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Rating: In general, I complain about the excessive productivity of certain singers who release their work on a yearly basis, and I usually hope that it is a sincere inspiration that gives birth to the idea of a work and not sordid business or various forms of interests. It is also true that certain artists, the longer they stay away from the scene, the more they manage to amaze us. But fairy tales, alas, remain fairy tales, because there are also artists who, left out of the loop for too long, return to the stage with mostly outdated and old products in terms of sounds and/or arrangements. This is the case of the former muse Kate Bush, for a long time a reference point for those looking for experimentation in pop and vice versa (was it the late 80s?!) who, after a good 12 years of absence from the scene ("to raise her children, to live differently and seek new stimuli" as she herself declared in a long interview with an Italian music monthly) comes out with a double work that is almost ambient-new age (if you'll allow me the term) fairly tasteless, with very little experimental about it.
Divided into two parts called "A Sea Of Honey" with 7 songs including the single "King Of The Mountain" to the lively "How To Be Invisible" ending with the intimate and suggestive piece "A Coral Room" reminiscent of certain works by David Sylvian and Peter Gabriel. The second "A Sky Of Honey" is a sort of concept album in 9 parts born under the influence of nature, the song of birds, the attention to small things, all over the course of an entire day: from dawn to dusk. There is a melancholic and pathos-rich air, with peaks of passion and almost magical atmospheres, but we are far from works like "The Dreaming" (her masterpiece) or even just "Red Shoes" from 1993. The atmosphere that emerges mostly sounds "fake" and "sampled" with a great work of craftsmanship that offers little to the emotions (apart from a few tracks like "Bertie" innocent and with an ancient Branduardi-like flavor dedicated to her little son or the track "Pi" sung on figures of music made musical by her ethereal and fascinating voice like never before).
The class is all there, nothing to say, but there's a sense of "little soul" encapsulated in sounds not particularly captivating or modern (similar to Peter Gabriel's journey with "Up") giving us a nice album, at times beautiful, but which does not seduce like the Bush of the good old days could. The album indeed doesn't particularly stand out for anything, the tracks flow quite predictably and pleasantly just enough to be listened to. An album that after a couple of listens I imagine will be, like others, placed in the most unlikely point of one's music shelf or, at best, resold for 8 euros at some downtown stall. I wonder if it's better to "let Kate simmer" for another 10 years and send her to a better sortie or if instead, to strike while the iron's hot, and urge her to put herself under pressure to give us a true musically "more heartfelt" successor worthy of the name she carries.
Tracklist Lyrics and Videos
01 King of the Mountain (04:53)
Could you see the aisles of women?
Could you see them screaming and weeping?
Could you see the storm rising?
Could you see the guy who was driving?
Could you climb higher and higher?
Could you climb right over the top?
Why does a multi-millionaire
Fill up his home with priceless junk?
The wind is whistling
The wind is whistling
Through the house
Elvis are you out there somewhere
Looking like a happy man?
In the snow with Rosebud
And king of the mountain
Another Hollywood waitress
Is telling us she’s having your baby
And there’s a rumour that you’re on ice
And you will rise again someday
And that there’s a photograph
Where you’re dancing on your grave
The wind is whistling
The wind is whistling
Through the house
Elvis are you out there somewhere
Looking like a happy man?
In the snow with Rosebud
And king of the mountain
The wind it blows
The wind it blows the door closed
03 Bertie (04:18)
Here comes the sunshine
Here comes that son of mine
Here comes the everything
Here's a song and a song for him
Sweet kisses
Three wishes
Lovely Bertie
The most wilful
The most beautiful
The most truly fantastic smile
I've ever seen
Sweet kisses
Three wishes
Lovely Bertie
You bring me so much joy
And then you bring me
More Joy
04 Mrs. Bartolozzi (05:58)
I remember it was that Wednesday
Oh when it rained and it rained
They traipsed mud all over the house
It took hours and hours to scrub it out
All over the hall carpet
I took my mop and bucket
And I cleaned and I cleaned
The kitchen floor
Until it sparkled
Then I took my laundry basket
And put the linen all in it
And everything I could fit in it
And all our dirty clothes that hadn't gone into the wash
And all your shirts and jeans and things
And put them in the new washing machine
Washing machine
Washing machine
I watched them go 'round and 'round
My blouse wrapping itself in your trousers
Oh the waves are going out
My skirt floating up around my waist
As I wade out into the surf
Oh and the waves are coming in
Oh and the waves are going out
Oh and you're standing right behind me
Little fish swim between my legs
Oh and the waves are coming in
Oh and the waves are going out
Oh and the waves are coming in
Out of the corner of my eye
I think I see you standing outside
But it's just your shirt
Hanging on the washing line
Waving its arm as the wind blows by
And it looks so alive
Nice and white
Just like its climbed right out
Of my washing machine
Washing machine
Washing machine
Slooshy sloshy slooshy sloshy
Get that dirty shirty clean
Slooshy sloshy slooshy sloshy
Make those cuffs and collars gleam
Everything clean and shiny
Washing machine
Washing machine
Washing machine
05 How to Be Invisible (05:32)
I found a book on how to be invisible
Take a pinch of keyhole
And fold yourself up
You cut along a dotted line
You think inside out
And you're invisible
Eye of Braille
Hem of anorak
Stem of wallflower
Hair of doormat
I found a book on how to be invisible
On the edge of the labyrinth
Under a veil you must never lift
Pages that you must never turn
In the labyrinth
You stand in front of a million doors
And each one holds a million more
Corridors that lead to the world
Of the invisible
Corridors that twist and turn
Corridors that blister and burn
Eye of Braille
Hem of anorak
Stem of wallflower
Hair of doormat
Is that the wind from the desert song?
Is that the autumn leaf falling?
Or is that you walking home?
Is that the wind from the desert song?
Is that the autumn leaf falling?
Or is that you walking home?
Is that a storm in the swimming pool?
You take a pinch of keyhole
And fold yourself up
You cut along a dotted line
You think inside out
You jump 'round three times
You jump into the mirror
And you're invisible
06 Joanni (04:56)
All the banners stop waving
And the flags stop flying
And the silence comes over
Thousands of soldiers
Thousands of soldiers
Who is that girl? Do I know her face?
Who is that girl?
Joanni, Joanni wears a golden cross
And she looks so beautiful in her armour
Joanni, Joanni blows a kiss to God
And she never wears a ring on her finger
All the cannon are firing
And the swords are clashing
And the horses are charging
And the flags are flying
And the battle is raging
And the bells, the bells are ringing
Who is that girl? Do I know her face?
Who is that girl?
Joanni, Joanni wears a golden cross
And she looks so beautiful in her armour
Joanni, Joanni blows a kiss to God
And she never wears a ring on her finger
Joanni, Joanni, Joanni, Joanni blows a kiss to God
And she just looks beautiful in her armour
Beautiful in her armour
[French]
Elle parle à Dieu et aux anges
Dans ses prières
Venez Sainte Marguerite
Venez Sainte Catherine
Elle a besoin de vous deux.
Les voix, les voix du feu
Chante avec moi petite soeur,
Les voix, les voix, les voix
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