release date: Sep. 8, 1980
format: cd
[album rate: 4 / 5] [3,94]
producer: Kate Bush, Jon Kelly
label: EMI - nationality: England, UK
Track highlights: 1. "Babooshka" (4 / 5) - 2. "Delius (Song of Summer)" - 3. "Blow Away (For Bill)" - 4. "All We Ever Look For" - 10. "Army Dreamers" (5 / 5) - 11. "Breathing" (5 / 5)
3rd studio album by Kate Bush follows two years after Lionheart (Nov. 1978). Bush has now gained control of her music and also as producer. The album is clearly better mixed, perhaps because of being less prog rock and baroque pop-oriented. It doesn't mean that it's without strings or horns but the classical instruments more play a part as an additional back curtain that doesn't steal focus. I have always liked this album quite a lot, although, I find the single "Babooshka" quickly becomes tiring. A track like "Violin" appear one of her lesser successful attempts in producing a new wave track. However, not only does the album have two marvellous album closers, but the its real strength is that the list of good songs is long and the album as such appears without noteworthy fillers making it a more harmonic - or: well-worked colelction of songs when compared to Lionheart. The track "Night Scented Stock" of 50 secs. basically functions as an intro to "Army Dreamers". The first single from the album was "Breathing" followed by "Babooshka" and succeeded by "Army Dreamers". The album was not only her first number #1 on the albums chart list in the UK but it was the first album by a female solo artist to top that list.
[ allmusic.com 3 / 5 stars ]
