Kate Bush

The Dreaming

A highly underrated album

Review Score:

(8/10)
I'm not sure why so many deem this admittedly adventurous effort inaccessible and bizarre. I've always thought that "The Dreaming" shows Kate at her most brilliant and listenable. "There Goes a Tenner" and "Suspended in Gaffa," both of which would have to rate among my ten all-time favorite songs, are so toe-tappingly catchy that I get goosebumps of joy almost every time I hear them. I especially love the layered vocals and building instrumentation in "Tenner," which, to me, resembles a song from an old musical due to Kate's articulate storytelling and the song's bouncing melody. Meanwhile, I love the haunting, cathartic "Pull Out the Pin" and "Houdini," both of which start out on a rather tame, somber note and gradually build to a crescendo of Kate's "Exorcist"-like wails. And "Sat in Your Lap," with its driving drumbeat, is as close as Kate has ever come to a raging head-banger. I must admit that I'm much more partial to the first side than the second side (I originally bought it on record, back in the good ol' days when there were "sides"). The first four songs may just be the greatest musical sequence ever put on vinyl.

More Reviews: