Customer Reviews

Aerial

5 star:		(9)
4 star:		(0)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(1)

 

 

I have to admit it took me a while to really understand this album. It's so complex... and beautiful, really. At first listen there were a few songs that hit me right off, the evocative and sad Coral Room, Sunset, Bertie (a love song to her son), the throbbing Pi, How to be Invisible (which is a lot like the old Kate) a few others, but it's only after you've really listened to the whole package, with headphones, without distractions, do you really appreciate the labor of love that this record represents. She's going in some new directions -- more jazzy, more subtle. Some reviewers complained that this isn't the old Kate. Well, the old Kate grew up, had a child, and because she sings from her heart, of course her subject matter is going to be different. She's a much more mature artist. This has got to be album of the year. Oh, and the design of the package is amazing too. All I can say is wow.

It has been painful waiting for Kate Bush for 12 years but now it's over, she's back with this piece of art, no doubt the album of the year, the album of the century (until she comes out with a new one). A double CD set with a beautiful and inventive album cover that makes you wonder what this fascinating woman was thinking when creating it. The songs translate the Kate Bush woman, mother and person, songs that could just be written by Kate Bush and no one else. Try the beautiful and emotive "A Coral Room" first what would be enough for you to fall in love with this wonderful album, this fascinating artist that Kate Bush is. Thank you Kate for coming back to us. Amazing!

It was a long, long, looong wait, but here comes another 10-er.

That unique vocal cadence and range that hypnotizes and sends chills up the spine is back in full force, along with the perfectionism that everything be "just right" with the instruments you are hearing.

Both fans and curious newcomers will not be disappointed with these lovingly crafted and intelligent soundscapes of feeling, intuition, thought and sensation.

Any disappointments? Nope, not really. Is it complex and deep and will it take you some time to get into the psyche of this music? Yep, and that's a good thing - no mushy 'Pabulum' and one-night stands here! Why is the "outside" called 'Aerial' and the "inside" called 'A Sea of Honey?' Put your thinking/feeling caps on and enjoy!

After 12 years of waiting all of Kate's fans have been given a fantastic early Christmas Gift. Aerial lifts your mind, body and soul to heights not seen since her earlier masterpiece "The Hounds of Love". A truely Kate Albumn with songs that showcase not only her amazing voice but her diverse songwriting talents. From her opening on the first disk "A Sea of Honey" of king of the mountain to the last song of A coral room I am entranced by her abilities. On the Second disk "A Sky of Honey" she takes you on a day in the life of Kate. Kate has done what no other modern artist could do, take more then a decade off and then blow you away with the best songs to come out in more then a decade. Destined to be the Albumn of the Year. This was well worth the wait. I would recomend to anyone who loves great music and a great talent.

Prior to Bush's most recent release I have always been partial to Hounds of Love, especially the last half of that work of art! I've always enjoyed almost everything she has released, particularly everything fromThe Dreaming on, but I never thought she would top herself after Hounds of Love...until I heard this! If you only download your music or listen to an online subscription service, you are going to miss out on the entire second half of this album. What you will get is very good, but you'll be missing the very best that Kate Bush has to offer.

In sonic terms the mastering of the first disc caters to iPods, typical computer speakers, and small portables. On the other hand, the second disc is mastered to audiophile specifications and will sound stunning on home systems capable of reproducing the full spectrum of audible frequencies. That's not to say that certain songs like Mrs. Bartolozzi, Pi, and Joanni on the first disc don't sound good on home systems because they do, but the dynamic range of the album's lead single King Of The Mountain was a little too compressed for my liking. Even the follow single How To Be Invisible somehow managed to avoid this pitfall in the process of the final mastering.

But such are the few complaints I have about Aerial because every other imaginable element of it simply defies most criticism. This is even more true of the second disc called "Sky of Honey" wherein the loveliest birdsong abounds throughout a suite of the caliber composed by classical artists unfolds and develops with a care and patience of which is unheard in the world of popular music. Imagine the last half of "Hounds of Love" if it were seamlessly assembled; that's what "Sky of Honey" is! And for those who have good home systems on which to listen to this, prepare to go somewhere you've never thought music could take you!

So if you were planning to just download "Sea of Honey" by itself, I would implore you to reconsider. For the same amount of money, sans the postage, you could have the entire enchillada along with its lovely packaging. There still are plenty of places an mp3 simply cannot take you.

Disc 2 has got to be one of the most beautiful pieces of music I've heard in ages. Ranks up there with Lisa Gerrard's Sanvean.

Kate out did herself in this cd - the music arrangement is absolutely brilliant. It is a joy to hear her rich voice come through with such emotion in a every song. Her voice and music will elevate you like a bird flying in the sky.

First, the good news: Aerial is not another pair of red shoes, and it does contain some very good material. The not-so-good news: it's without a doubt the most uneven recording that Kate's ever done, involving more than its fair share of filler material. I'm going to go out on a limb here, risking the ire of probably all other Kate fans, to say that I've always thought she would benefit greatly from an outside producer, and I think this album bears me out on this. I'm thinking of someone who has solid credentials for protecting the artist's experimental nature, but who is also capable of maintaining a solid level of pop sensibility - Brian Eno comes to mind as a good example of what I'm talking about (Brian Eno producing Kate Bush, how awesome would that be!). Someone not only to bounce ideas off of, but also to act as a lens, focusing Kate's keen talent and vision for more consistent and satisfying results. Jeez, let's just try it for a couple of tunes and see what happens. Anyway, that said, it is great to hear her voice again after all these years, and the magick is definitely still there. Now, here's my play-by-play analysis of the songs on this ambitious 2-disc set, and I calls `em like I sees `em:

Disc 1 (A Sea of Honey) opens strongly with the first single, "King of the Mountain". This song reminds me a lot of some of the better songs off her very first album, as it has a cadence similar to "Moving", or "Saxophone Song". A cautionary tale about fame (in the be-careful-what-you-ask-for sense), this one gives me chills and stands right up there with her very best work. Unfortunately, it would set the bar a bit high. "Pi" is carried along by a bouncy little synthesizer and follows thematically in the vein of songs like "Them Heavy People", "Delius", and "Sat in Your Lap", where Kate expresses fascination, but also frustration, with those people that she views as her intellectual superiors. Reciting pi out to umpteen decimal places is certainly a clever device, and, being a scientist myself, I understand the point she's trying to make, but it can wear a bit thin after a few listens. I feel it might have been more effective and interesting to do a song about the CONSEQUENCES of focusing on one thing to the point of excluding all the other things that life has to offer. However, that said, if I'm going to listen to anyone recite numbers, then Kate would be the one, and I do appreciate the experiment. "Bertie" reminds me a lot of "Oh England, My Lionheart", except that it's a love song for her son instead of her country. Yeah, I guess it's awful cute right now, but boy it's sure gonna embarrass the heck outta the poor kid when he gets older! I can hear the taunts on the playground now: "Oooh Bertie, your sooo love-e-ly!", and "Oooh Bertie, give us sweet kisses!" Oh, man, the horror! I guess that, ultimately, mother does NOT stand for comfort! I sure hope there's a male influence in the kid's life, but, if there is, he's ominously absent from the CD booklet photos (unless it's the dude in the bird mask, but I doubt it). "Mrs. Bartolozzi" is just one of those slow, mellow songs that Kate does, and I've never really been into those. I've always primarily enjoyed the unique ways that she has employed rhythm, as well as her wild and whacky side, and there just isn't enough of that here. At least, I guess, in back-to-back songs we have the good and bad sides of motherhood and family life. "How to be Invisible" is the second great song on the album and has the hands-down best guitar sound that I've ever heard on any of her recordings. It's interesting that this is sort of a companion piece to "King of the Mountain", and deals with the problems of reclusiveness as a response to the pressures of fame. "Joanni", presumably about Joan of Arc, has a great feel to it, and reminds me texturally of some of Peter Gabriel's middle-period stuff. It also includes a great throat-clearing exercise that you can try at home! "A Coral Room" falls into the same category, for me, as "Mrs. Bartolozzi" - it's just too mellow and subdued for me to get into.

A lot of people are trying to push that disc 2 (A Sky of Honey) is just one long song in 9 suites, but I do think that each song is distinct. Unfortunately, this disk doesn't really get going until "Sunset", the 5th song; and I see the first 4 songs ("Prelude", "Prologue", "An Architect's Dream", and "The Painter's Link") as little individual overtures that lead up to (but overly delay) the main action. "The Painter's Link" could have been good, except that there's some guy trying to sing on it who can't (who is this man and why is he on my Kate Bush album?). Once again, this is where an outside producer, if present, could have gently whacked Kate across the knuckles with a ruler and assured her that she needs no vocal assistance. Getting back to "Sunset", it starts slow, but builds steadily into a snappy, flamenco-style ditty. For all its shortcomings, at least this disc saves the best for last, and finishes strongly with "Somewhere in Between", "Nocturn", and "Aerial". Of these 3, the first two are really great, moving along with a subtle, insistent beat, but also with a silky jazziness that is unlike any of her previous work. Never has her voice sounded so sexy and soulful! The whole affair closes with the (finally!) confident and demonstrative rocker that is the title song.

In conclusion, for longtime fans, I can recommend buying Aerial. Even with all that I perceive as filler, there's still plenty of good stuff to pick out and enjoy. Personally, I program in "King of the Mountain", "Pi", "How to be Invisible", "Joanni", "Sunset", "Somewhere in Between", "Nocturn", and "Aerial" for 49 minutes of thoroughly enjoyable music (note that this would have fit nicely onto ONE disc that I would have awarded 4 stars - ahem, ahem). For potential new fans - yeah, I guess you can start here, but be prepared for some pleasant, even shocking, surprises as you work back through her catalogue. Finally, my hope is that this represents a fresh re-start and that we won't have to wait until sometime next decade for another offering. Hey Kate, your son's going to be in school soon (if he isn't already) which means that you're just going to be sitting around the house with nothing to do. But, wait a minute, that's right, you've got a recording studio right there in your house! I've got an idea, since you evidently find doing laundry to be a traumatic experience, why not get someone else to do that while you RECORD MORE SONGS! I'm a genius! I demand a new album at least every two years (and don't forget to give Brian a call)!

I was introduced to Kate Bush when I first saw her video for "Cloudbusting" Hounds of Love. This was sometime in the 80s. Donald Sutherland plays a father, an eccentric inventor on the wrong side of the government somehow. Kate plays his daughter. Cloudbusting is about Wilhelm Reich (The Mass Psychology of Fascism ) the astoundingly brilliant psychoanalyst and fringe researcher. The song is fantastic. I was hooked.

Kate is beautiful and a fantastic singer and artist. She is an experimenter with sound and style, too. She is much more than a pop artist, she's a little girl stuck in a woman's body. She never loses touch with her inner child and it's always there, in the front or in the back, but it's there. This quality of childishness makes Bush very insightful. The Sensual World, The Dreaming and Lionheart were all fantastic records, and the Hounds of Love, even better. And it's been a long time between records, almost ten years I'd guess, but I never forgot about Kate. I was excited to listen to this record much like I was with Joe Jackson's Rain (w/ bonus DVD). While I was delighted with the former I was disappointed with the latter.

Kate Bush walks a fine line between many styles. She can be straight ahead poppy, very artsy, very avant-garde, too. Her voice can be almost annoying shrill and elegantly sultry and dark and sexy. The lyrics in this record one reviewer compared to Steely Dan's for their silly obscureness. One song in particular spends a great deal of time on washing machines. It seems silly, and it is, but I didn't care. Much like Steely Dan's lyrics can be silly and absurd one generally doesn't care as the arrangements and the quality are so fantastically good.

"How to Be Invisible" is particularly driving... it keeps moving forward with Bush's vocals going up and down. "A Coral Room" is beautiful, reminding one of "And Dream of Sheep/Under Ice" from Hounds of Love. Kate is still a force to be reckoned with here. This album is a real pleasure.

On first listen I really liked it, but felt challenged in particular by "King of the Mountain's" minimalism. But even that song grew to something much bigger. Building upon the spare openings of that song Kate created a massive sound assault that works so well. Kate does all kinds of vocal jumping and games in "Bertie". She is an artist and demands some patience and acceptance from the listener. But in the main, this album is so spare and so haunting as to make it very special. It is one of my favorite Kate Bush records.

...... WOW!!!

(Well worth the wait, folks! GET THIS ONE!!!)