chose it to be the first single release from the album.
That meant I also had the chance to direct the video which I loved doing - making it a performance video, shot on black and white film, featuring all the musicians and... the Moon!
Alan Murphy played guitars on the track. He was a truly special musician and a very dear friend. Tragically, he died just before we made the video so he wasn’t able to be there with us but you’ll see his guitar was placed on an empty chair to show he was there in spirit.”
Kate Bush’s “Rocket Man” cover will be included on her upcoming release, The Other Sides, a 4-CD rarity collection, which will be the final physical instalment of her Remastered series. The collection includes experimental mixes of some of her biggest hits, rare b-sides, remixes and an entire disc of cover versions, including the Gershwin classic "The Man I Love" to Elton John’s "Candle In The Wind", and will be released on the 22nd of March.
The four CDs are ornately packaged in a bespoke hardback digipack featuring rare photographs throughout. Each track is completely remastered by both Kate and James Guthrie.
Pre-order your copy here!
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