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CD
Review
Kate Bush
"Aerial"
Rating 90%
reviewed by
Charlie O'
Available from
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| So finally she's back! After a twelve year
hiatus, the magnificent and quirky Princess of Pop decides that now
is the right time to return with the double CD Aerial. |
| A Sea
Of Honey The first CD is
entitled A Sea Of Honey, a rather sticky prospect, I
should imagine. |
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Kate Bush -
Where have yo bin mama? |
Anyway, by now you will all have
heard lead single King Of The Mountain, enticing you
in with it's promise of an old-style Kate (old old
style, not the new old style from Red Shoes), but
does the rest of the album deliver? Well there's plenty of
weirdness going on here - take the second track π
where the chorus is Three point one four one
whatever, you get the idea, or the fourth track Mrs
Bartolozzi with its Washing Machine, Washing Machine
refrain. Bonkers barmey mate. |
| Bertie, lovely
Bertie, is obviously about her son - who designed the cover
of the single - and the magic he has bought to her life.
Other tracks are more straight
forwards - How To Be Invisible for instance, would be
a great second single, great bassline, played by Mick
Kahn, as reported
here and
here in Silhobbit in 2002/3. By the way, check out
the cover of
Jump's Home Songs just down the page from one of
those stories. Do you reckon Kate reads Silhobbit? Do you
know, parts of this bring to mind Marillions
Afraid Of Sunrise in mood and feel. Joanni is a
misty and ethereal track, in a Peter Gabriel style,
and this is followed by the CD ending A Coral Room, a
track which reminds me of This Woman's Work from
1989's The Sensual World. |
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| A Sky Of Honey
The second CD kicks off with Prelude,
a simple 90 second piano, birdsong and child prelude to
Prologue which, along with An Architects Dream
ease you, the listener, into The Painter's Link - a
short piece featuring Rolf Harris. For real.
Sunset is up next, another laid
back track with restrained piano, bass and drums leading
into a more sprightly guitar break near the end. Another
short, Aerial Tal follows before Somewhere In
Between, possibly the only song in the last 50 years to
use the word "twixt". |
Rolf Harris
(left, with silly beard) |
| The penultimate track
Nocturn is a stunning 8½ minutes long, and sounds to me
like Dido but reared on Prog. Believe me, it's
a good mix. The album closes with the ethnically charged 8
minutes dancearama of Aerial. |
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| I think it's fair to say that most people
already know whether they're going to go out and buy this or not, so
this review is I guess a little pointless, but it has to be done.
Has it been worth the wait? 12 years is a long
time, and time passes. Yet Kate's music surpasses the passage of
time. It doesn't sound as fresh ah A Kick Inside did, but it
is still worth your money. |
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| Strangely I can imagine Kate up on stage
singing most of this album. Now there's a dream. Skip the leotards
though, love. |
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