BREATHING / THE EMPTY BULLRING

Kate Bush's third album Never For Ever (1980) marked a transitional stage in her career, a logical link between the first two albums of a young singer-songwriter backed by a band and producers with their own wills, and The Dreaming (1982) in which she took control firmly in her own hands and produced a difficult "she's gone mad" album that was a nightmare to the record company. I love them all. One of the best songs on Never For Ever is the closing track, 'Breathing'. As a composition, it's a magnificent leap in artistic depth compared to naïve, starry-eyed balladry of songs such as 'In Search of Peter Pan' or 'Oh England My Lionheart'. And technically it's a perfect example of the way Kate strived for new soundscapes with the aid of modern devices, especially Fairlight.

I bet there aren't many Kate Bush fans that fail to be moved by this dystopic and mysterious song. One doesn't even need to be aware that the protagonist is an unborn child inside the mother's womb. The outside world has faced disaster: "Chips of Plutonium are twinkling in every lung". Here Kate starts to show her real capacity as a widely expressionistic vocalist instead of a high-pitched pop sensation so easy to make fun of. 'Breathing' is simultaneously both soft, beautiful, and haunting, dark-toned. Worth noticing is the goosebump effect of the mid-section featuring the male voice-over, and the increase of the tension. Also the silent, extended ending is bravely against the pop norms. This definitely is a five-star song for me.

'The Empty Bullring' on the B side is a fairly good non-album song, so no need to lower my rating! It's just Kate and her piano, a bit like 'In the Warm Room' (on Lionheart) but slightly livelier and brighter -- at first it may bring 'Oh To Be in Love' in mind, only without band-backing or a clear chorus -- and the piano work is more decorative. Not so far from the classical lied, actually. Funnily I originally mistook the white mushroom on the cover for a figure of a lady wearing a large white hat, before having a closer look...

As with many artists whom I love so significantly greater than 99.999% of all the rest, I am entirely ignorant of the back catalog (at least in the terms of this day and age) of the illustrious, incomparable Kate Bush (aside from my prized 12" single for "Running Up That Hill"). I'm also taking this opportunity to refresh myself with all the many music videos she produced and choreographed herself (most of these will be new to me). I'm not starting at the top, though for reasons I can't explain other than a form of laziness: I found a YouTube playlist of [some of?] Kate's B-sides and it starts here in 1980 (not sure where else to easily find them).

Our A-side is "Breathing", later appearing on her rightly transitional album Never for Ever (1980). More on that below. The accompanying music video is perfect for the song. Haunting and eerie, Kate is basically rolling around in this plastic ball, wearing what looks like nothing more than a clear plastic or cellophane dress. It appears as if she's swimming in it, which is such an interesting effect. I wanted to take an opportunity to say that this track is a great representation of Never for Ever at large [and an essential Kate Bush song, in my opinion], as mentioned a transitional album, coming off of her more youthful late-70s, though entirely fresh and unique singer-songwriter approach (plenty of piano ballads in her first two, for instance) to her most acclaimed Art-Pop era. This latter, technically early-middle period began here, culminating to, in my opinion, her creative peak in The Dreaming (1982) and her greatest popular success in Hounds of Love (1985). Never for Ever and "Breathing" specifically are excellent and bold experiments, but she's still finding her voice. The bulk of the song is pretty static until the end, when a solemn creep morphs into a heavy, washed chorus of voices and electric guitar, here in video as Kate and Co. are shown emerging from a lake, singing together, peaceably escaping to a strange, off-color beach scene... Very interesting. Highly recommend it.

Where "Breathing" is the artful expression of this new era here unfolding, its B-side "The Empty Bullring" is a reflection of her earliest recorded music, as aforementioned, a great example of her piano ballads. It's literally just her voice and an echoey piano. Beautiful melody and featuring Kate's still quite youthful dramatic soprano for which she is in great part known. If "Breathing" is "Essential" Prog/Art music, then "Empty Bullring" is quite "Good" songcraft in general.

True Rate: 4.25/5.00 [You do the math haha!]