A review I'm thinking of submitting

[Draken]

Haven't written anything in ages until this. I'm thinking of sending it to a fanzine. Any thoughts? FYI, the album is in two parts, CD1 is 'A Sea of Honey', CD2 is 'A Sky of Honey'

Review: ‘Aerial’ (Kate Bush)

Monday 14th November, and I’m 41. How the hell did that happen? Last time I checked I was in my twenties I’m sure. It only seems yesterday that I stayed at the Video Café ‘Whole Story’ party until after the Tube closed down and spent a cold night wandering the streets of London with two other Kate fans (Vanessa and Sharon, as I recall).

Still, time passes, and here I am unwrapping a CD-shaped birthday present from Lynne and the kids. No surprise here, as they were given some pretty strong hints – it’s ‘Aerial’ by a certain Kate Bush. After 12 years the prospect of playing it suddenly makes me nervous. I have so wanted this for so long: what if I don’t like it? What if she’s changed direction and lost me? What if the advent of the likes of Garbage and Kasabian has changed MY direction? What if she’s going through a Country & Western phase?

A first, rather distracted hearing puts my mind to rest on the latter point at least. But aside from the haunting ‘King of the Mountain’, and the enchanting intro to ‘Pi’, nothing makes a big first impression to be honest. One of my most enduring musical memories is of buying ‘The Dreaming’, putting it on my dad’s turntable, sitting at a point EXACTLY equidistant from the speakers and being blown away by the sheer ferocious genius of it. That moment was evidently not going to be recreated by ‘Aerial’. The second CD in particular just washed over me to no discernable effect. Or so I thought….

Later that day at work, I find little refrains and rhythms are now stuck firmly in my head. So I put CD2 on my PC and listen to it properly over lunch (hurray for having an office to myself!). Before it has finished I’ve switched on the Continuous Loop option. Hold my calls Pam, I’m, erm, very busy! Certainly busy chiding myself for not listening properly the first time. Damn, how did I miss how those quietly insistent beats drive the music along? Why didn’t I notice how her voice glides along so persuasively? How could I fail to get lost in the glorious build up to the final crescendo of the title track?

Since that epiphany, I’ve had the chance to listen to both disks properly, many times over. Time has moved on, and I’ll just have to accept that, for now at least, Kate doesn’t DEMAND your attention like she did on ‘The Dreaming’. In ‘Aerial’ she coaxes you, she gets inside your head and steers you in the right direction.

I like ‘A Sea of Honey’, I like it a lot. As ever Kate chose the right lead single in ‘King of the Mountain’. ‘Pi’ is a delight and ‘How to be Invisible’ shows she can still inject an edge of menace when she wants. ‘A Coral Room’ revisits her ability to conjure up that aching feeling of loss made inevitable by the passage of time. In fact the only track I’m less than besotted with is ‘Mrs Bartolozzi’; clever lyrics and great imagery, but as a song it doesn’t quite work for me for some reason. But this is a minor quibble, and one that many people don’t seem to share.

Much as I like ‘A Sea of Honey’ though, it is ‘A Sky of Honey’ that has put me in my place and stolen my heart back from Garbage (sorry Shirley, let’s face it, it was just never going to work…). Proper critics who get paid for this sort of thing are split between whether ‘Aerial’ is “dated” or “cutting-edge”. Let’s compromise and call it “timeless”. As timeless as a summer day. Any summer day. All summer days. A beautiful, lyrical, rapturous piece of work that drifts slowly and deceptively from dreamy mellowness to exultation.

Damn I’ve missed her.

[Earniel]

I haven't heard either CD yet, but your review gives them very high praise.

[Butterbeer]

... yeah time flies dosen't it?

I liked the review - though more for what it told me about you than the music! But it too coaxed me in.

a very late happy birthday, btw!

best BB

[Draken]

Thanks Butterbeer!. Well I don't know enough technically about music to say things like 'wonderful use of descant recorders over a ska beat in the final bars', and I know I'll be up against people who CAN discuss that level of technicality. Plus I get the feeling that a lot of people, some fans included, have this view of her work that is still stuck in the Eighties.

So I made it more of a personal take on how the album made me feel, and emphasised how time has moved on for all of us and we shouldn't expect this album to be like what she was doing 15-20 years ago.