Customer Reviews

The Dreaming

5 star:		(35)
4 star:		(3)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(3)
1 star:		(1)

 

 

Kate's fourth studio album is uniquely intense. It's dark and angry - there's lots of wailing and lyrical gnashing of teeth going on here. This is definitely no picnic.

'The Dreaming' is not a concept album although it sounds like one. It could almost be a prototype of 'The Ninth Wave' - the conceptual piece on Kate's next album, 'Hounds of Love'. However, 'The Dreaming' has always been in the shadow of its more commercially viable successor, which is a shame as it is such a remarkable album in itself.

Standout tracks include 'Get Out of My House' - this is an exquisitely furious and dramatic piece of music. 'All the Love' will leave a lump in your throat, while 'Night of the Swallow' and 'Leave it Open' are just sheer ear candy.

I think Kate is at her musical best when she really lets rip - and there is a lot of that going on in 'The Dreaming'. This is a spellbinding album which treats the listener as an emotional punchbag. It'll leave you feeling shaken and exhilarated. Not one for the fainthearted.

I bought this CD the other day after not having listened to it for years. I'd forgotten just how strange and beautiful it is, it's everything you want from a classic album. You're taken on a journey through the weird and wonderful, stories of the Vietnam War (Pull Out The Pin), bungled bank heists (There Goes a Tenner), Houdini's wifes part in the illusionists trickery (With A Kiss I'd Pass The Key), Irish jigs (Night of the Swallow) and the most amazing of all is her take on Stephen Kings "The Shining" in "Get Out Of My House" (I read that years ago when she was still writing this album) on which she sounds like a woman possesed, you can't imagine anyone could ever cover this track. I'd also forgotten how beautiful "All the Love" is...why all the 5 stars?? Because even after 20 years it's fresh innovative and bloody amazing!

The Dreaming is one of those works that stand out of it's time to remain in the records as a "major". This is Kate Bush's masterpiece. It is completely timeless is a way that very, very few music albums are. It's absolutelly actual today as it was in the nineties or when it came out. It was an inspiration for a whole generation of "weird" songwriters like Bjork or Portishead but it's always more genuine, more visceral, more incredible, more unbelievable. Most people say Kate's best album is Hounds Of Love. Maybe that's true. But there is something about the dreaming that really overpasses Hounds. Hounds has a more POP approach to it, with obvious singles popping out, it's more dated, less free of barriers.
The Dreaming fascinated me as soon as I discoverd it after Sensual World came out. I was never the same person again.

When the popular masses rejected this album originally it was because there was no Wuthering Heights or Babooshka on the album. With this album Bush kicked out the window her kooky but sweet English rose image and showed us her darker side. What is strange is that the songs on this album are even stronger than those on her more commercially successful albums.

I bought this just the other week and was stunned at how fresh and new it is. It certainly does not sound like it is from the 80s. It sounds as if it was recorded yesterday. Bush also puts all those that followed her - Tori Amos and Bjork to name but two - well in the shade.

Her voice is beautiful on this album, and the songs very strong with great melodies and poignant lyrics. Get Out Of My House is TREMENDOUS.

What I don't understand is those who say it takes some getting used to. The Sensual World and Red Shoes did nothing for me on first listening, but this grabbed me the first time I played it.

The Whole Story comes nowhere near in representing Kate's talent or creativity. To do her justice you need the albums. And this tops Never Forever and The Kick Inside.

Lionheart was badly underrated - it also sounds fresh as if recorded recently. But the reception to The Dreaming was simply foolish and cruel. This is is simply one of the greatest albums ever recorded by a female artist.

That this album, Hounds of Love, and Lionheart can sound as new as the day they were recorded after nearly 20 years speaks volumes. How many other artists have 20 year old albums that have not dated? That is a true reflection of greatness, not just commercial success at the time of its release.

Kate has produced 2 of the greatest albums of all time and no record collection is ever complete without this album and The Hounds of Love.

For me, 'The Dreaming' is undoubtedly the strangest and most adventurous album of KB's illustrious career.

Uniquely adapting ethnic rhythms (strong Celtic and Australian Aborigine influences pervade) and, then, cutting-edge Fairlight technology, in some ways the album is a more extreme and emotionally edgy companion to Gabriel's contemporaneous classics '3' and '4'.

'All The Love' and 'Houdini' are unnervingly beautiful highlights, while 'Get Out Of My House' (featuring a great Fripp-inspired guitar line) sounds as possessed as the demonic subject matter it deals with.

In conclusion, 'The Dreaming' is an astonishingly fresh and genuinely brave statement from 1982 that still sounds vital and surprising today. Taken alongside the likes of Gabriel, Sylvian, Eno, Talking Heads, Talk Talk and The Blue Nile, this is an album that suggests that the 'decade of evil' was just as creative in its own way as the more celebrated 1960s and 1970s.

This release signified the point in Kates recording career when, perhaps, she went a slight too far for your average record buying public. As a nod towards the style of this album, Sat in your lap was released a full year before and, by its merits, did fairly well in the singles chart. However, that was certainly not the case for the title track, when released as an album-promoter. Further releases didnt even chart. So, what went wrong? Actually, nothing. She just happened to produce something that, today, would be hailed as a master-stroke, perhaps. In July 1982, this was not so.

Here was a recording artist like no other, simply pushing her art in yet another direction. Experimenting, and offering no compromises. And credit to EMI for allowing her to do so, although it is questioned whether the big cheeses were particularly enamoured with the product or not. It certainly didnt rake in the profits in the same was as her previous three had done. The relative commercial failure of this album forced her to yield perhaps to some extent on her next venture, and we all know the outcome of that (Hounds of Love, for those who dont). But the learning, musically and technologically, from this album certainly made the follow-up the genius that it was.

Here, Kate gives free reign to her musical craftsmanship, resulting in ambitious pieces that were perhaps too far ahead of their time. Admittedly, the album doesnt flow in the same sense that HOL does, but how many albums do? It wasnt a concept album, so discernable thread not necessary. However, observation, subject and life experience are there for all to hear.

Sat in you lap opens the experience with its heavy drums and Kates piano. The many step-changes in this track are bizarre, but somehow it works. Vocally, Kate is very unrestrained, shrieking at times here and throughout the album, but this adds to the feel of the work. As the songs roll by, a sense of musical schizophrenia hits you. There is no natural progression, but therein lies its charm.

There goes a tenner is quirky in sound, but lyrically very astute, and this is true of all the tracks. As with all of her work, it commands attention, more so with this album than others. Pull out the pin was apparently inspired by a documentary seen on TV, and with this in mind, the lyrics are spot-on, and the wailing I love lifes are disconcerting yet, at the same time, familiar Kate territory. Suspended in gaffa is another out there song a fast waltz with vocals swapping several times from low, almost spoken to top-note. Lyrically who knows? Who cares? For me, after the side one (yes Im that old) opener, the high point of the album followed by the low point (yes there is one).

Keep it open shows great vocal range and styles, but is very heavy. The dark lyrics match the mood. Its not a poor number, it just happen to be the weakest on the album.

The title-track is very unusual with faux aussie-accented vocal. This does detract from the serious nature of the lyric, i.e. the new mans desire to claim the land at the expense of the indigenous population. Controversial stuff, indeed. This runs into Night of the swallow which has a distinctly Irish feel, and is a nod towards later outings (Jig of life).

Next up is All the love, which is a fairly simple piece with Kate, a piano, a Fairlight and a choirboy. Very effective wouldnt have been out of place on Never for Ever. The only thing that spoils (and to some extent, dates) the song are the telephone spoken goodbyes. That aside, it is a lush and beautiful composition. Houdini takes its inspiration from obvious sources and, like many of the songs here, is thoughfully written and perfomed. Side-show dramatics and all (you hit the water).

Dramatics abound in the closer Get out of my house, including Kate and BVs offering braying Mule noises. Classic. Lyrically, this song could be construed in many ways. I like to think it was inspired by Kates feelings towards the EMI people, after paying her a visit during the recording of this album. Get out of my house, indeed!

For me, this is Kate hitting her stride, both lyrically and musically. I think the tide of pop music at the time (1982; Duran Duran, Human League, Haircut 100 (jesus), Dexys, etc.) was fairly unforgiving towards a rare breed at the time i.e. the female singer-songwriter with the balls to stick to her creative guns.

Hindsight, however, shows that here is a record that has dated little over 23 years. I admit to being a defector around this period, but vinyl purchase in early 1986 illustrated how errant Id been. As many have indicated it is not an easy ride, aurally, but it does repay the listener given time. Honest. Just stick with it.

I was a sceptic at first. A real hotpot of musical styles that didn't gel with any sense of reality I had previously experienced. I started with Hounds, of course and that was only surpassed in my mind at the time by Treasure and Brilliant Trees. Although, it was about 15 years ago, when I was barely in me teens, so you can forgive such a neophyte mind. Some songs were instant, typically the ballads - night of the swallow, all the love and houdini. But the real gems are the latent growers - there goes a tenner, pull out the pin and especially, keep it open. Some of these I had to come back to years later, to fully appreciate their oblique strangeness and charm. You can learn a lot from this woman.

An off-the-wall masterpiece that Kate Bush has never surpassed, and probably few others ever will. After a whole year in the studio, fans were expecting something special but it's probably fair to say that nobody expected this.

It's loud, it's thought-provoking, it's not especially tuneful and it's just plain weird.

Before The Dreaming, Kate Bush was probably known for being that high pitched singer who did Wuthering Heights and a few other unusual but pretty and artistic songs. The Dreaming continues the unusual and arty theme with songs about such diverse subjects as the Vietnam war, Harry Houdini, criminals and (in the title track) the plight of Australian aborigines. But this album is far from pretty.

It's Kate's first major adventure with synthesized music and as you'd expect what she produces with the technology is very different from the 80's standards. As such it hasn't dated and still seems fresh 25 years later.

It's fair to say this album is a real one-off, much like Kate Bush herself. If you only know Kate Bush from her melodic singles: Wuthering Heights, Running up that Hill and so on then some of The Dreaming will come as a surprise. The tunes are still there in places but crank the volume up for songs like Leave it Open and Get out of my House, and enjoy the noise!

From the crashing drums that announce Sat In Your Lap to the donkey braying that closes Get Out Of My House, The Dreaming is an astonishing and ground-breaking record. You'll hear it described as uncommercial, difficult and crazy - and to a greater or lesser extent it's all of these things - but, at it's core, it's one of the most creative and rewarding records ever made.

Bear in mind that Kate had just established herself as a major artist with Never for Ever. Most other artists in the '80s followed such a step by recording bland MOR records that guaranteed airplay and record sales. Not Kate. She nearly killed her own career by locking herself away and recording this record.

Weaving world rhythms, pop and progressive rock together, all ten tracks on this album are complex and original. Deeply percussive, the multi-layered tracks are topped with Kate's glorious and challenging vocals. The lyrics, too, are a step on from where she was before. She delves into her own psyche on tracks like Sat in Your Lap, but her penchant for storytelling is still here - There Goes A Tenner is a nostalgic look (!) at bankjobs, Pull Out The Pin deals with the Vietnam conflict, The Dreaming laments white man's impact on Aboriginal culture and features Rolf Harris on didgeridoo.

Indeed, Rolf's appearance is typical of the other thing that makes this album special. Yes, it's creative, yes, it's complex, yes, it purposefully sets out to break barriers down and is even pretentious in places - but there's a playfulness that runs throughout it as well. There's no better an example of this than the aforementioned braying at the end of the last track.

Be warned, though - this is an album you'll have to work at when you first buy it. If you're buying Kate Bush for the first time, choose Hounds of Love. For me, this is just as good an album, if not better, but it is less immediate. What is certain is that the two put together had an impact on pop and rock music that is often understated and both rank amongst the greatest studio albums of all time.

One of Kates best cds! It has to be my favourite, this really is a complicated album, something which adds to its sheer brilliance! Songs such as 'Suspended in gaffa', 'All the love', 'Houdini', 'Get out of my house' and my favourite song on the album 'Night of the swallow' are hauntingly beautiful. It is hard, or maybe impossible to find a bad note on this album. 'Sat in your lap', 'Leave it open' and 'there goes a tenner' are exciting and catchy! Kate Bush is the only artist i know where the music is so amazing and original that i can 'never' get bored of listening to it! If you are a Kate Bush fan living without this album you are crazy!!