"Er, amazing? No — too obvious. Uh, hang on a mo..."
"...appetising? No — hey don't go away..."
"...provocative? piquant? tantalising?..."
"...interesting? Yes, that's it — interesting!"
— Ian "Jocky" Cranna
Interesting? Interesting? Well, that's some hefty praise fromRed Starr Ian "Jocky"
Cranna. Perhaps years of being decencitised to this particular adjective as an
ESL instructor (sample teacher-student exchange: "Why do you like horror
movies?" "Interesting") leaves me with the feeling that His Nibs
doesn't really mean it. Or he's baiting us readers (or "viewers" as
ver Hits liked to label the increasing number of young people who shelled out
43p to "view" every fortnightly issue) by using increasingly flowery
language to get us to follow along with him to the end of the page only to
finish with something so trite. Whatever his intentions, who can blame him? How
does go about describing such an extraordinary record as "Running Up That
Hill"?
Cranna has put together one of the most "interesting" of reviews this issue. The SOTF isn't in its by now customary spot at the top of the page on the left and it's being presented as if he's going through the records while doing his write up. Early favourites ("God bless Marc Almond!", "God bless Propaganda!", "God bless Shakatak!": he sure wants to keep ver Lord busy blessing moderately popular "stars") are quickly dispensed with, each one failing to live up to Cranna's lofty expectations. Bland offerings from The Thompson Twins and a Mike Barson-free Madness are similarly dispensed with before he comes to the latest single by Kate Bush. "Now this is how to return in style!" he enthuses.
It was quite a return for Kate Bush. A star since her late teens when all of Britain fell for "Wuthering Heights" (and who could blame them?), she began losing momentum with 1982's The Dreaming. Many critics didn't think it was much cop (though David Hepworth reckoned it was rather good, commenting that "it's good to see someone go over the top and come back in one piece"), it didn't sell as well as its predecessors and only one accompanying single, "Sat in Your Lap", managed to "dent" the hit parade. Then, she promptly disappeared. Rumours began spreading that she had fled to the south of France or she'd been using her layover to binge on junk food and had ballooned to two hundred and fifty pounds. Whatever else may have been going on, the dumper beckoned.
Not that that mattered in the slightest to Kate Bush. The Dreaming didn't sell but it strengthened her resolve. While the gossipers were having a field day, she was busy starting her own recording studio and perfecting the material that would return her to the top of the charts and fully establish her reputation as a major figure.
"Running Up That Hill" kicks it all off with clearly her most astonishing piece since "Wuthering Heights". Cryptically singing about gender issues and the need to swap roles, she brings up making a "deal with God" (the song's original title until she was strongarmed into changing it for fear of offending some — possibly some of the very same folk who are always whining about political correctness) to allow the sexes to understand each other better. Fine intentions, of course, but in less capable hands this could be dangerous territory to tread upon, issues having the tendency to overwhelm the songs they're utilized in. Bush being too much of an individualist to make this a feminist lament, she acknowledges not really being able to comprehend being male any better than a man can understand being a woman. She doesn’t expound upon much — just what she’s offering God in this deal, is her beau likely to agree to a sex swap — but what would be a Kate Bush track without leaving more questions unanswered in the end?
The only problem is that "Running Up That Hill" is almost on its own, with just the gorgeous piano ballad "Under the Ivy" on the record's flip to accompany it. It's a sparkling single but an even better opener to her masterpiece Hounds of Love. Then again, releasing the first cut as a teaser could only have made everyone salivate over what was to come — and they wouldn't be disappointed. Amazing? Appetising? Provocative? Piquant? Tantalising? Interesting? All of those — and so much more.
~~~~~
Also Reviewed This Fortnight
The Woodentops: "Well Well Well"
A London quintet with a musical debt to The Smiths and one Animal Jesus (XTC's Andy Partridge in yet another in-no-way on the nose alias) doing production duties, The Woodentops looked like the next indie darlings when the emerged in the summer of '85. This lot weren't watching Paul Young croon at Live Aid a month earlier. Energetic and raw, "Well Well Well" is good sketch of where they were but it seems a long way off from the superb Giant album they would release a year later. A pity I know what is to come which prevents me from fully enjoying what they've done here but at least they didn't piss their promise away.
Interesting? Interesting? Well, that's some hefty praise from
Cranna has put together one of the most "interesting" of reviews this issue. The SOTF isn't in its by now customary spot at the top of the page on the left and it's being presented as if he's going through the records while doing his write up. Early favourites ("God bless Marc Almond!", "God bless Propaganda!", "God bless Shakatak!": he sure wants to keep ver Lord busy blessing moderately popular "stars") are quickly dispensed with, each one failing to live up to Cranna's lofty expectations. Bland offerings from The Thompson Twins and a Mike Barson-free Madness are similarly dispensed with before he comes to the latest single by Kate Bush. "Now this is how to return in style!" he enthuses.
It was quite a return for Kate Bush. A star since her late teens when all of Britain fell for "Wuthering Heights" (and who could blame them?), she began losing momentum with 1982's The Dreaming. Many critics didn't think it was much cop (though David Hepworth reckoned it was rather good, commenting that "it's good to see someone go over the top and come back in one piece"), it didn't sell as well as its predecessors and only one accompanying single, "Sat in Your Lap", managed to "dent" the hit parade. Then, she promptly disappeared. Rumours began spreading that she had fled to the south of France or she'd been using her layover to binge on junk food and had ballooned to two hundred and fifty pounds. Whatever else may have been going on, the dumper beckoned.
Not that that mattered in the slightest to Kate Bush. The Dreaming didn't sell but it strengthened her resolve. While the gossipers were having a field day, she was busy starting her own recording studio and perfecting the material that would return her to the top of the charts and fully establish her reputation as a major figure.
"Running Up That Hill" kicks it all off with clearly her most astonishing piece since "Wuthering Heights". Cryptically singing about gender issues and the need to swap roles, she brings up making a "deal with God" (the song's original title until she was strongarmed into changing it for fear of offending some — possibly some of the very same folk who are always whining about political correctness) to allow the sexes to understand each other better. Fine intentions, of course, but in less capable hands this could be dangerous territory to tread upon, issues having the tendency to overwhelm the songs they're utilized in. Bush being too much of an individualist to make this a feminist lament, she acknowledges not really being able to comprehend being male any better than a man can understand being a woman. She doesn’t expound upon much — just what she’s offering God in this deal, is her beau likely to agree to a sex swap — but what would be a Kate Bush track without leaving more questions unanswered in the end?
Vocals, instruments, production
are all tied together beautifully with every detail immaculately thought out.
Elements of prog rock, art rock and so-called world music have all been stirred
up (Bush’s musical open-mindedness was such that Chris Heath had to admit in
his glowing review a month later in Smash
Hits that “it’s the sort of record your parents will probably like too and
will pinch off you to play”) and talented multi-instrumentalist brother Paddy’s
balalaika playing is a particular highlight, giving it the feel of Eastern
European peasants digging ditches and cooking up cast iron pots of borscht.
The only problem is that "Running Up That Hill" is almost on its own, with just the gorgeous piano ballad "Under the Ivy" on the record's flip to accompany it. It's a sparkling single but an even better opener to her masterpiece Hounds of Love. Then again, releasing the first cut as a teaser could only have made everyone salivate over what was to come — and they wouldn't be disappointed. Amazing? Appetising? Provocative? Piquant? Tantalising? Interesting? All of those — and so much more.
~~~~~
Also Reviewed This Fortnight
The Woodentops: "Well Well Well"
A London quintet with a musical debt to The Smiths and one Animal Jesus (XTC's Andy Partridge in yet another in-no-way on the nose alias) doing production duties, The Woodentops looked like the next indie darlings when the emerged in the summer of '85. This lot weren't watching Paul Young croon at Live Aid a month earlier. Energetic and raw, "Well Well Well" is good sketch of where they were but it seems a long way off from the superb Giant album they would release a year later. A pity I know what is to come which prevents me from fully enjoying what they've done here but at least they didn't piss their promise away.
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