Collegian review: 10/20/89

[Jon Drukman <jsd@GAFFA.MIT.EDU>]

OK, I know you've all been sitting out there saying "what has that
rotten Drukman been up to all this time?"  Well, I managed to get a
weekly newspaper column here in our student college rag called the
"Collegian" (although referred to in rapturous tones by the student
body as the Garbegian, or Collusion, or Contusion, or whatever strikes
their collective fancy.)  So, I announced in my first column to expect
a new Kate thing by Thanksgiving time (this was when I still doubted
CBS' ability to stick to announced dates).  On Friday September 29
they ran my review of the single, which is not very interesting, being
mainly a hard sell for the neophytes (a very hard sell considering
there's only one record store that sold the import single and it was
10 miles away...)  Last Friday (Oct. 20) they ran my full review, with
a pic of the album cover, and the photo erroneously credited to Virgin
Records (a slip which almost cost my editor much embarrassment since
he was gonna send a copy of the review to them!! and he calls himself
a Kate fan!  What a bozo... but I digress...)

So, here it is.  Excuse the basicness of it, but most people at UMass
won't understand phrases like "the stirring cadences of the chorus
mingle eerily with the basic weltschmerz of the violin line."  I don't
understand that either, mainly becuase it doesn't mean anything.

On with the article...

KATE BUSH GLIDES INTO THE SENSUAL WORLD
By JON DRUKMAN
Collegian Correspondent

Four years after the landmark _Hounds_of_Love_ album, Kate Bush smiles
on us all once again and releases _The_Sensual_World_.  Bush, a
musical genius and the inspiration for dozens of articles with insipid
puns in the title ("Bush Fires," "Bush Ranger," "The Bush Of Ghosts,"
etc. ad nauseum) is a painstaking artist, and has released only six
albums in her 11-year career.

Despite the fact that she's been around all this time, America has
been loathe to embrace her bizarre brand of music.  Maybe it stems
from the fact that she never follows the commercial trends and makes
songs that please her.  Maybe it stems from the fact that she has a
gale force voice which occasionally gets so rough that your eardrums
feel like they've been run over a cheese grater.

More pity for those who ignore her, becuase if they were to take a
look in, they'd find music with originality and imagination.

The Sensual World should find favor in the states because Kate seems
to be mellowing out a bit.  The cheese grater voice is gone, replaced
by a silky smooth one that caresses your ears lovingly, and then, when
you least expect it, gives your nose a playful tweak.  Featuring an
all-star cast, including ex-Japan bassist Mick Karn, Pink Floyd
supremo Dave Gilmour, and a batch of Bulgarian vocalists known as Trio
Bulgarka, The Sensual World is at turns seductive, playful, mournful,
preposterous and celebratory.

Four years of waiting can push expectations high for an album.  Couple
this with the fact that Kate Bush has already released the best album
ever in the history of music (1982's experimental opus The Dreaming)
and you can see that we were all set to be disappointed.

While this album isn't as stunning overall as The Dreaming or Hounds
Of Love, it's still firmly head and shoulders above the rest.

Even on a record as polished as one bearing the word "sensual" in its
title should be, there are standouts.  Our current favorite track is
"The Fog."  IT swirls, broods, glides and swoops like the water that
Bush is singing about.  IT's a melancholy song about growing up, says
Kate, and features her father providing some snippets of dialogue.
You can feel the water and fog washing out of the speakers at you.

There is one dud here, however.  "Reaching Out" is a histrionic,
woefully overdone ballad.  Oddly, Bush's most powerful vocal
performance on this album is drowned in a sea of syrupy strings and
bad Bette Midler cliches.  Worse yet, it's right in the middle of all
the good stuff.  When it comes on, our hand is often seen "reaching
out" for the skip button.

We could drone on and on forever about the merits of this album.  The
brilliant computer love song "Deeper Understanding"  or the intense
bombast of "rocket's Tail" (which features Gilmour wailing away in a
stunning series of guitar solos) are reason enough to get this record.

While it isn't as ambitious as Kate's previous albums, it is still an
ultimately satisfying collection.  Just one word of warning: the
powers that be decided to relegate one of the best tracks, "Walk
Straight Down The Middle," to the status of cassette and CD-only bonus
track.  FOr this reason, you should avoid the vinyl unless you also
want to pick up the British single, which features the bonus track as
a B-side.

But, regardless of medium, this album is a winner.  Step into Kate
Bush's Sensual World and find out for yourself.

* * * * * *

Well, I guess I got carried away with the hyperbole there.  I really
don't think it's as good an album as I said it was in the column.  I
sort of felt like I had a duty to praise it in the column though.
Maybe we can get her popular here despite the material.

bye for now.

+---------------------- Is there any ESCAPE from NOISE? ----------------------+
|  |   |\       | jsd@gaffa.mit.edu | "I like George Bush, but this `kinder,  |
| \|on |/rukman | jsd@umass.bitnet  | gentler' crap is killing us." - D.Trump |
+-----------------------------------------------------------------------------+