that new Kate Bush video reviewed in full
Thought you might be interested.
(Shrugs)
I know I am.
You’ve got to love the Internet sometimes. Once upon a time, record companies paid for their advertising. Once upon a time, music critics reviewed records. Now … well. What’s the point? Last time, I reviewed an album on the basis of one song hastily listened to on YouTube, I made the front page of The Guardian‘s website for several hours. Wonder if I can manage it this time? Kate’s decided to rework several of her songs from her earlier albums The Sensual World (1989) and The Red Shoes (1993) for her new album Director’s Cut. Where I come from, that’s called “running out of ideas”. Not running up that hill, but running out of ideas. Still it is La Bush, so I’m willing to suspend judgment till I hear the whole thing. Context is often king, far as La Bush is concerned. Can’t say I’ve ever liked vocoders, though*.
“I turn to my computer as a friend,” she sings on this radical, funky, suspiciously slap-bass retread of a track from The Sensual World. Yeah. Me, too. Most all of the time actually. Most all of the time. Doesn’t mean I want to rework what I was doing when I was in my thirties out of recognition, though. Ed Kuepper does this sort of thing so much better, but there it’s a continual process not a single decision. Her fans in the media claim it’s a welcome reinvention. Hmm. Ah, c’mon. Her voice is still beautiful and softened, though. The music is still aching, gorgeous. There’s enough of the original retained to shine through the 2011 production sheen and what sounds suspiciously like gimmickry, although I think I might be missing the point somewhere. The points of similarity I love. The points of difference I’m hostile to. Let’s give it time.
Anyway. Here’s the most important point of the whole charade (paraded in inch-high letters across the promo “still video”):
The new single ‘Deeper Understanding’ by Kate Bush will be available for purchase on [sic] all digital retailers from 5th April
Here’s what one of our other writers made of Hounds Of Love, 25 years on.
*There are exceptions, duh.
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