| Kate Bush - The Dreaming | Label: Capitol Records Release: 1982 Tracklisting: Sat In Your Lap There Goes A Tenner Pull Out The Pin Suspended In Gaffa Leave It Open The Dreaming Night of the Swallow All The Love Houdini Get Out Of My House |  (View Larger Image) 
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Average Blamo User Rating:  (10 votes) |
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| CD Review by Reginald I. Perrin (View Other Reviews by This Person) | |
| Christ, where do i start with this one? With this one, Kate decides to really expand -
she's now taken over the producer's chair, and has really started to use the Fairlight, a synth which she first used on Never Forever. And it works...dear god, it works. To me, this is the 1st of 3 albums by her which are just...completely perfect. Not one bad second of music lies within any of them. Every song is a classic. The album kicks off with big drums, and the superb single "Sat In Your Lap", a wonderful ditty about the quest for knowledge, and goes to the cockney story-telling of "There Goes A Tenner", a single which should have done so, so much better. And then, we have a change of mood, as "Pull Out The Pin" featuring Dave Gilmour on Backing vocals, speaks of Vietnam, and has a remarkable "I LOVE LIFE--I LOVE LIFE--I LOVE LIFE" refrain in the chorus. "Suspended In Gaffa" is one of her catchiest songs - it's a lovely waltz, with some great singing...oh, it's brilliant. And then "Leave It Open", a wild, rocking smash...christ, this album can't get any better, can it? Oh, it does. Next up is the amazing, utterly unique work that is the title track, oh boy...a very Australian song, with Rolf Harris playing didgeridoo. Incredible lyrics, incredible chorus, incredible, incredible, incredible. One of her best. Christ...it can't get any better, can it? It does again. Some bird noises, and a celtic band lead you right into the album's utter masterpiece, "Night of the Swallow". Everything about this song is quite simply unreal - especially the great chorus, and the lyrics, which tell of a man who is ready to take an illegal package over to Malta on a plane, and his wife, who is begging him not to go. The line "Give me a break, ooh let me fly/give me something to show for my miserable life" is especially memorable, as is Planxty's work in the chorus...oh, glorious pipes. Well...surely it can't get any better? Well, it doesn't - but that doesn't mean that the last 3 songs aren't classics as well. "All The Love" is a touching ballad, and "Houdini" is a grandiose masterpiece with it's glorious strings...a beautiful song, with a crazy chorus. And of course, the final song is a masterpiece. "Get Out of My House"...well, i'll leave the contents out, because really, i shouldn't spoil it if you want to hear it, but it's an amazing song - vicious, schizophrenic, crazed, mad, genius. This album is a monolith - it's an utter classic. A 10, without question, and a total masterwork. Reviewer Rating of CD : | |
| CD Review by Blankenshaft T. Smith (View Other Reviews by This Person) | |
| hehe?! what is this?!?!?!?!!
BRILLIANT is one thing to say it is. honestly, this doesn't sound like any other kind of music i've ever heard. it's kind of patchy, in a way: it's not as smooth as the later hounds of love would be in it's transition, but this album was the huge bomb that opened the doors for kate being taken seriously as an artist once and for all. how can you describe this music? drums are amped way up on some songs. didgeredoo's are used. vocals are layered and layered and vocodered and layered some more. disorientating synth lines come over the top of the main melody. kate sings in a low, silly voice while her own high pitched voice shrieks above that. three versions of her voice. guitar isn't very prominent on this album: on earlier albums, there was a larger share of guitar. so, there are lot of keyboards, and she uses the fancy pansy fairlight sampler quite often. oh, fake horn arrangements are used sometimes too. the lyrical themes are wide ranging. from the pursuit of education, to a bank robbery, to two men confronting each other on the battlefield, and the one murdering the other, to another that seems to be about supression of hte aborginees, one that's about houdini's wife watching him drown (!!!!!!) and another about kicking people out of your house. the album that got me interested in kate. buy it if you have a passing interest. hell, let me put it this way: it eliminatest he need for tori amos. if that doesn't sell you, nothing will. Reviewer Rating of CD : | |
