Personnel: Kate Bush (piano, keyboards); Michael Wood (vocals); Eligio Quinteiro (guitar); Dan McIntosh (acoustic guitar, electric guitar); Richard Campbell, Susanna Pell (viol); Chris Hall (accordion); Gary Brooker (Hammond b-3 organ, background vocals); Del Palmer, Eberhard Weber, John Giblin (bass guitar); Peter Erskine, Stuart Elliott, Steve Sanger (drums); Bosco D'Oliveira, Robin Jeffrey (percussion); Lol Creme, Paddy Bush (background vocals); Rolf Harris, Bertie.
Since the 1980s Kate Bush has shouldered the unhappy burden of having to live up to her own brilliance: albums like THE DREAMING and HOUNDS OF LOVE set a high watermark for shimmering, adventurous, off-kilter pop. In the 12 years that transpired between the releases of 1993's THE RED SHOES and 2005's AERIAL, expectations ran high that Bush had something monumental in store. AERIAL does not necessarily meet those expectations, but that is not to imply that it's a lackluster release either.
A double-disc set that encompasses a collection of songs about domesticity (the first disc, A SEA OF HONEY) and a conceptual suite that details the passing of a day (the second disc, A SKY OF HONEY), AERIAL is ambitious, lovely, intensely personal, and marked by Bush's unique approach to music-making. The fierce edginess of THE DREAMING-era Bush is replaced by deep meditations on family life ("Bertie"), familiar chores ("Mrs. Bartolozzi"), and the cycles of time ("Sunset"). Bush's gentle singer/songwriter mode is combined with jazz, rock, classical, electronica, and other elements for a musical experience that sustains her reputation as one our most adventurous and distinctive artists.
What the critics say...
Rolling Stone (No. 987, p.130) - 4 out of 5 stars - "...Given Bush's protracted absence, the subtlety of her eighth studio offering seems particularly ballsy...."
Mojo (Publisher) (p.96) - 5 stars out of 5 - "Kate Bush is the greatest living British artist in song and this is her masterpiece....It's all exquisitely sung, played and judged....And so few artists award themselves the freedom to roam around their imagination the way Kate Bush does."
Mojo (Publisher) (p.58) - Ranked #3 in Mojo's "The 50 Best Albums Of 2005" - "[D]aring conceits, emotional nudism and neo-classical sonics culminated in a mood-altering crypto-Balearic trance-athon."
Mojo (Publisher) (p.61) - Ranked #45 in Mojo's "100 Modern Classics" -- "[A] filmic vision rendered in sound that demanded the listener's undivided attention..."
