The Sensual World

Infobox Album
Name = The Sensual World
Type = Studio album
Artist = Kate Bush


Released = October 17, 1989
Recorded = 1989
Genre = Alternative rock, Art rock, Pop rock
Length = 42:10 (LP) 45:58 (CD)
Label = EMI, Columbia (US and Canada)
Producer = Kate Bush
Reviews =
*Allmusic Rating|4.5|5 [http://www.allmusic.com/cg/amg.dll?p=amg&sql=10:fye097u7krrt link]
Last album = "The Whole Story" (1986)
This album = "The Sensual World" (1989)
Next album = "This Woman's Work" (1990)

"The Sensual World" is the sixth all-new studio album by Kate Bush, and the singer's eighth album release in total.

Overview

The increasingly personal tone of her writing continued on "The Sensual World", with songs about unexpressed and unrequited love ("Love and Anger" and "Never Be Mine", respectively), the pressures on modern relationships ("Between A Man And A Woman"), and self-doubt ("The Fog"). "Deeper Understanding" showed a remarkable prescience in its portrait of a lonely person who finds solace in the company of a computer (made prophetic by the internet addiction that would surface at the end of the decade). "Rocket's Tail" (dedicated to her pet cat, Rocket) invoked the joys of indulging in another's fantasy. The quirkiest track on the album, touched by Bush's trademark black humour, was "Heads We're Dancing", about a woman who dances all night with a charming stranger only to find out that he is Adolf Hitler.

The title track drew its inspiration from "Ulysses" by James Joyce. Bush realised that the closing passage of the novel - a monologue by Molly Bloom - fitted the music she had created. When the Joyce estate refused to release the text, Bush wrote original lyrics that echo the original passage, as Molly steps from the pages of the book and revels in the real world. cite web | last = Littlejohn
first = Maureen | authorlink = | coauthors = | title = The Sensual Woman | work = | publisher = Network magazine | date = | url = http://gaffa.org/reaching/i90_net.html | format = | doi = | accessdate = 2007-04-03 ] She also alluded to "Jerusalem" by William Blake in a reference to the song's gestation ("And my arrows of desire rewrite the speech"). The song includes Irish instrumentation (Uilleann pipes, fiddle, whistle) under a breathy rendering of the orgasmic 'Yes' of the original text.

The songs "Deeper Understanding", "Never Be Mine" and "Rocket's Tail" all feature backing vocals by the Bulgarian vocal ensemble the Trio Bulgarka. "The Sensual World" went on to become her biggest-selling album in the U.S., receiving a Gold award four years after its release for 500,000 copies sold. In the United Kingdom album charts it reached the number two position.cite web | last = | first = | authorlink = | coauthors = | title = Kate Bush | work = | publisher = NNDB | date = | url = http://www.nndb.com/people/504/000025429/ | format = | doi = | accessdate = 2007-04-03 ]

The song "This Woman's Work" from the movie "She's Having a Baby" (1988), was re-edited for this album. On November 27, 2005, it was featured in the British TV drama "Walk Away and I Stumble" starring Tamzin Outhwaite. Due to that broadcast, the song reached #3 on the UK download chart. cite web | last = | first = | authorlink = | coauthors = | title = Official UK Download Chart Book | work =| publisher = DigitalStar.org.uk | date = | url = http://www.distantstar.org.uk/DigitalDownloadChartBook.pdf | format = | doi = | accessdate = 2007-04-03 ] This song has also been used in a long-running UK television advert for the National Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Children, broadcast in 2005-2006. It was also remade by R&B artist Maxwell in 1997 for his "MTV Unplugged" album.

Released as CD players became increasingly popular, the original LP ended with "This Woman's Work" with "Walk Straight Down the Middle" included as a bonus track on the CD and cassette versions of the album. The gap between these two tracks is slightly longer to indicate the album proper finishes with "This Woman's Work".

A video collection called "The Sensual World: The Videos" was also released; it contained videos for the title song, "Love and Anger" and "This Woman's Work", as well as excerpts from an interview Bush gave to the music TV channel VH1.

Track listing

All songs written by Kate Bush

# "The Sensual World" – 3:57
# "Love and Anger" – 4:42
# "The Fog" – 5:04
# "Reaching Out" – 3:11
# "Heads We're Dancing" – 5:17
# "Deeper Understanding" – 4:46
# "Between a Man and a Woman" – 3:29
# "Never Be Mine" – 3:43
# "Rocket's Tail" – 4:06
# "This Woman's Work" – 3:32

+ 11. "Walk Straight Down the Middle" (CD bonus track) – 3:48

Personnel

*Haydn Bendall: Engineer
*Andrew Boland: Engineer
*Stoyanka Boneva: vocals
*Kate Bush: Piano, Keyboards, Vocals, Vocals (bckgr), Producer
*Paddy Bush: Mandolin, Vocals (bckgr), Valiha, Whip, Tupan
*Clare Connors: Violin
*Ian Cooper: Cutting Engineer
*Stuart Elliot: drums
*Eva Georgieva: Vocals
*John Giblin: Bass
*David Gilmour: Guitar
*Paul Gomazel: Engineer
*John Grimes: Assistant Engineer
*Michael Kamen: Arranger, Orchestration
*Mick Karn: Bass
*Nigel Kennedy: Violin, Viola
*Kevin Killen: Engineer, Mixing
*Tom Leader: Assistant Engineer
*Donal Lunny: Bouzouki
*Charlie Morgan: Drums
*Alan Murphy: Guitar
*Michael Nyman: String Arrangements
*Del Palmer: Bass, Percussion, Guitar (Rhythm), Engineer, Fairlight, Mixing
*Justin Pearson: Cello
*Dimiter Penev: Arranger
*Yanka Rupkina: Vocals
*John Sheahan: Fiddle
*Davy Spillane: Pipe, Whistle (Human), Whistle (Instrument), Uilleann Pipes
*Alan Stivell: Vocals (bckgr), Celtic Harp
*Trio Bulgarka: Vocals
*Eberhard Weber: Bass
*Bill Whelan: Arranger
*Jonathan Williams: Cello

Chart Performance

ee also

*Kate Bush discography
*Kate Bush's Awards and Nominations

References