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THE COOL SONGS IT WAS NEVER COOL TO LIKE

Ode to Kate Bush

1988, the year that for many represented the first anniversary of The Smiths' split up, quiffs and puffy skirts. Having just embraced pop music and still struggling to keep up with the fashion of the time, 1988 will always be remembered by me as the year during which I was first exposed to Kate Bush. Kate Bush had already risen from the fogs of the moors in her colourful ethereal appearance ten years earlier. In 1988, my naïve and innocent mind was struggling to make sense of Kate Bush's spirited looks and voice in the same way as I could not conceive how Robert Smith's hairdo and lipstick could be classified as "fashionable".

I suppose that the first word that came to my mind was “weirdo”.

Ten years and a good read of "Wuthering Heights" later, I stumbled again upon the video of "Wuthering Heights" and this time everything made perfect sense. The lyrics, the voice, the dance moves and the looks…Everything suggested the word "genius". How could a girl of 18 produce the best lyric verses out of a piece of prose?

"Let me grab it, let me grab your soul away"

The final verses capture in full the primitive spirit of possession and passion of the novel, the performance of the song, from her distinctive high peak voice to her ghostly flowing dance, are a 5 minute theatrical representation of great intensity.

It took only one song and it all snowballed from there – both for her and for me. "The Kick Inside" and "The Hounds of Love" are the best examples of passionate, surreal and spirited songwriting with the beautiful and nostalgic realisation of "The Man with the Child in his Eyes" – "maybe he doesn't love me, I just took a trip on my love for him" – to the forceful words and notes of "Cloudbusting" and "Running Up that Hill" – "If I only could, make a deal with God". Mature musical awareness with a young touch of romanticism.

“Never for Ever” with “Babooshka”, “Oh England, my Lionheart”, “The Sensual World”, “The Dreaming” and “The Red Shoes” are fine achievements that proved her slow progression to full artistic control over her music, which was characterised by an increase in experimentation and discovery.

And now, after a 12 year hiatus, she is back with her new album “Aerial”. For those who have had the privilege to listen to the album before its release, there is no doubt: a successful return with conceptual threads that dominate the music direction. Music experimentation with a return to nature. The introductory single “King of the Mountain” tiptoes into the realm of experimentation once again as a form of invitation to look further without forgetting, nevertheless, where things were left 12 years ago.

But this time it will be different. This time Kate Bush, who chose to shun away from media attention many years ago and who claims that she never wanted to be famous, will be only a singer, not the artist who could make of her songs full performances which incorporated surreal acting and dancing. She will be a new Kate who maybe will delight us with a few live appearances but will not wear those bizarrely costumes which made her so iconic without limiting her to a role of pin up.

One thing is guaranteed. She has come back from the front door, we did not have to let her in through the window.

Elisabetta P.