Desire Avenue

Oh good grief. Some artwork, possibly for the 'King of the Mountain' single, has appeared at http://www.katebush.com. It's a drawing by her son Bertie. What did I tell ya? [:xx]

it's getting very tori .

elizabeth wrote:Oh good grief. Some artwork, possibly for the 'King of the Mountain' single, has appeared at http://www.katebush.com. It's a drawing by her son Bertie. What did I tell ya? [:xx]

Even if it's made by a kid - the artwork is terrible. Terrible... [:xx]

Isn't it just. I was so hoping she'd have got her artistic nous back over the intervening years, but Bertie seems to have turned her judgement to mush. Kate always had a weakness for sentimentality though, it's not the first time it's gotten the better of her in her work.

Ah well. The single gets its first UK airplay tomorrow.

king of the mountain single cover






don't forget to check out tomorrow the song here : http://www.bbc.co.uk/radio2/shows/bruce/ between 9:30 and 10:30 am UK time

i have no idea what to make of the song!

kate sounds like she's still stuck in the 70's, or 80's! it's an interesting song, but sounds very, very obscure. sounds like it belongs to an older era of her work. what, doesn't she possess a radio? clearly she doesn't listen to tori, or radiohead or stina! [bday] the formulaic, african-sounding drum-like synths she's been using since day begun, her breathy, almost not there phrasing, those incomprehensible lyrics!

wow, yeah.

when i was listening, the only thing i could think of was "wow...12 years is a loooong time to not...change...much."

the title alone makes it seem like it should've been part of her past.

i do like it though. but i really really really hope that the synthesizer sound isn't prevalent on the rest of the cd.

wow. it's out on my birthday too [bday]

Have to agree totally with the comments above - it sounds like something from the Sensual World era to be honest, like a b-side from that time. I recorded it off the radio so I've been able to listen to it more than once, and though initially I was pleased and surprised that it wasn't as bad as some of the stuff on The Red Shoes, it doesn't stand up too well to repeated listening. It's definitely better than anything on TRS, but that's not saying a great deal.

It's just ... not very substantial. Musically it's very safe and conservative even by Kate's later standards, and as Coral pointed out, it doesn't help that it's those same drum sounds she's been using for about 800 years (courtesy of Stu Elliott I presume, her drummer since almost day 1. I've grown to hate his samey, repetitive sound.) The guitar is very basic, nothing interesting there, and although the swirly electronic noises sweeping through it in the background give it a bit of atmosphere, we've heard this SO many times from Kate now. It's totally predictable.

The most disappointing thing for me, as with the whole of the Red Shoes album, is her vocals. She's doing that annoying nasally slurring thing she started doing in the late 80s, not singing properly and clearly. I never did understand why she thought this was cool, it just makes her sound as if she has a serious speech impediment. How I would love to hear her really singing again, using her voice to it's full capacity. The bit where she sings 'king of the mountaaaaaiiiinnnnnn' is really harsh sounding too, no vibrato, just a hard flat drawn out sound. Me not liking.

So, a disappointment on the whole, but that isn't too much of a surprise. Kate did her best, most creative work in the early to mid 80s, everything after Hounds of Love has been on a downward path. I think the reputation she enjoys for innovative genius hasn't actually been deserved for about 20 years now. A lot of it is just received opinion that people go along with because she is very loved as a person. Fair dos, but give me a truly creative genius like Bjork anyday.

Just throwing this out there...I'm sure Kate has listened to Tori Amos, Massive Attack, Radiohead, etc. and realized that the sound has completely changed since her last album and certainly since Sensual World.

But maybe she saw things with a much larger scope...with people looking back on her career say, 50 years, 100 years from now. She's spent her entire career developing a certain sound that runs through all her albums, so why change it to make a quick buck? I for one don't really care how bands of the '50's and '60's adapted their sound to the sound-of-the-times as their career progressed.

Maybe she's a genius. If my theory is right, I commend her a bit for giving a big "fuck you i pushed the limits, so have you, so why do i have to change" to the innovative music of today.

Could also be that I'm trying to hide my disappointment. Still don't know.

YaoPau wrote:Just throwing this out there...I'm sure Kate has listened to Tori Amos, Massive Attack, Radiohead, etc. and realized that the sound has completely changed since her last album and certainly since Sensual World.

I'm not so sure, really - Kate has admitted herself that she is a very insular being in that respect. Rarely listens to any music, apart from classical and folk. In the earlier days of her career when she was at her vibrant best, I think this probably worked in her favour; it helped her to craft something that sounded quite unique in modern rock music. But as the years went by, I think it became a liability in the sense that she just continued to work within that same furrow, instead of opening herself up to other musical experiences and maybe learning a bit from them. I keep being reminded of that comment made by someone who interviewed her around the time of The Red Shoes, to the effect that she was a sort of 'bonsai' person - perfectly formed, but stunted. I think there might be some truth to that.

YaoPau wrote: She's spent her entire career developing a certain sound that runs through all her albums, so why change it to make a quick buck?

But she clearly doesn't need to make a quick buck - she has a reputed fortune of 25 million quid in the bank. She needn't have released another album at all for financial motives, as is indicated by the 12 year absence. Presumably then, the reason she's releasing this album is to make some kind of artistic statement. I just question the point, if the statement is merely "here I still am, same as I was in 1989." Why bother? Particularly when she has spent so much time complaining in interviews over the years about how painful she finds it to be famous. She could have simply gone on living the quiet domestic life away from the spotlight.

YaoPau wrote:Could also be that I'm trying to hide my disappointment.

Or that you're just trying to find the best in an artist you've previously loved and respected. Nothing wrong with that.

I do like the sleeve of 'Aerial' though.. [king]

paulr wrote:

I do like the sleeve of 'Aerial' though.. [king]

I love how the landscape is really a.. "soundwave" or whatever it's called!:

The tracklisting is......

Aerial:

Part One: A Sea Of Honey

1. King Of The Mountain
2. Pi
3. Bertie
4. Mrs.Bartolozzi
5. How To Be Invisible
6. Joanni
7. A Coral Room

Part Two: A Sky Of Honey

1. Prelude
2. Prologue
3. An Architect's Dream
4. The Painter's Link
5. Sunset
6. Aerial Tal
7. Somewhere In Between
8. Nocturn
9. Aerial