The Sensual World: the Mellowing of Kate Bush? (The Sensual World - Kate Bush)

Member Name: zerbine

Product:	The Sensual World - Kate Bush
Date:	01/10/02 (234 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: This Woman's Work, The Sensual World, more accessible to non-KB fans

Disadvantages: May need time and repeat spins to appreciate

"The Sensual World" might be Kate's mellowest and least radical or 'quirky' album yet. And perhaps the most accessible for listeners more attuned to mainstream music. Of course, a Kate Bush "mellow" is relative only to the rest of her recordings.

Each Kate Bush album is totally distinct from the rest, just as each track is like no other. This woman has an astonishingly deep creative well, and "The Sensual World" is witness to that creativity once again. Among the guest musicians familiar to me here are violinist Nigel Kennedy and the Trio Bulgarka, three women singers whose unique harmonies so moved Kate that tears came to her eyes when she first heard them in their home country of Bulgaria. They were to guest again in Kate's next album, "The Red Shoes".


So what have we here? The tracks, in chronological order:

"The Sensual World." There is something appealing and seductive, even erotic, in this title track that has the crystalline pealing of church bells at the top. The lyrics conjure up a pastiche of sensual images:

"Mmh, yes, then I'd taken the kiss of seedcake back from his mouth
Going deep South, go down, mmh, yes,
Took six big wheels and rolled our bodies
Off to Howth Head and into the flesh, mmh, yes. . . "

and more that would stir a rich imagination. The words were inspired by James Joyce's "Ulysses" . Her phrasing, as usual, is distinctive and filled with nice surprises. Here she warbles the "mmh" in a light, feathery tremolo. The uillean pipes played by Davey Spillane sound somewhat Middle Eastern/Irish, weaving in those little notes in between the twelve regular ones we're accustomed to on the piano, creating an exotic, Thousand and One Nights/Emerald Isle atmosphere, together with the bouzouki (a Greek guitar-like stringed instrument) of Donal Lunny, and the hushed, whispery voca
l of Kate.

"Love and Anger" picks up the tempo, with its unstoppable wave of galloping beats. There's an urgency to this track's chorus/refrain that makes for a compelling, rhythmic piece with a message of hope:

"Take away the love and anger
And a little piece of hope holding us together
Looking for a moment that'll never happen
Living in the gap between the past and future
Take away the stone and the timber
And a little piece of rope won't hold it together."


"The Fog" is another gentle, atmospheric track, that starts off with a peal of husky laughter. Then Kate asks whether

". . .this love [is] big enough to watch over me
Big enough to let go of me?
Without hurting me
Like the day I learned to swim. . . "

as her father calms her fears of the water while reassuring her that he'll be there, even if she's "all grown up now." The cut begins with a mournful whistle by Davey Spillane, followed by a softly strummed acoustic guitar by Alan Murphy accompanying Kate's entrance. The melody has a vaguely Eastern/Chinese music quality to it. Interestingly, Kate employs Nigel Kennedy's clean, affecting violin (which, with its more sustained and penetrating sound, suggests it's an electric violin), a cello and a Celtic harp in an interwoven pattern to create a reflective, mystical aura--the fog. Dr. Bush (Kate's father) speaks the dialogue here. A beautiful, liquidy track.

"Reaching Out" starts off prayer-like, with Kate softly singing the first verses, then is joined by a light, interweaving chorus of voices, as she increases the intensity with strings joining in en route to the refrain's summit. Michael Nyman arranges the sections played by the Balavescu String Quartet, while brother Paddy plays an almost invisible mandolin. (Nyman may be familiar to viewers of Peter Greenaw
ay films and "The Piano" as film score composer.) Tension builds nicely up to the strong finale, in which Kate is "reaching out for the Star that explodes," and finally, singing with an impassioned cry, " Reaching out for Mama."


"Heads We're Dancing" is sung on the same key signature as "Reaching Out", but a syncopated beat underscores this track. Does allude to how apparently rational and lucid people can come under the spell of a mesmerizing German leader who, in 1939, sparked what would later be World War II? And how the devil can come in the most charming guises?

"A picture of you, a picture of you in uniform. . .
But it couldn't be you
It couldn't be you
It's a picture of Hitler. "

One peeve: the rather prominent percussions threaten to drown out Kate's sharper yet occasionally warbling vocal on this cut. A track that sneaks up on you with repeated listenings.


"Deeper Understanding" is amazingly prescient in its observation on how computers would satisfy the unmet emotional needs of people. The understated plucked-rubberband-sounding tupan bass drum, played by Paddy Bush, goes nicely with the beautifully blended, shimmering harmonies of the Trio Bulgarka who team up with Kate to 'speak' as the 'little black box' that comes to life after she hits the "Execute" button:

"Hello, I know that you've been feeling tired
I bring you love and deeper understanding
Hello, I know that you're unhappy
I bring you love and deeper understanding."

To think that this was written in the late '80s, during the infancy of the Internet and World Wide Web, and computers were to be found only in laboratories and offices.


"Between a Man and a Woman" is a stern warning directed at an outsider getting mixed up in the midst of a cou
ple's troubles. A good cut with unusually obvious lyrics. Unless, of course, I'm missing something between the lines. A threatening, menacing tone creeps in early into this interesting cut.


"Never Be Mine" is a simple cut with a circular melody. The Trio Bulgarka offer their otherworldly warbling harmonies that meld with the uillean pipes echoing the same melody. Leaves you with a feeling of hope and resignation all at once, for she knows that "this will never be mine," even if "this is where I want to be, this is what I need. . .ooh, the thrill and the hurting."


"Rocket's Tail (For Rocket)" starts off with Kate and the Trio Bulgarka singing remarkably elastic, weaving melodies in counterpoint, a cappella, joined by electrified guitar and percussion a minute and a half in. I like the way the melody goes up, then down a bit, then up again in climbing fashion, not unlike the song's literal "rocket man" shooting up into the sky in a colorful blast of fireworks. Kate wrote this to showcase the ethereal harmonies of the Bulgarian Trio, and the title was inspired by one of Kate's pet cats, Rocket.


"This Woman's Work" is the exceptionally lovely, prayer-like ballad that once again highlights Kate's ability to create hauntingly beautiful melodies. She never strays too far from the (very) high notes on this one. There's a slightly raspy/whispery touch to her voice, and a vulnerability especially noted in the pained, anguished, desperate refrain. She also sings the lovely, soft, layered backing vocals that later echo the second verse. The spare arrangement has Kate's clear piano accompany her throughout, with a bit of support by the orchestra, directed by Michael Nyman.

It's a moving piece, suggesting a man comforting his wife in her last moments, filled as he is with regret about lost opportunities. From the melodic hook i
n

"I know you have a little life in you yet
I know you have a lot of strength left "

[Kate sings the next verse/refrain an octave higher, heightening the intensity]

"I should be crying but I just can't let it show
I should be hopeful but I can't stop thinking
Of all the things I should've said, that I never said
All the things we should've done, that we never did
All the things I should've given, but I didn't. . . "

This gets my vote for the most memorable track of all on this CD. I'm always a sucker for poignant ballads.


"Walk Straight Down the Middle" laments the paralysis of indecision:

"Can't say yes, I can't say no
Can't begin, can't let go
Help me now.
Ooh, ooh, what do we do, now we
Just can't move?
We're calling out for Middle Street. . . "

Kate sings the initial verses in a strongly nasal voice, making them sound somewhat unrecognizable as English (at least to me). The arpeggic melody leaps all over the place (and I mean that in a good way) and its moderately slow rhythm makes this a nice, laid-back kind of rocker.


For longtime Kate Bush followers, this album may actually be too mainstream in character. For those who have yet to hear her, though, "The Sensual World" could serve as a relatively 'easy' introduction to her music. It is, by no means, 'easy listening,' however. There's too much excitement going on here for the album to merit that bland description.

A tip for anyone who'd like to give Kate's music a chance: one must come to her music only after having cleaned one's musical cobwebs away, got rid of all preconceived notions of what music should sound like, be structured, and what instruments and sounds are acceptable. The listener must be completely open-minded and open-he
arted to allow Kate's own highly intelligent, interesting, idiosyncratic sounds and rhythms to touch him or her.

In fact, this would also apply to longtime fans regarding any new Kate Bush release, which must be approached sans the ideas imbibed from any previous album! This precondition is perhaps most applicable to a much earlier release, the radically different, experimental, mind-blowing "The Dreaming", from 1982 .

Sounds like too much work for just a few pop songs? Ah, but these aren't your garden variety, 'pop songs' at all! The effort that might be asked of the listener is all worth it in the end. And what a wondrous musical discovery it always turns out to be.

I say to those who decide to take the plunge that first of all, the point of music is to enjoy it. Some may be ready from the very start for Kate's music, others no. The rewards that await the patient listener are ample, however. If, after having been converted, you wonder how you ever survived without Kate's music all this time, well, bully for you--and feel free to drop me a line!

And if you decide Kate Bush isn't for you, I say, give it a few more listenings, let some months, even years pass, she could just grow on you as she tends to do. If not, hey, it ain't no crime. But I also say you really are missing out on a whole lot.

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