Kate Bush // 50 Words For Snow

I take it that's the reason The Director's Cut exists? I don't mind The Red Shoes myself, but I don't know any other records in that kind of AOR field to compare it with. The Sensual World I've never actually heard, though it's got 'This Woman's Work' on it, which is flawless afaiac.

yea it is one of the better produced tracks on the album

and yes i guess that was the reasoning for TDC, tho DU was awful

Full version:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aB1f-oEGmUI

Sorry, but I am not enjoying the vocal delivery at all. I assume it's a response to loss of vocal capacity. Overall, it feels as though the lyrics have to support a lot of the weight here, and I am not drawn in to the sense of mystery she is going for.

I keep thinking of Robert Bly.

i don't think i'll listen to the full length until the album comes out

nevermind, just listened to it. it's beautiful. borrows from elements of aerial but also goes back to a never for ever sound, in my mind.

That was quick :)

So it's out there already?

o no i just mean Wild Man 7min version -- if the album were out already i be flippin :P

Ooohhhhhhh I see. You had me flipping there for a minute :)

http://louderthanwar.com/featured/kate-bush-50-words-for-snow-album-review

Wow

tbh I do still dread the Elton John duet, but that review is glowing

don't know that site, seems a little fanboy-ish but still i'm excited

yeah

http://www.uncut.co.uk/blog/index.php?blog=6&title=kate_bush_50_words_for_snow&more=1&c=1&tb=1&pb=1

more even-toned

Tbh that louderthanwar review reads like a high school kid wrote it. Way too OMG!!

i know it's true, i just saw it on my facebook feed and get excited

Mojo review is largely positive - and suggests Elton knocks one out of the park with his vocal FWIW.

I'm really encouraged by the details in those reviews - rolling pianos, jazzy drums, the mood of A Coral Room. I like. The quality can take care of itself, in time.

http://thequietus.com/articles/07364-kate-bush-interview-2

I liked this in the Uncut review:

"But at the same time, the way the track is predicated on Fry’s reputation as bibliophilic fount of all knowledge seems somehow crass. Given how much of Kate Bush’s appeal is built on an image of her being blissfully disconnected from the real world, it is disappointing to imagine her coming up with the concept while slumped in front of QI on a Friday night."

Last time out (with a new album), she was writing songs about Washing Machines.

"Blissfully disconnected" has left the building.

Mojo review is largely positive

She's famous and over 50 so it's bound to be, innit?

The spotlight is also shared on the title track, with Stephen Fry cast as Dr Joseph Yupik (Yupiks being an Eskimo tribe of Siberia and Alaska), goaded by Bush – “Come on Joe, you've got 32 to go!” – into finding 50 synonyms for snow. The droll neologising – “Wenceslasaire”, “spangladasha”, “shnamistoflopp'n”, “Zhivagodamarbletash

As long as I breathe, I hope never to hear this track

Yeah, I shall be pressing play in fear and trepidation with my hand about an inch from the stop button on that track.

o boyy that sounds ... iffy

Both Elton and Fry sound better on record than in theory. They're not playing too much to type.

i would have expected that actually. does that mean you've heard the record?

hang on what stephen fry is on this?????

:(((((((((

i had been really looking forward to it!

i mean...i guess she's had rolf harris and peter gabriel on her records before. maybe it won't be so bad :/

She's had Lenny Henry on a record before!

I'm no Fry fan but he pitches it just right - not doing his crumpety national treasure thing.

haha has she really?! which one? maybe that's what louis walsh meant all this time

'Why Should I Love You', in particular the middle eight 2'45 to 3'30.

I'd be proud to have Rolf Harris on a record of mine tbh

The Stephen Fry track is my favourite. Hats off to Kate Bush, the woman who put Lenny Henry and Prince together...

....Hats off to Roy Harper...ooh she had him on a track

John, may I compliment you with your exquisite interview with Kate?

Thanks man, I really appreciate it. It was a fraught experience especially seeing as she disagreed with a lot of things I said and she was insanely proficient at changing the subject and talking about me instead of her but for someone who plays her cards close to her chest I think she told me quite a bit. Very, very pleasant to talk to as well. She was quite high on my wishlist, so a bit of a dream job for me.

ummm YEAH

Yes, I think she opened up a lot too! That was my impression. Maybe it's a defense mechanism, but oddly enough she seems most at comfort when she's being interviewed without challenge, like a talk on the radio, earlier this year at the beeb, or someone like Jools etc. From the interview I don't get the impression that she was so proficient to change the subject, or reluctant, it's actually quite unlike any other Kate interview I ever read ~ and I read quite a few. That's why I think it's a brilliant piece of writing, hats off to you sir.

talking about anything to kate bush is a life-long dream of mine and you've lived it so kudos to you sir

Excellent interview John!

find it hard to read reviews of Kate Bush but that interview is a treat

http://i649.photobucket.com/albums/uu216/le_bateau_ivre/UEKoi.gif Album is streaming on NPR http://i649.photobucket.com/albums/uu216/le_bateau_ivre/UEKoi.gif

omg

l;jkasl;dfkj;lasjfl;jk

.....

:-D

http://29.media.tumblr.com/tumblr_ltsrlgZtgO1qkrirro1_500.gif

http://26.media.tumblr.com/tumblr_lubmeiYzr41qkrirro1_500.gif

http://27.media.tumblr.com/tumblr_lu4a2jicpM1qkrirro1_500.gif

only on track one but LOVING it so far. oooooh within a minute it's proper kate bush and i have forgotten about director's cut.

aw shit so far this ruuuules

"Lake Tahoe" carries much of the same vibe as "The Third Wave" off HOL- especially in the vocal sections which echo the Popol Vuh choral parts from Herzog's 'Nosferatu'. Truly gorgeous on headphones (how I'm listening at this moment).

Really the 2nd and 3rd songs on this, even with their stripped down instrumental pallette of mainly piano, bass and drums, are classic Bush in their lovely weirdness. Very powerful.

what's the difference between saying 'sounds like bland new age muzak' and 'this sounds like new age music'

i mean, thank you for pointing out that it sounded like the bad kind of new age music; that was nice of you

Because "New Age music" tends to cover quite a broad canvas. The Penguin Cafe Orchestra and some half decent ambient often gets lumped in with the blander, more mediocre stuff.

I am genuninely amazed at the reviews this album is getting. This album sounds so much to me like bland, New Age muzak that I'm surprised at some of the hostile comments above. Just because KB isn't very "uptempo" these days obviously doesn't mean she has to be musically uninventive (which is what I meant by "bland" in case there are any more tiresome dissections of that word). I'll give it more listens, but it sounds to me insipid and very weak musically: not really pop, ambient or classical, but a mediocre mish mash of all three. On The Hounds of Love she created a fantastic blend of those things - now it sounds predictable and stale to me.

the vinyl edition of this is seriously incredible. worth the £20 or £25 or whatever is being charged for it.

What is it? Just the quality?

yeah just reaaaally nicely mastered on good quality vinyl, 1 or 2 tracks per side.

New video set to my favorite part of my favorite song on the album:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KKPHA3_cBus

enjoyed this today after a walk in deep snow. i love how much silence there is on the album, or the first few tracks anyway - the uncanny way she captures the stillness that follows heavy snowfall.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fsXhtJ9BTJA

This is the most beautiful thing I have heard all year... Astonishing. (thanks to Geeta on twitter for the heads up)

Wow.

i so wish there was a version of this album that took out the Elton John verses

it's just so fucking magical up to then then it's all Elton barreling into the track yuck

I keep forgetting that Misty is one of the best songs of this rapidly-ageing decade

Still a fantastic listen. Have warmed to the rest of it more or less. The song with Elton stillsounds like a bad "Red Shoes" B-side.

I'd be proud to have Rolf Harris on a record of mine tbh

― R. Stornoway (Tom D.), Thursday, 10 November 2011 18:00 (3 years ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

... errrrrrrrrrrr

I had somehow forgotten to listen to this when it came out, possibly because I was so turned off by the idea of Director's Cut. But when it popped up on shuffled I thought it was really lovely.

Scots 'have 421 words' for snow

Lovely record, but pretty seasonal eh?

btw if you bought the vinyl and are in need of cash it seems to be relatively highly priced http://www.discogs.com/sell/release/3242669?ev=rb

This is majorly hitting the spot this morning in snowy New Jersey. Her most beautiful of the "comeback" records for me.

Stephen Fry track puts me off this record nowadays

It's 50 Words equivalent of the Rolf Harris one on Aerial

Great record. Snows come out in Vancouver so it's on my mind

This could be an ECM album until Elton swans in and kills the mood.

‘Misty’ is the standout track on this...not enough sex with snowmen songs in my opinion...

also just came on to say this is VERY ecm! if only Weber could have played on it :-(

it's grown on me a huge amount since release, and I find it fairly weird it was produced so close to Director's Cut which I think overall doesn't stand up well.

the only listenable thing elton john has ever done.

I liked his other snowy track, “Nikita”.

‘Misty’ off this is one of the best things she’s ever done...

Thanks ILM for sending me on another Kate Bush kick

I love this album.