AERIAL

Kate Bush is one of those artists incredibly hard to define. She has pop elements, yet also rock, folk and even some classical influences throughout her music.

This one takes the Hounds of Love two part ideas a step further, expanding over into a full 80 mins of music here. Her usual mix of catchy vocal hooks, rock beats, flowing melodies and general wierdness is all here in abundance. "Pi" has a chorus made up of a sequence of numbers, Rolf Harris turns up on a couple of tracks and theres a bridge exclaiming "Slooshy sloshy slooshy sloshy, Get that dirty shirty clean." So as you can see the usual 'creativity' is still there!

Its rare enough to hear songs with such odd content, let alone hear them sung with such passion! This album is perhaps her most progressive. There are a few longer songs here, and the second disc has proggy song structures. Generally, this album is more relaxed than her 80s output, many of them having an "airy" feeling, working with the "Sea of Honey and Sky of Honey idea." Theres a lot of material here so I wont go into depth on it.

The first CD is a collection of pretty good/solid songs, although a few of them are a bit unspectacular

CD 1

King of the Mountain (9/10) Pi (9/10) Bertie (7/10) Mrs. Bartolozzi (7/10) How to Be Invisible (9/10) Joanni (7/10) The Coral Room (8/10)

This is where it starts to pick up pace, the 7/10 songs here are short interludes that, while not being much, add to the overall piece nicely, otherwise there are some great songs on here. Most notably Sunset and Nocturn which are stunning.

CD 2

Prelude (7/10) Prologue (8/10) An Architects Dream (8/10) The Painters Link (7/10) Sunset (10/10) Aerial Tal (7/10) Somewhere in Between (9/10) Nocturn (10/10) Aerial (9/10)

Do make sure to give this album a few spins before rating, I thought this was an *ok* album on first go, and its not as accessible as Hounds of Love or perhaps even the Dreaming, but its a stunning and different piece of work.