Moneypenny's music radar: Kate Bush
I am in awe of the high-pitched songstress Kate Bush's second album Lionheart the last two days. Somehow, for some inexplicable reason, this album has eluded me for the best part since I've discovered her music in high school. I almost instinctively became hooked on her distinctive sound, having been introduced to her debut and second-to-last (at the time - after the release of The Red Shoes in 1993, more than a decade would pass before fans were surprised by Bush's come-back album, Aerial, released in 2005) albums more or less around the same time. Bush's debut The Kick Inside was copied on tape from a good friend who got it as a gift from her boyfriend. Her second-to-last album, The Sensual World was introduced to me by my father, who had become captive under the English rose's spell during the shift from the late eighties to early nineties.
Since that time, I've stumbled upon Never For Ever, her third album, a few years ago and purchased it on vinyl. I decided that this was, indeed, her best album, as her sense of narration and melodic soundscapes were so simple to tune into. From the exotic-sounding Delius (Song For Summer), to the more established KT Bush Band rock 'n' roll riffs on Wedding List (inspired by Truffaut's The Bride Wore Black), it is, as it has been claimed in many reviews, a tour-de-force.
However, more recently, a friend of mine and I were nattering over music (he was mostly talking about Gogol Bordello, his latest musical infatuation). I said that if he likes both Kate Bush and Dead Can Dance, he must be given a proper introduction to Cocteau Twins. He said, 'oh yeah, I've got Kate Bush's discography, did you know?', and so only this weekend, for the first time ever, did I listen to Bush's second album, Lionheart. And I am mesmerized by it.
Strangely enough, what makes Lionheart so good is that it fits in so perfectly between The Kick Inside and Never For Ever. When the opening track, Symphony in Blue, started to play, it felt so familiar, recognisable, and in a pleasant way, similar to seeing an old friend for the first time in many years. Lionheart is an old friend whom I never knew I had until last weekend. It's simply one of those albums that is accessible (I find Hounds of Love and The Dreaming less enchanting because it becomes taxing after awhile) to listen through in one go. Some of the tracks, notably In Search of Peter Pan and Oh England My Lionheart have a contemplativeness about them, musically, which I find most relaxing to listen to without resorting to another genre completely (I say this because I have been listening to a lot of classical guitar and harpsichord pieces lately). Lionheart is a dreamlike half an hour or so spent with what feels like an old friend; melodies that simply stream, in Bluetooth fashion, from my iMac and fills my study and lounge with a phantasmal, yet comforting, atmosphere. That is Kate Bush and her style of music: a paradox, a riddle, a conundrum of high and low notes, and all those inbetween.
Since that time, I've stumbled upon Never For Ever, her third album, a few years ago and purchased it on vinyl. I decided that this was, indeed, her best album, as her sense of narration and melodic soundscapes were so simple to tune into. From the exotic-sounding Delius (Song For Summer), to the more established KT Bush Band rock 'n' roll riffs on Wedding List (inspired by Truffaut's The Bride Wore Black), it is, as it has been claimed in many reviews, a tour-de-force.
However, more recently, a friend of mine and I were nattering over music (he was mostly talking about Gogol Bordello, his latest musical infatuation). I said that if he likes both Kate Bush and Dead Can Dance, he must be given a proper introduction to Cocteau Twins. He said, 'oh yeah, I've got Kate Bush's discography, did you know?', and so only this weekend, for the first time ever, did I listen to Bush's second album, Lionheart. And I am mesmerized by it.
Strangely enough, what makes Lionheart so good is that it fits in so perfectly between The Kick Inside and Never For Ever. When the opening track, Symphony in Blue, started to play, it felt so familiar, recognisable, and in a pleasant way, similar to seeing an old friend for the first time in many years. Lionheart is an old friend whom I never knew I had until last weekend. It's simply one of those albums that is accessible (I find Hounds of Love and The Dreaming less enchanting because it becomes taxing after awhile) to listen through in one go. Some of the tracks, notably In Search of Peter Pan and Oh England My Lionheart have a contemplativeness about them, musically, which I find most relaxing to listen to without resorting to another genre completely (I say this because I have been listening to a lot of classical guitar and harpsichord pieces lately). Lionheart is a dreamlike half an hour or so spent with what feels like an old friend; melodies that simply stream, in Bluetooth fashion, from my iMac and fills my study and lounge with a phantasmal, yet comforting, atmosphere. That is Kate Bush and her style of music: a paradox, a riddle, a conundrum of high and low notes, and all those inbetween.