The Dreaming (album)

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Houdini in Handcuffs, 1918.JPG
Stephen King, Comicon.jpg
Escape artist Harry Houdini (left) and The Shining (author Stephen King pictured right) were among Bush's inspirations for the songs' subjects.

The Dreaming has been characterised as an experimental release. [19] [7] [20] The album employs folk instruments such as mandolins, uilleann pipes, and didgeridoos, [21] shifting time signatures and textures, polyrhythmic percussion, samples [7] and vocal loops. [22] Its songs draw inspiration from a variety of sources, including old crime films ("There Goes a Tenner"), a documentary about the war in Vietnam ("Pull Out the Pin"), the plight of Indigenous Australians ("The Dreaming"), the life of Harry Houdini ("Houdini") and Stephen King's novel The Shining ("Get Out of My House"). Other tracks explore more personal issues; "Sat in Your Lap" examines feelings of existential frustration and the search for knowledge, while "Leave It Open" speaks of the need to acknowledge and express the darker sides of one's personality. [23] [24] The Quietus suggested that "The Dreaming's disparate narratives frequently seem to be tropes for Bush's quest for artistic autonomy and the anxieties that accompany it." [7] Barry Walters of Pitchfork described its sound as more similar to experimental post-punk bands such as Siouxsie and the Banshees and Public Image Ltd in comparison to her previous works. [25]

Release and commercial performance

Bush in 1982 Kate Bush 1982.jpg
Bush in 1982

The album was released on 13 September 1982. [26] The album peaked at No. 3 in the UK. It however remained on the chart for only 10 weeks, making this Bush's lowest-selling album, being certified just silver. [27] [28]

"The main thing I heard was 'uncommercial'... the label that the press, the record company put on it. But for an uncommercial record to go straight in at No.3 in the charts seems ironic to me."

Kate Bush (1984) [29]

In November the next (and final UK release) single, "There Goes a Tenner", was released in the UK. It is Bush's only single not to enter the UK top 75. [27] In Europe, "Suspended in Gaffa" was released instead, which performed better chartwise. Belatedly, another single, "Night of the Swallow" was released in Ireland in November 1983.

Despite the album's relatively lacklustre sales elsewhere, The Dreaming was Bush's first album to dent the US Billboard Top 200, largely due to the growing influence of college radio and MTV. Following this, an EP was released in 1983, which also charted. In 1984, her second and third albums ( Lionheart , and Never for Ever , respectively) were belatedly released in the US.

With the lengthy and expensive studio time used to complete the album, EMI Records were concerned at the relatively low yield of the album. Following this, Bush decided to build her own studio where she could be free to spend as much time as she liked. Although her next album, Hounds of Love (1985), was another long-gestating project, it returned Bush to the top of the charts.

The album cover depicts a scene described in the lyrics to the song "Houdini". In the picture shown, Bush (wearing a houndstooth jacket/coat) is acting as Harry Houdini's wife Bess, holding a key in her mouth, which she is about to pass on to him. The photograph is rendered in sepia, with just the gold key and Bush's eye make-up showing any colour. The man with her on the cover photograph was her bass player, engineer and then-partner Del Palmer. In 2023, Joe Lynch of Billboard ranked it the 96th best album cover of all time. [30]

In November 2018, Bush released box sets of remasters of her studio albums, including The Dreaming.

Critical reception

The Dreaming
Katebushthedreaming.png
Studio album by
Released13 September 1982 (1982-09-13)
RecordedSeptember 1980 – May 1982
Studio Advision, Odyssey, Abbey Road and Townhouse, (all) London
Genre
Length43:25
Label EMI
Producer Kate Bush
Kate Bush chronology
Never for Ever
(1980)
The Dreaming
(1982)
Kate Bush
(1983)
Kate Bush studio album chronology
Never for Ever
(1980)
The Dreaming
(1982)
Hounds of Love
(1985)
Professional ratings
Review scores
SourceRating
AllMusic Star full.svgStar full.svgStar full.svgStar half.svgStar empty.svg [22]
Encyclopedia of Popular Music Star full.svgStar full.svgStar full.svgStar full.svgStar empty.svg [31]
The Great Rock Discography 6/10 [32]
Mojo Star full.svgStar full.svgStar full.svgStar full.svgStar full.svg [33]
MusicHound Rock Star full.svgStar full.svgStar full.svgStar half.svgStar empty.svg [34]
Pitchfork 7.7/10 [35]
The Rolling Stone Album Guide Star full.svgStar full.svgStar full.svgStar empty.svgStar empty.svg [36]
Smash Hits 8/10 [37]
Spin Alternative Record Guide 9/10 [38]
The Village Voice B+ [21]

Initial response

Upon its release, The Dreaming met with a mixed critical reception. Many were baffled by the unconventional techniques and dense soundscapes Bush had employed. [7] Writing for Smash Hits , Neil Tennant described the album as "very weird. She's obviously trying to become less commercial." [7] Colin Irwin of Melody Maker wrote that "initially it is bewildering and not a little preposterous, but try to hang on through the twisted overkill and the histrionic fits and there's much reward." He labelled "Suspended in Gaffa" the only "vaguely conventional track" and predicted the album failing in the charts. American critic Robert Christgau wrote that "the revelation is the dense, demanding music", calling it "the most impressive Fripp/Gabriel-style art-rock album of the postpunk refulgence." [21] Jon Young of Trouser Press called it "a triumph of inventive songwriting and unpredictable performances" but warned that "its sensory overload will drive away the less than dedicated." [39]

Legacy

In a later review, AllMusic called it "a theatrical and abstract piece of work", as well as "a brilliant predecessor to the charming beauty of 1985's Hounds of Love ." [22] The Quietus called it "a brave volte face from a mainstream artist" and "a startlingly modern record too", noting its "organic hybridization, the use of digital and analogue techniques, its use of modern wizardry to access atavistic states." [7] In 2014, Simon Reynolds called The Dreaming a "wholly unfettered mistress-piece" and "a delirious, head-spinning experience". [17] Bush herself called The Dreaming her "she's gone mad album" and said it was not particularly commercial. On later revisiting the album she said she was surprised by the sound, saying that it was quite an angry record. [40] Uncut said that it was a "multi-layered, polyrhythmic and wildly experimental album [and] remains a landmark work". [41] In 2018 The Guardian's chief critic Alexis Petridis wrote, "The Dreaming isn't Kate Bush's best album, but it remains my favourite; there's something very beguiling about the sound of an artist finally letting their imagination fully run riot. Not that Kate Bush's imagination was ever terribly constrained, but The Dreaming is marked by the sense that sampling technology had now enabled her to fully recreate the sounds in her head, and that she was now successful enough to please no-one other than herself." [42]

In the 2010s, Björk and Big Boi cited The Dreaming as one of their favourite albums. [13] [15] Steven Wilson also stated that the album is one of his favourites and that his 2015 album, Hand. Cannot. Erase. , was musically influenced by it. [43]

Track listing

All tracks written, arranged and produced by Kate Bush, except pipes and strings arrangements on "Night of the Swallow" arranged by Bill Whelan, and strings arrangements on "Houdini" by Dave Lawson and Andrew Powell.

Side one
No.TitleLength
1."Sat in Your Lap"3:29
2."There Goes a Tenner"3:24
3."Pull Out the Pin"5:26
4."Suspended in Gaffa"3:54
5."Leave It Open"3:20
Side two
No.TitleLength
6."The Dreaming"4:41
7."Night of the Swallow"5:22
8."All the Love"4:29
9."Houdini"3:48
10."Get Out of My House"5:25
Total length:43:25

Personnel

Credits are adapted from The Dreaming liner notes. [44]

Other voices
Technical

Charts

Certifications and sales

RegionCertification Certified units/sales
Japan (Oricon Charts)16,850 [49]
United Kingdom (BPI) [61] Silver60,000^
United States42,000 [62]

^ Shipments figures based on certification alone.

See also

Notes

  1. Released in the UK and Ireland
  2. Released in EU and Australia
  3. Released in Ireland exclusively

References

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