The Dreaming

This album was disappointing. Certainly it is experimental, but I don't believe that many of the tracks succeed is sounding *good*. Most of them combine strange instrumental palates and vocals in a way that is abrasive (and not in a challenging, fun way. In a grating way.) The three exceptions to this are Leave it Open, Houdini and Get Out of My House. Each of these tracks explored different registers of Kate's vocal range and really positively surprised me. Leave it Open was especially impressive. But only really liking 3/10 songs and appreciating the general experimental nature of the album only takes this to a 4/10. 2/5.

I kept telling myself it wasn't bad. No matter what bizarre, unorthodox, idiosyncratic choices she made, I just said to myself, "It's just a little weird, but nothing TOO unbearable."

And then. The God. Damn. Mule. Noises.

Yes, they really were that bad. Not that there was much of the album to ruin, anyways, but the mule sounds made me put my foot down and officially call this a bad album.

I guess there's a couple of songs that weren't so bad, but most of them were bad at best. Thank God this was just a misstep in a successful career.

Some fives are better than other fives. I read one guy who worked with Kate Bush who felt that this album was over cluttered with too many sounds but I think that's what makes it so great. Every time you come back you hear new things. Also some of her best lyrics and use of different styles of singing in the one song, line even.

Urgh, my second Kate Bush album, both either side of the excellent Hounds of Love, both unmitigated shite...

It was at least interesting

Incredible to think that this was one of the biggest British pop stars of the 80s - even if this didn't sell like her other albums, it's existence speaks to a much higher public demand/tolerance for wierdness and a level of artistic risk taking and experimentation at the top of the charts that no longer exists. The thing about experiments though is that they don't always turn out. This one finds Kate Bush leaning way into some of the most annoying aspects of her sound: the alternatingly fluterring operatic and chimpmonky vocals, the challenging melodic phrasing defined by huge leaps into the high range, and the extremely slow arhythmic compositions, and overuse of cheesy strings. The ornate baroque arrangements are pretty cool, lots of random instruments, synth tones, shimmering effects and textures.

Favorites: Leave it Open

I thought this was pretty great - she could teach Fiona Apple a thing or two. Best tracks; Suspended in Gaffa, Night of the Swallow.

2.1 per track. I absolutely hated this at the start but kind of liked it as I listened more? Only Kate bush I had heard before was Running up that hill, which is a great song despite how much it overplayed during the Stranger Things spotlight, this album is not what I was expecting.

I'm not sure what you call the style of this album, but it doesn't do it for me. There are some moments I enjoyed, but overall maybe just too theatrical for my liking.

I love how freaking weird this album is. It doesn't always work but I appreciate how daring it is even when it doesn't. Some real hits here too though that somehow are still very catchy and poppy while maintaining that offbeat insanity.

Really interesting, but not particularly enjoyable. Pull out the Pin, Night of the Swallow, and Houdini stood out the most, but I don't think the rest of the album justifies a higher rating.

This record is particularly famous for being one of the first albums to use the then state-of-the-art synthesizer/computer Fairlight. I really see the album as a kind of musical laboratory with Kate Bush as a writing and producing 'mad professor'.
The fruits of the experimental drive are then reaped on the successor to this album: Hounds Of Love

The summary of today's album states that it "is often characterised as her most uncommercial and experimental release." and it "initially sold less than its predecessors and was met with mixed critical reception." For fuck sakes, why are duds like this included in this fucking generator? If the album was shit then, it is shit now. I hate Kate Bush anyways, let alone an experimental album that sold poorly. I am not looking forward to this album at all.

This album is literally as irritating as nails on a chalkboard. Kate Bush's voice is so fucking annoying. If she'd just sing the songs, that'd be one thing, but she opts to scream and moan quite a bit. She also puts her vocals in a range that I can only describe as Japanese geisha pop. She sounds like a pre-pubescent Japanese girl. In that range I have no fucking idea what she is saying, it could be japanese for all I know. Not that it matters, her vocals are nonsense anyways. Nowhere on this piece of shit album was there ever anything that resembled song structure, or music at all. It was all just noise, and random screeching.

Overall, exactly what I thought it would be, pure garbage. Just because Bjork said she likes the album, doesn't mean it has any right to be on a list like this. This influenced nothing, and is just simply a huge pile of bullshit, just like everything else Kate Bush ever put to record. This was a waste of 43 minutes. Fuck Kate Bush.

Favourite songs: Houdini.... I guess

Least favourite songs: Sat In Your Lap, There Goes a Tenner, Suspended in Gaffa, Leave it Open, The Dreaming, All the Love, Night of the Swallow, Get Out of My House, Pull Out the Pin

1/5

Wild decisions in this, going big, going weird, I liked it a lot! "Sensual World" hadn't really sold me, but knowing she had *this* in her makes people's praise of her make way more sense

Lo único que me gusta es la portada. Irrelevante pero se puede escuchar.

Gotta love the sheer madness of this album. Just completely beautifully bonkers. Brave stuff.

Went into this expecting to hate it, actually enjoyed a lot of it, impressed that KB produced this all herself. Really weird and wonderful album glad it was on the list.

Took me a few tracks to get into it, then enjoyed the eeriness of it all. 3.5

This album is like 80s bjork and a little sarah bareilles. Suspended in Gaffa is really a wild ride. Night Of The Swallow hits its stride right at the last third of the song. Houdini is Kate Bush letting it R I P. Man what a weird art rock album. Maybe worth a relisten?

Very eccentric, impressive vocals, not always catchy songs but always arresting and interesting. Clear influence on Lorde, Sia, Marina and the Diamonds, and Florence + the machine. Pull out the pin, suspended in gaffa, and get out of my house were my top tracks