MisK

[ed@das.llnl.gov (Edward Suranyi)]

I've got a bunch of things for you this time.

1)  In the Dec. 6 _San Francisco Bay Guardian_, there's a holiday
gift guide.  Gina Arnold wrote a column on record recommendations.
The first page of this article has a huge picture of Kate; it takes
up about a third of the page.  Ms. Arnold has divided people into 
categories, and made recommendations for each.  For example, one
category is:  "Regular Teenage Boys (who have Metallica's _And Justice
For All_ in their record collecton)"

Well, here's what she says a little later:

Parents (Moms and dads both, except for the Field family):
Kate Bush, _The Sensual World_ (Columbia)
Opal, _Early Recordings_ (Rough Trade)
     Of course, I always use my own parents as guinea pigs, so I first
asked my dad if he'd like the new Tracy Chapman record for Xmas.  He 
sighed.  "I suppose so," he said, dubiously.  "She's a bit glum, though,
isn't she?"
     Well, rest assured, Dad, there's plenty of equally sensitive,
folky albums that aren't quite so glum as Trace.  Opal's early recordings
are steeped with depressive metaphors and sadness, but they are hardly
about the ills of the world.  In fact, they take place in some dream
space that never touches on reality.  Kate Bush is also a dreamer, whose
pretty voice and sensual songs can take a listener to a galaxy far, far
away.  These are both infallibly likable records.

2)  The Dec. 6 _S.F. Weekly_ also has a gift guide.  In this paper,
there's a column where local (i.e. Bay Area) musicians reveal the 
albums on their holiday wish lists.  Here's part of it:

PAUL KANTNER
Jefferson Airplane

Big Audio Dynamite, Megatop Phoenix (Columbia)
Kate Bush, The Sensual World (Columbia)
Wagner's "Ride of the Valkyries"

     "The first two, because they take chances and explore frontiers; the
third, because it's good music to invade France by."

3)  Once again I found a wonderful review of the album.  This one is
in, of all things, _Dance Music Report_, published in New York.  It's
from the Nov. 19 - Dec. 1 issue.  Here it is:

KATE BUSH
"The Sensual World" (Columbia 44164)
Produced by Kate Bush

     Now I come from England and over there Kate Bush has been huge
since her first album, "The Kick Inside" spawned a number one single
called "Wuthering Heights".  She went on to make more albums -- 
"Lionheart", "Never For Ever", "The Dreaming", "Hounds Of Love" --
which got more individual and experimental as she went along.  Nobody
has ever sounded like Kate -- for easy reference maybe she could be
considered a female Peter Gabriel.  But I'm only saying that cos in the
US she has enjoyed little more than a large cult.  And the reason has to
be that this remarkable artist, who operates within her own world and
time-scale, is quite possibly *too* unique and, yes, "far out", for the
safe, predictable world of the American radio-dominated robo-punter.
But take the time and there is a treasure-trove of delights and
brilliant music to be found in Kate's finely-crafted music.
     And so to "The Sensual World", more than three years in the making
and as intriguing, intoxicating, inspiring and individual as anything
she's done before.  Where Kate's first three LPs were finding her feet
and made on a rush of overnight acclaim, the last three have taken a 
lot of time and effort to produce -- by the time the 80s bow out 
there will only have been four Kate Bush albums.  [I think he means
that she'll have put out four albums during the 80s, including _TWS_.]
And that's the way it has to be -- every cut is composed by Kate with
her piano (and later synth), then sculpted into shape in the studio
using suitable musicians for each cut.  Whereas "Hounds" was half-composed
of an ambitious side-long suite and, contrastingly, cuts like "Running Up
That Hill" and "Big Sky", which made great singles, "The Sensual World" is
ten perfectly-crafted tracks which range from her gorgeously-textured
mid-tempo stuff like the aptly-named title cut to Kate's trademark
heart-stroking ballads.  Only the title cut, with its "mmh, yes" vocal
hook and the distinctive tones of the traditional Irish Uillean pipes,
seems to be an obvious single (and it is).  Never does this remarkable
lady pander to any trend or anybody to take the easy out.  Each album
is a labour of love, a single entity with its own character.  The mood
on this one is quite subdued, lush, densely-textured with much use
of ancient instruments (long a specialty of her brother Paddy, who 
plays on the record).
     The single opens the LP, followed by the gradually-building tension
of "Love And Anger", the closest thing to the last album with its mass-
chorale and impassioned vocal.  The first truly breath-taking moments
come with "The Fog", a misty, atmospheric floater which seems to deal
with growing up and the love of family.  A predominance on violin and
cello (plus orchestra) give the cut a rich texture like an aural
painting of the last century using 90s technology.  It's completely
beautiful -- and Kate's doctor dad makes a cameo!  "Reaching Out" is
the kind of at-the-piano ballad she excells at, which again harks
back to childhood emotion.  Great strings.  "Heads We're Dancing"
takes a step back to World War 2 with its evocative lyrics and
could be the next single as Kate establishes a groove which is
exotically percussive and electronically-boosted at the same time.
     Side Two kicks off with "Deeper Understanding", a quite
sinister tale of computer infatuation-then-madness.  It's the first
of three cuts with the amazing Trio Bulgarka, three Bulgarian women
who contribute soaring, emotive harmonies and lift the cuts they're
involved to another dimension altogether.  "Between A Man And A Woman"
is a dense, multi-layered pulse with an atmosphere of magic and
mysticism.  "Never Be Mine" brings back The Trio to sing out their
hearts behind a stomach-clasping ballad of lost love.  The most "normal"
cut is "Rocket's Tail", with guitar by Pink Floyd's Dave Gilmour (who
produced the original demos by a 16-year-old Kate Bush in the early
70s).  Well, not *that* normal.  It begins with Kate and the Trio
beseesching half the words a capella before the band lurches in to
let Mr. Gilmour wail away as he is wont to do over a Floyd-ish plod.
The subject matter appears to concern a guy intent on impersonating
a rocket by dressing up in a pointed hat, silver suit with a firework
back-pack -- he lands in the drink.  This stunning set bows out with
my favourite cut, "This Woman's Work", just Kate and her piano (backed
by a tasteful orchetra) pouring out a melancholy ode to lost love and
loneliness.  It kind of evokes "Don't Give Up", the heartbreaking
duet she did with Peter Gabriel in '86.  Kate's fragile strength is
at its peak here and I love it.
     Obviously there will be singles pulled off this album, maybe even
given dance remixes, but it's this LP that's Kate's masterpiece and one
of the best things she's done.
				-- Kris Needs

4)  The album continues to be in the Top 25 all around the Bay Area.

5)  I just saw KITS' latest playlist (Dec 5).  "The Sensual World"
has ended its long, slow climb:  it is now number one, after being at
number two last week!  "Love And Anger" jumped from #29 to #21.

6)  This morning, VH-1 showed the ad for the album *four times* 
between 6 am and 11 am.  (No, I didn't sit through all this.  I had
my VCR tape it, and then watched it in search mode.  I'm trying
to catch an ad for Tuesday's special.)  So it really looks like
Columbia is starting to do something.
     You know, I have a theory about this.  Perhaps Columbia *wanted*
to wait until the album became big in the alternative scene before 
launching it to the public at large.  Maybe they think that the
word of mouth generated would help them in what seems to be a
second release of the album.


Ed (Edward Suranyi)        | Caption:  "Kate Bush goes from cult fave to
Dept. of Applied Science   |        chart rave."  -- _Billboard_
UC Davis/Livermore         |   (In "Was It A Hit Or A Miss" in the 1985
ed@das.llnl.gov            |          year-end special issue.)