Listen free for 30 days

Listen with offer

Preview

£0.00 for first 30 days

Pick 1 audiobook a month from our unmatched collection - including bestsellers and new releases.
Listen all you want to thousands of included audiobooks, Originals, celeb exclusives, and podcasts.
Access exclusive sales and deals.
£7.99/month after 30 days. Renews automatically. See here for eligibility.

Under the Ivy

By: Graeme Thomson
Narrated by: Mia Hutchinson-Shaw
Try for £0.00

£7.99/month after 30 days. Renews automatically. See here for eligibility.

Buy Now for £29.99

Buy Now for £29.99

Pay using card ending in
By completing your purchase, you agree to Audible's Conditions of Use and authorise Audible to charge your designated card or any other card on file. Please see our Privacy Notice, Cookies Notice and Interest-based Ads Notice.

Summary

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. Thoroughly enjoyable, 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

©2010, 2015 Omnibus Press (P)2023 Blackstone Publishing
activate_Holiday_promo_in_buybox_DT_T2

Listeners also enjoyed...

Man in the Music cover art
God Only Knows cover art
Echoes cover art
Musicals, Marigolds & Me cover art
Why Patti Smith Matters cover art
Bernard Who? cover art
One Train Later cover art
Led Zeppelin cover art
Clean Living Under Difficult Circumstances cover art
A Shirt Box Full of Songs cover art
Foreground Music cover art
The Tastemaker cover art
Deliver Me from Nowhere cover art
Electronically Yours cover art
Exit Stage Left cover art
All Things Must Pass Away cover art

What listeners say about Under the Ivy

Average customer ratings
Overall
  • 4 out of 5 stars
  • 5 Stars
    8
  • 4 Stars
    10
  • 3 Stars
    8
  • 2 Stars
    1
  • 1 Stars
    0
Performance
  • 2.5 out of 5 stars
  • 5 Stars
    2
  • 4 Stars
    4
  • 3 Stars
    4
  • 2 Stars
    5
  • 1 Stars
    11
Story
  • 4.5 out of 5 stars
  • 5 Stars
    14
  • 4 Stars
    8
  • 3 Stars
    4
  • 2 Stars
    0
  • 1 Stars
    0

Reviews - Please select the tabs below to change the source of reviews.

Sort by:
Filter by:
  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    3 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    5 out of 5 stars

Fascinating

Really enjoyed this
Very in-depth and full of facts and stories
Agree that narrator lack of pronunciation at times got annoying but really engaging
Highly recommended

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.

You voted on this review!

You reported this review!

  • Overall
    4 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    1 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    5 out of 5 stars

Poor narration

Mispronunciation of many, many common words, AI surely? Disappointing narration. Nevertheless it is a great book.

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.

You voted on this review!

You reported this review!

  • Overall
    4 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    4 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    4 out of 5 stars

Great Account

This is a great account of one of my favourite singers and a detailed account of her career. Well, it's worth a read if you are a fan.

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.

You voted on this review!

You reported this review!

  • Overall
    3 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    1 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    3 out of 5 stars

weird accent

weird inflection and odd mispronounced words like someone not english putting on English accent

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.

You voted on this review!

You reported this review!

  • Overall
    4 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    2 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    5 out of 5 stars

More research on pronunciation!

I was frequently taken out of the flow of the audiobook by horrible pronunciation errors. Read ahead, and practice, please!

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.

You voted on this review!

You reported this review!

  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    2 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    5 out of 5 stars

Great book

This a great book and well worth reading or listening to. Just be aware that the narration is sometimes off-putting because of the strange pronunciation of some fairly common words. The narrator doesn't seem to have any knowledge of the topic or cultural world that the book is describing because fairly well-known names of people, bands or songs are also sometimes incorrectly pronounced. If you can get past this, it's an enjoyable book.

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.

You voted on this review!

You reported this review!

  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    5 out of 5 stars

Fascinating

A fascinating book, especially enjoyed the mis-pronunciations, by the narrator, not sure if it was someone putting on an especially good English accent, or may have been even been done by Ai, my favourite was buoy, pronounced boo-eee.

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.

You voted on this review!

You reported this review!

  • Overall
    4 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    3 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    3 out of 5 stars

All This Woman’s Work (to date)

This book charts Bush’s career from its very beginning and an unusual offer from EMI to her re-emergence in the early 2000’s and up to the “Before the Dawn” concerts in 2014. This is done in very great detail single by single, album by album (and a 35 year gap between concerts).
Despite all this detail we are only given a surface impression of who Kate Bush is, through her music and second hand via quotes from interviews of those who have worked with her. There is no direct interview or connection with Bush, which helps to maintain that alluring mystic that has been present throughout her career.
On a negative note the narration on the audio book is incredibly frustrating. Although read in a BBC King’s English style and yet the pronunciation of random words had me shouting the correct word aloud as I walked the dog with my headphones on, like a sufferer of grammar torrents. I don’t work for the Grammar Police, but when the city of Rouen in France is said perfectly and yet Van Gogh is “Van Go,” solitude is “soo-lit-ood” (Superman never lived in the Fortress of Soolitood). It may be done for a US audience with a buoy (pronounced ‘boy’ in English) referred to as a “booee,” but I’m inclined to believe the narrator didn’t have a clue what they were reading considering the repeated mispronunciation of bands and artists like Spandau Ballet “Spand-are Ballet,” Yazoo “Yaz-ooor,” Tupac Shakur “Tor-pack Shark-or,”and Tori Amos “Torry A-mooss” are just a few examples. If only someone had stopped them and said, ‘Look mate, you’re saying it wrong. Ya need to say it like this.’
Other than this I did enjoy this book, which gives an appreciation of the work that has gone into all of Bush’s endeavours and songs. As a result I’ve gone through my back catalogue and been inspired to re-listen to all of her music. My advice is if the pronunciation issue is likely to drive you up the wall avoid the audiobook and read the actual book.

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.

You voted on this review!

You reported this review!

  • Overall
    3 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    1 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    5 out of 5 stars

Disappointing narration

Although I enjoyed the story of Kate Bush unfortunately it was let down by the narrator who's robotic pronunciation was a constant irritation throughout the reading

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.

You voted on this review!

You reported this review!

  • Overall
    3 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    2 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    5 out of 5 stars

Great story. Narration not the best.

Loved the story.

The narration isn’t that bad but some basic pronunciations are wrong. Like tour is repeatedly pronounced tooer.

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.

You voted on this review!

You reported this review!