RUNNING UP THAT HILL (A DEAL WITH GOD) (2012 REMIX)

Firstly, Kate Bush is one of my favorite songwriters and performers. It therefore pains me to give anything of hers a measly two stars. However, Kate Bush's single "Running Up That Hill (A Deal With God) (2012 Remix)" is a double-edged sword of good meets tragic... the odd duck in Bush's already odd pond.

When I first saw that a remix of "Running Up That Hill" had been released, I was excited and purchased it immediately. I also listened to it with a huge grin on my face the whole time. I loved it. The new leading vocal track clarified a lot of words that I had not been able to understand before, and Bush's older voice had a richer depth. So I thought, "great!"

Then a few days later, I decided to listen to the old version on The Hounds of Love. I expected to feel disappointed and want to listen to the new one again, but that's not what happened. Instead, the old, unaltered version brought me to higher heights and did its old trick - which I had forgotten about - of greatly creeping me out in parts (in a good way - in other words, it was emotionally moving for me). After it had ended, I felt confused. Why had I had such a strong reaction to the old version?

I replayed the 2012 remix. Then I listened to the old version and the remix back to back several times. Here are the differences: - The instrument and backing vocal parts in the remix, for some strange reason, were transposed down a half-step. I don't mean that they re-recorded them - they clearly didn't - but that they electronically manipulated all the audio except for the original lead vocals down a half step. (??!?!?) Why make such a decision? I did some reading and found that it was to accommodate Bush's now deeper voice... which also seems strange. It's only a half step, it's not going to make a whole lot of difference to the difficulty of singing it... but the electronic manipulation dulled the sound of everything in the background. The original version was so much brighter! - The old lead vocals were scrapped and new ones recorded. The annunciation is much clearer now (which is why I was excited at first). There's some richness to the voice that wasn't there before, and the effect on her voice is slightly different. However, upon further listening, I just felt that the original performance was better because it sounded more passionate and dynamic.

So, the pros: clearer lyrics, vocal richness. The cons: dull sound to everything but the lead vocal, less passion.

Here's the thing I find weird - if Bush really wanted to re-do "Running Up That Hill," why didn't she just actually re-do it? If she was too busy (and she has been busy according to the Fish People website), why not leave the instrument tracks alone and just sing it more clearly? Sacrificing everything else to the lead vocal isn't a good compromise. Even weirder, this song had already been remastered along with the rest of The Hounds of Love.

All this said, if you are like me and you love Kate Bush, you probably want to get this anyway since the lyrics truly are much more clear. I enjoyed hearing the new performance even if it didn't bring me to the emotional height of the old one. However, if you are looking for a good introduction to Kate Bush or if you're just a casual fan, I'd advise you to skip this remix and go straight to The Hounds of Love.