THE DREAMING

In my not so humble opinion, The Dreaming is Kate Bush's finest and most progressive album. Her amazing voice is put to it's greatest use here, and her songwriting is better than ever.

Right from the start, Bush kicks it into high gear, with the compound time signatures in the exciting "Sat In Your Lap", then continues with the first of her character pieces on this album, "There Goes A Tenner", with Kate portraying a bank robber over a deceptively quirky music track. "Pull Out The Pin", with Kate as a soldier struggling over the killing of an enemy is another deep track with lush music behind it. "Suspended In Gaffa" lightens the mood a bit, and "Leave It Open" ends the first half on a darker note.

"The Dreaming" opens the second half (originally side 2 of the record), an Australian flavored tune about driving through the outback. This is another lush sounding song that includes some screams that sound like they were pulled from Pink Floyd's "The Wall", and features a digeridu performance from the one and only Rolf Harris (music buffs remember him primarily for the 50s hit "Tie Me Kangaroo Down, Sport". The digeridu continues playing into the next song, "Night Of The Swallow", where it creates an interesting mixture of sounds along with Irish pipes, strings and pennywhistle.

"All The Love" is a nice, deep love song. "Houdini" has Bush playing the wife of magician Harry Houdini, watching her husband die in his final escape attempt. Her strained vocals perfectly portray the tragedy of the event. And "Get Out Of My House" is the perfect ending to this masterpiece, with Kate primal-screaming the title as Paddy attempts to get in.

I'm glad I pulled this out out to listen to it. I had forgotten just how great it is.