The Orlando Sentinel "The Red Shoes" Review

[bdoherty@bilver.oau.org (Benjamin J Doherty)]

        Kate Bush, The Red Shoes (Columbia):  Kate Bush always takes ages to
make an album, but her efforts have been well worth the prolonged
anticipation--until now.
        On The Red Shoes, Bush seems determined, after years as a cult heroine,
to follow cohort Peter Gabriel's path from the fringes to the rock mainstream.
But rather than emphasizing her melodic side, as Gabriel did on his pop hits,
she merely irons out some of the quirks that made her tunes so interesting and
succumbs to many of the cliches of contemporary production.
        On the opening cut, "Rubberband Girl," Bush waxes positively perky as
she struggles to forge a "Sledgehammer" out of a flimsy tune, dopey lyrics and
bouncy dance-floor beat.  Arena-rock drums undermine the gentle "Top of the
City."  The dance-floor rhythm track on "Constellation of the Heart" is too
cliched to energize the bland melody.
        "And So Is Love" is as full of wispy synthesizers as a Phil Collins
song, and even with a few spirals of electric guitar, it's too pale a landscape
for her piercing soprano.  Except for Bush's voice, "The Song of Solomon" could
be a New Age number and the lyrics could have been written by George Michael in
a snippy mood--"Don't want your B.S./ just want your sexuality."
        Nothing on The Red Shoes is worthy of past Bush albums, but a few
numbers have their mild charms.  The bizarre fruit metaphors on "Eat the Music"
are exceedingly pretentious, but the song has a lilting, African high-life
feel. The mechanical rhythm track on "Lily" is a tired dance-floor cliche, but
the odd high, droning noises on top add interesting texture.  The mandola, the
whistles and various curious instruments on the driving title track really
recall the fever-dream quality of the 1948 ballet film The Red Shoes, the
album's namesake.
        The Red Shoes was some four years in the making.  Hopefully, it won't
take Bush so long to put a new album out, to make this disappointing misstep
fade from memory.

TWO stars out of FIVE.
 
--- Parry Gettelman
 
(Full body photograph of Kate in a fruit print dress: "Devoid of the quirks
that made her a cult heroine, Kate Bush's 'The Red Shoes' is a disappointing
effort.")
-- 
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