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Kate Bush / The Red Shoes audiophile vinyl reissue

By Paul Sinclair

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Kate Bush‘s 1993 album The Red Shoes will be reissued on 180g vinyl LP in April.

The album was Kate’s seventh studio long-player and yielded four top 30 UK hits, including lead single Rubberband Girl, And So Is Love and Moments of Pleasure. The record features a wide array of guests including Eric Clapton, Jeff Beck, Gary Brooker and Prince (not forgetting Lenny Henry).

Once promotional duties were over in 1994, Kate took an extended break, had her son Bertie, and didn’t return with another album until 2005, with the acclaimed Aerial.

The Red Shoes is being reissued on a new audiophile label called Analog Spark – an imprint of Razor & Tie. Analog Spark will focus “on the reissue of classic and acclaimed albums on 180-gram vinyl and SACD”.

Kate’s album has been out-of-print on vinyl for decades and commands massive prices on the used market. This title will therefore be very welcome indeed and will be only the second release on Analog Spark (after The Sound Of Music soundtrack). The new vinyl reissue was cut from “the original analog tapes” by Ryan K. Smith at Sterling Sound and is being pressed at RTI. 

Remarkably, The Red Shoes is actually only one of three KB albums that has ever been remastered (Hounds of Love and The Sensual World being the others). It was included on CD as part of the three-disc Director’s Cut deluxe edition in 2011. Kate was quite open about not particularly liking the digital sound of the original record, so until more information is forthcoming, we will assume that this new 180g LP is being mastered from the same analogue source as Kate used for the CD remaster.

The Red Shoes 180g vinyl reissue will be issued in April.

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54 thoughts on “Kate Bush / The Red Shoes audiophile vinyl reissue”

  3. Pingback: Meat Loaf’s classic Bat Out Of Hell reissued on hybrid SACD | superdeluxeedition

    1. Next year now, I think. The label keep saying really vague stuff about production delays, but it’s got to be more than that. I guess they’re dealing with Kate Bush, is the answer. She’s had a year to prepare her live release and that’s not long enough, obviously.

  9. So is this release still happening? The Analog Spark Website seems to be dead (still up, but not updated since beginning). Anyone who has got more information on this?

    1. I have been chasing the Analog Spark guys about this. Clearly “April” isn’t going to happen for The Red Shoes. Not sure what’s going on at this point in time. There’s nowhere that you can even pre-order it as far as I’m aware.

  12. While this is a welcome release and it may be tied in to Record Store Day ,although I hope not. I personally would like to see a dvd release of the Tour of Life (full show ?) and a dvd of all the videos including the short films instead of the inferior bootleg versions that are doing the rounds. But at the end of the day anything that Kate releases is fine by me.

  13. Yeah, sorry Paul – my experience of Bush has been different.

    I remember buying Wuthering Heights on single at the time, backed with Kite. Then feverishly buying everything up to Red Shoes when she took her break. Despite owning them all on vinyl, and then CD, I even bought the box set This Woman’s Work.

    But Aerial…. my goodness that’s a feeble effort. It just does nothing at all for me. Her demo’s and unreleased songs (available on bootlegs) are of far higher quality. 50 Words didn’t improve anything. As for “Director’s Cut” – what in the world possessed her to do that I’ll never know. Nothing on it was improved, but much was ruined.

    Of course it’s all personal opinion, so it’s legitimate others continue to rate her. For me though, Red Shoes was a little rocky, and even after a huge break, she never recovered. Fair enough, she’s a different person now. Musically she’s washed up and irrelevant, imo.

    Still, everything up to Red Shoes is worthwhile – and her first six albums are some of the best female rock ever recorded.

    1. See, I always felt Aerial was one of her best albums :D
      A remarkable comeback. The second disk still blows me away. And the first disk is only let-down by Bertie (Barf)

      1. I’ve always thought that the first disc is let down by “Joanni”. It’s a bit Red Shoes-ish and in my opinion sticks out like a sore thumb, largely to do with the production, although I don’t think the song is particularly good. I was a bit disappointed that she chose to do it live rather than, say, “How To Be Invisible” or ANYTHING from The Sensual World!

    2. Fair enough Dean. No apology needed. I do strongly disagree, but hey, life would be boring if everyone agreed with each other about everything :)

  14. It’s funny how an early trolly comment can steer the conversation.

    TRS is arguably my least favorite overall LP, with a handful of exceptional tracks. For it to mark her decline? Hardly! I’ll defer to the many articulate comments above in support of it.

    However this is a VINYL reissue (and not “new Bush material”) in a market where the original Red Shoes LP pressing commands exorbitant prices (I own one.) Add to that that the recent Director’s Cut remaster has greatly alleviated the original’s shrill digital production.

    A welcome release to most, but just not Dean. :)

  15. seems like with a length of 55 minutes this would be a good candidate for double LP 45 RPM vinyl.

    i rather like this album i first heard it in the director’s cup box so i wouldn’t mind grabbing this.

    1. There’s almost exactly 30 minutes on the vinyl A-side and close to 28 on the B-side, on the 1993 vinyl. I’d say it’s a definite candidate for 2-LP. Sides would be 14.14 / 15.40 / 13.05 / 14.28.

  16. There was always something overly cloying & commercial for me about this alubm, my least favourite & least adventurous of KB albums. Personally I would have preferred a super deluxe of either ‘The Dreaming’ or ‘The Hounds of Love’. A Vinyl reissue of ‘The Red Shoes’ adds absolutely nothing for me to this abum’s standing; I don’t collect vinyl. I can’t agree about it marking her ‘decline’ either, as I think Aerial was superb, but 50 Words for Snow also left me, ahem cold: an album that was too one-paced, with overly long tracks that drifted on & on & contained too many duets with ‘luvvies’ & her son. I simply don’t need to hear them.

    1. Up until now, Kate has had really no interest in reissues at all. Hence there haven’t been any, save for the 1997 EMI100 Hounds of Love which wasn’t very good.

      But in the last few years Kate has been willing to license out a few albums to ‘audiophile’ labels, notably for vinyl only, no CD or SACD. This has happened for Hounds of Love, The Sensual World and now The Red Shoes. I think she sees this as a ‘win win’. They are low key enough not to stop future larger scale reissues of the same album but keeps fans happy and keep some money trickling in. They also don’t require her to ‘do’ very much, other than supply a master / artwork etc. Nothing like the effort required for a super deluxe reissue.

      I guess what I’m trying to say is that I don’t think the appearance of The Red Shoes on LP precludes anything else from happening. We will definitely see Before The Dawn out some time in 2015 and perhaps we can hope for something Hounds of Love related, given it’s the 30th anniversary year. After what happened last year, I guess anything could happen.

      1. @ Paul. There have been other Kate vinyl reissues on 180g.

        Lionheart (ATR) 1985-Present, as mentioned above: http://www.discogs.com/Kate-Bush-Lionheart/release/1868803

        The Whole Story (Simply Vinyl) 2000: http://www.discogs.com/Kate-Bush-The-Whole-Story/release/254943

        Hounds Of Love (Simply Vinyl) 2000: http://www.discogs.com/Kate-Bush-Hounds-Of-Love/release/5133715

        I consider the three above my “go to” versions on vinyl for these albums.

  21. I always thought this was a patchy album, but after seeing BTD last year I have gone back to it and changed my mind. In retrospect I think it is a masterpiece! I don’t think there has been a decline at all, the second disc of Aerial is a career high and 50 Words for Snow is simply awesome.

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  24. I agree this is good news. Yes, there are better Kate Bush albums but The Red Shoes is still a great record. I’d like to see them issue a vinyl box like they did recently with Eva Cassidy’s catalog. I’d be lining up for that. Having This Woman’s Work Vols. 1 & 2 as double vinyl albums would be nice! One can dream can’t one?

  25. Amazing news!! I really hope this is from KTs new analog masters. This is something I’ve been looking forward to for a long time. I have the original UK vinyl and it’s far better than the original CD but I would love to hear the new remasters on vinyl. Hope they do a great job with this. There’s a LOT on The Red Shoes to enjoy.

  26. I guess for diehard Kate Bush fans maybe The Red Shoes was a little too commercial-sounding compared to some of her other work. I actually discovered her with this album and it remains my favorite of hers to this day(along with The Sensual World). And I think Rubberband Girl, Eat the Music and Moments of Pleasure remain three of the most underrated songs in her singles catalog.

    1. I’m with ChrisGa on this. I discovered her age 16 in 1992, ate up all her albums and then in Nov 1993 out came this album along with the convention. For a new 17 year old fan, it was an awesome time, marked by this album. There are some stunning songs on this too – Moments of Pleasure and You’re the One made it worth it alone for me. Flash forward to 2014 and watching her live from the second row…..aaaaah! Bloomin’ marvelous – the girl rocks! And what beauties Aerial, 50 Words and much of the content on Directors cut were…

  27. What Paul said! The Red Shoes was hardly an indication of an artist losing her touch… it was merely an artist trying to incorporate regular pop, some blues and lyrical introspection into her work and not succeeding as spectacularly as she does with her usual theatrical style. Her return in 2005 and later produced stuff as legendary as Hounds Of Love. There’s a bit of a mistake in this article, though: 1989’s The Sensual World was remastered and released as a 180-gram vinyl a few years ago on (I could be wrong) AudioPhile.

    1. Oh yes, thanks, you’re right about The Sensual World. What I said was true in terms of CD with only Hounds of Love and The Red Shoes remastered for that format. It’s two for LP as well, with Hounds of Love and The Sensual World. The Sensual World WASN’T remastered as part of that three-CD Director’s Cut set, although I think some people assume it was.

  28. Meh. Underwhelming to say the least. If we’re going to get some new Bush material, surely preference would of been something from her live shows? This album has some good tracks, but at the same time signaled her decline. Either way, it’s readily available already. No thanks.

    1. The live shows are coming out, although it hasn’t been officially announced. So we’re getting *this* and the live shows. Not bad if you’re a Kate fan.

      1. Personally I liked the Red Shoes, and compared to the sounds of the time, I think it has stood up pretty well. It was Kate at her most pop-oriented so I can see why some fans didn’t appreciate the accessibility of the music. As for me I will have one on order! :)

    2. I don’t agree with it signalling “her decline”. I accept it’s not *that* good, by her standards, but “Aerial” is almost as good as “Hounds of Love” and “50 Words For Snow” is a very beautiful album. Therefore for me, history should now show that The Red Shoes was a blip, rather than the rot setting in.

        1. Massive Kate Bush fan and shocked to hear that people think The Red Shoes was the start of any sort of decline. Some beautiful themes on this and I am glad that the songs are accessible, it isn’t a dirty word, music is foremost a pleasure to me the message and subtleties are always nice, but Kate always sounds good which is my first concern

    3. There was no decline for me. The early 90’s were very tough on Kate, especially coping with the death of her mother. Red Shoes may not be Hounds of Love or Aerial, but there’s a lot of good songs on there. The production obviously could have been better, as she acknowledged with the reworkings on Directors Cut.

      1. Indeed, the death of her mother and the break-up of her relationship with Del Palmer were major life-changing events. One imagines that if she had not taken some serious time out then we may well have seen the ‘decline’ that Dean was suggesting…

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