FEATURE:
The Reasons Why This Album Is a Masterpiece
Kate Bush’s Aerial at Twenty
__________
I will write one or two…
IN THIS PHOTO: Kate Bush in 2005/PHOTO CREDIT: Trevor Leighton
more anniversary features for Kate Bush’s Aerial. As it turns twenty on 7th November, it is important to discuss one of her best works. Arguably her greatest albums. In the first feature, I sourced some interviews and reviews. What Kate Bush was saying in 2005 and what critics were too. The second feature was about A Sky of Honey, Aerial’s second disc, and its visual possibilities. 1993 was when she released The Red Shoes. Most did not know whether Bush would released an eighth studio album. It seemed like she might retire. However, there were signs and encouraging words. When she attended the Q Awards in 2001, where she collected the Classic Songwriter award. She mentioned how she was working on a new album. That it was taking a bit of time. Eight years after The Red Shoes came out, glimmers of hope for Kate Bush fans! Despite the fact it would be another four years until an album materialised, what we actually got was a double album. So, to be fair, she only left six-and-a-half years between albums! Now, we have waited almost fourteen years for an eleventh studio album. I don’t think Bush will grace us with another double album – though you never know! For this features, I am going to write why Aerial is so affecting. Why it means so much to me. For a start, it has similarities with 1985’s Hounds of Love. They are different in many ways, though both have conceptual second sides/albums. The ambition for Bush to go back to the idea of a conceptual suite. A Sky of Honey arguably surpasses The Ninth Wave. In terms of its scope and sonic blends, it is this dizzying and beguiling forty-two minutes of genius. If The Ninth Wave seems like a concept with short stories woven together, A Sky of Honey very much is this continuous suite. That is how Kate Bush wanted people to experience it. I have written how we need to see something visual. A new film or immersive experience that brings A Sky of Honey to life.
I might go into more detail regarding A Sky of Honey. An Endless Sky of Honey. As you can see from her website, Aerial is an album “full of birdsong - from wood pigeons on a lovely afternoon to the human turned-blackbird at the break of dawn”. As Kate Bush said: “I wanted to explore the idea of birdsong as a language and the idea that light is a trigger for their extraordinary song. Why do they all start to sing at dawn? Why do they sing so strongly as the sun starts to set?”. Aerial has been reissued a few times. In 2010, when Aerial was released to iTunes for the first time, its A Sky of Honey title was changed to An Endless Sky of Honey. How Bush wanted it all along. And it is this magnificent and accomplished work. An album in itself, very few artists ever have released an album consisting of a continuous suite. Kate Bush breaking ground decades after she recoded her first song! You could have A Sky of Honey on its own as an album, and it would be a masterpiece loved by critics. However, A Sea of Honey is the first disc. It contains many of Bush’s greatest songs. If she was worn out and dealing with a lot when The Red Shoes was released in 1993, time away to focus on herself and family not only rejuvenated her. It was a lifeline and new lease of life. She gave birth to her son, Albert, in 1998. There is a blend of family new and old on that first disc. A Sky of Honey I feel mixes fantasy with Bush embracing the joys of an English garden through a summer’s day. There is also her taking the listener to a foreign beach and shifting the scenery. From wood pigeons and blackbirds, through to a painter musing, to the sands of an exotic beach as it goes dark, it is this incredible and sumptuous cocktail consisting of so many different colours, tones, flavours and scents. An extraordinary musical bouquet.
A Sea of Honey is more conventional. However, one can also make connections between Hounds of Love’s focus on family and their importance and Aerial. That will be the last comparison to her 1985 album. However, as that is regarded as her masterpiece and one of the best albums ever, Aerial does not fall that far short of its impeccable standards. Bertie is this joyous ode to her new son. A mother’s pure joy. A Coral Room mentions Bush’s late mother. Mrs. Bartolozzi, I think, is also partly about her mother. Or Bush as a new mother. The imagery and magic through these songs is staggering! Bush’s voice has picked up new layers, age and depth. In her forties, this slightly older artist conveys and projects new wisdom and weight. I think Aerial is her most impactful album. In terms of the emotions she conveys, there is so much openness and love. However, Bush also takes us back and reminds us of some of her most eccentric and delightfully odd moments. Pi is her reciting a series of numbers. King of the Mountain, though autobiographical in the sense of Bush casting herself as this mysterious and reclusive figure in the wild, is about Elvis Presley. A jewel of a song “about the extreme pressures of fame, specifically using Elvis Presley as a focal point to explore the idea of his possible continued existence and the unbearable nature of his celebrity. The song draws parallels between Presley's isolated life and the themes of Orson Welles' film Citizen Kane, particularly the search for lost happiness or innocence, symbolized by Kane's sled "Rosebud". Bush questions if such intense public adoration can truly sustain a human being, suggesting that the weight of constant fame is ultimately too much for anyone to bear”. King of the Mountain is the opening track on Aerial and its only official single. I think Aerial contains one of the best run of four songs on any Kate Bush album. We have Mrs. Bartolozzi, How to Be Invisible, Joanni and A Coral Room ending the first disc. Joanni is one of the few songs that does not reference Kate Bush’s family. Instead, it is a song about Joan or Arc. How to Be Invisible contains some of Kate Bush’s most powerful and indelible images: “You stand in front of a million doors/And each one holds a million more/Corridors that lead to the world/Of the invisible/Corridors that twist and turn/Corridors that blister and burn”.
A gorgeous, wide-reaching and endlessly listenable double album. After twelve years, it could have been underwhelming. Self-indulgent or misdirected. Instead, not only did Kate Bush release something new and vastly different to 1993’s The Red Shoes. Her production was at its very peak. Aerial is an album that constantly reveals new things. Put it on today and listen the whole way through. A Sea of Honey will take you in different directions and evoke different reactions. I think it contains all of Kate Bush’s best assets and facets. Her voice is so rich and stunning. A Sky of Honey, or An Endless Sky of Honey as it should be, is this almost cinematic experience. You close your eyes and are immersed in this cycle of a summer’s day. The details Bush puts into the songs. How she can summon the intimacy and beauty of an English garden one moment, and then take us into the sky and to the sea. Something Balearic and euphoric towards the closing moments. All of the songs perfectly unite to tell this larger story. Understandably, critics raved about Aerial! It was this artistic work of genius that confirmed Kate Bush is one of the greatest artists and producers ever. I remember when it came out in 2005. I will explore various other sides of Aerial for the remaining one or two anniversary features. I do hope others celebrate the album near to 7th November. Aerial sounds as sense-altering and emotion-provoking now as it did…
TWENTY years ago.