Cathy
WE SAW KATE BUSH LIVE IN LONDON. WE SAW THE MOST UNIQUELY SUPER-TALENTED FEMALE SONGWRITER AND RECORDING ARTIST THAT THERE EVER HAS BEEN.AND IT WAS AMAZING. IT WAS NO LESS THAN THAT. EXTRAEXTRAORDINARY.
Cathy by John Carder Bush. It was a superbook from the day it was published in 1986. We have waited a long time to write about it. Not as long as we or anyone else waited to see Kate live. But long enough.
Growing up, Kate was Cathy. She had two elder brothers; Patrick was six years older and John, who took these photographs, was fourteen years her senior. There are number of reasons why this book is so remarkable. Firstly, these are not snapshots, they are staged photographs with costumes chosen and the subject posed. Secondly, there is the format, which is hard for us to show but before each photographic page there is a page cut as a frame. So first you see a close up, then, on the turn of the page, the full picture. Thirdly, and most importantly, there are no bad photographs in the book.
Above left, why this book is/was/has become/will forever be a fashion classic. The oversized Parka and Aran jumper is so a good look. Above right, at the piano. Forget fashion, Kate / Cathy wrote a version of The Man With The Child In His Eyes when she was thirteen. Thirteen!! There is just one reason why this book is magic - Kate Bush. There were reportedly only 500 copies of the first edition of Cathy. We have been hiding them away for this occasion. There are four of them if you are fast enough.