What was your Album let down of 2011 ?

+1

I was never a big fan of  Aerial, but i took it for what it was.

It was a very well produced album about stuff going on in her life.

Never got Washing machines though.

IMO this is still Kates best from her later years.

And it has Prince and Lenny Henry on it.

Biggest letdown? Elbow. It was TSSK Mk II/lite.

Kate Bush's two albums this year are, well, Kate Bush albums. This means that half of them will be awful and unlistenable, half of them sublime. That is the way of Kate.

Actually, the first side (vinyl ) of Directors Cut is brilliant. Some of the rest is ghastly. All of Snow is fabulous, apart from the title track (Stephen Fry? Why?) and the Sir Elt duet. Both of which are just shit. But that is Kate. She is probably the most singular, most talented female artist popular music has ever produced. Carole King, Joni Mitchell, Madonna, Janis Ian etc are but sidenotes to her. But Kate is sometimes erratic, and, because she answers to nobody but herself, some of her music is going to be awful. But that which is not terrible is so good that the shite doesn't seem to matter.

Neither album is as good as Aerial, but since Aerial is possibly the best album recorded by a pop artist so far this century (yes it is, for all its faults, really that good) that doesn't mean very much.

Stu

I love bits of "Red Shoes" but it is her weakest album since "Never Forever". 

Are you seriously positing the presence of Henry and Prince as a reason for buying the album?  Lenny Henry hasn't been funny since "Tiswas" and is just a dullard. Prince seemed quite good for a while in the 1980s but turned out to be an overrated priapic dwarf.

Neither of them are worthy of Kate Bush and both are, to be quite frank, wankers. The only reason for buying a KB album is because it's by KB, not because of cameos by mediocre "celebrities". Kate's infatuation with celebrity ****s who are far less talented than she is has always baffled me.

As for "Aerial", it's more a record about feeling or hypersensivity than about "what was going on in Bush's life at the time". She is an artist who appears to feel things very intensely and she therefore sees  significance in the minutiae/great events of life, be it in a sunset, the enigma of pi, the feel of sand between one's toes, laundry going round in a washing machine or, to move things up a notch, the birth of a child or the death of one's mother. It is this intensity and close observation, the focus on small and/or insignificant detail, coupled with the passionate articulation of same, that makes her latterday  work so moving and significant.

I also was v disappointed with "Snow". 

I don't think KB's records were as bad as some people are saying; perhaps expectations were too high. She didn't hit the heights of Hounds or The Kick, but there were some good things on Snow - of course there was nothing good about the title track featuring the ubiquitous Stephen Fry, but as a Persian King once said, according to Tom Rapp, these things too, must pass away. 

I take it you're joking.

Thanks for all the heads-up about the latest 2 KB albums though - I won't bother (so much good stuff about).

Biggest disappointment for me was probably that the Smile box set was 8 tons of packaging and very little new content for the serious fan - though great sound quality it must be said. I've so far resisted buying the full monty.

Also a disappointment that several artists are making it more difficult to purchase their product in physical form. I kind of take the view that if they can't be bothered to release a CD then I can't be bothered to buy it.

No I'm not joking at all. None of those women come anywhere near KB in MNSHO.

I was thinking of buying the Smile box but from your comments I'm quite glad I didn't. Similar thing's happened with the Floyd boxes - some wonderful (and unreleased) music in them, in stunning SQ, but the amount of tat (marbles, cheap scarves, cardboard(?) coasters etc in them makes them way overpriced. And does anyone really need that number of multi-channel remixes.

Kevin

Get the 2CD Smile box instead - great value for £12-15. There will be new things for you!

Sadly... another vote for Kate Bush... '..Snow'

I has high hopes, which is always worrying.... Hmm..

Me too. It's a shame because I liked Directors Cut and as you say, I had high hopes. Mind you, I had a worrying feeling about Peter Gabriel's New Blood and thankfully that's fantastic and way above my expectations, so swings and roundabouts I guess. 

stevie nicks uuuuuuuugggg

Yes, the Director's Flop is by far my album let down of the year. Very badly remastered into strange frequency controlling audio-stodge.... such a shame, the material is actually fine.

But I still believe Kate retains an abundance of talent, especially her ability to sing, but imo she needs assistance from the right people around her to provide better lyrics, tunes, and production.

Debs

Strange, it sounds pretty good on my system (vinyl). Not perfect by any means, but certainly good enough. Maybe a US pressing. 

Originally Posted by The Strat (Fender):

       

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Critically acclaimed after a dozen or so plays does nothing for me.

One man's meat indeed....G

Each to there own or one man's Marmite?

I love this album.

The vinyl  are  good pressings and so is the CD that comes with it.

Its the words and music content that makes this a FAB album imo.

Stu

Lambchop Is A Woman: Unlistenable: in fact execrable. Absolute utter tosh with the exception of the cover version of Sisters of Mercy's Corrosion: brilliant. Not issued in 2011, but I bought it on recommendation.

Director's Cut: sensational.

Snow: still aclimatising, but this is much subtler than some of the knee-jerks above reveal.

Lambchop Is A Woman: Unlistenable: in fact execrable. Absolute utter tosh with the exception of the cover version of Sisters of Mercy's Corrosion: brilliant.

Couldn't disagree more.....A beautiful record.  Saw them live just after its release a few years ago.  It was a fabulous concert.  Had a chat with Kurt Wagner afterwards as they were loading up their gear.  Very memorable.  G

'Is A Woman' is definitely a Marmite album but I must admit to loving it when I'm in the right mood. Took me a while to come back to listening to any Lambchop though after seeing them live in Salford a few years ago. I thought it was woeful....

Cannot please all the people can you!

Bruce

Couldn't disagree more

Degustibus non disputandem. Pax.