THE DREAMING

Kate's fourth album goes deeper into experimental strangeness. Whereas even the spell- binding and many-sided Never For Ever was safely rooted in romantic, ethearal charm of a siren-like young woman singing about passion crimes, love-making, summer nights and other delights, and was capable of taking the listener at once into its beauty, The Dreaming is much harder work of art to digest completely. There would be ideas enough for ten albums, wrote Fred Vermorel in his book 'The Secret Life of Kate Bush'. I don't know if that statement is accurate in practice, but there's some truth in it. In short, The Dreaming has some fantastic dark-toned tracks and some oddities that are for rare listening only. And something in between, such as 'Get Out of My House' which is a hair- raising song full of crazy power. "This house is full of m-m-my mess, this house is full of m- m-ma-ma-madness!!"

The title track is about Australian Aboriginals digging gold for white man - and features a didgeridoo. The other song that can be seen in The Whole Story video compilation is 'Sat in Your Lap' and I still can't quite figure out what's it about. 'Pull Out the Pin', featuring Dave Gilmour's backing vocals, is a bit boring musically (the lyrics are full of meaning) and so is 'Suspended in Gaffa'. 'Leave It Open' is extremely strange, even the "singing" in it. She's a plain witch whenever she feels like it.

The other vinyl side has the real goodies. 'Night of the Swallow' could be described as a folk-prog song featuring Uillean pipes. Lovely. 'All The Love' is a moody ballad, very English, very atmospheric; refrain is sung by a choirboy. One of my favourite Kate Bush songs, and so is 'Houdini' too. Eberhard Weber's magnificent bass playing finisihes the perfection of these songs. 'Houdini' is the song behind the cover picture: "With a kiss I'd pass the key...". Musically it comes closer to chamber music than rock.

This highly artistic and original album is very close to being a masterpiece, but some less accessible or monotonously boring (though very innovative) songs make it too uneven for five stars. But its best moments are absolutely highlights of her whole career. A must for fans.