The Prog Rock Album Club

Anteater · 05-10-2014, 11:04 PM

Album Title: Aerial
Artist: Kate Bush
Nationality: British
Year: 2005
Subgenre: "Progressive pop"
Player(s): Kate Bush (Vocals, Piano, Keyboards), Dan McIntosh (Guitars), Gary Brooker (Hammond), Peter Erskine/Steve Elliot/Pete Sanger (Drums), Eberhard Weber/John Giblin/Del Palmer (Bass), Rolf Harris (Didgeridoo and male vocal on “The Painters Link”), Chris Hall (Accordion)
Familiarity: I've got a bunch of her albums. She doesn't get spun as much as others, but she's a close acquaintance for sure lol...
Favourite Track(s): 'Aerial' or maybe 'Pi'
Why? I love Kate when she really blasts off into the stratosphere with her voice and arrangements (which she does to great effect on the closer) and her occasional purely acoustic forays (like 'Pi'). There's really no weak track here, but these two songs in particular are on another level.
Least favorite Track(s): *shrug*
Why? A good album shouldn't have too many weak cuts...and there's nothing here that really qualifies as weak.
Any preconceptions prior to listening, whether good or bad? Hard to have preconceptions about Kate Bush when she's basically a living example of how someone can continually evolve their music over friggin' decades and remain fresh.
Factoids you'd like to share? She was the first woman in the U.K. to top the charts with a self-written song ('Wuthering Heights'). It's a well known fact, but still very interesting nevertheless.
End Impression: A great, great album. Maybe among her best?
Comments: I can't say much about Kate that others haven't already remarked upon, but she's definitely the definitive "progressive" female as far as music over the last couple decades is concerned. She was kicking ass and putting out complicated, curiously compelling records long before people like Tori Amos or Bjork or Lady Gaga even learned to read music, and she's more tuneful than all of 'em put together to boot. 'Aerial' is neither her best album nor most conventional, but sits in territory that might qualify it as one of the better gateway albums for 21st century folk to leap headfirst into her unusual world. It's certainly less sinister than The Dreaming, Never For Ever or The Kick Inside, so that in itself scores points on the accessibility scale as far as I'm concerned.

Rating: 4.0 - Excellent!

Xurtio · 05-11-2014, 07:39 AM

Album Title: Aerial
Artist: Kate Bush
Nationality: British
Year: 2005
Subgenre: Prog related
Player(s): Kate Bush (Vocals, Piano, Keyboards), Dan McIntosh (Guitars), Gary Brooker (Hammond), Peter Erskine/Steve Elliot/Pete Sanger (Drums), Eberhard Weber/John Giblin/Del Palmer (Bass), Rolf Harris (Didgeridoo and male vocal on “The painters link”), Chris Hall (Accordion)
Familiarity: None, never heard of Kate Bush
Favourite track(s): Aerial
Why? Nothing really stood out, it was all very similar, but I remember the instrumental break in "Aerial" the most (probably because it started to touch on some guitar styles I like in the rhythm and lead near the end of the song
Least favourite track(s): most of them
Why? For the same reason that there was no favorite
Any preconceptions prior to listening, whether good or bad? Nope!
Factoids you'd like to share? N/A
End impression: I didn't especially like it.
Comments: It seemed like I was hearing the same exact phrasing in her vocals over and over and the consistently with which she used rest notes was predictable. She rarely left the high register she was on. It really felt like was listening to the same long song and there was nothing that stood out about it. The vocals tended to drone on a bit sometimes. The keys were similar. They kind of always did the same little phrasings, wandering around the tonal centers with no poignant structure or emphasis. If it wasn't the keys, it was the low attack synths.

The whole album seemed to always be meandering around without a point or descriptive musical phrasing. The only time I remember it picking up is the title track at the end. She kind of reveals the potential for a bluesy/country voice... and then she goes a little avante guarde with the the birds and the laughing... but there's still a lot of the meandering, wandering droning vocals that I've grown tired of throughout the album.

The video are weird and interesting and distract from the banality of the music.
Rating 2.5

Unknown Soldier · 05-11-2014, 08:39 AM

You've never heard of Kate Bush, what country are you from?

Xurtio · 05-11-2014, 08:47 AM

USA originally, but Alaska, which is kind of disparate from continental USA. Currently living in Canada.

Trollheart · 05-11-2014, 09:16 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Unknown Soldier

You've never heard of Kate Bush, what country are you from?

X2! Jesus man! Everyone has heard of Kate Bush! There are as yet undiscovered tribes in the deepest jungles of South America who know "Wuthering heights" and "The hounds of love"! You shock me, you really do!

Your description of her music, while being your opinion and you're entitled to it, is based on one album and you haven't heard any of her other music so I don't really think you can criticise such a well-known and loved artiste. Kate's voice is unique and she's known for it. She's a real icon and even if you don't know her you need to acknowledge that. It's unfair to rate her as if, because you don't know her, nobody does. That would be like me saying I don't like and have never heard of Peter Gabriel, or Eminem, or Lady Gaga, but think they're crap. You have to allow that she is beloved of so many music fans across the board and is the role model for generations. I feel you're being very unfair to her here.

Also, I find your rating terribly low and surely unjustified. How can all the songs sound the same? One piece of music? That's been remarked on but there are huge differences in, for instance, "Sunset" and "Aerial", or "A coral room" and "King of the mountain". Just don't get it, I have to say. Very disappointed in your reaction.

Xurtio · 05-11-2014, 10:06 AM

I'm not sure why you're so offended. I'm only rating the album, not the whole musical career of the artist. It's like you want to discourage negative reviews. Further, it appears that you want to bias my opinion of this album with a broader view of the artist, but that's not really how a review should work. The purest review is one in which the reviewer has no outside connection with the artist, so the music can stand on its own.

Trollheart · 05-11-2014, 10:24 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Xurtio

I'm not sure why you're so offended. I'm only rating the album, not the whole musical career of the artist. It's like you want to discourage negative reviews. Further, it appears that you want to bias my opinion of this album with a broader view of the artist, but that's not really how a review should work. The purest review is one in which the reviewer has no outside connection with the artist, so the music can stand on its own.

No, I'm saying you should do some research and see who the artist is and then afford them the courtesy of at least saying something like "I know she's an icon" or "I know he's huge in prog circles" or whatever and then add your rider. You're disrespecting, to me, the years Kate Bush has given to music by just dismissing her so easily, especially when you don't know her. Look at Ian Anderson: I can't stand the guy but I gave as unbiased a review of the album as I could in both cases.

I'm not saying you should do a positive review for every album --- I have no idea where you got that from --- negative reviews are just as valid as long as they take into account the standing of the artist. You can't for instance review a Slayer album and say this sucks without acknowledging their place in metal history. Credit where credit it due, is all I'm saying.

I still can't believe you never heard of her?

Unknown Soldier · 05-11-2014, 10:46 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Trollheart

X2! Jesus man! Everyone has heard of Kate Bush! There are as yet undiscovered tribes in the deepest jungles of South America who know "Wuthering heights" and "The hounds of love"! You shock me, you really do!

Your description of her music, while being your opinion and you're entitled to it, is based on one album and you haven't heard any of her other music so I don't really think you can criticise such a well-known and loved artiste. Kate's voice is unique and she's known for it. She's a real icon and even if you don't know her you need to acknowledge that. It's unfair to rate her as if, because you don't know her, nobody does. That would be like me saying I don't like and have never heard of Peter Gabriel, or Eminem, or Lady Gaga, but think they're crap. You have to allow that she is beloved of so many music fans across the board and is the role model for generations. I feel you're being very unfair to her here.

Also, I find your rating terribly low and surely unjustified. How can all the songs sound the same? One piece of music? That's been remarked on but there are huge differences in, for instance, "Sunset" and "Aerial", or "A coral room" and "King of the mountain". Just don't get it, I have to say. Very disappointed in your reaction.

Thanks for using my quote and aiming the barrage at me

As for Alaska, I reckon that makes darkest South America seem civilized.

Trollheart · 05-11-2014, 11:47 AM

Okay, well before we annoy Xurtio so much that he gets hot enough to melt the ice around his igloo (just joshing mate!) here's the next selection. Hopefully we all know who this guy is!

The spin gives us this number
513

and that equates to

Crises --- Mike Oldfield

Oldfield's most successful album outside of "Tubular bells", this one gave him two hit singles and is perhaps his most commercial offering. Will be interesting to see how this is received...

Unknown Soldier · 05-11-2014, 11:50 AM

yes boring old Mike Oldfield.

05-11-2014, 07:39 AM	#822 (permalink)
Xurtio Brain Licker Join Date: Apr 2014 Posts: 1,083	Album Title: Aerial Artist: Kate Bush Nationality: British Year: 2005 Subgenre: Prog related Player(s): Kate Bush (Vocals, Piano, Keyboards), Dan McIntosh (Guitars), Gary Brooker (Hammond), Peter Erskine/Steve Elliot/Pete Sanger (Drums), Eberhard Weber/John Giblin/Del Palmer (Bass), Rolf Harris (Didgeridoo and male vocal on “The painters link”), Chris Hall (Accordion) Familiarity: None, never heard of Kate Bush Favourite track(s): Aerial Why? Nothing really stood out, it was all very similar, but I remember the instrumental break in "Aerial" the most (probably because it started to touch on some guitar styles I like in the rhythm and lead near the end of the song Least favourite track(s): most of them Why? For the same reason that there was no favorite Any preconceptions prior to listening, whether good or bad? Nope! Factoids you'd like to share? N/A End impression: I didn't especially like it. Comments: It seemed like I was hearing the same exact phrasing in her vocals over and over and the consistently with which she used rest notes was predictable. She rarely left the high register she was on. It really felt like was listening to the same long song and there was nothing that stood out about it. The vocals tended to drone on a bit sometimes. The keys were similar. They kind of always did the same little phrasings, wandering around the tonal centers with no poignant structure or emphasis. If it wasn't the keys, it was the low attack synths. The whole album seemed to always be meandering around without a point or descriptive musical phrasing. The only time I remember it picking up is the title track at the end. She kind of reveals the potential for a bluesy/country voice... and then she goes a little avante guarde with the the birds and the laughing... but there's still a lot of the meandering, wandering droning vocals that I've grown tired of throughout the album. The video are weird and interesting and distract from the banality of the music. Rating 2.5 __________________ H̓̇̅̉yͤ͏mͬ͂ͧn͑̽̽̌ͪ̑͐͟o̴͊̈́͑̇m͛͌̓ͦ̑aͫ̽ͤ̇n̅̎͐̒ͫ͐c̆ͯͫ̋ ̔̃́eͯ͒rͬͬ̄҉

05-11-2014, 08:47 AM	#824 (permalink)
Xurtio Brain Licker Join Date: Apr 2014 Posts: 1,083	USA originally, but Alaska, which is kind of disparate from continental USA. Currently living in Canada. __________________ H̓̇̅̉yͤ͏mͬ͂ͧn͑̽̽̌ͪ̑͐͟o̴͊̈́͑̇m͛͌̓ͦ̑aͫ̽ͤ̇n̅̎͐̒ͫ͐c̆ͯͫ̋ ̔̃́eͯ͒rͬͬ̄҉

05-11-2014, 10:06 AM	#826 (permalink)
Xurtio Brain Licker Join Date: Apr 2014 Posts: 1,083	I'm not sure why you're so offended. I'm only rating the album, not the whole musical career of the artist. It's like you want to discourage negative reviews. Further, it appears that you want to bias my opinion of this album with a broader view of the artist, but that's not really how a review should work. The purest review is one in which the reviewer has no outside connection with the artist, so the music can stand on its own. __________________ H̓̇̅̉yͤ͏mͬ͂ͧn͑̽̽̌ͪ̑͐͟o̴͊̈́͑̇m͛͌̓ͦ̑aͫ̽ͤ̇n̅̎͐̒ͫ͐c̆ͯͫ̋ ̔̃́eͯ͒rͬͬ̄҉

05-11-2014, 11:47 AM	#829 (permalink)
Trollheart Born to be mild Join Date: Oct 2008 Location: 404 Not Found Posts: 26,992	Okay, well before we annoy Xurtio so much that he gets hot enough to melt the ice around his igloo (just joshing mate!) here's the next selection. Hopefully we all know who this guy is! The spin gives us this number 513 and that equates to Crises --- Mike Oldfield Oldfield's most successful album outside of "Tubular bells", this one gave him two hit singles and is perhaps his most commercial offering. Will be interesting to see how this is received... __________________ Trollheart: Signature-free since April 2018