THE RED SHOES

As much as I love Kate Bush, this album was a huge disappointment to me. I listened to it over and over again, trying desperately to get into it, but to no avail. Mind you, I'm not the kind of person who got horrified by her collaboration with Prince - he's not my favourite musician by any means, but I see myself as a very open-minded person, and if the results are good, then who cares? Unfortunately, though, "The Red Shoes" is very weak, especially if compared with Kate's monumental '80s achievements. As always, the musicianship on the album is excellent, she sings wonderfully and the lyrics often rather intriguing - but somehow all these factors don't gel together, and the result is a definitely boring, far from memorable record. In my opinion, the only really great song on it is "Song of Solomon", with the Irish-flavoured title-track and "Moments of Pleasure" also worthy of mention. The rest, however, is quite forgettable. If this had been Kate's last album, she would really have gone out with a whimper - luckily for us it was not so.