- Audio CD (7 Nov 2005)
- Number of Discs: 2
- Label: EMI
- ASIN: B000BEPLUE
- Other Editions: Vinyl | MP3 Download
- Average Customer Review: 4.2 out of 5 stars See all reviews (279 customer reviews)
- Amazon Bestsellers Rank: 6,052 in Music (See Top 100 in Music)
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Product Description
Amazon.co.uk Review
It's often said that a musician's debut represents the culmination of a lifetime's worth of experiences, but their sophomore effort is usually derived from just the intervening year. By waiting 12 years between The Red Shoes and her new double CD, Aerial, Kate Bush has tried to regain that lifetime. It's a remarkably coherent recording, reflecting the unique world of sound and spirit Bush has inhabited since her debut.
The first disc, subtitled A Sea of Honey, is a suite of personal reveries. It ranges from "King of the Mountain", a contemplation of unbridled celebrity and its isolation that references Elvis and Citizen Kane, to the piano-and-voice study "Mrs. Bartolozzi", an ode to household chores whose chorus is "Sloshy sloshy sloshy sloshy, get that dirty shirty clean". With its Depeche Mode-influenced synth-pads, electro pulses, and lyric cadences, "King of the Mountain" is vintage Bush pop. But many of the songs attain more epic proportions, like the dynamic "Joanni", a hymn to Joan of Arc. It's the second disc--a suite called A Sky of Honey--on which Bush really comes into her own. Using metaphors of the turning of the day and the flight of birds, she orchestrates a meditation on the cycles of life. Musically expansive, she weaves her compositions out of birdsong, subtle orchestrations, and jazz trios, showing herself at her experimental best. Embracing her relatively new motherhood, as well as the death of her mother, Aerial is a deeply personal album, and a welcome return from one of pop music's true icons and vocal wonders. --John Diliberto
More Kate Bush
 The Kick Inside |  Lionheart |  Never for Ever |
 The Dreaming |  Hounds of Love |  The Whole Story |
Product Description
Cd > Popular Music > RockCD > POPULAR MUSIC > ROCK
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Customer Reviews
Most Helpful Customer Reviews
21 of 23 people found the following review helpful
Format:Audio CD
Let alone being the best album Kate Bush has ever released, this has got to be amongst the greatest, if not the greatest, piece of music in at least the past 30 years. It truly is a work of art; if there was ever any question about Kate transcending the conventions of "popular music" and being a true artist, this piece banishes all doubts.
The first of the two-disk set is the "popular" stuff; individual, separate pop songs which will get radio play and possibly garner Kate a raft of new fans amongst those who were too young to remember the last time she released something. These are very "Kate" songs, but also accessible and yet retaining enough depth to satisfy.
The second disk, "A Sky of Honey", is where I start to run out of superlatives. This is nothing short of a masterpiece, not of music, but of art itself. It is a sublime expression of the artistic experience - a single day, a "Ulysses" put to music. It begins with a nostalgiac reminiscence of birdsong and childhood, and takes us to an artist painting, bringing to life the actual process of artistic creation - the light changing, the "accident" which is artistic inspiration. We participate in that true moment of insight, when one's perception of the world is changed forever; the world no longer looks the same, can never be the same. Our perception of our lives shaken to the core, we plunge into the underworld of "Nocturn" and emerge transformed into a rebirth; as the day dawns, the sunlight hits the aerial on the roof and we see now how the world changes from moment to moment - and we are right there with it. Suddenly we understand the sheer delight, joy, and laughter of the birds twittering and fluttering about up there - those whose song has been with us all along - as they rejoice in acceptance of their part in the world. And Kate takes us up there with them - on the roof, laughing with the birds: she is the artist, an aerial, a transmitter of joy and ecstasy, expressing her soul to us and in rapture as she knows she is understood. The miracle is that she actually takes us with her - through her music, we share the rapture of inspiration.
This is what all Kate's previous albums have been leading up to. Incredible stuff. Thanks, Kate!
The first of the two-disk set is the "popular" stuff; individual, separate pop songs which will get radio play and possibly garner Kate a raft of new fans amongst those who were too young to remember the last time she released something. These are very "Kate" songs, but also accessible and yet retaining enough depth to satisfy.
The second disk, "A Sky of Honey", is where I start to run out of superlatives. This is nothing short of a masterpiece, not of music, but of art itself. It is a sublime expression of the artistic experience - a single day, a "Ulysses" put to music. It begins with a nostalgiac reminiscence of birdsong and childhood, and takes us to an artist painting, bringing to life the actual process of artistic creation - the light changing, the "accident" which is artistic inspiration. We participate in that true moment of insight, when one's perception of the world is changed forever; the world no longer looks the same, can never be the same. Our perception of our lives shaken to the core, we plunge into the underworld of "Nocturn" and emerge transformed into a rebirth; as the day dawns, the sunlight hits the aerial on the roof and we see now how the world changes from moment to moment - and we are right there with it. Suddenly we understand the sheer delight, joy, and laughter of the birds twittering and fluttering about up there - those whose song has been with us all along - as they rejoice in acceptance of their part in the world. And Kate takes us up there with them - on the roof, laughing with the birds: she is the artist, an aerial, a transmitter of joy and ecstasy, expressing her soul to us and in rapture as she knows she is understood. The miracle is that she actually takes us with her - through her music, we share the rapture of inspiration.
This is what all Kate's previous albums have been leading up to. Incredible stuff. Thanks, Kate!
12 of 13 people found the following review helpful
Format:Audio CD
Two albums really. Disc one is a mix of Bush quirk. Some songs are great - Mrs Bartolozzi stands out - but some aren't.
The second disc is the reason you want this in your record collection. More of a painting than a record. It's a concept album like the Hounds of Love second side the Ninth Wave and as good as that was this is better - more mature, inventive and mysterious. Every time you listen it reveals something new. It's like being relaxed and stimulated at the same time. Her voice gets better with the years, which is handy given the amount of time she takes to make records. Although as impatient as you get for new songs you forgive her as soon as they come out.
The second disc is the reason you want this in your record collection. More of a painting than a record. It's a concept album like the Hounds of Love second side the Ninth Wave and as good as that was this is better - more mature, inventive and mysterious. Every time you listen it reveals something new. It's like being relaxed and stimulated at the same time. Her voice gets better with the years, which is handy given the amount of time she takes to make records. Although as impatient as you get for new songs you forgive her as soon as they come out.
3 of 3 people found the following review helpful
Format:Audio CD
Kate is a british icon - still sounding as unique as she did 30 years ago. That was a time when true talent was nurtured, rather than dropped after one failed single. It was wonderful to see her back and reminding us of her eccentric genius.
It's 'A Sky of Honey' that lifts this album into the 'essential' category. You owe it to yourself to sit in an English country garden and listen to it. Just a beautiful summery concept album, where Kate makes songs from the coo-ing and chirping of pigeons and blackbirds. The moment when I gazed out over the moonlit ocean in Miami and the words "We stand in the Atlantic and we become panoramic" played over my iPod will stay with me forever. It's worth the price for CD2 alone.
Elsewhere, 'A Sea of Honey' is less cohesive, but still intriguing. Only Kate can get away with writing child-like songs about cheerful domesticity. Maybe her love for her son can be a little cloying, but at least it's honest. 'Pi' manages to make numbers sound sexy as hell. 'A Coral Room' is an intensely personal song about the death of her mother. You feel like you're intruding on her grief just by listening to it - but that's what separates a true artist from the wannabe; she expresses the loss in the best way she knows.
Kate Bush is an original and we should cherish her while we still can.
It's 'A Sky of Honey' that lifts this album into the 'essential' category. You owe it to yourself to sit in an English country garden and listen to it. Just a beautiful summery concept album, where Kate makes songs from the coo-ing and chirping of pigeons and blackbirds. The moment when I gazed out over the moonlit ocean in Miami and the words "We stand in the Atlantic and we become panoramic" played over my iPod will stay with me forever. It's worth the price for CD2 alone.
Elsewhere, 'A Sea of Honey' is less cohesive, but still intriguing. Only Kate can get away with writing child-like songs about cheerful domesticity. Maybe her love for her son can be a little cloying, but at least it's honest. 'Pi' manages to make numbers sound sexy as hell. 'A Coral Room' is an intensely personal song about the death of her mother. You feel like you're intruding on her grief just by listening to it - but that's what separates a true artist from the wannabe; she expresses the loss in the best way she knows.
Kate Bush is an original and we should cherish her while we still can.
Most Recent Customer Reviews
Somewhere in between
Aerial is Kate Bush's most mature, inventive and mysterious album. After 12 years the prospect of new material was exciting and I wasn't disappointed. Read more
Published 28 days ago by Lord Anon
Pure genius...
This album occupies some higher space, out there in the ether. It is supremely beautiful and at the same time challenging. Read more
Published 1 month ago by Opel
Coming Down to Kate
Exceptional CD1 and then this whole CD2 affair. Has Kate been to Ibiza for her holidays? Nocturne in particular is a good a piece of Balearic/Jazz chill-out as you will ever hear... Read more
Published 2 months ago by C. N. Sandford
Jolly good effort from Ms Bush..
I recently purchased this album from the good folk of Amazon recently and really wasn't quite sure what to make of it. Read more
Published 7 months ago by os
shear bliss - Kate's masterpiece...
I write this review after living with this record for 6 years and it never fails to lift me up in the air!! There is something I didn't notice before with every listening. Read more
Published 8 months ago by andydeepcar
under-stated genius
This work contains some of the best lines ever written in English embedded in totally appropriate music. This is profondity in simple clothes - as indeed real wisdom always is. Read more
Published 8 months ago by R. Hooppell
Still waiting!
I ordered this cd in June and I STILL haven't received yet!!!!!!!!! I have borrowed this album and it is great but I have been let down by various parties and now I have no idea... Read more
Published 9 months ago by Bic
Really Not Sure
I loved Kate Bust in the 70s and early 80s and like many people waited a long time for this album arrive. Were our expectation too high? Read more
Published 12 months ago by Grahame
Vogon poetry for a new generation
Utter, utter, utter tripe. If you found Vogon poetry tame, I suggest trying this album. Just don't blame me if you gnaw your own leg off...
Published 14 months ago by P. Skeldon
My Favourite Album Ever
On a perfect Summers day, lay back on the grass, look up at the beautiful blue sky and play this album. You will so chill out and relax. Amazing.
Published 14 months ago by MartC6
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