The first time I heard this I wasn't in the bestest of moods and I thought the album so-so.

Until yesterday, in a reflective mood, I put the disc on again and it clicked. It is pensive.

I can tolerate the re-occuring birdsong... but there is just one thing thatirks me EVERYTIME... that crazy laughter on Aerial. Makes me wanna get up and slap her and give her her medication...

HamsterHuey said:

you have to be in the mood for it, like you're saying. i thought it was silly on first listen, too. this morning, though, i was listening to it on the way to work and i nearly wept. there's so much happiness on that album, and you don't get a lot of happiness - sincere, unaffected happiness - in much pop music these days.

Something which I keep forgetting to post:

on Judge Jules' Radio 1 show (UK) last Saturday, they played a dance remix of King Of The Mountain!

It was played about 8:45pm, for those who can access it.

I was getting ready to go out, not really listening, when it suddenly morphed into KOTM! The next B-side perhaps??

onenitealone said:

is there a single out now for king of the mountain? if so, what's the b-side material like? i haven't even checked to see if there's a video...i thought i heard something about a companion dvd?

Anxiety said:

Marvin Gaye's Sexual Healing.

It's rather... bland.

HamsterHuey said:

oh, ew. i might have to just take your word for it.

Anxiety said:

Yeah - Herman's right. It's okay. I'd rather hear an original Kate track.

Still no news re: the dvd; maybe it'll be like The Line, The Curve and The Cross and turn up a few months after the album. And the video, last time I looked, was on her official website www.katebush.com


[Edited 11/16/05 7:32am]

tangent paranoid thought:

Anybody ever wonder if Kate is a distant, but not tooo distant, relative of the George W. family?

please please no!

Anxiety said:

True. It sounds like a whole bunch of musical eras all wrapped up in one. But her music has always come across like that to me. The Kick Inside could've been recorded in the 60s. And I agree that Aerial sounds like the natural successor to The Sensual World. It's currently quite a popular opinion on fan boards, too.

Anxiety said:

Call me a wuss but I was so moved I actually cried during the last two tracks. Shame!

Cloudbuster said:

i don't blame you!

Anxiety said:

I was very much overcome by how this moment on the disc where Kate is laughing and laughing could evoke such strong feelings in me. One minute I was laughing with her laughter thinking it was so odd then I began to break down and cry because her laughter was such an affirmation of LIFE!!!!

There aren't many artists that can do that.Kate is one of the few.

Anxiety said:

call me a wuss, i mean i got this friend, -call him a wuss, but he is constantly on the verge of balling tears of joy when he hears this album, the birds, the call and response syncing of tal aerial, the cackling laughter, and the last two money tracks! and even just 'prelude' gets him all in a state with the boy saying : "Mummy...Daddy...
The day is full of birds
Sounds like they’re saying words"


"laughing and crying, you know, it's the same release"
Joni from 'People's Parties'

.
[Edited 11/18/05 7:40am]

HiinEnkelte said:

That's one of my favorites by Joni.

HiinEnkelte said:

ummm...uhh..i refuse to accept that i just read this.

I FINALLY got Aerial today! If I hadn't been so cheap I could have bought it locally (in Japan) for about $29 and already had it!! I'm celebrating with a new avatar! Anyway, I've listened to it twice so far, and I'm not disappointed that's for sure...I especially love disc 2!


So, anyone think she'll actually release anything, let alone two new albums, next year? Didn't she supposedly say that in an interview?

i like it too

Don't forget everyone, the full interview with Mark Radcliffe is on Radio 2 at 9pm (GMT) tonight.

sinisterpentatonic said:

CandaceS said:

i couldn't tell if she was joking or not.



my opinion? Kate, please don't.

thanks2joniandu said:

is there something in your eye?

shausler said:

Nice avatar!!

I just listened to it and it is glorious ~ very very interesting. For me, many of the songs paint watercolor pictures. When I see the paintings in my mind this evokes the emotions (I felt this even before I heard the song on disc two about the paintings!!!). She is new to me but captivating and I'm so happy TRON gave me Sensual World and Hounds Of Love. The first song I heard by her was "This Woman's Work" ~ a recommendation by Gooey or Cloudy, I believe. It is just an incredible song and brings me to tears every time.

Listening to it for the first time myself...

Awwww, it's not a sticky anymore!

Here's a great review.

Knight News (student newspaper), Queens College, New York

Twelve Years, Dreadful Results
By: Siddharth Watal
11/21/05

There is a thin line between high art and utter pretentiousness. And Kate Bush apparently has no idea where that line lies.

Bush's first album in 12 years is a collection of one un-listenable song after another. I know I am coming as a little bit harsh, but I am completely serious here. There isn't even one song that even halfway redeems this album. Now, I do realize that it may be that I just don't get it.

If you look at the other reviews of the album, you would think that it was first in line for every award and album of the year list. I like to give myself a little more credit than that, though, and I think that those other reviewers are buying into the whole pretentiousness and are ignoring the fact that there are absolutely no hooks or catchy melodies on the entire album.

The album, Aerial, is split into two CDs. The first CD is titled A Sea of Honey and is just a normal collection of songs. If songs about Elvis, Pi, washing machines, and Joan of Arc (more on these later) can be considered normal. The second CD, titled A Sky of Honey, is where Bush really dials up the pretentiousness to a 10. It is a concept album detailing the arc of a day as it progresses from morning to night to the dawn of the next day. I've always considered an album that I can go to sleep listening to a good album. This second CD, though, literally put me to sleep. This is definitely not music to listen to while driving, unless your aim is to cause a 10-car pile-up. I can't even review the songs on this CD except to say that they are all utter trash.

This brings us back to the first CD. A Sea of Honey has a mere seven songs on it. Which is great for two reasons: I didn't have to suffer through this album for a very long time and this gives me the opportunity to go through almost every song here. So we start with track 1, "King of the Mountain." Calling this the best song on the album is like calling a Hoover the world's best vacuum cleaner; it's still awful. I will grudgingly say that it does have a decent melody and lyrics that aren't entirely nauseating. There, now I swear that from this point in there is absolutely nothing good left to say about this album.

The second song on the album is "Pi," as in the number. This is so unintentionally funny that there are points when I literally started laughing. Just hold on for a second here and try to guess what the chorus to a song called Pi would be…If you guessed that the chorus is Bush singing the actual digits to the irrational number, then you are correct. I kid you not. The chorus is literally "3.1415926535..." down to the 166th decimal place. I know. I actually counted. Who is Bush trying to kid here? Are we supposed to take her singing almost random numbers ad nauseam seriously?

Song 4 is titled "Ms. Bartolozzi." Who the title character in this song is I have no idea, but the song really doesn't make me want to meet her if she is a boring as she seems. Sample lyrics: "Then I took my laundry basket /And put all the linen in it /And everything I could fit in it /All our dirty clothes that hadn't gone into the wash /And all your shirts and jeans and things /And put them into the new washing machine." Seriously people, I couldn't make this stuff up if I tried.

Track 6 on the CD is Joanni, an ode to Joan of Arc, I think. The chorus has a weird electronica synth sample in it. It just seems so out of place with the subject matter and tone of the rest of the song. Bush manages to sound like Enya in this song. Don't worry, people, this is in no way a compliment. I hate Enya.

So I hope that after reading this review you will avoid this album like the plague. My only question is how can albums like this be released and absolutely amazing albums like the last Fiona Apple CD be delayed for years. Are there no label executives that have any ear for good music anymore? With a little luck, this album will bomb in the store. Nothing against Kate Bush personally, but maybe that will make the labels think before releasing such garbage to the public.

he just dropped a suicide bomb.

sosgemini said:

Cloudbuster said:

Cheek said: