Dreaming

The Dreaming scares me. I don't mean "scares me" as in "Marilyn Manson scares me." It's 2 in the morning and the house is dead quiet, then I'm startled by the sound of someone turning the knob on the front door. Like The Dreaming, that scares me! Why? First there's the title. "Dreaming" is a verb; the act of visiting a fascinating world while asleep. But Kate uses the phrase "The Dreaming" as thought she's referring to a person, place or thing. She's taken an "action" and made it into something concrete, something one can touch. Next is the cover: a photograph of a seductive Kate (Mrs. Houdini) with a key hidden inside her mouth. She's about to pass this tool of escape to Mr. Houdini in a kiss. Very alluring, very erotic. But it's Kate's eyes that give the photograph (and The Dreaming) an air of the unnatural. Kate's not peering into the eyes of her affection, but into something eerie far in the distance . 'Pull Out The Pin' is filled with bone-chilling fear and blood-curdling horror. 'Leave It Open' contains the frightening lines "Harm is in us. Harm in you and me." 'Get Out Of My House' is as unnerving as my 2 AM tale.

The most unsettling composition is 'Sat In Your Lap.' For me, it is a stomach-turning confessional with a theme that lies beneath the lyrics: the theme is incest. Many artists attempt dark, forbidding and metaphysical material which usually comes off as comical. The Dreaming isn't the least bit funny. Welcome to the supernatural world of Kate Bush. Buyer Beware.

And that performance...Bush sings like a woman possessed, essentially becoming different characters in each song. "Houdini", with its sensuous, snaky fretless bass and dreamy atmosphere, has Bush singing at times with the sweetness of the dappling of things and at others like an irate lioness. Musically, she is just as brilliant as she is with her voice. Her sense of rhythm and texture is remarkable, as is her ability to transform her influences (both in terms of artists and musical resources) into something very unique and strange. Her reconstruction of Celtic-folk dance on "Night of the Swallows" is sublime; her tense, driving beat and sneaky vocals on "There Goes a Tenner" is indelibly catchy; "Sat in Your Lap" kicks off with an infectious piano & drums shuffle, and Bush's vocals range from snappy utterances ("I see the people workin', I see it workin' for them") to faux-Broadway wails ("just when I think I'm king, I must admit..."). On "Leave It Open", Bush's singing altered with a malicious, metallic effect and is accompanied by chanting male voices and screeching synths, rising to layers of weird vocals caught up in heavy, gated percussion and terminating with Bush's voice run through tape-effects.

Despite this album's weirdness and somewhat introverted nature, it is catchy and unfailingly fun to listen to. This is gold, I tell you. Very highly recommended!