FEATURE:
A Change of Fortune
Kate Bush’s The Ninth Wave Reordered
__________
I have previously ranked…
PHOTO CREDIT: John Carder Bush
the tracks on Hounds of Love. That 1985 Kate Bush album is getting a lot of attention, as Running Up That Hill (A Deal with God) reached number one because it featured on Stranger Things. Another Kate Bush song is featuring on Stranger Things soon. I suspect it may be Cloudbusting. It is no surprise that the album has shot up thew charts because of the association. I have ranked the tracks on The Ninth Wave but, because it is a suite that is chronological and follows a story, jumbling them up would skew the narrative and be a bit weird. I want to do so anyway, as there is a definite order of tracks in terms of quality that differs from the album’s running order. Before coming to this, the Kate Bush Encyclopedia brings us some information about one of Bush’s greatest artistic achievements:
“The suite consists of the following tracks:
And Dream of Sheep
Under Ice
Waking The Witch
Watching You Without Me
Jig Of Life
Hello Earth
The Morning Fog
Kate about 'The Ninth Wave'
The Ninth Wave was a film, that's how I thought of it. It's the idea of this person being in the water, how they've got there, we don't know. But the idea is that they've been on a ship and they've been washed over the side so they're alone in this water. And I find that horrific imagery, the thought of being completely alone in all this water. And they've got a life jacket with a little light so that if anyone should be traveling at night they'll see the light and know they're there. And they're absolutely terrified, and they're completely alone at the mercy of their imagination, which again I personally find such a terrifying thing, the power of ones own imagination being let loose on something like that. And the idea that they've got it in their head that they mustn't fall asleep, because if you fall asleep when you're in the water, I've heard that you roll over and so you drown, so they're trying to keep themselves awake. (Richard Skinner, 'Classic Albums interview: Hounds Of Love'. BBC Radio 1, 26 January 1992)”.
There are another couple of reasons why I wanted to feature The Ninth Wave. Apart from the fact it is from Hounds of Love, I think people gravitate towards the first side of the album and the hits. Not that many songs from The Ninth Wave are played regularly. When it comes to featuring songs from The Ninth Wave on T.V. and film. There is so much atmospheric potential, I wonder whether people will recognise the beauty of the songs and realise they can be broken up and used outside of the suite. I also think that there should be a cinematic portrayal of The Ninth Wave. Bush performed it during her Before the Dawn residency in 2014, but it would be interesting seeing The Ninth Wave played out, wither as a standalone film, or part of a longer film (maybe the third act). It would be wonderful to see it played out. I previous saw The Ninth Wave as a suite, where you could not break up the songs. Now, I see that each track has its own merit and strengths. Of course, they appear on the album as a story, so, as I say, rearranging them would be disjointed and random. I wanted to have a bit of fun and put the tracks in order of quality. I will start with the track of the seven that I think is the least good, working to the very best. Since I did my track order features (where I included Hounds of Love) my opinions have changed. Here is Hounds of Love’s The Ninth Wave reordered…
IN order of quality.