ARMY DREAMERS

For the B sides of the singles from her third album Never For Ever (1980) Kate Bush wrote non-album songs in opposition to all previous singles. Army Dreamers was the third and final single from NFE, and it peaked at 16 in the UK single charts in October 1980.

The brightly melodic and delicate song is basically a waltz. The lyrics deal with a mother grieving for her young adult son killed on military manoeuvres. The background vocals are easily identified as David Gilmour's.

'Delius' also comes from Never For Ever. It is a beautiful and seducingly sensual tribute to English composer Frederick Delius, and it features only a little of lyrics. Very charming! 'Passing Through Air' is one of her many non-album tracks of the time. It's only about two minutes long and yet it barely manages to live up to that length. Starting quite promisingly, it soon gets trapped into the boring chorus. Sad to say, that makes it a terribly half baked little throwaway song.

The third and final Never for Ever single, "Army Dreamers", is backed with a double B-side: "Delius" (also appearing on the album) and "Passing Through Air", yet another song I was utterly unaware of as a fan.

And from the start, our A-side, "Army Dreamers" is a markedly soft and quieted number to release as a single. This is certainly not the first time she did this (I would suggest boldly). On this note, her first ever single in 1978 was the delicate "The Man With the Child in His Eyes", for God's sake(!); also who's to forget the daring and subsequent surprise success of "Wuthering Heights"? "Army Dreamers" always struck me as beautiful and quietly progressive (in vision, not in composition). Great vocals, of course, and a solid song with simple, yet crystal clear instrumentation (she clearly knew even back when she was young what she wanted out of any given song). The video feels strangely way ahead of its time. It's war, replete with soldiers holding the line (some wielding guns, others guitars), exploding bombs, and apparent delusions (of a child, a lover and seemingly death itself) in the battlefield. Quite interesting.

"Delius", the B-side I'm very familiar with is yet another soft number, I would think a perfect match for our A- side. This is her beginning to use her skill of piano balladry with a more artful focus. Piano-led and with soft, reverb'd vocals (including intricate, classic baritone/bass male backing), but with some intriguing layers. Unusual for Pop, but beautiful nonetheless. Kate appears in a flowing white dress, almost like a wedding dress, sporting a white, flowery crown. Above her and what I assume to be a streambed, sits a literal sun-headed person in a wheelchair... Who knows?

Finally, we have the piano Pop-Rock of "Passing Through Air", with a side of Kate that I honestly haven't quite heard before. It's sort of like Carole King(?!) or Something/Anything?-Todd Rundgren, but if anything it's (loosely) stylistically similar to her earlier songs like "James and the Cold Gun", and I was going to say "Don't Push Your Foot on the Heartbrake", but on second thought this stylistic mode is a rarity for her. Regardless, it's lovely. Good melody and the drums sound great, but, given her vast creative wealth, obvious B-side material.

True Rate: 3.5/5.0