I'm Still Dreaming (The Dreaming - Kate Bush)

Member Name: delawney

Product:	The Dreaming - Kate Bush
Date:	07/08/02 (199 review reads)
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Those of you who have cast an eye over my Top 10 albums will know I included Kate Bush's "Hounds of Love". So why, then, have I opted to review "The Dreaming"? Well, "Hounds of Love" may be a masterpiece, but "The Dreaming" is where we see Kate headed in that direction. It is also one of the most sadly overlooked of her albums, as it is a classic in its own right. Depending on my mood there are days when it would replace "Hounds of Love" in my top 10 anyway.

For those of you who live in a cave or simply aren't that interested in music (what are you doing reading this then?) Kate Bush is a singer-songwriter and sometime piano player, who burst onto the music scene in 1978 with the huge hit "Wuthering Heights" (you know the one - no one had a clue what she was going on about - I do believe it was one of the first tracks to be included on the "indecipherable lyrics" round of "Never Mind The Buzzcocks"). Now, I often start my ops desperately trying to describe someone's sound, and resort to comparisons like "she's a bit like Kate Bush", so where does that leave me when I'm trying to describe Kate Bush? The best I can come up with I'm afraid, is that Tori Amos probably took up where Kate left off. They are very different artists, but they do have the singing/piano/mad as a box of frogs connection.

Her first album, "The Kick Inside" was released in 1978 and went triple-platinum in the days when platinum was still 1 million sales, and not the 100,000 I believe it is today. It was followed by "Lionheart" later that year. Kate undertook a large world tour that included choreography on a scale probably not repeated until Madonna. Unfortunately, Kate hated touring and vowed never to do it again.

1980 saw the release of "Never For Ever", spawning classic hits such as "Babooshka". It also
saw Kate tackle thorny issues such as the threat of nuclear war, in her protest song "Breathing". The end of the video could not be shown on Top of the Pops as it portrayed a nuclear explosion, and this was deemed to darn scary. Even though the effects now seem dated, I still find this video a powerful reminder of the horrors and potential horrors that lurk out there in the world.

So, onto "The Dreaming". Late 1981 saw the release of the single "Sat in Your Lap", which actually did OK, peaking at No. 11 in the charts (probably on the back of Kate's previous success). The song is held together by a slightly disjointed piano "riff", and funky drum sounds and a clever use of words. It's theme is of wanting to have lots of knowledge without having to put all the effort in.

"I see the people working,
And see it working for them.
And so I want to join in,
But then I find it hurts me."

"Some say that knowledge is something sat in your lap.
Some say that knowledge is something that you never have."

"I see the people happy,
So can it happen for me?
'Cause when I am unhappy,
There's nothing that can move me".

The album "The Dreaming" followed in 1982. It opens with "Sat in Your Lap" and then moves into another single "There Goes a Tenner", which pretty much flopped - not quite making it into the Top 40. I didn't like this song at first, but it did grow on me. It's all about a bank job, and Kate sings throughout with a cockney accent slightly better than Dick Van Dyke's but not brilliant. However, this is an upbeat and pleasant song, and whilst not being the best on the album, is not at all bad.

"Pull Out The Pin" comes next, with a distinct change of mood. The song focuses on a Vietkong soldier during the Vietnam war, at the point of pulling
out the pin on a hand grenade he's about to throw at an American soldier. He deals with the knowledge that if he doesn't kill the American soldier, the American soldier will probably kill him.

"Just one thing in it, me or him,
and I love life! (So pull out the pin)".

The music hear is generally quite slow and contemplative, but with an inspired wailing vocal as Kate sings "I love life!".

Back to a more up tempo track with "Suspended in Gaffa". Here we return to a similar theme to "Sat in Your Lap"; of having goals and not knowing if you'll ever be able to reach them, if you even care, and perhaps recognising that you are only as good as you are. The music is fairly uptempo and somewhat kooky.

Side one closes (hey, I had the vinyl!) with "Leave it Open", a wonderfully weird and eerie little number. It cleverly juxtaposes the need to keep some things shut with the need to leave other things open.

"With my ego in my gut,
My babbling mouth would wash it up.
(But now I've started learning how,)
I keep it shut."

"Narrow mind would persecute it,
Die a little to get to it.
(But now I've started learning how.)
I leave it open."

"I kept it in a cage,
Watched it weeping, but I made it stay.
(But now I've started learning how.)
I leave it open."

It also features a backwards message (how cool!) which I am told by a friend who endeavoured to play it backwards says "They told us they buried him".

So on to side two and the title track "The Dreaming". The song focuses on the Australian occupation of Aborigine land, and as such the music has an aboriginal feel to it. This is enhanced by the digeridoo playing of a certain Mr Rolf Harris (yes, that Rolf Harris). The first time I heard this track was on "The Whole Story&quo
t; complilation, and at that time I wasn't sure I liked it, but I was only eleven at the time! When I rediscovered the album at sixteen, this became one of my favourites.

"Night of the Swallow" describes the planning of an attempted gataway in a hired plane. The "heroine" threatens to tell on her loved one if he goes, fearing the plan is flawed.

"If you go, I'll let the law know,
And they'll head you off when you touch the ground.
Ooh, please, don't go through with this.
I don't like the sound of it."

" "With a hired plane,
And no names mentioned.
Tonight's the night of the flight.
Before you know,
I'll be over the water" "

" "Like a swallow.
There's no risk.
I'll whisk them up in no moonlight.
And though pigs can fly,
They'll never find us
Posing as the night,
And I'm home before the morning." "

The song ends with the line "but you're not a swallow", indicating that she thinks the plan is flawed. This track has a real celtic feel to it, and the chorus is really catchy.

"All the Love" is an extremely articulate and moving ballad focusing on how all too often people only show their love and emotion when someone is dying or even worse, after they have died.

"The first time I died
Was in the arms of good friends of mine.
They kiss me with tears.
They hadn't been near me for years.
Say, why do it now
When I won't be around, I'm going out?"

When you first hear this song, it may seem a little slow and dull, but with repeated listening you realise this fits perfectly with the tone of the song, and makes it all the more powerful.

In "Houdini", another ballad, we are intended to assume Kate is singing as Houdini's partner, descr
ibing how "with a kiss, I'd pass the key" (hence the album cover). She then watches Houdini drown in a failed escape attempt.

The album finishes with "Get Out Of My House", one of my all-time favourite Kate tracks. I probably like this track because it's weird and disjointed, but hey, that's my thing! I can even cope with her baying like a donkey at the end. It moves through distinct moods and makes excellent use of repeated backing vocals to provide a kind of rhythm.

All in all, this album is probably one of Kate's darker albums, (despite the fact "Breathing" appeared on it's predecessor) often dealing with somewhat more disturbing themes. It is a highly intelligent and beautifully crafted selection of music, but as such it is probably less accessible and certainly less "poppy" than some of Kate's other material. This probably explains it's moderate commercial success in comparison with her other albums. Kates lyrics throughout are at times thoughtful, at times moving, and at times just downright odd.

"The Dreaming" was followed three years later in 1985 by "Hounds of Love", where the darker themes and weirder styles Kate explores in "The Dreaming" come to fruition in the side-two "concept side" "The Ninth Wave". This is beautifully reviewed by Whitehorse, so I'll not dwell on it here.

Kate is known for being a far from prolific artist, and fans had to wait a full 4 years before her next release "The Sensual World", which whilst still having the distinctive Kate Bush sound, still sees Kate move on. The title track was a moderately successful single, based around the idea of a fictional character leaving the pages of a book and "stepping out, off the page, into the sensual world".

Her last album to date "The Red Shoes", was released in 1993. It acted as the sou
ndtrack for her short film "The Line, The Cross and the Curve", based around the story of the Red Shoes. The Red Shoes turn you into a fantastic dancer, but unfortunately you don't get to take them off. Bit of a high price to pay methinks.

If you are new to Kate Bush, I probably wouldn't recommend "The Dreaming" as a starter. Go for "Never for Ever" or "Hounds of Love" instead. But if you've already gotten a bit of a taste for the lass, you could do a lot worse than splashing out a few quid on this one. It may be an "acquired taste", but then so is wine, and that's pretty darned good! (Well, some of it is anyway!)

Enthusiasts should do their best to get a copy of the box set "This Womans Work" which features six of Kate's seven albums (all but "The Red Shoes") and an additional three vinyl albums or two CDs of extra tracks. Worth getting for the highly amusing song "Ken" (featured as a theme tune to one of "The Comic Strip" series):

"Who is the man we all need?"
"Ken!"
"Who is the funky sex machine?"
"Ken!"
"Who is the leader of the GLC?"
"Ken!"

but also featuring some truly beautiful b-sides like "Under the Ivy", "My Lagen Love" and "Not This Time".

Here's hoping Kate's not done sharing her work with us - I'm hoping she's just spent the last nine years working on her next album ;)

I'll finish with the words of one of my friends children upon first hearing Kate Bush: "Mummy, that's an angel singing".

[Lyrics taken from http://gaffa.org/sensual/index.html]

Unfortunately, I cannot give an up to date price. When I bought the vinyl (1990?) it was about £7.99.

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