MisK

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

Hello everybody!  I hope everyone had a good time over the holidays.

Considering how long I've been away from the newsgroup, I have
surprisingly little news.  I'm glad to hear that Deb's article
will appear in _DISCoveries_.

There's still no review in the new issue of _Rolling Stone_!  Anybody
know their telephone number so I can badger them?  The album is listed
in the charts, however:  #1 on the college albums chart (of course, they
got this from _The Gavin Report_, which is also the source for MTV's
120 Minutes countdown, so this is no surprise), and #24 on the regular
albums chart.  This latter position *is* a surprise; it's much higher
than any other chart has shown.  (On _Billboard_, it's down to #50 now,
and it's peaked at #32 on _Cash Box_.  For those curious, "Love And Anger"
is still #1 on _Billboard_'s Modern Rock Tracks chart.)

The Jan/Feb issue of _Option_ has a review of the album, and it's
pretty good:

KATE BUSH:  The Sensual World
Over the years Bush's voice has matured from a fingernails-on-a-chalkboard
shrillness to a finely controlled instrument with amazing vibrato,
falsetto and sustaining capabilities.  These eleven new songs (one
cassette/CD only) are perhaps the most personal of Bush's career.  This
album is somewhat of a celebration of sensuality; omnipotent carnal
images mingle with submerged Freudian suggestions and Bush's personal
revelations.  Uniting Celtic instrumentation with modern technology (Bush
is a studio wizard and a master with synth-sequencing gadgetry) and 
utilizing the likes of Bulgaria's Trio Bulgarka and uillean pipist
Davey Spillane, she's taken on some heady yet intimate subject matter.
The opener (said to have been inspired by Joyce's _Ulysses_) embraces
the erotic world of flesh, sex, and love with its lusty rhythms and 
Celtic-mid-eastern accents.  "The Fog" and "Reaching Out" explore
childhood, adolescence, and separation ripe with earthy images and bodily
metaphors.  "Never Be Mine" is hopelessly romantic in its self-realization
that the dream of love is often more powerful than the reality.  The 
melody lines, hooks, and bittersweet delivery here find Bush at her most
approachable; the most immediately memorable, soothing song of her career.
_The Sensual World_ is clearly the work of a matured artist at the top of
her form.  (Columbia)
				      -- Brad Bradberry

That's it for now, folks.


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.)