Audio magazine review

[katefans@world.std.com (Chris'n'Vickie of Kansas City)]

Chris here,
    Here is the review from the February issue of Audio magazine.

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The Sensual World:
Kate Bush
Colombia 44164, CD; AAD; 45:59
Sound: B               Performance: B

   Had she not been so stubbornly original from the start of her career,
it would be tempting to say that Kate Bush is trying to edge toward main-
stream accessibility with _The Sensual World_. Compared with earlier albums,
there's less here that grates on the unprepared ear, and she has delivered
some bluesy, even arguably funky, vocals. But there's also little evidence
that she's traded her quirkiness for pop flash. There are no superhooks, no
Top 40 bids; even the cover art is subdued. A simple black and white headshot
in which a flower obscures Bush's mouth, it betrays exactly why this album
may well distance her from old fans and new prospects alike.
  As producer, Bush presents a collection of sonic experiments whose success
or failure depends largely on whether or not she has obscured her own
singing. When she veils her voice, with it's amazing range of pitch and mood,
the songs simply bog down. On the title track, a tame and uninspiring Bush
sounds like Madonna singing Peter Gabriel. Worse, she has often pushed her
voice so far back in the mix that it's lost among thick, airless layers of
strings, woodwinds, Fairlight wizardry, and zillion-tracked background vocals. Bush's great angry-cat snarl in "Between a Man and a Woman" for
example, is ruined whenever it runs into the dense accompaniment.
  Without making full use of her voice, the title track and other songs are
simply layers of overpowering sensuality - baklava without a nip of coffee
to cut the sweetness. Bush chose analog recording for this project; had she
worked digitally, there may have been more crispness and separation.
  The songs with spare arrangements work better, letting Bush's voice and 
often exquisite keyboard work shine through. Talk about a sensual world:
Few singers have Bush's power to touch the listener this way, to make 
singing so luscious and physical - carnal and sublime in the same breath.
Listen especially to "This Woman's Work," where a breathy whisper tickles
the ear like a feather, and "Walk Straight Down the Middle," where the voice
is a sinuous and reedy snake.
  Bush's canniest move was to enlist the Trio Bulgarka, the hot Bulgarian
a cappalla group with jackhammer vibratos. The Trio is cleverly used to 
portray the voice of a "loving" computer on "Deeper Understanding." But it's
on "Rocket's Tale" (where Bush gets down to some straight-out blues punched
into shape by Dave Gilmour's guitar) that we hear what this matchup was 
meant to be: a glorious battle of the sopranos, where Bush goes head-on
with the Trio, no holds barred.
                                      Susan Borey

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  ...and in this corner from Welling, Kent, weighing in at 92 pounds...
taking on the Bulgarian Bruisers... that tag team of terror.....
 
   They must pay these people by the simile.

                                  Chris of,
                                    Chris'n'Vickie
                                      of Kansas City
                                        katefans@world.std.com