AERIAL

12 years since "The Red Shoes" - is it worth the wait? Well, I have to say "Yes". Not many artists could take a career break for that long and still come back with a brilliant album like this - and get the album and single back in the charts.

As most of you know, this is a double CD with CD 1 being a normal song collection and CD 2 being another "concept" similiar to The Ninth Wave. CD 1 kicks off with the single "King of the mountains", about sightings of Elvis and the mysterious "Rosebud" from "Citizen Kane". A great comeback single, I love the drumming on this.

"pi" is about a man with a strange fascination for 22/7. Only Kate could sing a song with a chorus consisting of a string of numbers and get away with it. Some insistent keyboards and a nice jazzy chorus.

"Bertie" is obviously a song for Kate's son. It has a nice folky feel to it, slightly cringe-inducing in a "my kid is better than all your" sort of way, but still a good song.

"Mrs Bartolozzi" is the washing machine song with the "slooshy sloshy" section. This is the weakest track here for me.

"How to be invisible" and "Joanni" are standard Kate songs which could have come from "Sensual World". "Joanni" is presumably about Joan of Arc(?)

"A Coral Room" is about Kate's mother and is one of the solo piano numbers that Kate does so brilliantly. This is a really beautiful, hairs on the back of the neck song.

CD 2 "A Sky of honey" is the concept CD. I can't really comment on what it's all about, save to say it's linked by bird song and painting. It starts off gently with the first three numbers, until Rolf Harris joins in on "The Painter's Link". "Sunset" follows and for me this is the highlight. A jazzy number turns into a fast Spanish flamenco number, with a great chorus featuring Kate backed by Gary Brooker (I think). "Somewhere in between" is a slower number with another good chorus.

"Nocturn" has a slight disco feel to it - a good song but a bit too long. "Aerial" is the final track and has a definite disco beat. There is an interlude featuring bird song along with Kate's hysterical laughter.

Overall, the second CD is better than the first and, once you've heard it a few times you get hooked into it. Overall I'm giving this 4 stars as it ranks alongside "The Dreaming" as Kate's second best work after Hounds Of Love.

Oh, and it has a great cover too.