| The Kick Inside | 1978 |
| Lionheart | 1978 |
| Never For Ever | 1980 |
| The Dreaming | 1982 |
| Hounds Of Love | review #2 | 1985 |
| The Whole Story (compilation) | 1986 |
| The Sensual World | 1989 |
| The Red Shoes | 1993 |
Although she's definitely responsible for some of the most interesting and influential music to come out of the 80's (well, the first half of the decade, anyways), and has had a few fairly big hits (mostly from Hounds Of Love, probably her most celebrated album) for whatever reason, Kate Bush is sort of an underground cult figure that not too many people outside of her hardcore fan base really know about, at least from what I can tell. Maybe part of it has to do with that unconventional voice. Or maybe those very complex and weird lyrics that go over a lot of people's heads (as was the case especially in the US, basically one of the few major areas where "Wuthering Heights", her first single, wasn't huge). Or maybe the fact that she's such a perfectionist in the studio that her albums take forever to come to completion - it's been 10 years and counting since The Red Shoes, Kate, and that album wasn't very good to begin with, goddamn it.
Lack of productivity aside, though, I can't deny the really neat songwriting and arranging ideas flowing through her peak period, in which she transformed from a highly literate, moody jazz-pop performance artist (arguably the first of her kind, actually) to... whatever the heck The Dreaming can be classified as (damned if I know). Let's just say she's simply awesome at creating moods and eccentric personality to hypnotize the listener - there's all sorts of damn cool arrangement dynamics, vocal characterizations, the trademark odd lyrics, really neat and sometimes creepy multi-layered soundscapes, all of which combine for really impenetrable vibes, man. Not like Kate's on drugs or anything (at least I don't think so), but some of this stuff will really have you wondering. Plus, she's not afraid to try out political territory ("Pull Out The Pin"), conceptual stretches ('The Ninth Wave') or curious diversity (a number of songs on her most recent albums).
Another thing I want to point out, and Scott Floman kinda ranted about this on his site, is that Kate's pretty much been inactive in the last 10 or so years semi-imitator Tori Amos has rose to prominence (another artist I'm somewhat fond of, in a different way, though she's not quite as challenging or consistently excellent as her predecessor). Who knows... maybe she'll actually follow similarly non-prolific mentor Peter Gabriel's lead and actually put out a new friggin' album sometime soon. Regardless of whether or not that happens, though, the stretch of work she put out from '80-85, as well as a few other excellent highlights throughout the remaining albums, is enough to secure her a fairly strong position when looking at artists (and I really put the emphasis on the word 'artist' when going through these albums) from the past 25 or so years. But enough of that, as most of the interesting stuff I can say here is in the context of the album reviews. That's a cop-out way to end an introductory paragraph, isn't it?
--Nick Karn
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(reviewed by Nick Karn)
HIGH POINTS: Wuthering Heights, Moving, James And The Cold Gun. LOW POINTS: None.
So apparently Kate Bush was a really talented musical prodigy in her teenage years, actually being signed to EMI Records at the incredibly old age of 16, after the songs she was writing attracted attention (the most notorious converter being Pink Floyd guitarist David Gilmour). Of course, she didn't actually enter the studio right away, instead refining her talents a bit, and the result of that came a couple of years later with this debut effort. And it's a debut that's really tough to get a handle on - The Kick Inside is basically a mood-oriented effort where pretty much every song sets a romantic tone, with a relaxing jazz-pop musical background, with intelligent lyrics, and that odd exaggerated voice of hers, a squealing tone that will either make you run away screaming forever or intrigue you. Let's just say I'm on the latter side of the fence for that, so it's easier for me to get sucked into the whole atmosphere on this one.
When discussing the actual songs in detail, though, this is where it gets really friggin' hard, because I cannot remember how at least half of them even go. But they're all pretty much good, and quite nice to listen to while they're on (which is the whole point of mood pieces, I guess), creating a sort of 'greater than the sum of its' parts' atmosphere. This effect is even made all the more remarkable considering the actual music here isn't really all that interesting, especially when compared to what would follow on later albums, just pretty much standard piano-driven jazzy stuff that is a lot more atmospheric than actually melodic. Apart from the baffling lyrics to the closing title track and the catchy chorus to "Them Heavy People", I'd be hard pressed to tell you anything about the last four songs here, and that's on a good day.
Believe it or not, though, with all that this album is lacking on the surface, I can actually give it a very good rating for a couple reasons. Besides the consistency of the songs, doesn't this album sound really unique in terms of theatrical personality and literary 'artsiness' of the vocals and lyrics? I'm not so sure it really has any predecessors to speak of, and that's something. Plus, three of the songs really stand out as highlights for me, the best one of course being the notorious hit "Wuthering Heights". Besides having highly interesting lyrics that reinterpret Emily Bronte's novel of the same name, it's got the most memorable, sweeping vocal melody on here by far, plus those vocals in all of their window-shattering 'glory' (especially those verses - man, I can see how that singing style would have driven a lot of people insane) and even a great guitar solo at the end (courtesy of Ian Bairnson).
I also find the opening track "Moving" to be an impressive one, a perfectly intriguing start to the album, what with the icy tone to those vocals and piano notes, and a somewhat art-rock styled song structure. The other big highlight for me is probably "James And The Cold Gun", which was somewhat curiously planned as her first single originally. It would have been a very atypical choice to introduce listeners to Kate with, as it's much more of an uptempo guitar-driven rock song (though with piano also upfront as usual) than anything else, but the vocal style and lyrical matter ensure that it doesn't sound out of place on the album at all, even with the somewhat uniform style, which makes it all the more excellent.
The remaining songs I can only remember in parts, though - most notably the casually smooth instrumental break in "The Saxophone Song" (which does indeed have a sax solo... duh), the oddly sung chorus of "Oh To Be In Love" ('oh-oh-oh, to be-e-e in looooove...') and "Man With The Child In His Eyes", a good enough orchestrated ballad with a 'he's here... he's here' whisper in the beginning and nicely written piano lines, though it's admittedly more generic than its' surroundings. The others I didn't mention are far more essential to the whole than as individual personalities, and that also holds true about almost everything here. All in all, this really isn't the place to start if you're looking for different vibes within each song on a Kate album, which makes a few later releases more recommendable, but this is a very good debut nonetheless.
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(reviewed by Nick Karn)
HIGH POINTS: Wow, Symphony In Blue. LOW POINTS: In The Warm Room.
There seem to be two perspectives when discussing Kate's second effort. The first is that it's basically a pale, disappointing clone of The Kick Inside, and that it ranks as one of her least impressive efforts, if not at the very bottom of the barrel. The second, which mostly comes from the hardcore fan base, is that it's an unfairly overlooked absolute classic, the aural equivalent of a charming fairytale world with incredible lyrical complexity and beauty, and some of those people actually go as far to say it's her best album ever. I haven't come across many opinions that don't fit into either of those two categories, and mine won't be a dissenting one - I basically lean closer to the first perspective, agreeing that the record company's decision to demand a followup from her so quickly was a mistake, and the result is even less memorable and weaker than before, especially since she hardly had much great material ready.
With that being said, this style was very nice before, and it remains so here, despite the weaknesses apparent. In particular, the first half has a couple quality tracks - "Symphony In Blue" is more nicely flowing romantic jazzy pop (with dreamy guitars in the background) that 's probably somewhat more memorable and charming than most of the last album (as opposed to confusingly obscure) and my favorite, the showbusiness ode "Wow", has a very mysterious keyboard introduction and a strangely engaging chorus where she repeats the title like 6 times continuously, both features that might sound simplistic, but are quite a bit more effective than you'd expect. "Don't Push Your Foot On The Heartbrake" even hints at the dynamics of later, going from a standard piano verse to a suddenly high-speed chorus that plays out like a car rapidly skidding out of control, then it reverts back into slower territory again. Odd.
Other than that, though, the really unmemorable songs factor kicks through again with the others. "In Search Of Peter Pan" and the particularly sappy (though still kinda beautiful and image-filled) "Oh England My Lionheart" have the 'fairy tale' vibe in full effect, though not much else is notable about them otherwise. And the second half? I can't remember anything about the first three songs on that sucker, except that "In The Warm Room" (more like in the boring room) was particularly dull. "Coffee Homeground" is bizarre, though - it's like, a curious showtune where she sings in such a friggin' weird tone that I can't even describe. And the closing "Hammer Horror" doesn't really sound very horrifying (or actually memorable in the verses) though the chorus is pretty snappy. What else can I say? She's still got an interesting style going on here, but the actual depth of the music aren't quite worked out yet, nor are the melodies that great for the most part. This would change once she actually got time to work on her next album, however.
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(reviewed by Nick Karn)
HIGH POINTS: Egypt, Babooshka, Violin, Breathing. LOW POINTS: The Infant Kiss.
After the mild sophomore slump that was Lionheart, Kate had no desire to continue beating that same style to death again, choosing instead to pursue a more creative direction. It was also around this time where she made a guest appearance on Peter Gabriel's third album (most notably as indecipherable backing vocalist on "Games Without Frontiers"), and judging by the end results of her own work, it sounds as if his influence paid off. Every song on here seems to have a sonic personality all its' own, with inventive embellishments from her backing band (which is more like a revolving door of players, though most prominently including members of the Alan Parsons Project, Brand X, and the Jeff Beck Group, as well as Kate's brother Paddy) including a more diverse array of instrumentation, really interesting (and much darker) subject matter in the lyrics, and even stronger melodies than before. Hey, speaking of which, I can remember how almost every song on here goes now! That's awesome!
Particularly memorable, though, is the opening "Babooshka", probably one of the catchiest songs ever found on a Kate Bush album. The playful verse and chorus melodies (along with whatever the heck is being played in the intro) counter the neat lyrical approach, dealing with a wife trying to test her husband's love by mailing him fake letters under a pseudonym, effectively. Very well-flowing song, and another deserved hit. The way it flows into "Delius (Song Of Summer)" is really cool, too, and that transition is made even better by the relaxing drum machine, piano and harpsichord atmosphere of the actual song, dedicated to composer Fredrick Delius. The dedications don't stop there, as judged by the following "Blow Away (For Bill)" (the 'Bill' in question is Bill Duffield, a lighting technician who died early on during her first tour) - musically, it's somewhat boring, but it does have that pretty catchy chorus where it namechecks dead rock stars Keith Moon, Sid Vicious, Sandy Denny, and Marc Bolan in the 'musicians afterlife', so that's cool.
Not as cool, however, as the following excellent stretch on here. First off, we have the overlooked ballad "All We Ever Look For", with its' nice and sometimes bouncy orchestrated melody and whistling accompaniment, and then there's the side closing "Egypt". I just cannot get over how great this song is, surely one of my favorites in her entire catalog. Everything from the really odd opening piano/vocal melody, the same kind of icy vocals that have the same kind of power as "Moving", the lyrics which immediately set up the mystical atmosphere, and those eerie fusion-style keyboards from the aforementioned Jeff Beck sideman Max Middleton (to go along with the already haunting piano parts) is amazingly powerful, and it's even got some tricky prog-rock rhythms and quiet chanting as extra icing on the cake, right before the totally brilliant solo at the end. Simply a classic.
Side two starts off pretty great, too. "The Wedding List" is pretty much a superior take on the upbeat theatrical style of "Coffee Homeground" from the last album, only even more dynamic in terms of music and vocal range, and even more frightening in the lyrics - it's all about a woman's plans to murder an entire wedding party! Now that's twisted! Then following that is the really kickass "Violin", probably the hardest you'll ever hear Kate rocking out - the combination of that instrument with the exciting drive of the guitars, and her vocal wailing throughout is a very convincing one, even if the lyrics are less interesting than the rest. Lyrics aren't everything, though - "The Infant Kiss" has intrigue in that department (dealing with sexual attraction to an infant... uh, wow), but I find it somewhat dull musically and melodically, even though its' 50 second vocal layering followup "Night Scented Stock" does okay with its' haunting potential.
Never For Ever fortunately gets back on track with two of its' more well known 'classics'. "Army Dreamers" is a creepy waltz that introduces an Irish music influence, one that would show up to greater (and more impressive) effect on portions of the next few albums, and to close things out comes "Breathing". To be honest, I don't find this song quite the classic it's made out to be, as it doesn't have much of an impressive melody or atmosphere in the verses, mostly getting by on the 'nuclear explosion' lyrics than anything, but nevertheless, those lyrics are definitely great, and the 'out, in, out, in' chants (plus the ominously repeating coda at the end) are fabulous touches here, so it's still a highlight for me. In all, only a few slight underdeveloped moments in the songwriting prevent this from being just as awesome as the following two albums, but this is still a critical creative transition point in Kate history that I'd maybe even go as far to say is a good starting point. Nice album cover, too.
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(reviewed by Nick Karn)
HIGH POINTS: The Dreaming, Get Out Of My House, Pull Out The Pin, There Goes A Tenner, Suspended In Gaffa. LOW POINTS: None.
I may have mentioned Never For Ever as a creative breakthrough, but it doesn't look nearly as much like one when compared to this, her insane attempt to break down pretty much all the limitations that might have been apparent from earlier work (a process already started with the previous album). George Starostin's review for this is also yet another example of his talents for unearthing lost classic albums that pretty much no one outside the hardcore fan base know about. And there's a very good reason not many know about The Dreaming - it's pretty much a disorganized work where no song really has anywhere close to hit single potential, instead concentrating on her unconventional musical soundscapes at their absolute peak, with multi-layered arrangements, an impressive assortment of vocal approaches, a very personal and political slant to the lyrics, you name it, it's all here, in all its' uncommercial glory.
But just because critics at the time really didn't like it at all sure doesn't mean I'll listen to them, because in my opinion this album absolutely rules, very narrowly edging out the infinitely more successful Hounds Of Love (in terms of commercial acceptance) as my personal favorite from Kate. Simply because just about every really great aspect about her previous work is carried over to here, with so many awesome things going on in every song, as opposed to one unifying mood throughout. Just to take one random example - the side-closing "Leave It Open" has a really scary and mysterious atmosphere, with the shuffling rhythm and very upfront quiet vocals (often with odd effects placed on them) creating quite an out-of-this-world location you'd never want to set foot in, which gets even more menacing once the drums kick in ('we let the weirdness in' indeed). And that song's not even in the top half of this album in quality!
Of course, not everything about this album is spooky and otherworldly, as the personality here varies from song to song. The opening "Sat In Your Lap" is actually a somewhat upbeat 'quest for knowledge' anthem, driven by a hilarious sounding drum machine rhythm, fun synth horn embellishments, and several different vocal styles veering around the main melody. "There Goes A Tenner" is even more interesting, as the lyrics inspired by a bank robbery are sung with an entertainingly whimsical British flavor and an addictive piano rhythm, and the seamless dynamic shifts in the melody here are simply awesome. As is that seemingly out of place moody keyboard break that slows down the pace for a few seconds but then comes back right into the main body of the song perfectly! It's almost like her take on Genesis mini-epics like "Harold The Barrel", and it's a really, really excellent one to boot.
More psychologically affecting, though, is the epic-styled "Pull Out The Pin", whose lyrics are told from the point of a Vietnam soldier, and the whole atmosphere (from the chilling guitar figures in the background to the startling yells of 'I love life! I love life!' throughout and those calm low-register backing vocals) is incredibly unique, and lyrically challenging as well. But after that the album takes a sharp left turn into the weirdass waltz of "Suspended In Gaffa", whose melody is strangely catchy in spite of itself - maybe it's the backing vocals and the romantic atmosphere that do the trick there. In any case, it's yet another fantastic song to add to this stretch, and what's with that strange accordian instrument? Hey, it's Kate exploring the tones of the Fairlight synthesizer! I want myself one of those - too bad they're probably expensive as hell.
When I first heard the entire album, however, there was one particular song that really got my attention in capturing an otherworldly vibe, and that happened to be the title track. This in particular is where Kate takes Peter Gabriel's influence with 'worldbeat' textures and creates something utterly spectacular with it. I don't know what the greatest feature of this thing is - the subtle but effective worldbeat percussion, the hypnotizing chanting melody sung in an exaggerated Australian accent, those ghostly backing vocals and synths, the creepy 'come in with the golden light in the morning' chorus, or the lyrics dealing with the plight of the Aborigine people, but I do know that it's an absolutely astounding masterpiece, and quite possibly the greatest single song she's ever written (maybe it's the way it all comes together, you know?) And that's no small feat, as there are a few others in close competition.
Oh, I almost forgot, at the end of this song, there's a neat bit of Irish music that segues perfectly into the next track "Night Of The Swallow", which might seem random and disorganized at first, but actually relates quite a bit to the IRA-inspired lyrics of its' followup, a song which happens to have oddly sung verses where Kate's really trying to stretch out her vocal range and a nicely done brisk chorus where the Irish jig kicks in. As for "All The Love" and "Houdini", they're definitely the least striking songs on here, but still very nice while they're playing, just a bit unmemorable in a way not unlike most of the stuff on the first two albums. I do really like the Far East-style atmosphere and light chorus of the latter in particular, though (not to mention the lyrics dealing with that escape artist dude Harry Houdini and his wife).
But the closing "Get Out Of My House" has no such problem with wedging itself into my head - this might be one of the most intense songs I've ever heard! The furious screaming, the compelling 'with my key I, with my key I' chanting, and absolutely frightening 'eeeeeAWWWWWWWW' donkey-imitating vocals that seem to get more scary by the time the song nears its' end... plus don't forget those dark New Wave-style guitars and desparate sounding backing vocal portion at the end, all of it shattering excellence. In short, The Dreaming is a compelling experience like not quite like any other I've ever heard, as Kate Bush reaches her mood creating potential almost impossible to envision from her beginnings five short years ago. It gets denied a 10 because of a couple less awesome, unmemorable tracks and it occasionally can get a little too unconventional, but otherwise, this has got to be one of the most riveting completely unhip albums of the 80's, a sharp contrast to the next one, I must say.
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COMMENTS
Enjoyed the review, very perceptive. This album is just STUNNING. Can't think of any other word to adequately describe its impact.
Neil H
(Nick Karn's review)
HIGH POINTS: Running Up That Hill (A Deal With God), The Big Sky, Hounds Of Love, Waking The Witch, Cloudbusting. LOW POINTS: None.
Okay, now we come to that 'contrast', the album that most people think of when Kate Bush is mentioned, since it had all those hits and weird music videos to support them and all. No, she didn't exactly 'sell out' or anything here - an entire conceptual suite that takes up more than half an album is hardly the stuff record company slaves are made of - but she was able to rise above 'cult' status and into the commercial mainstream for at least a little while. More importantly, though, her creative peak was still continuing, as this album is really only very slightly weaker than The Dreaming, and still a great example of how great 80's music can be even when there's production that dates the songs to their time period a bit. This is creative stuff in any case, with a lot going on in terms of vocal, musical and lyrical embellishments, and some of these melodies can even be called really catchy!
Like, for instance, the totally classic opener "Running Up That Hill" (whose subtitle 'A Deal With God' is actually the original title, an interesting 'switch' of the normal 'deal with the devil' perspective), quite possibly one of the best synth-pop songs I've ever heard, and certainly a candidate for the best thing she ever wrote. Sure, the synths and booming drums might sound simplistic, but that's part of the song's haunting charm, as the lyrics are really belted out with an energetic force over an inventively shifting, but always extremely catchy, vocal hook. The conviction of the vocals are also at a phenomenal peak on the title track, a dramatically orchestrated lush pop tune with more of those pounding rhythms and synths in the background and another fantastically catchy melody (I particularly love when she yells out 'take my shoes off, and throooooooow them in the laaaaake...', then goes right back into the lower range... powerful stuff).
"The Big Sky" continues the suddenly immaculate run of songs to open this album up with - it starts out as a playful, upbeat piano pop song, then builds into a somewhat lengthy, but totally classic coda where huge rhythms and handclaps drive the repeated 'rolling over like a big big cloud, walking out of the big sky..' lines, during which Kate pulls off some absolutely awesome vocal tricks that blow my mind with their power and variety. "Mother Stands For Comfort" then signals a switch to more disturbing, creepy territory - watch out for those spooky synths and noises in the background, not to mention those lyrics ('mother hides the murderer..' - yikes!) But "Cloudbusting" (another huge hit) gets us right back into joyful mode ('I just know that something good is gonna happen...' is the wonderfully melodic and uplifting hookline here, and the vocals follow suit), with a convincingly symphonic, marching tone to the music that works perfectly, making it another major highlight, even if the lyrics aren't actually all optimism, but that's another story.
But what of that 'conceptual' portion of the album, you might ask? Well, that's in the form of the notorious suite 'The Ninth Wave', of course! Supposedly, it's a mysterious tale about a young woman who is drowning in the middle of the ocean and the experiences along with it (strange hellish flashbacks in "Waking The Witch", 'ghostly' encounters in "Watching You Without Me" or even looking down at Earth from way above in "Hello Earth", to name a few). As you might guess from the subject matter of the lyrics, it's quite creepy, as this suite has a good amount of clever embellishments and captivating atmospheres within its' running time. Sure, not too much of it is great by itself, but taken together, this initially formless but well-flowing song segment actually gains a lot of power. It can even be argued that she never used mood-crafting quite this well elsewhere, and one can only wonder what happened four years later, but that's for the next review.
Anyway, "And Dream Of Sheep" is the more unmemorable start here, admittedly, but still it works just as well as most of her mood-based songs do. Then the main character finds herself trapped "Under Ice", with dark, slow-building violins, quite low-register vocals and Latin chanting - intrigued yet? No? Don't try to play "Waking The Witch" in the dark, though - it might start out innocently enough, with a cold 'wake up!' whisper and piano buildup (with a whole bunch of voices calling out to our protagonist), but then it shifts into this scary techno-ey part where disorienting chewn tape effects, growling 'CONFESS TO ME, GIRL!' Lucifer voices, and other Hell-imitating stuff come to the forefront. Or what about the out-of-body experience of "Watching You Without Me", a slow but hard to resist marimba sounding sort of groove? Trust me, when you hear this stuff, you'll probably be under 'The Ninth Wave's spell. Yeah!
Then that veers into "Jig Of Life", one of Kate's most successful and upbeat venture into Irish music territory (a venture that actually fits into the framework of the weird, dream-like experiences here perfectly), followed by the epic "Hello Earth", where the gap between the huge panoramic drama of the verses is filled brilliantly by weird atmospheric chanting and samples. I guess we're led to believe the main character doesn't survive her ordeal on the closing track "The Morning Fog", but the cheerfulness of the music and melody leads me to believe differently. Ah, I give up - leave the interpreting of this hard-to-figure piece to actual fans and lyrical experts. The point is, Hounds Of Love is really just as awesome a display of Kate's creativity as its' predecessor, though it isn't quite as inventive or impenetrable as before, and brilliance here is really more concentrated on side one than anywhere else. Still very essential, though, and probably her last gasp of greatness.
There's a short footnote in the liner notes to this album "Helicopter by kind permission of Pink Floyd The Wall". Some of this album has the feel of The Wall to it, without, however, any of Roger Waters' pomposity or fondness for analyzing the neurotic aspects of his past in psychoanalytic detail. And I remember reading a narrative, don't remember where it comes from, that claimed that Bush was "discovered" (for the music industry) by David Gilmour. But that's as far as that comparison goes -- Kate Bush plays the part of a sort of witch who makes great operatic rock, a cute kittenish sexy witch to be sure. And actually, this album is the anti-Wall, its exuberance the opposite of Waters' moping. The instrumentation, to be sure, is diverse beyond recognition; dijeridu and bouzouki and whistles and handclapping and all, like with The Wall, and there are also these electronic dialogues going on in the background throughout the album. Listening to this album is like being a little kid on his first visit to a theme park, and that's on the zillionth listen. Owning Hounds Of Love got me through some rather weird times in Seattle about fifteen years ago. At any rate, the songs:
"Running Up That Hill" is a song about "changing places," a romantic fantasy about body-swapping. The synthesizer honks over the melody with that plastic '80s sound, but the pop energy of the whole tune overcomes it. "Hounds Of Love," the title track, is a tease, a metaphor for that English institution, the fox hunt, it has a romantically-silly lyric to it: "Take my shoes off/ And throw them in the lake/ And I'll be/ Two steps underwater." "The Big Sky" is really cool because against an innocuous childhood fantasy there's this background of sound effects (including the roar of jets) and Bush's high and low wailings and general vocal soloing, in mockery of opera singing and otherwise, wherein you discover to your astonishment that this woman's voice has an incredible range to it. "Mother Stands For Comfort" is a slow, subtly spooky song, its twisted lyric, "Mother stands for comfort/ Mother hides the murderer." "Cloudbusting" is a march, with violins, Bush's voice well-oiled and exuberantly optimistic. One reviewer on amazon.com said that this song was about Wilhelm Reich's orgone experiments being taken from him by the government, written from his son's point of view. Hmmm. Look him up, gang. Reich, Wilhelm. "Just sayin' it could even make it happen." I love the yodel she sings, "Yayeeyayeeyayeeee...yohoh..."
"And Dream Of Sheep" is a bizarre nightmare, lots of fun, about drowning. Kate's piano playing is great against the Pink Floyd noises. A reviewer on amazon.com thought the entire second side of the album, "The Ninth Wave" (after a line in Tennyson's poetry), was a concept piece about the thoughts of a woman as she is drowning who considers her life, past present and future -- I don't know if it's that specific, it's certainly a plausible explanation of those songs, the first song is about that for sure, but there's definitely a cosmic moment and a resurrection moment at the end of the story. I _can_ say that Kate Bush's musical theater leaves much to the imagination, like good poetry.
"Under Ice" is this spooky scary song about something or someone moving under the ice on a frozen lake with skaters; "Waking The Witch" is sound-effect heaven, the helicopter from "The Wall" is here, there's some kind of witchcraft going on through all the noises. The witch from that song lives on into the next two pieces, "Watching You Without Me" and "Jig Of Life," the first a cheerful quiet ghostly moment in synthesizer tones with low-voiced vocals, the second an Irish venture into the land beyond the looking glass. How does it sound? Think of the Irish dancers who are shown on PBS every once in awhile and you'll have an idea. "Hello Earth" looks at our planet from space, with some cool monastic-sounding choruses at the end. "The Morning Fog" is a delightful tune, the Englishwoman's take on the cycle of death and rebirth. I dunno, maybe it's the cute version of later Aldous Huxley or something along those lines. Look, I'd give this album a much higher rating than 10 if Nick would let me. There aren't a lot like this one. Supposedly this stuff informs great swaths of Tori Amos, don't know, haven't heard Tori Amos.
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(reviewed by Nick Karn)
HIGH POINTS: Reaching Out, The Sensual World, Heads We're Dancing. LOW POINTS: Deeper Understanding, Rocket's Tail.
Alright, this is where Kate's obsessive perfectionist tendencies start to get annoying. I've heard this called something sonically similar to Hounds Of Love, but if that's really the case, I must have totally missed the point of that album. Because The Sensual World actually strikes me as a more layered and 'exotic' take on the romantic style of The Kick Inside and Lionheart, only this being the late 80's and all, the jazz pop musical background is replaced with production that's sometimes dangerously close to immaculately polished generic adult contemporary mush (maybe the drum machines and Fairlight synthesizers have done her more harm than good in the long run... sigh). Sure, the album at its' best proves she's still good at the romantic mood, but after Hounds, this is disappointing. What happened to the more interesting darker vibes, which are almost absent here? What about the variety of vocal approaches, which have mostly changed to only one or two kind of nice but insubstantial singing styles?
With that being said, the first half of this, while not mindblowingly awesome, is still a very good song stretch where she's able to make good use of modern production. Case in point, the title track - on the surface, this is generic crap, but the bubbly synth pattern is very hypnotizing, as is the catchy romantically flowing melody (especially the 'mmm.... yes' lines thrown in), and there's even bagpipes prominent in the mix, so it rules. "Love And Anger" is less impressive, since it reminds me of an inferior take on the anthemic upbeat groove style of "The Big Sky" (okay, maybe there are some Hounds similarities here), but it does have a great solo at the end by none other than Dave Gilmour. As for "The Fog"... hey wait a minute, she already had a song on the last album called "The Morning Fog"! This song's pretty good, though, as the orchestration, swirling guitars and voices here create a nice 'foggy' mood , even if I can't really remember how it goes.
An even greater triumph, though, is the gorgeous ballad "Reaching Out", definitely my favorite song on here. The bells and layered harmony vocals mix together perfectly with that wonderful piano melody, and the bombastic chorus (with more orchestration!) is one of the rare moments on the album where the vocals really get my attention. But don't forget about its' followup, the weird techno-ish pop of "Heads We're Dancing" - it's still got a fair amount of piano throughout, but that rhythm... this is undoubtedly some dancey stuff here, and that 'he go do do do do do... you wanna daaaaahhhNNNNNccce...' refrain is incredibly catchy in both the melody and the sheer quirky style of the vocal delivery. Hmm.... I wonder why I was categorizing this stuff as 'adult contemporary' before. This album's pretty cool so far!
Wait a second... "Deeper Understanding" comes on, and now I'm remembering why. Argh, this song might be the blandest thing she's ever done, actually in the same vein as that Peter Gabriel duet "Don't Give Up". But this doesn't even have a cool bassline going for it - just cheesy computer-inspired lyrics and a generally lifeless vibe. "Never Be Mine" is basically in the same kind of slow vein (though not quite as openly dull), while both "Walk Straight Down The Middle" and "Between A Man And A Woman" basically fit into the immaculately layered mush category - professionally produced, but nothing much memorable comes out of them. Plus, "Rocket's Tail" is a failed, melodyless attempt at combining choir vocals with guitar soloing, as well as odd lyrics that turn out to be about a cat, no less. Needless to say, it's one of the more tuneless things in her catalog.
Oh, and yes, I'm well aware that the 'classic' ballad "This Woman's Work" is on this half, but I have yet to see what's all that appealing about it. I guess the 'triumph over adversity' lyrics are inspirational, and the song isn't bad, but I'm not at all fond of the really adult contemporary direction it takes in the chorus, and the melody just seems to ramble a bit too much for me. All in all, still a somewhat nice album, propelled especially by the very good, heck excellent, first half, but since I hardly like very much of the second half, it's definitely also one of Kate's most inconsistent efforts, and a noticeable falldown from her 'work' in the first half of the 80's. Sorry, but those standards are a hard thing to ignore when looking at the songs here.
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(reviewed by Nick Karn)
HIGH POINTS: Top Of The City, The Red Shoes. LOW POINTS: Why Should I Love You?, The Song Of Solomon.
Now this album - Kate's last until she decided she'd had enough and took a lengthy self-imposed hiatus that she still hasn't emerged from - is very uneven. On one hand, The Red Shoes is arguably the most diverse collection of songs she's ever released (and given the variety of instrumentation on the last few albums, that's saying something), as this also extending to a wide variety of players and guest appearances, as well as interesting forays into territory she hasn't really explored before. A few other songs are also among her most personal work, with well-done lyrics concentrating on such topics as the loss of loved ones and such. However, there really isn't much great material here, if any, and several of these 'experiments' fall a bit flat. Plus, the inconsistency rears its' ugly head again - while The Sensual World had a strong first half but largely boring second one, the reverse is true here, only the highs aren't as great this time out.
Indeed, I'm not sure if there's very much on side one I like apart from maybe "Moments Of Pleasure", which is widely regarded as the obvious classic on this album, mostly because it's one of the most notable examples of Kate really pouring her heart out, but while it's definitely very good, I'm not too affected by it personally (so shoot me now). And the surrounding material, from the dumbass, though at least naggingly catchy, novelty pop opener "Rubberband Girl" to the 'marginally above adult contemporary dreck due to its' literary content' ballad "The Song Of Solomon", isn't any better. Don't even get me started on that monotonous, repetitive as hell Caribbean thingy "Eat The Music" (even if it is quite catchy for a couple minutes) or unmemorable average Kate by numbers stuff like "Lily" either. "And So Is Love" is nice, though - we get plunged into blues territory via Eric Clapton guitar work! Good keyboard part, too.
Thankfully, the second half is a lot better, especially where interesting creative ideas are concerned, though still not enough to save this from becoming my choice as her weakest album. In any case, the title track might be the culminating peak of the Irish music obsession that started with "Night Of The Swallow", as it's an incredibly addictive, though slightly repetitive, song about dancing until your feet fall off. Following that, "Top Of The City" is undoubtedly the majestic personal peak, with Kate using 'angel's shoulders' imagery and big bombastic harmony vocals, plus that first chorus where she declares 'I don't know if I'm closer to Heaven but / it must be Hell down there / these streets have never been paved with gold / welcome to the loneliest city in the world' is very, very striking, and the entire vibe actually reminds me more of Tori Amos' Little Earthquakes sound than anything else. Looks like Kate's 'influence' on Tori has come full circle, eh?
The remaining songs are pretty neat as well. Well, except for the lame Prince 'collaboration' "Why Should I Love You?", whose simple and unbearably repetitive organ line, awkwardly corny melody and even cornier backing vocals later on make it a huge miss. But hey, there's Kate exploring Sly And The Family Stone territory in the funky "Constellation Of The Heart", Kate exploring grunge on the dark and foreboding "Big Stripey Lie" (where she actually plays lead guitar - interesting switch there) and Kate bowing out on a glorious romantic song "You're The One", with big production and an attractive melody. What's there not to like about those songs? They're not awesome by any means, but still save this from being a well-produced failure. Instead, it's a decent (but underwhelming and flawed) temporary(?) goodbye - I can only wonder if she has too much left here after the near decade since this album has passed.
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