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Kate Bush’s “Before The Dawn” live performance to be released in November

Before the Dawn audio to be issued in full on 3CD and 4LP


Now live! Quick links: 3CD UK Pre-order • 4LP UK Pre-order


Two years after Kate Bush stunned the world with Before The Dawn, her incredible 22-show run of live concerts in London’s Hammersmith Odeon, comes the announcement (finally) that the full audio (and more!) from the shows is being given an official release as 3CD and 4LP vinyl sets.

Let’s get the big disappointment out of the way first. Video of Before The Dawn (it was filmed) forms no part at all in this release – so no DVD and no Blu-ray. That’s a real shame, especially for the majority of Kate fans who couldn’t get to see her live in 2014. But on the positive side… a Kate Bush release of ANY KIND is a minor miracle, so let’s explore what we ARE getting!

The audio will be issued as a three-CD deluxe set with each disc representing one ‘act’ of the performance. The first disc contains the part of the show where Kate, sorry The KT Fellowship, performed a selection of songs (‘the hits’, loosely speaking) in a fairly conventional manner. This section of the show featured six songs, including Hounds Of Love, Running Up That Hill and King Of The Mountain. Interestingly, this audio release expands act one to include Sensual World album track Never Be Mine, which wasn’t played at all (at least not to a paying audience) back in 2014. The only conclusion is that this comes from one of the rehearsal performances.

beforethedawn3cd

Before The Dawn 3CD set (click to enlarge)

Act Two is on the second CD and this is where things get ‘theatrical’. This section opens with The Astronomer’s Call – the spoken word piece unique to the show – which sets the scene for a full performance of The Ninth Wave from 1985’s Hounds of Love.

The third and final CD comprises Act Three, which is a full performance of A Sky Of Honey from 2005’s Aerial (this is side/disc 2 of the album, which like Hounds of Love is split into two distinct sections). It’s worth pointing out that this will be the first official release of the ‘new’ Kate Bush song Tawny Moon, which was sung in the show by her son, Bertie. As far as we know, no studio version of this track exists.

The encore every night was Among Angels (from 20011’s 50 Words For Snow) and a joyous Cloudbusting. Those two tracks end the third disc and bring to a close the audio on this physical release.

Incidentally, these 29 performances, are “selected performances” which I read to mean it’s not one show in its entirety, rather Kate has picked the best performances of each song from the 22 dates and compiled what she perceives as the ‘best’ audio version of Before The Dawn. The album was produced by Kate Bush and Kate has stressed that nothing on the record was re-recorded or overdubbed.

beforethedawn4lp

Before The Dawn 4LP vinyl set (click to enlarge)

There will be a 4LP vinyl release of Before The Dawn too. Acts one and two comprise one vinyl record, and act three is split across two further LPs.

Before The Dawn will be released on 25 November 2016.

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Before The Dawn 4LP vinyl Edition

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track_listing

beforethedawn3cd

Before The Dawn 

CD 1 – Act One:
01 – Lily  (04:48)
02 – Hounds Of Love  (03:33)
03 – Joanni  (06:07)
04 – Top Of The City  (05:24)
05 – Never Be Mine  (05:55)
06 – Running Up That Hill (A Deal With God)  (05:40)
07 – King Of The Mountain  (08:05)

CD 2 – Act Two:
01 – Astronomer’s Call  (02:44)
02 – And Dream Of Sheep  (03:37)
03 – Under Ice (03:04)
04 – Waking The Witch  (06:38)
05 – Watching Them Without Her (01:57)
06 – Watching You Without Me  (04:23)
07 – Little Light  (02:08)
08 – Jig Of Life  (04:11)
09 – Hello Earth  (07:55)
10 – The Morning Fog  (05:23)

CD 3 – Act Three:
01 – Prelude  (01:55)
02 – Prologue  (10:10)
03 – An Architect’s Dream  (05:22)
04 – The Painter’s Link  (01:39)
05 – Sunset  (08:00)
06 – Aerial Tal  (01:30)
07 – Somewhere In Between (06:59)
08 – Tawny Moon  (06:08)
09 – Nocturn  (08:51)
10 – Aerial  (09:43)
11 – Among Angels  (05:48)
12 – Cloudbusting  (07:16)

beforethedawn4lpalt

 

Before The Dawn 4LP vinyl

Side 1
1. Act One – Lily (Live)
2. Act One – Hounds Of Love (Live)
3. Act One – Joanni (Live)
4. Act One – Top Of The City (Live)

Side 2
1. Act One – Never Be Mine (Live)
2. Act One – Running Up That Hill (Live)
3. Act One – King Of The Mountain (Live)

Side 3
1. Act Two – Astronomer’s Call (Live)
2. Act Two – And Dream Of Sheep (Live)
3. Act Two – Under Ice (Live)
4. Act Two – Waking The Witch (Live)
5. Act Two – Watching Them Without Her (Live)
6. Act Two – Watching You Without Me (Live)

Side 4
1. Act Two – Little Light (Live)
2. Act Two – Jig Of Life (Live)
3. Act Two – Hello Earth (Live)
4. Act Two – The Morning Fog (Live)

Side 5
1. Act Three – Prelude (Live)
2. Act Three – Prologue (Live)
3. Act Three – An Architect’s Dream (Live)
4. Act Three – The Painter’s Link (Live)

Side 6
1. Act Three – Sunset (Live)
2. Act Three – Aerial Tal (Live)
3. Act Three – Somewhere In Between (Live)
4. Act Three – Tawny Moon (Live)

Side 7
1. Act Three – Nocturn (Live)
2. Act Three – Aerial (Live)

Side 8
1. Act Three – Among Angels (Live)
2. Act Three – Cloudbusting (Live)

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