FEATURE:
Kate Bush’s Aerial at Twenty
IN THIS PHOTO: Kate Bush performing during her Before the Dawn residency in 2014/PHOTO CREDIT: Ken McKay/Rex Features
The Visual Possibilities of A Sky of Honey
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IN the final couple…
of features marking twenty years of Kate Bush’s Aerial, I might come to some song investigation and look deeper into the album as a whole. One thing that entrances me about Aerial is its second disc, A Sky of Honey. It is sort of a companion piece to The Ninth Wave on Hounds of Love from 1985. The first side of that album is Hounds of Love; the second is The Ninth Wave. If that suite is about Kate Bush stranded at sea and trying to survive against the odds, A Sky of Honey is more restful but no less immersive and dramatic. Instead, we get to chart the course of a complete summer’s day. From the earliest hours through the night until we get back to the breaking of the light. In terms of the narrative and visions, we are not reserved to an English country garden. The track, Aerial, that ends the album seems to take us to a Balearic island and each maybe. In terms of the music on that suite, it brings in so many influences and nationalities. There is Balearic and Dance alongside Folk. Kate Bush mimicking and duetting with a blackbird. Her giddy laughter. There is also narration and spoken word. On the original, it was the disgraced Rolf Harris who provided vocals as The Painter for An Architect's Dream and The Painter's Link. Bush’s son, Bertie, thankfully replaced those vocals when Aerial was reissued in 2018. I like to think that Bertie was always part of the album. In a way, it is fitting. He was a young child in 2005 when Aerial was released. Bertie is about him. He is very much at the core. Him as a grown man providing vocals over a decade later for songs on the album’s second disc is appropriate. Whereas A Sky of Honey is about the charting of a summer’s day, we get to see the growth and maturation of Bertie on the 2005 release and the 2018 one. Full name Albert McIntosh, he got to perform alongside his mum at the Eventim Apollo in Hammersmith in 2014 for Before the Dawn. The only visualisation of that epic suite.
So many people could not attend any of the Before the Dawn concerts in 2014. There were two firsts in terms of suites. The Ninth Wave receiving its stage debut. That has never been brought to film. I have said how it would be amazing to see a film version of The Ninth Wave. Building a story around it and fleshing it out more. Although I have pitched this before, there is more to add to this notion that A Sky of Honey deserves more. I wrote a feature recently where I said how Kate Bush’s music could be visualised at Frameless in London. This is an immersive art exhibition where paintings come to life and are shown paranormally. It is a truly terrific experience. I would love to see A Sky of Honey visualised and projected at a space like this. Kate Bush could oversee the videos and visuals. I do also think that it would make a wonderful short film. At forty-two minutes, you would not necessarily need to have a wider story. It could be this dazzling short where we start out with Prelude and its beauty. How the suite grows and we end with the rush and headiness of Aerial at the end. The penultimate track, Nocturn, has this Balearic brilliance. This sense of swing and hypnotic bliss. Whether the visuals would be animated or actors would play the roles of Kate Bush and Bertie, I am not so sure. However, twenty years after its release, we have not seen anything in the way of videos. Same with Hounds of Love. They remain as audio pieces and there is very little in the way of the visual. Only And Dream of Sheep for Hounds of Love. I think there are fan videos for A Sky of Honey’s songs, though nothing official from Kate Bush. That strikes me as a missed opportunity.
I would love to see some new videos brought out. Kate Bush wants people to listen to A Sky of Honey in full. It is this single experience. The music itself is so varied and beautiful. However, it is the images that we all have in our heads. It could be this sensational short film or immersive experience. It is worth thinking about the reception to The Ninth Wave. This is what The Guardian noted in 2005:
“Disc two, subtitled 'A Sky of Honey', is a suite of nine tracks which, among other things, charts the passage of light from afternoon ('Prologue') to evening ('An Architect's Dream', 'The Painter's Link') and through the night until dawn. Things get a little hairier here.
The theme of birdsong is soon wearing, and the extended metaphor of painting is laboured. But it's all worth it for the double-whammy to the solar plexus dealt by 'Nocturn' and the final, title track. In 'Nocturn', the air is pushed out of your lungs as you cower helplessly before the crescendo. 'Aerial', meanwhile, is a totally unexpected ecstatic disco meltdown that could teach both Madonna and Alison Goldfrapp lessons in dancefloor abandon”.
Although Pitchfork did not rave about Aerial in their review, they did make some interesting observations about A Sky of Honey. In the same way The Ninth Wave is the best half of Hounds of Love, A Sky of Honey is the best half of Aerial. Masterpieces from the two Kate Bush albums she loved the most. Both featuring exceptional production from Bush. Showing her immense talent in both cases. A Sky of Honey might be her true peak in terms of production:
“The second disc (A Sky of Honey) seems a bit more adventurous, which is fitting given that it's a song-cycle on the natural ebb and flow of life and the seasons. Beginning with a "Prelude" and "Prologue", Bush eases into her most subtly symphonic music on record, backing herself with only piano and soft, modulating synth pulse. Her teasing lines, "it's gonna be so good," referring to the passing of summer into fall, are both poetic and playful, and fit perfectly the sense of effortless euphoria throughout the disc. Still, I might have wished for a bit more spark: "An Architect's Dream", "Sunset", and "Nocturn", despite maintaining the narrative of her concept, are a bit too steeped in uber-light adult contemporary sheen for my tastes. By the time of the closing title track, my ears are lightly glazed over, and its frail "rock" section does little justice to lines like "I want to be up on the roof, I feel I gotta get up on the roof!" At one point, Bush trades cackles with a bird's song, suggesting she's quite happy with her simple life as a mother and artist. Far be it from me to criticize happy endings, but in musical terms, a comfortable, even-keeled existence sometimes comes out as isolated and ordinary art”.
Maybe it could be called An Endless Sky of Honey. As per Wikipedia “In mid-May 2010, Aerial was released for the first time on iTunes. The second disc, A Sky of Honey, plays as one track, and its title was changed to An Endless Sky of Honey. Each track title is merged altogether on the sleeve. In August 2010, the CD version was reissued by Sony Legacy in the United States”. Even if A Sky of Honey does not have the same sense of progression and plot as The Ninth Wave, I think its strengths come from the visual possibilities. What Bush summons up with her lyrics, music and production. As we celebrate twenty years of Aerial on 7th November, I do think about its stunning second disc. How it was brought to the stage for Before the Dawn and it was majestic. However, it will never be shared with those who did not attend those gigs. Also, there are limitations with the stage in terms of sets, scenes and scope. You can achieve more and realise that suite better if you bring it to film or commit it to animation or some immersive experience. Maybe Kate Bush would not want a retread or reversion of what she conceptualised and brought to life in 2024. However, so potent and awe-inspiring are the songs on A Sky of Honey, I cannot help but think about it coming to life in a new way. It would be a popular short film or incredible visitor exhibition. If nothing happens, it is worth shining a light on the visual power of A Sky of Honey. How it is so filmic and cinematic. Despite no particular plot, we are journeying through a summer’s day and feeling the light change and nature come to life and then settle down as we go to the ocean. A Sky of Honey the gem of Aerial that…
OVERWHELMS the senses.