Pros: More great Kate Bush. Complex. Funky little B-Side, which is always nice to hear/see.
Cons: What the hell is she saying?
The Bottom Line: Great music to play on a chilly winter night in front of the fireplace. Who wants to buy me a fireplace for my room? Huh? Huh? Naaaah.
tjhassecrets's Full Review: King of the Mountain [Single] by Kate Bush
Pre-review bulletin: As of right now, I'm very busy and dealing with some personal issues and as a result putting reviews on the back burner for a little bit. Until I have the time to dedicate to writing reviews, I'll just be doing singles releases. Besides, I feel like these singles reviews are better than my album ones!
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If you're cool (or European), then you definitely know of Kate Bush and have a few of her records in your music collection. In fact, I'd go so far as to say that if you're a music fan, then you must own at least one record by this English woman who often looks like a rag doll with her pale skin and large, poofy hair. After 1993's uncharacteristic and overly ambitious The Red Shoes Kate hit a brick wall and didn't return until the middle of the new millennium with Aerial, an album based around bird calls. Personally, this album is quite the stinker, and I can't listen to more than a few tracks before wanting to turn it off, but this is how it's always been between me and Kate. I acquire another one of her albums, and I hate it. Then, I acquire the one that was released directly after it, and I love it. There's something very powerful about a lot of her work, which experiments with synthesizers in a clever fashion that strayed away from making typical pop music, making it a hell of a lot more interesting, complex, and theatrical-- and all with incredible lyrics and a voice to shatter glass.
Kate Bush is known for her at-times cryptic style of writing that was found on 1982's The Dreaming as well as her multi-octave voice that can sound like one of the Chipmunks on one song, and then drop down to the floor with incredible soul. The one thing about her voice, though, is that it did not truly stand the test of time. That's not to say that on this single it's of poor quality...it's just that she slurs. Badly. Even on her squeakiest of album tracks from the late 70s, she was always a very eloquent speaker. Unfortunately, you're don't get that on 2005's King of the Mountain. Regardless of her Kurt Cobain-esque delivery, the song is spectacular. The brooding, Björkish beats rival the production of any Kate Bush album to date, including her perfectly produced and meticulously crafted Hounds of Love, which I regard as one of the greatest album of all time.
When I first time I heard the song as a true Kate Bush fan, I noticed how atmospheric it was. Even though it released over ten years after its predecessor, this single still had all the impact of her previous work. If it's one thing I love about this woman, it's her ability to create a mood with just a few flicks of her wrist. The song grows and grows, all the while making me feel colder and colder, as if I'm standing out on the mountain by her side. That's very impressive for a song which, personally, could have been sung in Chinese, because I understand a damn thing she says. The title-track is followed-up by a soothing and warm cover of Marvin Gaye's signature song Sexual Healing, which strangely doesn't sound out of place on this single. It may seem as an odd choice for a woman who used to skate around in a dunce cup and a KKK-lookin' robe, but her sweet voice makes it worth a listen, especially after the rollercoaster ride that King of the Mountain provides the listener. It's also of note that the remake was recorded in the 80s, so you'll be able to compare just how different her voice sounds now than it did way back when.
JUDGING I love Kate Bush, I really do. And this is one of the only songs from her most recent album Aerial that I can stomach. Good choice for a first (and last) single, because it's a nice blend of later-Kate with early-Kate. Not my favorite single from her, but it's still a very nicely crafted evocative pop song with a complex feel.
King of the Mountain (4.5 Stars) Sexual Healing (4 Stars)
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