THE RED SHOES

The Red Shoes is the seventh studio album from Kate Bush and her last before her long ( and much needed) hiatus. Kate Bush previous album, which was released in 1989, called The Sensual World didn´t excite me much despite it´s potentially interesting title, and I can only say the same thing about The Red Shoes.

The music has become even more superflous and trivial than was the case on The Sensual World. During the opening song Rubberband Girl I´m even reminded about Madonna. That´s how low Kate Bush had sunk on The Red Shoes. There are virtually no highligts on the album and much too many lowpoints. The worst is probably Eat the Music with its disgusting calypso mood. Top of the City is my favorite here even though it sounds like a second rate version of the songs from Hounds of Love. It´s the only song on The Red Shoes that gives me just a tiny bit of satisfaction. The album ends with the banale love ballad You're The One. It´s almost impossible to believe that Kate Bush was once the master of sensual love ballads when you listen to this cold and generic song.

The musicianship is as always top notch even though nothing out of the ordinary is being played. Kate Bush delivers her worst and most uninspired vocal performance of her career on The Red Shoes. She sounds so indifferent and burnt out.

The production is a mess. Terrible empty sound.

Even though I´m really annoyed with The Red Shoes it´s not a definite 1 star rating in my book. There are moments like the above mentioned Top Of The City that saves the second star for The Red Shoes. But my recommendation is that you stay away from this album until you´ve listened to everything else that Kate Bush has done, because the chance that you´ll be as disappointed as me about The Red Shoes is very big. 2 stars and I´m stretching.