JUST ANOTHER GAL FROM CASPER: WHAT I’M LISTENING TO RIGHT NOW EDITION…
A million years or so ago, long before season 4 of Stranger Things made her a household name, a righteous dude named Troy changed the course of my music listening by introducing me to Kate Bush’s album, The Dreaming…
Kate Bush began gracing the world with musical genius in the late 70s with 1978’s The Kick Inside. One of my favorite KB songs, “The Man with the Child in His Eyes,” springs from that album…
I had never experienced music like hers before. I mean, I’d heard rock and pop music from the UK, but Kate Bush’s music was other-worldly. Not the popular stuff that dominated the U.S. charts in the ’70s and ’80s. Even by today’s “experimental” or “alternative” standards, her music still claims a space all its own. I love her voice — at times plaintive but sweet and clear; often raw and emotional, and always, always passionate, like with Hounds of Love’s “Running up That Hill”…
Her lyrics are poetic and surreal. Her music includes piano, bass, strings, whistle and more. And, thanks to what was then state-of-the-art synth and drum machines, a myriad of other instruments and sounds. She creates characters and storylines that are richly imaginative, and her videos are often theatrical, dance-filled images accompanying her expressive lyrics like some sort of fever dream…
There’s just something about her music that pulls me in. Every. Single. Time. Maybe the music, maybe the story, maybe just the way a song makes me feel…it’s never boring to me. No matter what mood I’m in, I can listen to Kate. She has 10 studio albums, and I love every one. My favorite of the bunch is Hounds of Love, and the song I love best on that album (and maybe my favorite KB song, period) is “And Dream of Sheep,” telling the story of a woman adrift at sea…
There’s something so disturbing and yet peaceful about it — and if that sounds like a contradiction, well, welcome to Kate Bush.
If you, like myself, are always searching for music that speaks to your senses and soul, listen to Kate Bush on places like YouTube, Spotify, or Apple Music, or order her albums for your collection from downtown Casper’s Sonic Rainbow. And Troy, if you’re out there somewhere, just know I owe you a huge musical debt.
