THE DREAMING

The Dreaming is Kate's most experimental album and used to be my favourite back in the days. I was around 12 years old and the fact alone that my pop-loving sister didn't like it was reason enough to prefer it to anything else Kate had released till then. The charming quibbles of childhood :) A few years after, I gradually lost interest and stopped listening to it, putting it on the turntable for the first time in 20 years turned out to be a nice reunion.

The album doesn't start strong though, the first two songs are too far-fetched, trying too hard to be special and experimental; they sound forced and lack Kate's usual song writing qualities. Pull Out The Pin is the first moment on the album where the adventurous arrangements are carried by strong enough song material. Also Leave It Open is interesting. The title track is the album's highpoint, Peter Gabriel's influence is clearly felt in the tribal percussion and theatrical vocals. 5 star material this one.

Night of the Swallow is more melodic and announces the style that would be continued on the next album. All The Love continues the momentum. It's a gentle and brooding ballad with a great atmosphere and Kate's typical dreamy-magic charm. The album ends with the powerful Get Out of My House.

The Dreaming is overwhelming and impressive, but it has less of the emotion and charm that graced Kate's earlier work and it is slightly uneven in song quality, 3.5 stars.