50 WORDS FOR SNOW

While I've been enjoying this album and with it Kate's more minimalist song-delivery style, I must admit to not feeling that the songs are as creative or envelope-pushing as some of her previous work (Never Forever, The Dreaming, Hounds of Love, The Sensual World). There are a few of her expected "gimmicks"--like her son Bertie's narration and singing in "Snowflake" (9.5/10), the choral work singing "Lake Tahoe" in the song of that name (9/10), the Himalayan choral singing the chorus in "Wild Man" (8.5/10), Elton John's strong and equal presence in the emotional duet about two souls re-encountering each other over and over without really fully connecting, "Misty" (9/10), and then, of course, Steven Frye's recitation of Kate's list of 50 terms for snow in the song, "50 Words for Snow" (6/10) Kate's piano playing and singing are exquisite, masterfully mature and infinitely emotional, but the songs are sometimes lacking something . . . je ne sais quois to really bring them into the realm of classic masterpieces. I think they are masterful--expressions of a songwriting master, and I personally find them incredibly powerful and deeply engaging, but I'm not sure the average prog lover will prize them equally. It is for this reason that I think the album deserves three and a half stars, rated down to three because it probably is, in fact, "Good, but non-essential" and not an "excellent addition to ANY prog rock music collection. But for Kate lovers, it is probably worthy of 4.5 stars--a wonderful presentation of emotional songs from one of music's all-time masters.