KATE BUSH

— First review of this album —

Critical assessment

The Hounds "under review" DVD is like so many of these criticism documentaries. They can provide valuable information for fans and noobs alike, but can be frustrating for those who assume they are going to get to see the actual art. Don't make that mistake. While there are lots of video and live clips presented throughout the show, they are very short clips and never complete songs. Thus the effect is that as soon as you begin to enjoy the piece of music it is interrupted by the talking. So be aware that for all intents and purposes, this is discussion, not music.

It actually does a better job than many like-styled documentaries. Beginning with the first album, the panel of journalists and Kate insiders bring us through every album chronologically and in some detail---that's right, this is not just about Hounds. The discussion is interspersed with commentary from Bush herself through period interview audio from the '80s although there is only a bit of this. The panel discuss all aspects along the way: the art, the recording, the business and media, and just a tiny bit about the personal. Of course the opinions presented will sometimes not be ones you share...this is criticism as well as documentary. My biggest gripe is the same one I have with many Kate fans: that somehow her early albums do not match the quality of her mid period album. Nonsense! But generally speaking the hosts do a very good job of breaking down here career in some detail. Once they get to Hounds they take more time and walk through every track on the album, discussing meaning, recording techniques, and influence. They make a good case for why Hounds is considered by many one of the 1980s top albums. Most interesting to me was learning first hand about how some of the dramatic, intense drumming sequences on Hounds were created. Every single aspect of the sound was controlled by Bush and none of it happened by chance. There is discussion of her use of the Fairlight, her vocal experimentation, though unfortunately they downplay the importance of her dance. She was a fantastic dancer and the choreography of those early videos and the live show were critical to her expression of the emotional and the fantastic. They take a rather measured tone with the Tour of Life, which in my view would be among Bush's greatest achievements, and it remains an outrage that the full concert has never been officially released with the fanfare it deserves. They also take a fairly dim view of The Dreaming although they do acknowledge that a small group of fans believed it her best work. The overall highlight for me though was the thorough and affectionate look at side 2 of Hounds, the unbelievably good The Ninth Wave. In one album side Bush delivered a progressive tour de force that is the kind of "once per career" moment most artists have if they're lucky, in Kate's case she had more than one. The DVD's stated job was to dissect that moment and while every fan will always find qualms with conclusions drawn, there is no doubt the people behind this made every effort to deliver a serious, quality sketch of her important years and her seminal work.

The program concludes with Hounds and thankfully doesn't try to impart the same importance on the remainder of her discography, which went downhill dramatically on future albums. From Kick Inside through Hounds however, Kate Bush was easily one of the very brightest artists on the world stage and left us with an incredible legacy. This DVD spells out the case in good detail and is certainly a document fans will want to see. Recommended.

The least you can say about Hounds of Love is that it is a very versatile album, wavering between pop material and little sensual gems that equals Kate's best material from her early albums. Beware though, as versatile sometimes means uneven to other people.

Running Up That Hill is a good pop song with an interesting beat and smart minimal synth arrangements. But it pales greatly when compared to Peter Gabriel's accomplishments in that area. Hounds of Love sounds as if it is an outtake from The Dreaming. It's not bad but hardly noteworthy. Also The Big Sky disappoints, it's not much more then an insignificant remake of the opening track. Mother Stands For Comfort is the first song that really attracts my attention. At the heart sits a sensitive piano ballad, unusual sounds and rhythms give it personality. Cloudbusting is the second remake of the opening track and never evoked anything in me but irritation.

The second side of the original album is entirely different and dwells in melancholic and dreamy atmospheres. Despite all experimentation, Kate Bush is still best at ease alone at the piano, And Dream of Sheep is simply wonderful. Also the minimalist violin arrangement on Under Ice is marvellous. Chillingly beautiful. More piano follows on Waking The Witch, the spell is broken by a downright weird percussive middle part. A interesting contrast. Watching You is an entirely gentle catchy tune, similar to Mother Stands For Comfort from the first side of the album. Jig Of Life is a folksy song in a very modern arrangement. It hasn't aged a bit in 25 years. Hello Earth and The Morning Fog conclude the album on a strong note with delightful balladry.

An album with such contrasting styles is hard to rate. I'd give 2.5 stars for the first part and 4.5 for the second. It is decidedly less appealing to me then Never Forever, but more convincing then The Dreaming. A rounded-up 3.5 stars will have to do.

The Sensual World is an album where all potential is flattened by overblown arrangements and layers of sound that level out all emotional dynamics that mark Kate's best work.

By itself the lush production sounds perfect, too perfect possibly as there's little left of the old overwhelming expressivity under its smooth surface. Tracks like The Fog and Never Be Mine and are good examples of inspired song writing that are buried under a thick carpet of sound. The strongest cuts are the upbeat The Sensual World, the only remaining piano moment This Woman's work and Walk Straight Down The Midle. The other songs have not revealed any of their appeal to me and sound uninspired and overproduced.

The conclusion is simple, this album has spent too much time in the mixing studio. Nevertheless, after initial disappointment, my appreciation of it has slightly grown over the years. With 5 good to excellent songs it's a low 3 stars.

Aerial suffers from the same symptoms as The Sensual World and is made up of uninspired material that has been worked on too much in the production studio.

The opening track King Of The Mountain did probably begin its life as a decent 2 minute piano ballad that was stretched to a 5 minute tediously paced full-band arrangement. The instrumentation is dull and old fashioned, the performance is lifeless. It's a sad conclusion but Kate has lost it. The list of uninspired songs with dreary puffed up arrangements is endless, Pi and How To Be Invisible are dead-born songs failing to stir up any emotion in the lethargic state this album has lulled me into.

The first acceptable moment comes when it's just down to Kate and her piano. I'm not referring to the appalling Mrs Bartolozzi, but A Coral Room is acceptable, even if doesn't measure up to anything of Kate's first 5 albums. Still here it's a standout track. After more then an hour of music this double album ends with 2 tracks that are acceptable. Nocturn takes its time but still manages to build up some kind of tension. The same goes for Aerial.

After 12 years of radio silence, this album comes as a huge disappointment, missing both the song writing, the sensuality and the spontaneity of vintage Kate Bush music. I barely paid attention to the previous album The Red Shoes so I couldn't say which one is the worst of those two, but compared to anything else by Kate Bush this can't possibly rate more then 2 stars.

For the first and only time in her career; Kate Bush relinquished the control of her career to the record company's quest for more commercial success on the back of the very successful debut album. The result of rushing out Lionheart is an album of underdeveloped songs.

Despite of this album being underdeveloped and the songs not particular good, this is still a good album. There are several good songs here. Wow is one of them. The two epic songs In search of Peter Pan and Oh England My Lionheart is the best songs here. The latter one is the best song of this album. It is an understated song with piano and her voice as the leading elements in this superb song. The rest of this album contains some rather anonyme songs. The closing song Hammer Horror is a commercially driven song and a pretty dire one too.

Yes, this is a major step back from the excellent debut album. It is a two star album with only three good songs in it. This album is what you get when the record company takes over Kate Bush and send her down the wrong path. Kate Bush is at her best when she run her career herself. This album proves this point.

2.5 stars

I have always admired Kate Bush from afar. Not as a sex object but as an artist. Her sophistication and her career is an example for everyone. She is a mythical person. Strangely enough because she refuse to be a mythical person. Instead, she is doing her weekly shoppings in just the kind of shops her fans use. She is mythical because she is normal. That says everything in a business where appearance and image is everything. Her long dark hair and very beautiful face and body also makes her pretty fascinating for a male. Yes, she has sex appeal. But she also comes across as a very strong person. In that respect, she is not considered to be a woman in the traditional sex symbol mould. Kate Bush is most definate her own woman and I admire her for that.

I bought Sensual World when I was in the army twenty years ago up in the far north of Norway. I do not remember much of that album. I still have it though and will review it later. I have chosen to start with her debut album. And what a debut album !

Kate Bush wrote some of the songs on this album when she was 13 years old and recorded it when she was 19 years old. Which makes her a genious in my view. This because the music here is mature pop/rock with some references to progressive rock bands like Genesis. Early Genesis, that is. Those are the prog rock references I find here.

The backing band is not that important on this album. But for the record: She used the Alan Parsons Project musicans as her studio musicans. They contribute with saxophone, piano, drums, guitars and bass. The main instrument here is Kate Bush and her voice. An instrument that blows me away. I have never ever heard a woman using her voice like this. Not even those who has tried to copy her is anywhere near Kate Bush. She sings with warmth, strength, sensuality, personality and a heck of a lot of attitude. Her voice is the main reason to buy this album.

There are some throw away pop songs here. But there are also some superb songs here too. The opening track Moving is one of them. Mature pop/rock which tells you a lot about her potential. The second outstanding song is The Man With The Child In His Eyes. A truly fantastic song and the second best song on this album. But it is getting overshadowed by the next song; Wuthering Heights.

What can I say about the monster called Wuthering Heights ? It is written by Kate Bush and that alone marks her out as a fantastic song writer. It was the first ever song written by a woman to top the single charts. It has some of the best vocals ever done by a female artist. She released this song as a single against the wishes of the whole EMI hierarchy........ and she was proven right. Their wish for a single, James And The Cold Gun, is a superb song, but nowhere near as good as her choice. That tells you everything about this 19 years old girl and her artistic visions. Wuthering Heights is simply a piece of genious songwriting and an icon in the pop/rock industry. It is a flawless song.

The quality of the album drops a bit after the superb James And The Cold Gun. Feel It is a good ballad. Oh To Be In Love is a quirky pop song in the Beatles mould. There are some uptempo songs here and some more ballads. But this album never becomes uninteresting. The strength of Kate Bush voice and songwriting captivates me and makes this one of the few song based albums I truly love. This is a truly stunning album and my respect for Kate Bush has risen to the height of Mount Everest. The rest of her albums has hereby been ordered.

4 stars

The Dreaming is Kate's most experimental album and used to be my favourite back in the days. I was around 12 years old and the fact alone that my pop-loving sister didn't like it was reason enough to prefer it to anything else Kate had released till then. The charming quibbles of childhood :) A few years after, I gradually lost interest and stopped listening to it, putting it on the turntable for the first time in 20 years turned out to be a nice reunion.

The album doesn't start strong though, the first two songs are too far-fetched, trying too hard to be special and experimental; they sound forced and lack Kate's usual song writing qualities. Pull Out The Pin is the first moment on the album where the adventurous arrangements are carried by strong enough song material. Also Leave It Open is interesting. The title track is the album's highpoint, Peter Gabriel's influence is clearly felt in the tribal percussion and theatrical vocals. 5 star material this one.

Night of the Swallow is more melodic and announces the style that would be continued on the next album. All The Love continues the momentum. It's a gentle and brooding ballad with a great atmosphere and Kate's typical dreamy-magic charm. The album ends with the powerful Get Out of My House.

The Dreaming is overwhelming and impressive, but it has less of the emotion and charm that graced Kate's earlier work and it is slightly uneven in song quality, 3.5 stars.

Kate's third album is another tour de force, maintaining the piano based pop magic of the previous albums but growing an arm and a leg in arranging the material.

Babooska is a delightful opener, great fretless bass and a number of sound effects reveal Kate's search for more sophisticated arrangements. Delius takes further steps into more experimental territory, playing with vocals, keyboards and drum computer. The result is magical. Blow Away is a delightful ballad that sticks closer to the style of the previous albums. All We Ever Look For is more adventurous again, featuring a whistled main theme and a few nods to Pink Floyd. Also Egypt has a spacey Floyd feel. It ended the perfect A-side of the original vinyl release.

The B-side is more uneven, The Wedding List is a charming small musical drama with a somehow unremarkable chorus. Violin is a fun punk tune with a funny lyrical reference to Siouxsie and the Banshees. It's clearly not Kate's specialty, it's too cute really. The Infant Kiss / Night-Scented / Army Dreamers is a wonderful suite of short romantic charm and beauty, the highpoint of the album. Breathing is a competent piece of music that shows the more proggy side of Kate.

Never For Ever is an excellent album with great compositions and interesting arrangements. A solid 4 stars.

There probably isn't a universal definition for the word 'beauty', but Kate Bush managed to explain what it means to me in around 40 minutes of pure and gorgeous music.

At the heart of each song sits a sensuous and clever piano ballad, fleshed out by an impressive list of professional musicians, lending a proggy feel to the material. Luckily they abstain from unnecessary soloing or any other form of obtrusive playing. Regardless whether Kate sits alone at the piano or is backed up by the entire band, this album maintains a uniquely romantic and dreamy mood throughout. Even when they let in a little punky breeze as on James and the Cold Gun, it remains entirely cute and charming.

The number of highpoints is endless, to name just a few, the opening duo Moving/Saxaphone Song is superb, if those can't convince you of the vocal qualities and song writing skills of this lady then nothing will. The band really shines here as well, adding just the right doze of progginess to it, very subtle. Another favourite would be The Man With The Child In His Eyes.

Kate Bush would create one other album with a similar feel and would then gradually evolve and diversify her music, with another number of great accomplishments as a result. But never did she conjure up the unique ambience and disarming purity of her debut. Nothing less then essential in every household, prog or otherwise.

Kate's second album is almost as impressive as the debut. After all, she had penned all or most of the songs from the two first albums before she was even 16.

I've read she isn't entirely pleased with this album though. Listening to it, this can hardly be because of the quality of the material. In fact, it might have more to do with her frustration at being pushed to release a second album so soon after the first. Kate Bush is a perfectionist and I think she wanted to take a few steps beyond the treaded paths of the debut, which obviously wasn't possible in the rushed recordings of this second release in one year.

None of the songs here would be out of the place on the debut. Both in quality and in execution this album reaches similar heights of magical beauty and passion, only the element of surprise is missing really. 3.5 stars