Kate Bush – ”The Dreaming” (1982)

Kate Bush's fourth album, The Dreaming, is not the easiest creation to embrace. This was the first album she produced on her own and it’s an album that asks a lot of the listener. Too much?

I've owned this album since my teens and I have the same feeling about it today as then, there is something strange about it. I really like it, but I don’t like it. I enjoy it, but I suffer. I want to listen to it, but do I? It attracts me, and it scares me. Nevertheless, this album has often been spun on the turntable, and many are the times I have let the songs seduce me, and destroy me. In periods, it has been my favourite album, other times I haven’t understood it.
The peculiarity the music conveys comes from the dark sound Kate has created. The sound feels close, neurotic and erratic. Perhaps her former producers / co-producers made sure to keep the music on the right side of the border to madness, but without someone at her side Kate crosses this border and takes the listener on a journey to a dark and somewhat strange place. As is customary with Kate she seems not to care about what she's supposed to do, she does what she wants to do.

On the album there’s the song Suspended in Gaffa, a song I fell in love with the first time I heard it. This love continues, and it’s one of my favourite songs with Kate. Unlike some other creations on the album this song is quite easy to listen to and traditional in its approach. But you also have a healthy dose of mystery, partly through a text that I don’t understand, and partly through a child's voice that says something barely audible before each chorus. I don’t know what it says, though, maybe "You're a fool who bought this record." Mysteriously enough anyway, and especially the younger version of yours truly liked that. This song alone makes it worth owning The Dreaming.

As mentioned, some of the other songs are not as easy to grasp. The songs often take strange turns and Kate sometimes uses her voice in a way that makes the music both more theatrical, unpredictable and makes you wonder if you really like it. She whispers, sings, screams and yells. It makes the music both more interesting but also more difficult. This is not an immediate record, so to speak. As usual, you have to respect Kate for going in her own direction and creating music that may not be completely tailored. It’s even more impressive when you realize that Kate was only 24 years old when the album was released.

I can’t help but recommend this album, but add a few words of caution. It's probably not the first Kate Bush record one should get if one wants to explore her music. It’ better to get to it a bit later in this process, otherwise the risk is that you become frightened and turn away. Listen at your own risk, in other words.

It can be mentioned that David Gilmour plays some guitar on the album, and do some backing vocals on one of the album’s highlights, Pull Out the Pin.

Tracklist

Side A

1. Sat In Your Lap 3:29

2. There Goes A Tenner 3:24

3. Pull Out The Pin 5:26

4. Suspended In Gaffa 3:54

5. Leave It Open 3:20

Side B

1. The Dreaming 4:41

2. Night Of The Swallow 5:22

3. All The Love 4:29

4. Houdini 3:48

5. Get Out Of My House 5:25