Kate Bush // 50 Words For Snow

Kate Bush's new song is out. "Wild Man" is haunting and textured, evocative of many different things, but cohesive as well. It sounds right. If Aerial saw the sun set, "Wild Man" promises to watch over winter with its forthcoming album, 50 Words For Snow.

Anticipate here.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=a3BzjfAjug4

Thanks for the link!

Wasn't too impressed at first, but the song has grown to be my song of choice to wake up to. It got substance while being featherlight at the same time. It reminds me of Morning Fog in that regard.

the album title is beneath her, i think. kind of a cliche. but i like the single.

love the one-note beginning. so Kate, and so good.

ok 2 notes

c&p from the main Kate thread, to keep it all together:

New single is pretty interested and bodes well for the album after disappointment of Director's Cut. Sounds fairly Dreaming era arrangement wise. Sad to hear her voice is slightly diminishing in it's power nowadays though.

― Jamie_ATP, Monday, 10 October 2011 Bookmark Suggest Ban Permalink

I missed the premier on BBC Radio2, is that where you heard it? I'm stoked!

― Young Swell (Le Bateau Ivre), Monday, 10 October 2011 Bookmark Suggest Ban Permalink

Someone posted it for streaming here: http://breakingillusions.tumblr.com/post/11268597787/wild-man-kate-bush-album-version-you-are

Not for me, I'm sad to say.

― Leonard Pine, Monday, 10 October 2011 Bookmark Suggest Ban Permalink

http://consequenceofsound.net/2011/10/check-out-kate-bush-wild-man/

― Lars and the Lulu Girl (NickB), Monday, 10 October 2011 Bookmark Suggest Ban Permalink

oops xp

― Lars and the Lulu Girl (NickB), Monday, 10 October 2011 Bookmark Suggest Ban Permalink

Thanks guys!

― Young Swell (Le Bateau Ivre), Monday, 10 October 2011 Bookmark Suggest Ban Permalink

Chorus sounds kinda Steely Dan

― Lars and the Lulu Girl (NickB), Monday, 10 October 2011 Bookmark Suggest Ban Permalink

I really like it, thanks.

― Ismael Klata, Monday, 10 October 2011 Bookmark Suggest Ban Permalink

Hmmm... It's good, but I'm not mad on the chorus.

It's got a bit of a Bowie-vibe overall, no?

Her voice has definitely waned a bit, she sounds more like Patti Smith.

I'm very glad to hear form her again after DC which was a disaster imho, so it's good to have her back, and like Jamie said, bodes well for the album.

― Young Swell (Le Bateau Ivre), Monday, 10 October 2011 Bookmark Suggest Ban Permalink

love the new song!

― the girl from spirea x (f. hazel), Monday, 10 October 2011 Bookmark Suggest Ban Permalink

can't tell. honestly for years I've been very lukewarm on anything new she puts out but then I grow to love most of it. the music is great, certainly

― akm, Tuesday, 11 October 2011 Bookmark Suggest Ban Permalink

This song is a bit. . . uneventful.

― Cal Jeddah (_Rudipherous_), Tuesday, 11 October 2011 Bookmark Suggest Ban Permalink

It's got a bit of a Bowie-vibe overall, no?

I was more thinking Japan. A very early eighties electronic sound for sure.

― Sebastian (Royal Mermaid Mover), Tuesday, 11 October 2011 Bookmark Suggest Ban Permalink

I thought it pretty much follows on from Aerial, somewhere between 'King of the Mountain' and 'Nocturn'. I really like the production, the progression in the electric piano sounds is warm and lovely.

One thing though is that there's not much in the way of melody. On the verses she's really having to try to force the vocal into a tune that isn't really there. It's something that's come out of participating in the U2 and Led Zep polls, how eventually the ability to write strong hooks just goes. You make up for it in other ways, like her exploring long, loping rhythms, but I'm wondering if that's a universal of ageing for some reason.

― Ismael Klata, Tuesday, 11 October 2011

often, it seems that musicians explore different sorts of hooks with time. i think part of it comes from growing tired of writing the same kinds of melodies. but that only intrigues me more; as a listener, i appreciate shifts in songwriting. if it weren't for such changes in a musician's ability to write hooks, many masterpieces would not have seen the light of day (see Prologue on Aerial). i love the hooks in this song, from the instrumental to the floating chorus. and i like the spoken verses; kate bush has never shyed away from a bit of humor. it makes total sense.

i'm on my second listen and i really like this song a lot. it sounds beautiful and relaxed.

This has made me think about the idea of pop artists who evolved into obsessive auteurs, interested in production as much as (or more than) songwriting, famously private and slow to release records. It feels like a very 80s concept - Kate Bush, Peter Gabriel, Mark Hollis, Sade - Scott Walker from an earlier era, though the 80s was when the process began. I don't see that happening much now, partly because the Top 40 is so closed-down and narrow that none of them would have the pop success in the first place necessary to make that journey.

This has made me think about the idea of pop artists who evolved into obsessive auteurs, interested in production as much as (or more than) songwriting, famously private and slow to release records

i'm really hoping that the new thomas dolby album subscribes to this type of process

The new Thomas Dolby is very good with a few clunkers but it's not going to hit the charts or make any converts.

i hope we get to hear another song soon

The full version is on Spotify and is... seven minutes long!

I really like this, it sounds the opposite of snowy and wintery to me - kind of Balearic actually, a bit Fleetwood Mac or something maybe?

It's the second-shortest on the album - there two over ten mins on there

7 minutes!!!!

the thing about this song is i - i can feel the mountainside, like i'm on it

this is definitely growing on me, love the keyboard sound

the bass drum sounds really weird and flamming on this youtube

Kate's definitely worth a vote on the Producers Poll imo (voting closes tomorrow). Everything since at least The Dreaming has been all her own work aiui, and I always love the sound.

she completely mired the production on TSW and TRS. i think she realized that later on, when she came up with aerial.

I take it that's the reason The Director's Cut exists? I don't mind The Red Shoes myself, but I don't know any other records in that kind of AOR field to compare it with. The Sensual World I've never actually heard, though it's got 'This Woman's Work' on it, which is flawless afaiac.

yea it is one of the better produced tracks on the album

and yes i guess that was the reasoning for TDC, tho DU was awful

Full version:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aB1f-oEGmUI

Sorry, but I am not enjoying the vocal delivery at all. I assume it's a response to loss of vocal capacity. Overall, it feels as though the lyrics have to support a lot of the weight here, and I am not drawn in to the sense of mystery she is going for.

I keep thinking of Robert Bly.

i don't think i'll listen to the full length until the album comes out

nevermind, just listened to it. it's beautiful. borrows from elements of aerial but also goes back to a never for ever sound, in my mind.

That was quick :)

So it's out there already?

o no i just mean Wild Man 7min version -- if the album were out already i be flippin :P

Ooohhhhhhh I see. You had me flipping there for a minute :)

http://louderthanwar.com/featured/kate-bush-50-words-for-snow-album-review

Wow

tbh I do still dread the Elton John duet, but that review is glowing

don't know that site, seems a little fanboy-ish but still i'm excited

yeah

http://www.uncut.co.uk/blog/index.php?blog=6&title=kate_bush_50_words_for_snow&more=1&c=1&tb=1&pb=1

more even-toned

Tbh that louderthanwar review reads like a high school kid wrote it. Way too OMG!!

i know it's true, i just saw it on my facebook feed and get excited

Mojo review is largely positive - and suggests Elton knocks one out of the park with his vocal FWIW.

I'm really encouraged by the details in those reviews - rolling pianos, jazzy drums, the mood of A Coral Room. I like. The quality can take care of itself, in time.

http://thequietus.com/articles/07364-kate-bush-interview-2

I liked this in the Uncut review:

"But at the same time, the way the track is predicated on Fry’s reputation as bibliophilic fount of all knowledge seems somehow crass. Given how much of Kate Bush’s appeal is built on an image of her being blissfully disconnected from the real world, it is disappointing to imagine her coming up with the concept while slumped in front of QI on a Friday night."

Last time out (with a new album), she was writing songs about Washing Machines.

"Blissfully disconnected" has left the building.

Mojo review is largely positive

She's famous and over 50 so it's bound to be, innit?

The spotlight is also shared on the title track, with Stephen Fry cast as Dr Joseph Yupik (Yupiks being an Eskimo tribe of Siberia and Alaska), goaded by Bush – “Come on Joe, you've got 32 to go!” – into finding 50 synonyms for snow. The droll neologising – “Wenceslasaire”, “spangladasha”, “shnamistoflopp'n”, “Zhivagodamarbletash

As long as I breathe, I hope never to hear this track

Yeah, I shall be pressing play in fear and trepidation with my hand about an inch from the stop button on that track.

o boyy that sounds ... iffy

Both Elton and Fry sound better on record than in theory. They're not playing too much to type.

i would have expected that actually. does that mean you've heard the record?

hang on what stephen fry is on this?????

:(((((((((

i had been really looking forward to it!

i mean...i guess she's had rolf harris and peter gabriel on her records before. maybe it won't be so bad :/

She's had Lenny Henry on a record before!

I'm no Fry fan but he pitches it just right - not doing his crumpety national treasure thing.

haha has she really?! which one? maybe that's what louis walsh meant all this time

'Why Should I Love You', in particular the middle eight 2'45 to 3'30.

I'd be proud to have Rolf Harris on a record of mine tbh

The Stephen Fry track is my favourite. Hats off to Kate Bush, the woman who put Lenny Henry and Prince together...

....Hats off to Roy Harper...ooh she had him on a track

John, may I compliment you with your exquisite interview with Kate?

Thanks man, I really appreciate it. It was a fraught experience especially seeing as she disagreed with a lot of things I said and she was insanely proficient at changing the subject and talking about me instead of her but for someone who plays her cards close to her chest I think she told me quite a bit. Very, very pleasant to talk to as well. She was quite high on my wishlist, so a bit of a dream job for me.

ummm YEAH

Yes, I think she opened up a lot too! That was my impression. Maybe it's a defense mechanism, but oddly enough she seems most at comfort when she's being interviewed without challenge, like a talk on the radio, earlier this year at the beeb, or someone like Jools etc. From the interview I don't get the impression that she was so proficient to change the subject, or reluctant, it's actually quite unlike any other Kate interview I ever read ~ and I read quite a few. That's why I think it's a brilliant piece of writing, hats off to you sir.

talking about anything to kate bush is a life-long dream of mine and you've lived it so kudos to you sir

Excellent interview John!

find it hard to read reviews of Kate Bush but that interview is a treat

http://i649.photobucket.com/albums/uu216/le_bateau_ivre/UEKoi.gif Album is streaming on NPR http://i649.photobucket.com/albums/uu216/le_bateau_ivre/UEKoi.gif

omg

l;jkasl;dfkj;lasjfl;jk

.....

:-D

http://29.media.tumblr.com/tumblr_ltsrlgZtgO1qkrirro1_500.gif

http://26.media.tumblr.com/tumblr_lubmeiYzr41qkrirro1_500.gif

http://27.media.tumblr.com/tumblr_lu4a2jicpM1qkrirro1_500.gif

only on track one but LOVING it so far. oooooh within a minute it's proper kate bush and i have forgotten about director's cut.

aw shit so far this ruuuules

This is really beautifully produced. THANKS KATE!

it's sort of "kate bush does a talk talk record"

I think I am going to have to gladly back-pedal from my negativity about this now that I'm hearing the whole thing.

I don't think what she is doing at this point lends itself to singles, and that's okay.

Can't listen just now, but this is all hugely encouraging.

Just on the first song but... wow.. speechless :'-)

npr isn't telling me which track i'm listening to atm but the piano on it reminds me of "all the love" from the dreaming.

my only nitpick with the album is that i wish she'd vary the piano sound more.

I was thinking of saying how much I am enjoying the piano.

I really didn't enjoy the single but so far this is sounding good. Misty in particular is incredible.

So predictable perhaps, but I like it more in the context of the album, but I am liking it more as a distinct track even, if that makes sense. Listening to it in the sequence of the album has somehow changed how I hear it. (Maybe just coming back to after not listening to it would have had that effect, but I doubt it.)

Yeah I have to be predictable too and agree it sounds a lot better on the album. Another thing is the last few times I've heard it have been on Radio 2 where it usually gets cut off after the second chorus (at least) but actually it gets quite beautiful after that.

Just listened to the Elton track, which is also pretty amazing. This is shaping up to be a really great album.

Just listened to the whole album for the first time. Just... wow... Amazing.

I actually adore the sparse and singular use of the spaciousness of the piano and just her vocals. I have to admit the single dragged me out of my trance at first, but it does make more sense in the album's context (though it won't ever be a favourite of mien I think). The Elton John song is actually really good (would've preferred Scott Walker but hey, can't have it all) and the Stephen Fry song isn't nearly as bad as it sounds on paper. The closer is magical.

<3

yeah i really like the stephen fry song.

Stop hating on "Director's Cut", y'all!

Gave it two spins yesterday and am really positive about it. I'm especially taken with the first half, which is mainly Kate with her piano (something I've hoped for for a long time). The three pop songs (so to speak) of the latter half seem to create a whole different side. I've always liked the single (though the song is nothing special), don't have any opinions yet about the Elton John song (didn't move me in either way) and thought the Stephan Fry song was very MOR. The last track takes us back to the sparse sounds of the first half. Which makes me wonder if it wouldn't have been better to leave the pop material of the album. Then again, I've disliked the Morning Fog for years because I felt nothing should come after Hello Earth, while I now feel it is the perfect closer of one dark ride of an album. Time will tell! But thanks again Kate, for giving us another helping of your goose bump inducing work!

And Director's Cut is a very pleasant album indeed!

I listened last night, though it was so late that I must've fallen asleep in the middle because I never heard 'Wild Man' at all. I kept thinking 'she's nailed it' or 'he's nailed it' about everything, though that might've been my dreams talking. I'm sure the Fry track was terrific anyway; neither he nor John sound terribly like themselves.

One thing I am sure about is Kate's voice never sounding deeper or older. I'd like to hear her talk about her relationship to it.

I'm part of the small minority who never got Aerial - which always sounded like preciously pedantic MOR to me - but I have to say I'm tempted by the new one

Oh, second disc of Aerial is as MOR as it comes. But the first disc is amazing!

baaderonixx, if you feel that way about Aerial, I doubt you will like the new one. Listen to it online before buying, if possible.

Now I remember, I was also having reveries about influences last night. I can see Talk Talk, yeah, also Dog Man Star and there's also an old tape I used to have of US alt-rock - I want to say The Replacements but I'm sure that'll be wrong. Anyone who strayed off-piste with pianos in the very early nineties, I think.

@baaderonixx: I do feel that 50 Words has more stamina than Aerial. My problem with Aerials' second disc is that it sounds so lifeless. Even the outbursts within the music - the second half of the title track and the second half of Sunset - are somehow muted. I feared the same for 50 Words, the album being sparse and all, but Kate plays with passion and fire.

Am I the only one who thought, 'Lol, So Solid Crew' on hearing the title track?

Well I didn't think that :)

This album so hits my bull's eye... And I love Bertie's singing on the first track. I do still feel the single gets me out of my trance from the first three tracks though, album takes a whole new direction after that, with John and Fry, even though I love those too. But the first three and the closer are sheer magic.

listened to this after midnight last night, fell asleep in the middle as well, but it was all beautiful.

SO EXCITED

i haven't got my head around this enough yet to say anything more, but: SO GODDAMN BEAUTIFUL

second disc of Aerial is as MOR as it comes

me and the chills i get when i hear her sing 'climbing up the aerIALL' disagree

Sk8 - I feel exactly the same at that point in the song too!

two songs in and i'm loving this.

it's hard to really talk about kate without seeming sort of crazy. but here goes:

i love this, and i really loved aerial too, because the world now is so loud and everything is blaring at you all the time and this album feels like kate has sort of floated away from the world, back into nature and maybe she's just floating above it and will just disappear and become the stars and moon and snow

woah i wrote that before i heard the "she is dissolving before me"

me and the chills i get when i hear her sing 'climbing up the aerIALL' disagree

Nocturne is 8 minutes and 34 seconds of bliss, yes.
But it doesn't redeem the anemic nature of the A Sky of Honey suite for me.

I just wish it had sustained the atmosphere of the first three tracks. Eerie how Bertie sounds like a choirboy emulating Kate. The countertenor singing was a nice touch, too.

elton john did kinda break the spell

He totally did.

Listening to the album for the third time now. The piano-stuff is a (winter) wonderland. I always felt that there was something mysterious about Kate's music. Something that went missing with the release of A Sensual World; no matter how much I enjoy those later albums. But that unworldly atmosphere has returned with the piano-stuff on 50 Words.

I love The Sensual World!

So do I! Part of the classics.

misty is SOO GOOOD!!

even elton sounds great here. bravo.

steve gadd is so great on this record

I would buy a Bertie solo album

Haha <3

I wonder if Bertie has been singing in a choir, or something. His voice sounds very like a trained choirboy - the same kind of over-pronunciation of a very proper sort of English. He's no Aled Jones or Jean Baptiste Maunier, but his vocal performance is lovely.

i love the little trackbacks to aerial on this - "what kind of spirit is this?" on "misty" immediately makes me think of "what kind of language is this?" on "aerial".

perfect way of listening to this album: early on a freezing winter's morning before anyone else is awake

i don't envy anyone who has to turn around a review of this quickly. i loved the sound of it immediately but it's one of those albums that i can see still hearing new things in for a long while yet. not even close to being able to gauge it as a whole.

i do agree that the elton song is prob the worst in terms of rupturing a very amniotic mood - the opening two songs are just. so. beautiful. settling in you like, well, snow.

she's reached a stage where the music has the density and detail and warmth of the best ambient music, yes it's completely enveloping, but that sound is deployed in the service of songs, with pop sensibility and movement and direction. trying to take it easy on the superlatives but this is another stunning record and she's probably making music as good as anything she's ever done.

the piano line at the beginning of "Misty" is reminiscent of the Charlie Brown music and i wonder if it's a deliberate nod

Yes. I've been listening to Bowie's late albums, which have something similar about them, not that I'd put them on a level with Kate or with Low but there's the same feeling of having mastered a repertoire and being content to put it to work for whatever the song happens to be at the time. Makes me wonder whether I should've stuck with more older people over the years.

going back to this from the uncut review

Given how much of Kate Bush’s appeal is built on an image of her being blissfully disconnected from the real world

i completely disagree! KB is as much about the utterly normal and domestic as the eccentric and otherworldly. i mean, those are not mutually exclusive.

like i said i have real problems with a lot of Kate Bush reviews, i wonder if that's partly why she's cagey in interviews when talking about her work process, because she's consistently painted into quite o_O colours that seem to be at least partly because she's a - gasp - woman making art pop

people don't really push the "Scott Walker, you so crazy" line half as much, for example.

also because she's so established, so people seem to automatically start at a rather reductive summation of her, which is understandable in a way but also very lazy

Well, I have known a fair few people that are 'like' Kate, personalitywise, so this whole "disconnected' thing makes no sense to me.

"Wider world" would be more apt in that Uncut line. There's lots of normality in her life but it's kind of secluded. Although for an art-pop auteur she really does love her 80s TV comedians.

Do people really think of Bush as weirder than Walker, NV? Never struck me that way.

i think there's often gender-coloured language in the way people talk about Kate's "wackiness" or whatever that i don't come across so much when people talk about Scott Walker. i will be the first to admit that i've barely read music journalism for the last 20 years except on here or via here :-)

i think maybe i have a problem with imagination being portrayed as eccentricity in general tho

People are more ready to assume that any wackiness in the music of a female artist is a direct expression of their wackiness as a person.

Yeah, which is why I object to the line in the Uncut review.

I'm guarded about this so far -- clearly the song lengths and their sparseness will make me harder than any other album I must review this year.

Haha -- make me WORK harder, but perhaps that too.

I wonder if something dramatic has happened to her voice since "Aerial"? Or perhaps she's changed her writing style to better suit its maturity

Alfred you had me o_O there for a sec :)

I'm immersing into this more and more. Especially the first three tracks are like a perfect hibernation cocoon.

Very excited about hearing this! She's one of the few artist I won't listen to previews or download anything. I wait till I buy the album, which is on my list of things to do on Nov 21.

I kind of like the idea that every time she has to hit a high note she hires a guest vocalist. Bertie 4ever.

Elton sounds utterly horrible in this.

I continue to be happily surprised by the broad range of ILMers a new Kate Bush album is able to bring together.

I don't want to be weary at the idea of Elton John sharing vocals with Kate, I would like to keep an open mind, But why of all people did she pick him?

This documentary claims that Elton was an early influence on her.

^link goes directly to YouTube video, btw

She covered "Rocket Man," guys – and quite well too.

I don't like Elton's timbre in the last ten years but no way is he an unexpected guest. I can certainly imagine teenaged Bush learning Elton songs (and can still imagine her covering "Love Lies Bleeding" or "Social Disease").

Elton John was her biggest musical hero as a teenager - it's only surprising she hasn't asked him before.

People are more ready to assume that any wackiness in the music of a female artist is a direct expression of their wackiness as a person.

perfect way of listening to this album: early on a freezing winter's morning before anyone else is awake

Ooh, with a warm cup of cocoa too?

Sorry that was mean -- it prob IS great to listen to it then. Kate just brings out the über-preciousness of people on ILM.

I had to stop myself from using snow metaphors in my firsts responses here to the full album.

tbh one of the truly great things about kate bush is her lack of fear of seeming too emotional or too grand or too emotional or too wacky or too everything, so i don't think it's wrong for ppl to react to her work in ways that might be precious or "corny"

Regarding the wackiness, I still remember when Kate appeared on the block in 1978 and she sure was considered weird back then. The way she danced, her facial expressions, etc. She was the talk of the schoolyard for quite some time. Have you seen that!?

The weirdness had mellowed out somewhere around Hounds of Love, where Kate was just 100% percent herself, but by then the label of 'wackiness' had stuck like glue. Also: writers seemed to start confusing 'wackiness' with been 'seclusive.'

what's "100% herself"? Is an artist ever herself? And this is an album on which half the songs support a concept.

The Dutch amusement park The Efteling also used Kate to promote their (then new) Haunted House (that featured a tombstone with here name on it to this day!) That also helped cement Kate as this witchy wacky loony (or at least in the lowlands).

Kate was very much forced into making her second album the same as her first, for instance. And it my personal believe that she had more of an image to herself at the beginning of her career then she has now. Now she just since about doing laundry and about how much she loves her son.

since = sings

Itself an image, right?

Of course, but I believe it to be less contrived.

no way she hates her fukkin brat and wears stanky ass clothes

he hates her fukkin brat

If that was true, Director's Cut would've featured a rerecording of Get Out of My House, no? ;)

I like the first three songs so far. The rest is a bit ... soporific. No sparks whatsoever in that Elton John duet, IMO.

I take that "soporific" comment back. I dig the track with Jeeves. Almost a HOL bside!

First three tracks... Adore it already. If this is MOR, it's in the finest tradition - mark Hollis, yes, but also hints of David sylvian, John Martyn and rickie lee jones at her most abstracted.

get a vibe of some joni mitchell stuff like hissing of summer lawns and hejira too

My Kate Bush fandom started with the release of "Hounds Of Love" which came out towards the beginning of my dive into alternative/indie/college music. It really blew me away, and I also loved "The Dreaming" and the singles on "The Whole Story" but never cared for the rest of her early work. "The Sensual World" was a great follow-up but ever since then I've been uninspired. I HATED "The Red Shoes" aside from "Rubberband Girl" and "Aerial" didn't click for me, though I'm planning on revisiting it. I'm just listening to the new album now and it's off to a damn good start - I'd love to come back into Kate's fold!

HATED "The Red Shoes" aside from "Rubberband Girl"

what

Yeah that seems like a really odd "aside from".

What? I really disliked that album, just across the board it felt like a huge drop-off in quality.

"Rubberband Girl" is one of her best singles though.

get a vibe of some joni mitchell stuff like hissing of summer lawns and hejira too

I wish! I know Steve Gadd's on board but I'm not hearing much of a rhythmic undertow yet.

funny, as you say that i'm listening to "Lake Tahoe" and it's rolling, albeit gently

I do like that one.

i'm wondering if Elton John then Stephen Fry next to each other might be flawed sequencing

Not if she intended to rely on our collective memory of their sexuality.

The Elton voice is supposed to be her alter ego, right? To my ears his Elton-ness is so overwhelming that neither he nor Kate sound particularly polymorphous.

in that Quietus interview i think she says they're supposed to be star-crossed lovers or something but i wdn't always take what she says to be gospel

re: the sequencing i guess i meant that the sound of those two tracks feels like an odd tangent when they're placed together in a way that maybe wdn't have happened if they'd been isolated from each other

Last night I gave in at a moment of weakness and downloaded '50 Words For Snow'. I thought I could hold out till it's release date, but a mini bottle of tequila had me craving new Kate Bush songs. I only made it through the first 3 songs and each surprised me. This is a beautiful record!! I loved all of Aerial and so far I love this one as much.

"Rubberband Girl" is one of her best singles though.

i think it's her worst!

i've only listened to half of this so far and can't wait to hear the rest

finishing up the 1st track right now. beautiful and moody, the vocals are great. those high notes are sensational. i wish the piano varied it up a bit more. i LOVE the piano hook, but it would hold more drama if it weren't repeated as much.

and i say this as an avid supporter and believer in the power of repetition.

like i totally got it in Mrs. bartolozzi, a song about cycles, and patterns.

The Elton voice is supposed to be her alter ego, right?

i assumed elton was the snowman X:

You can't get much more repetitious than snow falling.

yeah, i definitely see how the falling piano hook emulates snow. need to let it ruminate more.

I'm laughing at John Robb's review. If this is a work of genius or a "pinnacle in a career of pinnacles", then I'm Florence Nightingale. Maybe I need to listen again, but it sounds to me like overlong, bland New Age muzak.

How does it sound like that? You mean this sounds like a low key jam record made by stoned middle aged hippies? I mean, do you really think that or did it just sound like a good zing? If you do, care to point out which bits...

bland New Age muzak

I have no idea how you can even make a ridiculous statement like this. Have you heard Aerial? Are you a KB aficionado sincerely bitterly disappointed with the new album, or do you not care about her music anyway and just want to make a "case" by saying "this ain't all what the review promised me"? Or are you just trolling?

had the argument last time out when somebody called Aerial bland. such an empty, crappy word to use as criticism.

also obviously never listened to any New Age muzak

'bland' is fine where it's merited. Westlife are bland. A more accurate term for Kate would be 'polished'

I'm Florence Nightingale

nah, bland implies that there are certain aspects of art that are always bad and it's a fucking tedious punker cliche, blandness can totally represent a set of virtues. anyway, promise myself i won't have this argument every time somebody finds a Kate Bush album insufficiently rocking

Yeah fair enough, I struggle to think of any because for me bland = uninteresting but no particular wish to argue the toss. I can't remember where the Aerial argument landed anyway.

at this point i always recommend this

http://mitpress.mit.edu/catalog/item/default.asp?ttype=2&tid=10097

See I wouldn't call that blandness but no, I am not arguing further.

Geez, guys. It's perfectly cool to find fault with a new Kate Bush record. It's not Scripture or anything. There's plenty of room and reason to be critical.
I'm a long time fan and I found - and still find - much of Aerial to be a letdown musically. I thought Director's Cut was comparatively a step in the right direction: Kate letting her hair down again on some of the songs and being more compositionally and sonically inventive (Yeah - I love "Deeper Understanding" Mach II). And having only heard this new one twice I still stand by the first three songs as the strongest things on the record, minimal in approach as they are, while the rest is just pleasant at best (not counting the overlong, failed Elton John duet).

There's a massive difference between having an opinion and just being factually incorrect though. It's not bland new age muzak. That's a pretty dumb thing to say.

what's the difference between saying 'sounds like bland new age muzak' and 'this sounds like new age music'

i mean, thank you for pointing out that it sounded like the bad kind of new age music; that was nice of you

i heard this laraaji track the other week i thought was amazing

I'm quoting from the person who said it was bland new age muzak. Fuck me, it's not rocket science.

Unless you were talking to the poster miles upthread, in which case. All apologies.

i was! i'm just curious about that kind of gesture -- why when you're doing a dismissive comparison to (x) you find it necessary to say "this is like bad x", when you don't know anything about x or even belive that good x exists

Well I guess if you don't really know anything about x it's good to specify what it is you imagine is bad about x when making the comparison.

Ironically both Aerial and 50 Words For Snow have, as a general rule, gotten stronger the closer the tend towards "bland new age".

Saying Aerial is bland is like saying freshly baked sourdough bread is bland or uniform, soft and smooth baby skin is bland.

What would constitute gnarly or terrifying new age I wonder?

xp

yeah for real. the first 3 tracks do feel the strongest at the mo, maybe the last one too, and it's notable that they're the most cohesive in terms of mood and texture.

blandcanbegoodblandcanbegood

50 Different Words For Bland.

Dispassionate (good)

that Fry track is a bit throwaway imo but i can't help but like the way he says "eraser dust", despite myself

every Kate album has some moments of sheer pleasure at pronunciation/intonation i think

x-p
does the bland in bland new age describe the new age in question or is it supposed to mean all new age is bland? in the first case you are wrong concerning this album as firstly i don't think it qualifies as new age and secondly the music surely is a little too subtle for being bland. the second case is just redundant metatalk which can be ignored totally.

redundant metatalk obv.

I guess possibly it is the former if the speaker imagines some kind of new age with orgiastic masturbatory panpipe solos that is not bland (if this exists please youtube).

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ToR1-CJ3q0s

New Age of Earth not really New Age tho, ironically

I think, by "bland new age", Zuleika is referring more to, like, Celtic Reflections CDs. It's not such a lousy opinion, really, if somebody prefers the spiky, gated drum sounds of Dreaming/Hounds to the velvet hand of Steve Gadd.

b-b-b-but gated drums are cool again!

No. What s/he said makes as little sense as saying, 'I hate this new banging acid house direction she's taken over the last two albums.'

It is not bland new age in any way imho, but I do agree with the sentiment that Kate seems to get closer and closer to more conventional pop music. The stuff of her last two albums is closer related to the music of artists like Elton John or Sting than the stuff from The Dreaming or Never for Ever. Peter Gabriel went that road too. And even Laurie Anderson. Not that this is necessarily a bad thing. But I can imagine why people - especially those not familiar with the Kate (or Gabriel or Anderson) of yore - do not understand why people go so whoopee over new music that doesn't sound special or different enough to deserve all this praise.

"Lake Tahoe" carries much of the same vibe as "The Third Wave" off HOL- especially in the vocal sections which echo the Popol Vuh choral parts from Herzog's 'Nosferatu'. Truly gorgeous on headphones (how I'm listening at this moment).

Really the 2nd and 3rd songs on this, even with their stripped down instrumental pallette of mainly piano, bass and drums, are classic Bush in their lovely weirdness. Very powerful.

what's the difference between saying 'sounds like bland new age muzak' and 'this sounds like new age music'

i mean, thank you for pointing out that it sounded like the bad kind of new age music; that was nice of you

Because "New Age music" tends to cover quite a broad canvas. The Penguin Cafe Orchestra and some half decent ambient often gets lumped in with the blander, more mediocre stuff.

I am genuninely amazed at the reviews this album is getting. This album sounds so much to me like bland, New Age muzak that I'm surprised at some of the hostile comments above. Just because KB isn't very "uptempo" these days obviously doesn't mean she has to be musically uninventive (which is what I meant by "bland" in case there are any more tiresome dissections of that word). I'll give it more listens, but it sounds to me insipid and very weak musically: not really pop, ambient or classical, but a mediocre mish mash of all three. On The Hounds of Love she created a fantastic blend of those things - now it sounds predictable and stale to me.

the vinyl edition of this is seriously incredible. worth the £20 or £25 or whatever is being charged for it.

What is it? Just the quality?

yeah just reaaaally nicely mastered on good quality vinyl, 1 or 2 tracks per side.

New video set to my favorite part of my favorite song on the album:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KKPHA3_cBus

enjoyed this today after a walk in deep snow. i love how much silence there is on the album, or the first few tracks anyway - the uncanny way she captures the stillness that follows heavy snowfall.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fsXhtJ9BTJA

This is the most beautiful thing I have heard all year... Astonishing. (thanks to Geeta on twitter for the heads up)

Wow.

i so wish there was a version of this album that took out the Elton John verses

it's just so fucking magical up to then then it's all Elton barreling into the track yuck

I keep forgetting that Misty is one of the best songs of this rapidly-ageing decade

Still a fantastic listen. Have warmed to the rest of it more or less. The song with Elton stillsounds like a bad "Red Shoes" B-side.

I'd be proud to have Rolf Harris on a record of mine tbh

― R. Stornoway (Tom D.), Thursday, 10 November 2011 18:00 (3 years ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

... errrrrrrrrrrr

I had somehow forgotten to listen to this when it came out, possibly because I was so turned off by the idea of Director's Cut. But when it popped up on shuffled I thought it was really lovely.

Scots 'have 421 words' for snow

Lovely record, but pretty seasonal eh?

btw if you bought the vinyl and are in need of cash it seems to be relatively highly priced http://www.discogs.com/sell/release/3242669?ev=rb

This is majorly hitting the spot this morning in snowy New Jersey. Her most beautiful of the "comeback" records for me.

Stephen Fry track puts me off this record nowadays

It's 50 Words equivalent of the Rolf Harris one on Aerial

Great record. Snows come out in Vancouver so it's on my mind

This could be an ECM album until Elton swans in and kills the mood.

‘Misty’ is the standout track on this...not enough sex with snowmen songs in my opinion...

also just came on to say this is VERY ecm! if only Weber could have played on it :-(

it's grown on me a huge amount since release, and I find it fairly weird it was produced so close to Director's Cut which I think overall doesn't stand up well.

the only listenable thing elton john has ever done.

I liked his other snowy track, “Nikita”.

‘Misty’ off this is one of the best things she’s ever done...

Thanks ILM for sending me on another Kate Bush kick

I love this album.

Haven't listened to this in years, but it sounds great in January morning light.

It snowed in Savannah, which is pretty rare. So we've been listening to this album a lot which has been nice. Elton doesn't totally kill the vibe for me but I would prefer he wasn't on it.

Yeah I had forgotten he was on it and the intrusion wasn't exactly welcome.

Because I'm reading the Graeme Thomson bio, I've rediscovered this album bigly.

Yep. Still amazing.