Great jazz vibe with Kate's piano and phenomenal drumming from Steve Gadd. And only Kate could write a song about a romantic encounter with a snowman and pull it off so brilliantly and beautiful. Nice atmospheric guitar playing also from Kate's husband Danny McIntosh
50 Words For Snow is a great winter album - but I admit I prefer her outstanding summer album Aerial. Particularly disc 2 (A Sky of Honey) is just an absolute masterpiece and should always be played uninterrupted as one long song.
A Sky of Honey is as good as The Ninth Wave for me. Both absolute masterpieces of music. I wasn't expecting another album from Kate Bush at all after 12 years, let alone the amazing Aerial.
Honestly this is my very fave album by her. And particularly Misty is a freaking masterpiece, how the storyline is culminated at the end by her emotional vocals, so touching.
One of her more underrated albums. 50 Words For Snow, unfortunately, gets dismissed by fans a lot of the time but it really is worth the listen. Misty is an outstanding track as is the rest of the album.
Ce titre me touche infiniment tant il s'articule à mon vécu. Il met des mots là où je ne trouvais auparavant que l'indicible. Kate atteint la pureté du minéral. Pas plus pesant qu'un flocon de neige. Eblouissant.
"It's a silly idea. But I hope that what has happened is that there's almost a sense of tenderness. I think it's quite a dark song. And so I hope that I've made it work. But in a lot of ways it shouldn't because... It's ridiculous, isn't it, the idea of the snowman visiting this woman and climbing into bed with her. But I took him as a purely symbolic snowman, it was about...No John, he's REAL (laughs)". - Kate Bush (BBC4 Radio, Front Row, 2011)
I don’t believe you can ever go too far with your interpretation of great art. Single monological meanings only serve to limit the personal impact and significance that art awakens within us. For me, 50 Words For Snow is Bush’s quiet magnum opus; a swan song rounding out a unique career in music. Among the many things it does, Misty takes me all the way back to The Kick Inside, conjuring Kathy so cold at the window. I hear the child-eyed man whose always waiting. I see Lindsay Kemp moving and the tragedy of siblings in love with no more under the quilt to keep you warm. I see how the terrible fear of dying that no longer plays with me and how each of us is fated finally to blow away. I see the kiss of sweet cake and the buildings of New York that look just like mountains through the snow. 50 Words really is Kate’s most sensual and sumptuous album. It exemplifies her patience as a mature artist, a musician, a genius, a woman.
I love this song so much, maybe one of my favorite Kate songs. It's just stunning, and I love how it builds up. The instrumentation is so satisfying and feels so nice in my ears, I don't know how to explain it. I love her deeper voice, it's raspy but so smooth at the same time, and she sings with such emotion. Might be one of my favorite vocal performances by her. The song and the entire album has such a wintery atmosphere and it's fascinating how she can create that with just instruments and her voice. The lyrics is a bit odd, but so poetic. I actually really like your theories! Please do the entire album! The songs are long but they shouldn't be a second shorter, it's perfect. I'm so lucky we get snow here in Sweden every winter! The hate in the comments make me kind of sad, and confused since this is absolutely brilliant.
You can hear how beautiful her voice changed.. It's a brilliant even more mature album with beautiful melodies and obscure themes as usual... I have to admit this album is my favorite for winter time
I have never heard this song before but it is a masterpiece ! Great, insightful reaction ( as always ). Thanks for putting this up and I want to wish you and yours a very Merry Christmas !! :)
This WHOLE album is so great! Check out Michelle Willis and Michael Occhipinti's live cover. I didn't know who Kate Bush was until I heard this album. I actually saw an ad for it in Maxim magazine and then went out and got it when it was released. Blew my mind and I had to look up the rest of her discography.
50 Words for snow was not one of my favourite Kate albums, only liked a couple of tracks , Wildman and Misty, but now heading Misty again wirh headphones i realise its another Kate classic, maybe ill give the album another listen.
Hi Justin, I'm a bit late with finding this video. You did an outstanding job by seperating the musical part from the lyrical part. This way the song is so much easier too comprehend for me. Although it is 10 years old, up until now I could not really get behind the melting snowman in her bed.... The lyrics didn't grab me before, but the music really did. Now you made them come together for me. When you mentioned winter as a metafor for death, it clicked. I follow you in your interpretation that she is singing about a loved one who died (suddenly?) Maybe even an old childhood friend. Remembering building snowmen together and drifting off into a phantasy. Then this spirit appears to her. And the snowman in her phantasy and the spirit of her old friend get mixed up? And her not knowing what to think of it? This album to me has an overall theme. And it is not winter. Winter as a theme is just the vehicle to bring the stories together. Each track describes a yearning for the elusive. That longed for something or someone that almost, but actually never comes within our reach. I think this is one of the most grown-up albums she ever made, alongside The Sensual World. I hope you will find the time to go deeper into it. Merry X-mas and all the best for the New Year to you, your family and all your other followers.
We don't get snow too often where I live, but when we do, I grab a hot drink and listen to Misty and Snowflake and watch it falling. These two songs are now my soundtrack to a snowfall. The piano and drums in Misty remind me of Vince Guaraldi and a Charlie Brown Christmas, and I find the piano motif that runs down, sometimes with the strings, particularly haunting and moving. Thanks for your reaction. I hope you have a wonderful Christmas.
I add that this song has some of her most beautiful voice work ever. All the phrase from : full of dead leaves… until from slumbering lawn is incredible. Just as amazing as « moving and glistening… » in A Coral Room. You should definitely review this one and Mrs Bartolozzi from the Aerial Album. That voice. (Almost no one ever reviews these 2 songs and they are so special)
Great that you choose a song from this snowy jazzy album. For me, I sort of fell in love with her when I was 15 and heard Hounds of Love. But…. 50 Words for Snow has become my favourite. The dynamics toeards the end in Misty are really great. Thanks!
The blood pointing towards a ritual is really an eye opener! Do you know that Jewish mysticism has the ritual of Golum creating……! This really reminds me of Kates ritual (but gollums are made of clay in stead of snow)
This song is so loaded with sensuality and beauty. You can hear the sexual longing, as though it's being sung from the perspective of someone who's never known sexual love, or is yet to experience it. Just like Emily Bronte wrote one of the greatest love stories without ever having known a man or what it was to love and have a physical relationship
I guess, from some of the comments, that our past musical idols should remain frozen in time. Hey! Phil's in a wheelchair, Joni will never sound like herself again and Charlie is dead.. Well boys and girls, a lot of us won't have to be bummed about the great ones of our youth passing, as we will be gone soon too. Thanks JP for reminding us that new ears can find beauty where old, JADED ones, may only want echoes from the past.
Snowflake, Lake Tahoe, and Misty seem to carry a similar feeling. I think Lake Tahoe is my favorite on the album, it is very haunting. The opening track 'Snowflake' is astonishing, and it carries that sense of magic that only Kate can invoke. It really does feel like you are floating down from high above with millions of other snowflakes on a quiet night. The lyrics suggest that the snowflake is descending and dancing as it falls, to meet a loved one on the ground below. I think it is just slightly too long, the hypnotic cycle keeps repeating and those last two repeats seem almost redundant. The statement was made very clearly with the last vocal phrases, which are absolutely stunning...
@@jelniemeijer4921 The only real fellow appreciators I have are my musician buddies. I am a professional musician and have found that musicians and artists get Kate more than anyone else.
Yes, i feel like i am walking alone in Kate's musical paintings! I am a very emotional person who feels really deep, Kate is my number 1 in touching my soul! I am glad to hear musicians around you can feel that too! All the love...
What a great analysis of the song musically, and you're right, there is so much to appreciate with every Kate Bush album, and this is certainly Kate in a very different, mature phase in her life. Lyrically, it's great that you are able to dig so deep, regardless of what Kate was thinking. I know this album is more seasonal, but I agree with the others who say you need to listen to Aerial, her return to music after a lengthy hiatus. It's right up there with Hounds of Love and The Dreaming for me. Merry Christmas to you, Justin!
My brother dutifully worked in the crushed and stolen grasses of a 'man's work existence and loved his wife dearly to the end where he died of cancer and spent the last 6 months sweating profusely in his bed with his wife beside him as he melted away. It hailed one day and after sweating all night in his bed with a 105 temperature he passed away. His wife always looked for him especially when it snowed at their cabin in Truckee or skiing but she never found him. She died of loneliness 3 years later at 53 years of age. Her heart just stopped beating.
I think your interpretation is pretty spot on. What of course makes the lyrics come to life is Kate's musical phrasing and descriptive nuance so it feels both very imaginative and also very real although I never sense that it's ritualistic, but almost accidental in that she, as in a dream, somehow has a cut on her hand and it reminds her of life while in the cold and yet it makes her go back into her house clearly to mend it not yet realizing in dream fashion what her warmth is capable of. It's definitely dream imagery. The "on the ledge" finale I think signifies that to "find" him she must now become a snow woman and freeze to death to join him. It's a real phantasm tale, isn't it? and it works because nothing is resolved except that her sense of loss and wanting is so physical and ticking back and forth between inner warmth and wintry coldness.
Such a gentle, pastoral rolling style - perfect for relaxing at home. I have Kate's previous double CD Aerial - it has that same casual, flowing style.
Wonderful analysis of the music and the meaning. First of all, I think it's great that you played the entire track first, as is, without commentary. Your analysis of "hand is bleeding" is the first time I heard it and for me anyway adds an additional layer of complexity to the song. Could be! I have certainly never cut my hand making a snowman before... I also thought your analysis of the missing/perhaps departed partner as a replacement adds an interesting level to the song. Kate often writes on multiple levels at the same time. My baseline read is just an encounter with a snowman/spirit. "Melting in my hand" I think is also polyvalent, with one of the nuances being a sexual connotation (as well as "sheets are soaking"). She does, after all, call it a "tryst" (Kate is married to the guy who plays guitar on the track). "Open window closing" to me is her thinking that the spirit still exists somewhere, and the closing window also represents the closing of their window of opportunity for being together as the spirit leaves her bedroom. "Going out on the ledge", I read it the way you did. Like she is considering jumping.
This album is lovely. Wildman is the single, and is the most friendly musically. Her creativity never stops! The masterpiece on this album is Lake Tahoe. The video with shadow puppets is stunning.
I like the song and I like your interpretation (I don't know if it is correct but it is interesting). Kate's voice seems different. deeper maybe. I like it better. Winter seems like death but it is just a rest before spring can bring renewal. Most importantly... there are no mosquitos in the winter. In case I forget, a very happy holidays to everyone who reads this, especially OGH and his lovely wife, from sleepy, snowy Winnipeg (Winterpeg is more like it atm).
It is deeper, sometime in her 12 years off (1993-2005) she changed from a pure soprano to a mezzo-soprano, probably due to age and the effects of smoking. She makes it work, though, her new voice suits her more jazz-influenced later music very well.
This is Kate to the Nth power: sensual, quirky, moving, tragic. (Who else could sing about a one-night stand with a snowman and leave listeners in tears and not laughter?) I feel so privileged to have co-existed in a time period where Kate was writing, performing, and releasing so much genius. I hope there is more forthcoming as she enters her golden years.
I had never heard Kate Bush until I heard her on UA-cam. I see a very mixed review here in the comments about this piece, which confuses me... cause I think this was brilliant.
A lot of fans are very attached to her art pop/rock sound from the 70s and 80s and thus end up dismissing her later work which owes more to jazz than pop in terms of structure and melody. Sadly her later work often gets ignored because of this. But in my opinion, her last two albums Aerial and 50 Words For Snow are just as great as her earlier work in a more mature understated manner. Give them a listen if you're interested.
Personifying a snowman? So creatively demented. Very jazzy tune with a good dose of atmosphere. Almost bluesy. Kate should stray into straight up jazz. I think she has the depth of feeling and range that could be a great trip.
The structural observations you made about the track are preety much the strategy she uses for almost the whole album. I believe Lake Tahoe is where she best achieves this long and slow storytelling. Snowflake is odd and wonderfull to. Wild Man is a wonderfull, beutifull, bonkers Kate track. And Among Angels is stunning.
Hi Justin. Dave from The Smoke. We're Walking In The Air! There's millions of us who have watched and enjoyed The Snowman film many times at Christmas. Maybe some of us secretly wish that, as in the film, snowmen actually come to life - maybe Kate too. Lovely playing & singing - nothing much else to say about the song - 13 minutes, really? P.S. The version I have of Walking in the Air is by Rainbow! Yes, I have loved your channel over the last year - you are the absolute best, Justin - thank you so much, not least for putting up with my sometimes cynical comments and song references. Happy Christmas to you and your family, and all Just JP'ers out there.
Long song Kate… I don’t care for her explanation, for me it’s about pain and hurt of missing someone specific or someone to come. The song is too long for some but that’s how it feels to be alone for too long, a little bit longer than you can comfortably take. It’s not fun, it’s not jolly or festive. It hurts, but you have to find other ways to enjoy life and continue. Hope you Justin and Nat have a wonderful holiday. You have been a gift that keeps giving. Music and friends, that don’t always agree have made the year(s) a better one. Peace and getting misty Music
Like a lot of artists with depth I don't think Kate was explaining, but tossing the "what is it about?" question away with a little bit of humour because good artists don't explain; they let the work speak for itself.
Great choice for trhe Christmas. Kate Bush is adorable. Happy Christmas and a New Year plenty not only of great music but a life to enjoy all the greatest things the world enables.
I love this album. Whenever we get the first major snow of the season, I listen to it with a good cup of hot chocolate. This particular song makes me feel the languid chill of the season with it's uneven pauses/spaces anticipating the next note (weather) and the piano keys sparkling like individual snowflakes and the build-up with both her deepening voice and added instrumental layers is like the snow as it gets deeper and deeper...easy to bury yourself in it. The sudden silence in the middle before the continuing crescendo feels like the muffled silence after the first blanket of snow covers everything - almost like the how the outside feels the first time I go out to shovel (which I tend to do in intervals during a major storm because I can't shovel 3 feet deep of snow at the time so I tend to go out after every 5-6 inches to shovel if I can) It's often in the middle of the night when I'm shoveling the first couple of times - no one is outside, it's incredibly silent, almost magical. I always take a few minutes to just enjoy the scenery before I start working). After the first couple of rounds though, the weight of it becomes a chore so the growl is perfect reflection for that for me. It's my personal interpretation of major snowfall - slow down at the beginning, enjoy the calm silence for awhile but then eventually you have to dig yourself out because you have to go to work. Great analysis.
Probably my favourite song on the album , It’s a gd album Kate chilling as she gets older . I fully expect her music if we get anymore 🙏 to continue along this path but you never know she dies like to surprise us
Love this - not previously heard this album. For some reason this track makes me think of Drive Home by Steven Wilson. Give that a try if you've not already done so.
I'm glad Kate got another one out this decade, who knows if that may be it. I do love her approach with the piano and vocals really shining on this one. A side note. Steven W. Tayler mixes this album along with some production work. SWT worked along side producer songwriter Rupert Hine. I hope some day you'll spend some time with his inovative trilogy of albums one of my favorites Wildest Wish to Fly (the title track. It is obscure though, won't bring you many subscribers. Take Care
Taking a lateral step, may I suggest listening to Winter by Happy Rhodes. Firstly because it's seasonal, secondly because she is a huge Kate Bush fan and sounds eerily like her in the higher register, but mostly because it is a stunningly beautiful song.
Snow is getting more and more rare with climate change. We had snow every years until 2010, since there are more and ore years without. We had not even one snowflake until now for this year !
Not one of my favorite albums by Kate (that would be The Dreaming) but it is one of my favorite tracks and I can appreciate the jazz undertones and production of the song. You're take on the song is fascinating
I think you’re overanalyzing the lyrics here. According to Kate it’s just a silly song. A woman builds a snowman, gets him into her bed. They are having a very hot an steamy night together but snowmen can’t stand the heat and melts. The soaking sheets are a reminder of the sweaty night. Great analysis of the music though. Did you notice all the little noises she added throughout the whole song? And the big orchestra that appears in the middle of the song for only two seconds! Genius!
Having bought every one of her albums on the original day of their releases, i must say i stopped expecting them - nothing from 86 to 89, nothing from 90 to 92, nothing from 94 to 2005! Then nothing from 2006 to 2011 : the lesson is "they drop when they drop"! In all honesty, The Red Shoes is the only other album of hers that i place at the bottom of the ladder. Of course they aren't bad, but i can intellectualise all i want, i just never put them on, or very rarely. And if i do, in the case of Fifty Words for Snow, i skip the title track - who wants Stephen Fry to repeatedley list words on top of the music over and over -, and the Elton John duet, one of my all-time big disappointments, knowing their admiration fro each other. My last big Kate meltdown was Aerial, sixteen years after The Sensual World!
I think she must have dug him up again, and hurt her hand, doing so. And then she must have buried him again, gone to sleep, and forgotten that part, woke up in the morning, and there were those things she stuffed into his mouth when he made too much noise at the very start.
Maybe there's some link to "Play Misty For Me" ? en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Play_Misty_for_Me (lots of puzzle pieces have the wrong edges, but artistic licence could take care of those.)
Don't get mad at me about my opinions here. They are mine and I'm entitled to them. I have been a huge Kate Bush fan since as a teen boy I discovered her singing backup on Games Without Frontiers for Peter Gabriel. Her first three albums were raw, but very listenable and had quite a few gems in them. Then came a decade and a half of sheer brilliance, from The Dreaming to The Red Shoes, every song on every album could be listened to by itself a hundred times or better yet, in context of them album and just get better with each listening. It also didn't hurt that Kate about the prettiest thing a young man could lay his eyes upon. After the Red Shoes Kate disappeared and didn't really notice. My life was busy with career and family. She finally came back with Ariel. The 2nd half of that album was good, but lacked the punch that her previous work had. The first half was... really not up to the standard that she had created for her music. Most of the music just sounded depressing. When 50 Words for Snow came out I didn't immediately buy it. I tried to listen to it on UA-cam. I ended up scanning the songs, trying to find a pulse, but no. The most up-tempo song was the title sing and Bread's If rocks harder. This album just sounds Luke a depressed middle-aged woman with a pretty voice and the ability to play piano well playing smooth jazz and singing a stream of consciousness set of lyrics. It would be a great album to listen to if you can't get to sleep. Where's the fire that she had with James and the Cold Gun or even more recently Eat the Music?
There's a lot here, a lot of which I'm with and some I'm not, but as you say they're your opinions. I won't go through what you've said, but one point I would make is that she's entitled (to use your word) to go down a more mellow. meditative route with her music, especially as she matures as an artist. Also, I'm a huge Kate fan but do you really consider James and the Cold Gun fiery? :-)
Have to agree with you, although I have to disagree with you suggesting that every track on The Red Shoes album is as good as anything she had done previously. At least I think that is what you mean? At most there are only four good songs on The Red Shoes album, and I think I'm being generous by saying that many! So we saw her standard slipping back then in 1993. Only so much water in the well? Still what a legacy she leaves with all her 70s and 80s material. Best Wishes, Ian
If Talk Talk made an album with Bush, it would be_50 Words._ Sparse & deceptively Progressive, it's a grower. "Wild Man" and "50 Words For Snow" are the standouts, IMO.
Listening to this song, it reminded me of Jane Siberry's work on the album "Maria" and especially the epic track, "Oh My My". Check it out. I had stopped listening to Kate with "Ariel". I like the instrumentation on this track, but she seems to have lost the gift of creating a strong melody. Perhaps much of that is due to the limited vocal range.
I've been a fan of Kate's since the very beginning after seeing her on SNL in Dec. 1978, loved her music (though not her mime dancing). I followed every step of her career, bought the 45 rpm singles to get the b-sides, bought the CD box after buying the albums on CD just to get those b-sides I didn't have. I've loved it all... until this album. This song is mildly interesting, slightly melancholy but tuneless and aimless. It's like a jazz improv piece that doesn't move me, it leaves me cold. Honestly I get more from Joni Mitchell's side-long 'Paprika Plains' from "Don Juan's Reckless Daughter" (a prime candidate for long-song Saturday).
I feel this is far too long for what it gives me. Cut down to a more sensible time and it might be okay, but it always gets a skip forward from me when listening to the whole album.
'Celebrating Krissy Eve with some Bush'... fnaar fnaar, yuk yuk, Finbarr Saunders strikes again. Right, I do like facets of Kate's work, but not this. Maybe it's the season, and i was hoping for something more upbeat, jolly. However, this i found dour, overlong, samey, really rather boring. Not at all my cup of mulled wine.
Upbeat and jolly? Then you want *The Darkness* ua-cam.com/video/IT2Izdw19aI/v-deo.html (But if on reflection it's joyful melancholy you seek, you should go find Major Parkinson's latest, perhaps.)
@@sicko_the_ew Cheers. I remember The Darkness song, though not seen that version before. Re Major Parkinson, I'd never heard of them, but having some time on my hands, I played a few tracks at random. Intriguing band, worthy of more exploration. Norwegians eh, from the land that gave us 'gay santa', an interesting peoples 🙂
@@jfergs.3302 Glad to hear you found something worth listening to from them. (I don't think they offer any gay Santas, but their "Christmas present concert" for this year does have at least one song about suicide on it, so I suppose that's a bit of a different kind of Yuletide.) "A Night at the Library" is the unplugged versions of some of their more melancholy songs. At the other end of the spectrum are some that are completely manic. Nice thing is if they turn out to be musically pleasing to you, on further examination, there's a new album coming out maybe next year, "to start the Boring 20's" as they put it when they said the album would drop this year, last year. ... er ... that might be a bit muddy?
@@sicko_the_ew Yeah, I'd wiki'd them and saw they had something coming out early '22. I'll keep an ear open. Re the gay santa thing, that was on the news yesterday. The Norwegian post office put an TV ad out, 'when harry met santa'. It's to celebrate some anniversary of equality laws the country passed a while ago.
Kate Bush has been doing nothing but lifeless and unappealing songs for three decades now, and even her voice has changed. I don't like it, sorry ! For me Kate's discography stops at The Sensual World.
Strongely dissagree with you. My favourite Kate Bush album is byyy faaarrr Aerial and I think 50 Words for Snow is one of the best albums ever too. Both albums arent easy to get into but calling them ‘lifeless and unappealing’ because you like her more simple songs is wrong. At least we can all agree that Hounds of Love is brillant ❤️
@@Cloudbuster. My opinion is totally different from yours ! On the contrary, I think that the songs that Kate Bush has been doing since the 90s and beyond are simpler ! And about Hounds of Love it's the one I like the least for the period which goes from The Kick Inside to The Sensual World, included. I find Hounds of Love too steeped in the sound of the 80s and the majority of its tracks too linear (I'm thinking in particular of the title track, "Running Up That Hill", "The Big Sky" & "Cloudbusting").
This song is among the lowest points in Kate's career. Self indulgent, uninspired, repetitive and over-produced over nothing. I can't believe she decided to release it.
I think its one of the best songs ever but okay. If you like Kates more simplistic songs (which I love too) than blame it on your taste but not on Kates ability to write songs.
@@Cloudbuster. I think this is a minimalistic song dragged over 13 minutes. It sounds very much like a jam session with her buddies that is fine for them to enjoy playing but it isn't worth recording.
I don't think you talking about Kate Bush.... You can say this about some uninspired repetitive artist's but this album is much deeper... Maybe on a later point in your life you will realize that when you get older you ll find other things meaningful..
@@ap8eioul1 I love Lake Tahoe and can't endure Misty. It has just a few moments worth paying attention and then it drags the same uninspired ideas on and on. It's a song that could benefit being edited down to one third of its length. Kate and jazz definitely don't mix well.
I've been a Kate Bush fan for 36 years (or since Hounds of Love was released). I love her stuff. But in hindsight, I think she probably should've called it quits after The Red Shoes. Every album she's released since then, has been progressively worse, and today, she's but an empty shell of the striking artist she used to be. Her looks are gone. And more importantly, so is her songwriting ability and voice. Her new songs are awful, and she sounds old when she sings. It's a matter of taste, of course, but I don't like old Kate's voice. It sounds........fat. And believe me, I know just how horrible it sounds to say that. But it's true. The snow record is the final drop on the straw for me. It would take a major miracle for her to redeem herself after that.
@@robertjewell9727 He didn't say anything like that but on the other hand he has every right to say that Kate Bush's career doesn't appeal to him since The Red Shoes, which I think too !
@@robertjewell9727 it's treated like heresy to complain that Kate's music isn't what it used to be, but it's true. Everybody loses it eventually, but with Kate it almost seems unnecessary. There's no excuse for making two albums over 20 years without a single rocker among them.
I think it’s maybe one of the most underrated Kate songs. It’s subtle, the melody is very intricate, the voice is so smooth and raunchy. Love it.
Great jazz vibe with Kate's piano and phenomenal drumming from Steve Gadd. And only Kate could write a song about a romantic encounter with a snowman and pull it off so brilliantly and beautiful. Nice atmospheric guitar playing also from Kate's husband Danny McIntosh
50 Words For Snow is a great winter album - but I admit I prefer her outstanding summer album Aerial. Particularly disc 2 (A Sky of Honey) is just an absolute masterpiece and should always be played uninterrupted as one long song.
I couldn't agree more, "A sky of Honey" is simply outstanding from start to finish!!!
A Sky of Honey is as good as The Ninth Wave for me. Both absolute masterpieces of music. I wasn't expecting another album from Kate Bush at all after 12 years, let alone the amazing Aerial.
Kate Bush comes from another world, another galaxy, another generation, another time. She builds a new shape of musical life.
Honestly this is my very fave album by her. And particularly Misty is a freaking masterpiece, how the storyline is culminated at the end by her emotional vocals, so touching.
One of her more underrated albums. 50 Words For Snow, unfortunately, gets dismissed by fans a lot of the time but it really is worth the listen.
Misty is an outstanding track as is the rest of the album.
I agree! The album had to grow on me. Now the one I prefer most, jazzy
Such an intoxicating album. Kate in the 21st century. Have a cool yule.
This song is the masterpiece
Btw my interpretation is she made a perfect man because she was lonely. But he desolved because it was a phantasy
Sounds plausible to me!
Ce titre me touche infiniment tant il s'articule à mon vécu. Il met des mots là où je ne trouvais auparavant que l'indicible. Kate atteint la pureté du minéral. Pas plus pesant qu'un flocon de neige. Eblouissant.
"It's a silly idea. But I hope that what has happened is that there's almost a sense of tenderness. I think it's quite a dark song. And so I hope that I've made it work. But in a lot of ways it shouldn't because... It's ridiculous, isn't it, the idea of the snowman visiting this woman and climbing into bed with her. But I took him as a purely symbolic snowman, it was about...No John, he's REAL (laughs)". - Kate Bush (BBC4 Radio, Front Row, 2011)
I don’t believe you can ever go too far with your interpretation of great art. Single monological meanings only serve to limit the personal impact and significance that art awakens within us. For me, 50 Words For Snow is Bush’s quiet magnum opus; a swan song rounding out a unique career in music. Among the many things it does, Misty takes me all the way back to The Kick Inside, conjuring Kathy so cold at the window. I hear the child-eyed man whose always waiting. I see Lindsay Kemp moving and the tragedy of siblings in love with no more under the quilt to keep you warm. I see how the terrible fear of dying that no longer plays with me and how each of us is fated finally to blow away. I see the kiss of sweet cake and the buildings of New York that look just like mountains through the snow. 50 Words really is Kate’s most sensual and sumptuous album. It exemplifies her patience as a mature artist, a musician, a genius, a woman.
Agreed! Just hope it’s not her swan song :)
I love this song so much, maybe one of my favorite Kate songs. It's just stunning, and I love how it builds up. The instrumentation is so satisfying and feels so nice in my ears, I don't know how to explain it. I love her deeper voice, it's raspy but so smooth at the same time, and she sings with such emotion. Might be one of my favorite vocal performances by her. The song and the entire album has such a wintery atmosphere and it's fascinating how she can create that with just instruments and her voice. The lyrics is a bit odd, but so poetic. I actually really like your theories! Please do the entire album! The songs are long but they shouldn't be a second shorter, it's perfect. I'm so lucky we get snow here in Sweden every winter!
The hate in the comments make me kind of sad, and confused since this is absolutely brilliant.
You can hear how beautiful her voice changed.. It's a brilliant even more mature album with beautiful melodies and obscure themes as usual... I have to admit this album is my favorite for winter time
I have never heard this song before but it is a masterpiece ! Great, insightful reaction ( as always ). Thanks for putting this up and I want to wish you and yours a very Merry Christmas !! :)
This WHOLE album is so great! Check out Michelle Willis and Michael Occhipinti's live cover. I didn't know who Kate Bush was until I heard this album. I actually saw an ad for it in Maxim magazine and then went out and got it when it was released. Blew my mind and I had to look up the rest of her discography.
50 Words for snow was not one of my favourite Kate albums, only liked a couple of tracks , Wildman and Misty, but now heading Misty again wirh headphones i realise its another Kate classic, maybe ill give the album another listen.
Hi Justin, I'm a bit late with finding this video. You did an outstanding job by seperating the musical part from the lyrical part. This way the song is so much easier too comprehend for me. Although it is 10 years old, up until now I could not really get behind the melting snowman in her bed.... The lyrics didn't grab me before, but the music really did. Now you made them come together for me. When you mentioned winter as a metafor for death, it clicked. I follow you in your interpretation that she is singing about a loved one who died (suddenly?) Maybe even an old childhood friend. Remembering building snowmen together and drifting off into a phantasy. Then this spirit appears to her. And the snowman in her phantasy and the spirit of her old friend get mixed up? And her not knowing what to think of it? This album to me has an overall theme. And it is not winter. Winter as a theme is just the vehicle to bring the stories together. Each track describes a yearning for the elusive. That longed for something or someone that almost, but actually never comes within our reach.
I think this is one of the most grown-up albums she ever made, alongside The Sensual World. I hope you will find the time to go deeper into it.
Merry X-mas and all the best for the New Year to you, your family and all your other followers.
We don't get snow too often where I live, but when we do, I grab a hot drink and listen to Misty and Snowflake and watch it falling. These two songs are now my soundtrack to a snowfall. The piano and drums in Misty remind me of Vince Guaraldi and a Charlie Brown Christmas, and I find the piano motif that runs down, sometimes with the strings, particularly haunting and moving. Thanks for your reaction. I hope you have a wonderful Christmas.
I add that this song has some of her most beautiful voice work ever.
All the phrase from : full of dead leaves… until from slumbering lawn is incredible.
Just as amazing as « moving and glistening… » in A Coral Room. You should definitely review this one and Mrs Bartolozzi from the Aerial Album.
That voice. (Almost no one ever reviews these 2 songs and they are so special)
Great that you choose a song from this snowy jazzy album. For me, I sort of fell in love with her when I was 15 and heard Hounds of Love. But…. 50 Words for Snow has become my favourite. The dynamics toeards the end in Misty are really great. Thanks!
The blood pointing towards a ritual is really an eye opener! Do you know that Jewish mysticism has the ritual of Golum creating……! This really reminds me of Kates ritual (but gollums are made of clay in stead of snow)
I think it is called golem. Not of the lord of the rings….. although Tolkien maybe plays with this word in creating the creature gollum…..?
This song is so loaded with sensuality and beauty. You can hear the sexual longing, as though it's being sung from the perspective of someone who's never known sexual love, or is yet to experience it. Just like Emily Bronte wrote one of the greatest love stories without ever having known a man or what it was to love and have a physical relationship
I guess, from some of the comments, that our past musical idols should remain frozen in time.
Hey! Phil's in a wheelchair, Joni will never sound like herself again and Charlie is dead..
Well boys and girls, a lot of us won't have to be bummed about the great ones of our youth passing, as we will be gone soon too.
Thanks JP for reminding us that new ears can find beauty where old, JADED ones, may only want echoes from the past.
I think Bush still sounds pretty amazing.
Snowflake, Lake Tahoe, and Misty seem to carry a similar feeling. I think Lake Tahoe is my favorite on the album, it is very haunting. The opening track 'Snowflake' is astonishing, and it carries that sense of magic that only Kate can invoke. It really does feel like you are floating down from high above with millions of other snowflakes on a quiet night. The lyrics suggest that the snowflake is descending and dancing as it falls, to meet a loved one on the ground below. I think it is just slightly too long, the hypnotic cycle keeps repeating and those last two repeats seem almost redundant. The statement was made very clearly with the last vocal phrases, which are absolutely stunning...
We should be friends!😉Lake tahoe is also my favorite! I feel so alone in my Kate worship! Nobody in my surroundings can appreciate the genius Kate is!
@@jelniemeijer4921 The only real fellow appreciators I have are my musician buddies. I am a professional musician and have found that musicians and artists get Kate more than anyone else.
Yes, i feel like i am walking alone in Kate's musical paintings! I am a very emotional person who feels really deep, Kate is my number 1 in touching my soul! I am glad to hear musicians around you can feel that too! All the love...
What a great analysis of the song musically, and you're right, there is so much to appreciate with every Kate Bush album, and this is certainly Kate in a very different, mature phase in her life. Lyrically, it's great that you are able to dig so deep, regardless of what Kate was thinking. I know this album is more seasonal, but I agree with the others who say you need to listen to Aerial, her return to music after a lengthy hiatus. It's right up there with Hounds of Love and The Dreaming for me. Merry Christmas to you, Justin!
My brother dutifully worked in the crushed and stolen grasses of a 'man's work existence and loved his wife dearly to the end where he died of cancer and spent the last 6 months sweating profusely in his bed with his wife beside him as he melted away. It hailed one day and after sweating all night in his bed with a 105 temperature he passed away. His wife always looked for him especially when it snowed at their cabin in Truckee or skiing but she never found him. She died of loneliness 3 years later at 53 years of age. Her heart just stopped beating.
I think your interpretation is pretty spot on. What of course makes the lyrics come to life is Kate's musical phrasing and descriptive nuance so it feels both very imaginative and also very real although I never sense that it's ritualistic, but almost accidental in that she, as in a dream, somehow has a cut on her hand and it reminds her of life while in the cold and yet it makes her go back into her house clearly to mend it not yet realizing in dream fashion what her warmth is capable of. It's definitely dream imagery. The "on the ledge" finale I think signifies that to "find" him she must now become a snow woman and freeze to death to join him. It's a real phantasm tale, isn't it? and it works because nothing is resolved except that her sense of loss and wanting is so physical and ticking back and forth between inner warmth and wintry coldness.
Such a gentle, pastoral rolling style - perfect for relaxing at home. I have Kate's previous double CD Aerial - it has that same casual, flowing style.
Misty is one of my favourite songs. The build up is amazing.
25:32 Ice cream can be made from snow. People might still do.
Wonderful analysis of the music and the meaning.
First of all, I think it's great that you played the entire track first, as is, without commentary.
Your analysis of "hand is bleeding" is the first time I heard it and for me anyway adds an additional layer of complexity to the song. Could be! I have certainly never cut my hand making a snowman before...
I also thought your analysis of the missing/perhaps departed partner as a replacement adds an interesting level to the song. Kate often writes on multiple levels at the same time.
My baseline read is just an encounter with a snowman/spirit. "Melting in my hand" I think is also polyvalent, with one of the nuances being a sexual connotation (as well as "sheets are soaking"). She does, after all, call it a "tryst" (Kate is married to the guy who plays guitar on the track). "Open window closing" to me is her thinking that the spirit still exists somewhere, and the closing window also represents the closing of their window of opportunity for being together as the spirit leaves her bedroom. "Going out on the ledge", I read it the way you did. Like she is considering jumping.
One of the best songs ever! Merry Christmas Just JP! ❤️
She was awesome as a young performer, but just got better, and better.....
This album is lovely. Wildman is the single, and is the most friendly musically. Her creativity never stops!
The masterpiece on this album is Lake Tahoe. The video with shadow puppets is stunning.
Merry Christmas to you and your family, JP. 🎄 Thank you for the daily gifts that you’ve given us throughout the year. 🎁
I like the song and I like your interpretation (I don't know if it is correct but it is interesting). Kate's voice seems different. deeper maybe. I like it better. Winter seems like death but it is just a rest before spring can bring renewal. Most importantly... there are no mosquitos in the winter.
In case I forget, a very happy holidays to everyone who reads this, especially OGH and his lovely wife, from sleepy, snowy Winnipeg (Winterpeg is more like it atm).
It is deeper, sometime in her 12 years off (1993-2005) she changed from a pure soprano to a mezzo-soprano, probably due to age and the effects of smoking. She makes it work, though, her new voice suits her more jazz-influenced later music very well.
Kate Bush goes Joni Mitchell. Style ..Fabulous Those Piano CHORDS
This is Kate to the Nth power: sensual, quirky, moving, tragic. (Who else could sing about a one-night stand with a snowman and leave listeners in tears and not laughter?)
I feel so privileged to have co-existed in a time period where Kate was writing, performing, and releasing so much genius. I hope there is more forthcoming as she enters her golden years.
I had never heard Kate Bush until I heard her on UA-cam. I see a very mixed review here in the comments about this piece, which confuses me... cause I think this was brilliant.
A lot of fans are very attached to her art pop/rock sound from the 70s and 80s and thus end up dismissing her later work which owes more to jazz than pop in terms of structure and melody.
Sadly her later work often gets ignored because of this. But in my opinion, her last two albums Aerial and 50 Words For Snow are just as great as her earlier work in a more mature understated manner. Give them a listen if you're interested.
I agree it's brilliant
Love that song very much, thanks Justin
Personifying a snowman? So creatively demented. Very jazzy tune with a good dose of atmosphere. Almost bluesy.
Kate should stray into straight up jazz. I think she has the depth of feeling and range that could be a great trip.
I'd be so glad if you also react to her Aerial album which she released after her big hiatus. :))
The structural observations you made about the track are preety much the strategy she uses for almost the whole album.
I believe Lake Tahoe is where she best achieves this long and slow storytelling. Snowflake is odd and wonderfull to.
Wild Man is a wonderfull, beutifull, bonkers Kate track. And Among Angels is stunning.
Hi Justin. Dave from The Smoke. We're Walking In The Air! There's millions of us who have watched and enjoyed The Snowman film many times at Christmas. Maybe some of us secretly wish that, as in the film, snowmen actually come to life - maybe Kate too. Lovely playing & singing - nothing much else to say about the song - 13 minutes, really? P.S. The version I have of Walking in the Air is by Rainbow!
Yes, I have loved your channel over the last year - you are the absolute best, Justin - thank you so much, not least for putting up with my sometimes cynical comments and song references. Happy Christmas to you and your family, and all Just JP'ers out there.
Kate is bush .
Forever .
'December Will Be Magic Again' is my go-to Kate Bush Xmas jam...
I love the chill of her snow album, newly melting into my ears. The percussive was seductive.
Kate is a legend
So,deep, mystic.She is true
I'm so glad you listened to this song! This album is my absolutely favorite of hers
The best song on this superb album is her duet with Elton John, Snowed In At Wheeler Street. Misty is a very close second for me.
Agree I love that song
Long song Kate… I don’t care for her explanation, for me it’s about pain and hurt of missing someone specific or someone to come. The song is too long for some but that’s how it feels to be alone for too long, a little bit longer than you can comfortably take. It’s not fun, it’s not jolly or festive. It hurts, but you have to find other ways to enjoy life and continue.
Hope you Justin and Nat have a wonderful holiday. You have been a gift that keeps giving. Music and friends, that don’t always agree have made the year(s) a better one.
Peace and getting misty Music
Like a lot of artists with depth I don't think Kate was explaining, but tossing the "what is it about?" question away with a little bit of humour because good artists don't explain; they let the work speak for itself.
@@robertjewell9727
Plus they allow or want other interpretations.
Great choice for trhe Christmas. Kate Bush is adorable. Happy Christmas and a New Year plenty not only of great music but a life to enjoy all the greatest things the world enables.
Misty is a fine song, and the change in Kate's voice is welcome for me, but i do wish you had started at the sublime Snowflake
I love this album. Whenever we get the first major snow of the season, I listen to it with a good cup of hot chocolate. This particular song makes me feel the languid chill of the season with it's uneven pauses/spaces anticipating the next note (weather) and the piano keys sparkling like individual snowflakes and the build-up with both her deepening voice and added instrumental layers is like the snow as it gets deeper and deeper...easy to bury yourself in it. The sudden silence in the middle before the continuing crescendo feels like the muffled silence after the first blanket of snow covers everything - almost like the how the outside feels the first time I go out to shovel (which I tend to do in intervals during a major storm because I can't shovel 3 feet deep of snow at the time so I tend to go out after every 5-6 inches to shovel if I can) It's often in the middle of the night when I'm shoveling the first couple of times - no one is outside, it's incredibly silent, almost magical. I always take a few minutes to just enjoy the scenery before I start working). After the first couple of rounds though, the weight of it becomes a chore so the growl is perfect reflection for that for me. It's my personal interpretation of major snowfall - slow down at the beginning, enjoy the calm silence for awhile but then eventually you have to dig yourself out because you have to go to work.
Great analysis.
I hope she'll release new album next year 🤞
PLEASE react to the rest of the album :)
Probably my favourite song on the album , It’s a gd album Kate chilling as she gets older . I fully expect her music if we get anymore 🙏 to continue along this path but you never know she dies like to surprise us
You are up early - Happy Christmas
Beautiful song, there"s an animation to go with part of the song which shows us what's going on, spoiler alert: there's melting.
What’s not to like! Kate Bush! Christmas Eve! Justin vid!
Happy Christmas!
Merry Christmas Justin to you and your family, thanks for a great year of entertainment and looking forward to more of the same in 2022 please.
Love this - not previously heard this album. For some reason this track makes me think of Drive Home by Steven Wilson. Give that a try if you've not already done so.
I'm glad Kate got another one out this decade, who knows if that may be it. I do love her approach with the piano and vocals really shining on this one. A side note. Steven W. Tayler mixes this album along with some production work. SWT worked along side producer songwriter Rupert Hine. I hope some day you'll spend some time with his inovative trilogy of albums one of my favorites Wildest Wish to Fly (the title track. It is obscure though, won't bring you many subscribers. Take Care
I graciously extend to Kate Bush my highest possible compliment: that she is almost--ALMOST--as good a singer as I, myself, would be if I could sing.
Cant beat a bit of Bush. Merry Christmas to you also.
Hey man, great reactions. You should react to Kate bush aerial
Ty Daniel! Definitely will get to it
Taking a lateral step, may I suggest listening to Winter by Happy Rhodes. Firstly because it's seasonal, secondly because she is a huge Kate Bush fan and sounds eerily like her in the higher register, but mostly because it is a stunningly beautiful song.
Her blood from her hand gave the snowman life. Almost ritualistic in a sense.
Not my favorite Kate album, but I do like this song a lot.
My favourite winter album. Snowflake pls!
Snow is getting more and more rare with climate change. We had snow every years until 2010, since there are more and ore years without. We had not even one snowflake until now for this year !
Not one of my favorite albums by Kate (that would be The Dreaming) but it is one of my favorite tracks and I can appreciate the jazz undertones and production of the song. You're take on the song is fascinating
Hey bud could you react to Kate's cover of "Rocket Man" or her song "Nocturn."
I think you’re overanalyzing the lyrics here.
According to Kate it’s just a silly song.
A woman builds a snowman, gets him into her bed. They are having a very hot an steamy night together but snowmen can’t stand the heat and melts.
The soaking sheets are a reminder of the sweaty night.
Great analysis of the music though. Did you notice all the little noises she added throughout the whole song?
And the big orchestra that appears in the middle of the song for only two seconds!
Genius!
@richard pels I think you are spot on.
I always enjoy your reactions to my favourite artist Kate Bush there wonderful, Have a great Christmas and a fantastic new year 🇬🇧
Errrr...YES!
Having bought every one of her albums on the original day of their releases, i must say i stopped expecting them - nothing from 86 to 89, nothing from 90 to 92, nothing from 94 to 2005! Then nothing from 2006 to 2011 : the lesson is "they drop when they drop"! In all honesty, The Red Shoes is the only other album of hers that i place at the bottom of the ladder. Of course they aren't bad, but i can intellectualise all i want, i just never put them on, or very rarely. And if i do, in the case of Fifty Words for Snow, i skip the title track - who wants Stephen Fry to repeatedley list words on top of the music over and over -, and the Elton John duet, one of my all-time big disappointments, knowing their admiration fro each other. My last big Kate meltdown was Aerial, sixteen years after The Sensual World!
Play misty for me, is a "scary" Clint Eastwood movie. good luck
I think she must have dug him up again, and hurt her hand, doing so. And then she must have buried him again, gone to sleep, and forgotten that part, woke up in the morning, and there were those things she stuffed into his mouth when he made too much noise at the very start.
Maybe there's some link to "Play Misty For Me" ? en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Play_Misty_for_Me (lots of puzzle pieces have the wrong edges, but artistic licence could take care of those.)
Still trying to get into this album. This song just seems to meander in the falling snow, without going much of anywhere.
Don't get mad at me about my opinions here. They are mine and I'm entitled to them.
I have been a huge Kate Bush fan since as a teen boy I discovered her singing backup on Games Without Frontiers for Peter Gabriel.
Her first three albums were raw, but very listenable and had quite a few gems in them. Then came a decade and a half of sheer brilliance, from The Dreaming to The Red Shoes, every song on every album could be listened to by itself a hundred times or better yet, in context of them album and just get better with each listening. It also didn't hurt that Kate about the prettiest thing a young man could lay his eyes upon.
After the Red Shoes Kate disappeared and didn't really notice. My life was busy with career and family.
She finally came back with Ariel. The 2nd half of that album was good, but lacked the punch that her previous work had. The first half was... really not up to the standard that she had created for her music. Most of the music just sounded depressing.
When 50 Words for Snow came out I didn't immediately buy it. I tried to listen to it on UA-cam. I ended up scanning the songs, trying to find a pulse, but no. The most up-tempo song was the title sing and Bread's If rocks harder.
This album just sounds Luke a depressed middle-aged woman with a pretty voice and the ability to play piano well playing smooth jazz and singing a stream of consciousness set of lyrics. It would be a great album to listen to if you can't get to sleep. Where's the fire that she had with James and the Cold Gun or even more recently Eat the Music?
There's a lot here, a lot of which I'm with and some I'm not, but as you say they're your opinions. I won't go through what you've said, but one point I would make is that she's entitled (to use your word) to go down a more mellow. meditative route with her music, especially as she matures as an artist. Also, I'm a huge Kate fan but do you really consider James and the Cold Gun fiery? :-)
@@steveseager by comparison. It's the most up-tempo song on her first album, which is why I used it.
Have to agree with you, although I have to disagree with you suggesting that every track on The Red Shoes album is as good as anything she had done previously. At least I think that is what you mean?
At most there are only four good songs on The Red Shoes album, and I think I'm being generous by saying that many! So we saw her standard slipping back then in 1993. Only so much water in the well?
Still what a legacy she leaves with all her 70s and 80s material. Best Wishes, Ian
She just changed a little bit.
@@adammckee3496 fair enough. We're all Kate fans here whatever our opinions 🙂
If Talk Talk made an album with Bush, it would be_50 Words._ Sparse & deceptively Progressive, it's a grower. "Wild Man" and "50 Words For Snow" are the standouts, IMO.
Listening to this song, it reminded me of Jane Siberry's work on the album "Maria" and especially the epic track, "Oh My My". Check it out.
I had stopped listening to Kate with "Ariel". I like the instrumentation on this track, but she seems to have lost the gift of creating a strong melody. Perhaps much of that is due to the limited vocal range.
I've been a fan of Kate's since the very beginning after seeing her on SNL in Dec. 1978, loved her music (though not her mime dancing). I followed every step of her career, bought the 45 rpm singles to get the b-sides, bought the CD box after buying the albums on CD just to get those b-sides I didn't have. I've loved it all... until this album.
This song is mildly interesting, slightly melancholy but tuneless and aimless. It's like a jazz improv piece that doesn't move me, it leaves me cold. Honestly I get more from Joni Mitchell's side-long 'Paprika Plains' from "Don Juan's Reckless Daughter" (a prime candidate for long-song Saturday).
I feel this is far too long for what it gives me. Cut down to a more sensible time and it might be okay, but it always gets a skip forward from me when listening to the whole album.
Kate is my everything, but i do tend to skip this one.
I think this long slow narrative strategy works perfectly in Lake Tahoe though.
'Celebrating Krissy Eve with some Bush'... fnaar fnaar, yuk yuk, Finbarr Saunders strikes again. Right, I do like facets of Kate's work, but not this. Maybe it's the season, and i was hoping for something more upbeat, jolly. However, this i found dour, overlong, samey, really rather boring. Not at all my cup of mulled wine.
Upbeat and jolly? Then you want *The Darkness* ua-cam.com/video/IT2Izdw19aI/v-deo.html
(But if on reflection it's joyful melancholy you seek, you should go find Major Parkinson's latest, perhaps.)
@@sicko_the_ew Cheers. I remember The Darkness song, though not seen that version before. Re Major Parkinson, I'd never heard of them, but having some time on my hands, I played a few tracks at random. Intriguing band, worthy of more exploration. Norwegians eh, from the land that gave us 'gay santa', an interesting peoples 🙂
@@jfergs.3302 Glad to hear you found something worth listening to from them. (I don't think they offer any gay Santas, but their "Christmas present concert" for this year does have at least one song about suicide on it, so I suppose that's a bit of a different kind of Yuletide.) "A Night at the Library" is the unplugged versions of some of their more melancholy songs. At the other end of the spectrum are some that are completely manic.
Nice thing is if they turn out to be musically pleasing to you, on further examination, there's a new album coming out maybe next year, "to start the Boring 20's" as they put it when they said the album would drop this year, last year. ... er ... that might be a bit muddy?
@@sicko_the_ew Yeah, I'd wiki'd them and saw they had something coming out early '22. I'll keep an ear open. Re the gay santa thing, that was on the news yesterday. The Norwegian post office put an TV ad out, 'when harry met santa'. It's to celebrate some anniversary of equality laws the country passed a while ago.
Kate Bush has been doing nothing but lifeless and unappealing songs for three decades now, and even her voice has changed. I don't like it, sorry !
For me Kate's discography stops at The Sensual World.
Red Shoes is good, but otherwise I agree.
Here comes bad take barry
Strongely dissagree with you. My favourite Kate Bush album is byyy faaarrr Aerial and I think 50 Words for Snow is one of the best albums ever too. Both albums arent easy to get into but calling them ‘lifeless and unappealing’ because you like her more simple songs is wrong. At least we can all agree that Hounds of Love is brillant ❤️
@@Cloudbuster. My opinion is totally different from yours ! On the contrary, I think that the songs that Kate Bush has been doing since the 90s and beyond are simpler ! And about Hounds of Love it's the one I like the least for the period which goes from The Kick Inside to The Sensual World, included. I find Hounds of Love too steeped in the sound of the 80s and the majority of its tracks too linear (I'm thinking in particular of the title track, "Running Up That Hill", "The Big Sky" & "Cloudbusting").
This song is among the lowest points in Kate's career. Self indulgent, uninspired, repetitive and over-produced over nothing. I can't believe she decided to release it.
I think its one of the best songs ever but okay. If you like Kates more simplistic songs (which I love too) than blame it on your taste but not on Kates ability to write songs.
@@Cloudbuster. I think this is a minimalistic song dragged over 13 minutes. It sounds very much like a jam session with her buddies that is fine for them to enjoy playing but it isn't worth recording.
I don't think you talking about Kate Bush.... You can say this about some uninspired repetitive artist's but this album is much deeper... Maybe on a later point in your life you will realize that when you get older you ll find other things meaningful..
@@ap8eioul1 I love Lake Tahoe and can't endure Misty. It has just a few moments worth paying attention and then it drags the same uninspired ideas on and on. It's a song that could benefit being edited down to one third of its length. Kate and jazz definitely don't mix well.
I've been a Kate Bush fan for 36 years (or since Hounds of Love was released). I love her stuff.
But in hindsight, I think she probably should've called it quits after The Red Shoes. Every album she's released since then,
has been progressively worse, and today, she's but an empty shell of the striking artist she used to be.
Her looks are gone. And more importantly, so is her songwriting ability and voice. Her new songs are awful, and she sounds old when she sings.
It's a matter of taste, of course, but I don't like old Kate's voice. It sounds........fat. And believe me, I know just how horrible it sounds to say that.
But it's true. The snow record is the final drop on the straw for me. It would take a major miracle for her to redeem herself after that.
She doesn't owe you anything.
@@robertjewell9727 He didn't say anything like that but on the other hand he has every right to say that Kate Bush's career doesn't appeal to him since The Red Shoes, which I think too !
@@robertjewell9727 it's treated like heresy to complain that Kate's music isn't what it used to be, but it's true. Everybody loses it eventually, but with Kate it almost seems unnecessary. There's no excuse for making two albums over 20 years without a single rocker among them.
Aerial came after red shoes, and is way better.
@@a.k.1740 , his phrasing is diabolic not his opinion. Please pay attention to intention.