release date: Sep. 13, 1982
format: vinyl / cd (2018 remaster)
[album rate: 4 / 5] [4,05]
producer: Kate Bush
label: EMI - nationality: England, UK
Track highlights: 1. "Sat in Your Lap" - 2. "There Goes a Tenner" - 3. "Pull Out the Pin" (4 / 5) - 4. "Suspended in Gaffa" (4 / 5) - 6. "The Dreaming" (4 / 5) - 8. "All the Love" - 9. "Houdini"
4th studio album by Kate Bush follows two years after Never for Ever (Sep. 1980) and it's her first to be exclusively produced by herself, which would prove to be standard from hereon. Nowadays, two years in the making of a new album isn't a strange thing but considering the early 80s when artists often had a record contract obligation to release a new studio album every year, and the fact that Bush already started recording new songs upon her third album's release, then two years was a long time working on an album back then, but it appears that Bush really enjoyed studio work as she had rejected the idea of performing live.
The style is pretty much the continued journey from the predecessor and is mostly seen as pure art pop. The album may lack absolute bangers, as had been her strength beforehand. "Sat in Your Lap" was released as first single and it peaked at number #11 on the singles chart; however, the following two single releases from the album: "The Dreaming" and "There Goes a Tenner" didn't perform as her previous singles had. Outside of the UK, "Suspended in Gaffa" replaced the second UK single and it performed better. More than a year later, "Night of the Swallow" was released in Ireland exclusively without attracting much interest there.
Being familiar with her former albums, this was, however, the first vinyl album I ever purchased with music by Kate Bush. I recall it as being less interesting than the predecessor and I didn't play it a great deal. That is, not up until the 90s and again after the new millennium. Listening to The Dreaming today, I understand why artists like Björk and Suzanne Vega list it among their favourites of the 80s. The production and the sound is quite unique of its time and she almost makes use of sampling in the multi-layered sound. The album has an Asian tone both heard on "Pull Out the Pin", "Suspended in Gaffa", and on the title track. The album made it to number #3 on the UK albums chart list and its deservedly enlisted in "1001 Album You Must Hear Before You Die".
Highly recommended.
Edit 2019:
The 2018 remaster series of her albums is amazing and lifts this album to a level of supreme proportions. It's: Wow!
[ 👎allmusic.com 3,5 / 5, Pitchfork 7,7 / 10, Smash Hits 4 / 5, Mojo 5 / 5 stars ]
[ 👎allmusic.com 3,5 / 5, Pitchfork 7,7 / 10, Smash Hits 4 / 5, Mojo 5 / 5 stars ]
