Oh, Manchester, So Much To Answer For

Today I’m very attracted to Kate Bush’s music, but particularly her more militaristic singles – not “The Man with the Child in His Eyes” nor “Wuthering Heights,” but more, much more like “Hounds of Love” and “Sat in Your Lap,” with their thunderous drums and stabbing string sections, coming off like an alternate-universe Sousa march of the soon-dead. “Experiment IV” as well, but more because of its snare tattoo which ends each chorus, and its shudder-inducing lyrics (it’s really a quite terrifying song: “they told us what they wanted/was a sound that could kill someone”). Kate Bush is (was?) a master of musical disguise, moving so seemingly effortlessly from records like these to “The Sensual World,” in which I’ve always imagined her a Russian czarina circa 1920, swathed in red velvet, drinking from golden goblets, the epitome of pure pleasure. Her ’86 comp The Whole Story is a collection of utter genius; neither has there been nor will there be another musician with her reach and talent and essential Kate-ness.