Aerial (album)

Aerial
Studio album by Kate Bush
Released 7 November 2005
Recorded 1996–2005
Genre Art rock
Length 80:04
Label EMI
Columbia (US)
Producer Kate Bush
Kate Bush chronology

Live at Hammersmith Odeon
(1994)		 Aerial
(2005)		 Director's Cut
(2011)
Singles from Aerial
  1. "King of the Mountain" b/w "Sexual Healing"
    Released: 24 October 2005

Aerial is the eighth studio album by the English singer-songwriter and musician Kate Bush, released in 2005, twelve years after her 1993 album The Red Shoes. It is her only double album.

Overview

Aerial is Bush's first double album, and was released after a twelve-year absence from the music industry during which Bush devoted her time to family and the raising of her son, Bertie. The anticipation leading up to the album's release was immense, with press articles devoted to Bush being printed months, even years before.[1] Like Bush's previous album, The Red Shoes, Aerial does not feature a cover photograph of Bush, but rather one that is emblematic of the album's celebration of sky, sea, and birdsong. The cover image, which seems to show a mountain range at sunset reflected on the sea is in fact a waveform of a blackbird song superimposed over a glowing photograph.

Aerial is one of Bush's most critically acclaimed albums.[2] Musically, the album is a multi-layered work, incorporating elements of folk, Renaissance, classical, reggae, flamenco, and rock. As with 1985's Hounds of Love, the album is divided into two thematically distinct collections. The first disc, subtitled A Sea of Honey, features a set of unrelated songs including the hit single "King of the Mountain", a Renaissance-style ode to her son "Bertie", performed with period instruments, and "Joanni", based on the story of Joan of Arc. In the song "\pi", Bush sings the number to its 78th decimal place, then from its 101st to its 137th decimal place.[3] The piano and vocal piece "A Coral Room", dealing with the loss of Bush's mother and the passage of time, was hailed by critics as "stunning" in its simplicity,[4] "profoundly moving"[5] and as "one of the most beautiful" pieces Bush has ever recorded.[5]

The second disc, subtitled A Sky of Honey, consists of a single piece of music reveling in the experience of outdoor adventures on a single summer day, beginning in the morning and ending twenty-four hours later with the next sunrise.[6] The songs are saturated with the presence of birdsong, and all refer to the sky and sunlight, with the sea also featuring as an important element. Beginning with solo piano, doves cooing, and Bush's son saying, "Mummy, Daddy, the day is full of birds," the piece begins with an early morning awakening to a beautiful day of sun shining "like the light from Italy"; it proceeds through a visit with a painter who is working on a new piece of sidewalk art ('An Architect's Dream and 'The Painter's Link') and then passes on to a crimson 'Sunset.' The interlude 'Aerial Tal,' consists of Bush imitating various samples of birdsong, while 'Somewhere in Between' celebrates the ambiguous nature of dusk. 'Nocturne,' features a pair of lovers bathing in the sea after dark under a star-studded "diamond sky." The song cycle ends with 'Aerial' and its euphoric welcome of the following morning's sunrise with the refrain "I need to get up on the roof...in the sun."

A Sky of Honey features Rolf Harris playing the didgeridoo and providing vocals on 'An Architect's Dream' and 'The Painter's Link.' Other guest artists include Peter Erskine, Eberhard Weber, Lol Creme and Procol Harum's Gary Brooker. In one of his final projects before his death in 2003, long-time Bush collaborator Michael Kamen arranged the string sections, performed by the London Metropolitan Orchestra.[7]

In the 2014 series of concerts in London, Before the Dawn, Bush performed live for the first time King of the Mountain and Joanni, and the whole Sky of Honey song cycle.

Album reception

Professional ratings
Aggregate scores
Source Rating
Metacritic (81/100)[8]
Review scores
Source Rating
Allmusic link
BBC (very favourable) link
Billboard (favorable) link
The Guardian link
The Independent link
Music OMH link
The Observer link
Pitchfork Media (6.4/10) link
Rolling Stone link
Slant link

On 13 November 2005, Aerial entered the UK Albums Chart at number three, selling more than 90,000 copies in its first week on release. In Canada, the album was certified Platinum (100,000 copies sold). On 10 January 2006, Bush was nominated for two BRIT Awards for Best British Female Solo Artist and Best British Album for Aerial.[9] On 27 January 2006, the album went up against Demon Days by Gorillaz and Coles Corner by Richard Hawley in the pop category of the South Bank Show's Annual Arts Awards, but was beaten by Hawley. UK music magazine Mojo named it their third best album of 2005, behind I Am a Bird Now by Antony and the Johnsons and Funeral by Arcade Fire. Rob Chapman, writing in The Times stated that "...its closing triptych, Somewhere In Between, Nocturne, and Aerial, represents the most joyous and euphoric finale to an album that you will hear all year."[10]

Single

The only single from the album was "King of the Mountain". The song makes references to Elvis Presley and the film Citizen Kane. The track was played for the first time on BBC Radio 2 on 21 September 2005, and was made available for download on 27 September. The B-side (or second track) of the single was a Marvin Gaye cover, "Sexual Healing", recorded in 1994, and is not available on any of her albums. The single entered (and peaked in) the UK singles chart at no.4, and gave Bush her first top five hit for twenty years and her third highest singles chart placing. The song also peaked at no.6 on the UK download chart.

iTunes release, and re-release

As of mid-May 2010, Aerial was released for the first time on iTunes. The second disc, An Endless Sky Of Honey, now runs as one continual track. In August 2010, the CD version was reissued by Sony Legacy in the United States.[11]

Track listing

All songs written and composed by Kate Bush. 

Disc one: A Sea of Honey
No. Title Length
1. "King of the Mountain"   4:53
2. "π"   6:09
3. "Bertie"   4:18
4. "Mrs. Bartolozzi"   5:58
5. "How to Be Invisible"   5:32
6. "Joanni"   4:56
7. "A Coral Room"   6:12
Disc two: A Sky of Honey (first release)
No. Title Length
8. "Prelude"   1:26
9. "Prologue"   5:42
10. "An Architect's Dream"   4:50
11. "The Painter's Link"   1:35
12. "Sunset"   5:58
13. "Aerial Tal"   1:01
14. "Somewhere in Between"   5:00
15. "Nocturn"   8:34
16. "Aerial"   7:52
Disc two: A Sky of Honey (re-release)
No. Title Length
8. "An Endless Sky of Honey"   42:06

Charts

Peak positions

Chart (2005) Position
Australian ARIA Albums Chart[12] 25
Austrian Albums Chart[13] 23
Belgian Albums Chart (Flanders) [14] 11
Belgian Albums Chart (Wallonia)[15] 20
Danish Albums Chart [16] 8
Dutch Mega Albums Chart[17] 7
Finnish Albums Chart[18] 2
French SNEP Albums Chart [19] 12
German Media Control Albums Chart[20] 3
Irish Albums Chart[21] 6
Italian Albums Chart[22] 9
Japanese Oricon Albums Chart[23] 53
New Zealand Albums Chart [24] 22
Norwegian VG-lista Albums Chart[25] 4
Polish Albums Chart[26] 3
Swedish Albums Chart[27] 7
Swiss Albums Chart[26] 12
UK Albums Chart [28] 3
United States Billboard 200[29] 48

Year-end charts

Chart (2005) Position
Belgian Albums Chart (Flanders)[30] 95
Dutch Albums Chart[31] 67
Italian Albums Chart [32] 167
UK Albums Chart[33] 63

Certifications

Region Certification Sales/shipments
Canada (Music Canada)[34] Platinum 100,000^
Finland (Musiikkituottajat)[35] Gold 23,811[35]
France (SNEP)[36] Gold 102,500[37]
Germany (BVMI)[38] Gold 100,000^
Ireland (IRMA)[39] Gold 7,500x
Poland (ZPAV)[40] Gold 10,000*
United Kingdom (BPI)[41] Platinum 300,000^
Summaries
Worldwide 1,100,000[42]

^shipments figures based on certification alone
xunspecified figures based on certification alone

Personnel

See also

References

  1. ↑ "Kate Bush: The Sequel". The Independent. 2005-09-02. Retrieved 2007-04-03.
  2. ↑ "Aerial". MetaCritic.com. Archived from the original on 16 April 2007. Retrieved 2007-04-03.
  3. ↑ McEvoy, Chris (14 March 2006). "This is not World Pi Day". Confusability. Retrieved 12 September 2014.
  4. ↑ Hilton, Boyd (2005-11-05). "Aerial review". Heat. Retrieved 2007-04-04.
  5. ↑ 5.0 5.1 Thompson, Ben (2006-11-05). "Ben Thompson reviews an album of two halves". Sunday Telegraph. Retrieved 2007-04-03.
  6. ↑ J. Cowley notes A Sky of Honey covers a single day through to next morning.
  7. ↑ Thrills, Adrian (2006-11-04). "Is this great Kate - or just Pi in the sky?". Daily Mail. Retrieved 2007-04-03.
  8. ↑ "Aerial, Ratings, Credits, and More". Metacritic. Retrieved 2012-08-14.
  9. ↑ "Search results for Kate Bush". The BRIT Awards. Retrieved 2007-02-15.
  10. ↑ Gaffaweb reprint of Chapman review
  11. ↑ "Aerial: Kate Bush: Music". Amazon.com. Retrieved 2011-11-02.
  12. ↑ "australian-charts.com Kate Bush - Aerial". Australian Recording Industry Association. Retrieved 12 May 2013.
  13. ↑ "Kate Bush - Aerial – austriancharts.at" (in German). Retrieved 12 May 2013.
  14. ↑ "ultratop.be - Kate Bush - Aerial". ultratop.be/nl, Hung Medienaccessdate=12 May 2013 (in Dutch). Ultratop.
  15. ↑ "ultratop.be - Kate Bush - Aerial". ultratop.be/fr,, Hung Medien (in Dutch). Ultratop. Retrieved 12 May 2013.
  16. ↑ "danishcharts.com Kate Bush - Aerial". danishcharts.com. Retrieved 12 May 2013.
  17. ↑ "dutchcharts.nl Kate Bush - Aerial". dutchcharts.nl (in Dutch). MegaCharts. Retrieved 12 May 2013.
  18. ↑ "finnishcharts.com Kate Bush - Aerial". Retrieved 12 May 2013.
  19. ↑ "InfoDisc : Tous les Albums classés par Artiste > Choisir Un Artiste Dans la Liste : Kate Bush" (in French). infodisc.fr. Retrieved 2011-08-01.
  20. ↑ "Album Search: Kate Bush – Aerial" (ASP) (in German). Media Control. Retrieved 10 July 2013.
  21. ↑ "Irishcharts.com - Kate Bush - Aerial". Hung Medien. Retrieved 12 May 2013.
  22. ↑ "italiancharts.com Kate Bush - Aerial". italiancharts.com. Retrieved 12 May 2013.
  23. ↑ ケイト・ブッシュ-リリース-ORICON STYLE-ミュージック "Highest position and charting weeks of Aerial by Kate Bush". oricon.co.jp (in Japanese). Oricon Style. Retrieved 12 May 2013.
  24. ↑ "charts.org.nz - Kate Bush - Aerial". Recording Industry Association of New Zealand. Retrieved 12 May 2013.
  25. ↑ "norwegiancharts.com Kate Bush - Aerial". Retrieved 12 May 2013.
  26. ↑ 26.0 26.1 "Oficjalna lista sprzedaży :: OLIS - Official Retail Sales Chart". Retrieved 12 May 2011.
  27. ↑ "swedishcharts.com Kate Bush - Aerial" (in Swedish). Sverigetopplistan. Retrieved 12 May 2013.
  28. ↑ "Kate Bush > Artists > Official Charts". UK Albums Chart. Retrieved 31 January 2014.
  29. ↑ Allmusic - Aerial > Charts & Awards > Billboard Albums
  30. ↑ "Jaaroverzichten 2005". Ultratop (in Dutch). Hung Medien. Retrieved 25 January 2014.
  31. ↑ "Jaaroverzichten – Album 2005" (in Dutch). Retrieved 26 January 2014.
  32. ↑ "Hit Parade Italia – Gli album più venduti del 2005" (in Italian). hitparadeitalia.it. Retrieved 10 May 2013.
  33. ↑ "The Official UK Albums Chart - Year-End - 2005" (PDF). Retrieved 10 May 2009.
  34. ↑ "Canadian album certifications – Kate Bush – Aerial". Music Canada.
  35. ↑ 35.0 35.1 The first web page presents the sales figures, the second presents the certification limits:
  36. ↑ "French album certifications – Kate Bush – Aerial" (in French). Syndicat National de l'Édition Phonographique.
  37. ↑ "Les Albums Or". infodisc.fr. SNEP. Retrieved 31 August 2011.
  38. ↑ "Gold-/Platin-Datenbank (Kate Bush; 'Aerial')" (in German). Bundesverband Musikindustrie.
  39. ↑ "Irish album certifications – Kate Bush – Aerial". Irish Recorded Music Association.
  40. ↑ "Polish album certifications – Kate Bush – Aerial" (in Polish). Polish Producers of Audio and Video (ZPAV).
  41. ↑ "British album certifications – Kate Bush – Aerial". British Phonographic Industry. Enter Aerial in the field Keywords. Select Title in the field Search by. Select album in the field By Format. Select Platinum in the field By Award. Click Search
  42. ↑ Cashmere, Paul (13 January 2007). "EMI Share Price Drops on Restructure Announcement". Undercover Media Pty Ltd. Retrieved 21 March 2011.

External links