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The Sensual World

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Untitled
Professional ratings
Review scores
SourceRating
Allmusic[1]
Robert Christgau(B)[2]

The Sensual World is the sixth studio album by the British singer Kate Bush. It was released in October 1989 and peaked at no.2 in the UK album charts. It has been certified Platinum by the BPI for sales of 300,000 in the UK,[3] and Gold by the RIAA in the US.[4]

Overview

The title track drew its inspiration from the novel 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.[5] 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 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 in late 2005.[6] 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 2005–2008, and in the Extras Christmas Special in 2007. A version of the song was recorded 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", while "Walk Straight Down the Middle" was 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 was intended to finish 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" (all directed by Bush herself), as well as excerpts from an interview Bush gave to the music TV channel VH1.

The Sensual World received a nomination for a Grammy Award for Best Alternative Music Album.

In 2010, Audio Fidelity reissued The Sensual World on vinyl with new mastering by Steve Hoffman and Kevin Gray.[7]

In March 2011, Kate Bush announced that she would be re-recording and/or re-working songs from The Sensual World on her next album, entitled Director's Cut. Additionally, a new version of the song "Deeper Understanding" was released as a single in April 2011.[8]

Track listing

All tracks are written by Kate Bush

Side one
No.TitleLength
1."The Sensual World"3:57
2."Love and Anger"4:42
3."The Fog"5:04
4."Reaching Out"3:11
5."Heads We're Dancing"5:17
Side two
No.TitleLength
6."Deeper Understanding"4:46
7."Between a Man and a Woman"3:29
8."Never Be Mine"3:43
9."Rocket's Tail"4:06
10."This Woman's Work"3:32
11."Walk Straight Down the Middle" (CD bonus track)3:48

Personnel

Charts & Certifications

The Sensual World - The Videos

Untitled
Track listing
  1. "Interview"
  2. "The Sensual World"
  3. "Love And Anger"
  4. "This Woman's Work"

See also

References

  1. ^ Wilson, MacKenzie. The Sensual World - Kate Bush | AllMusic at AllMusic. Retrieved 18 July 2011.
  2. ^ Christgau, Robert. "Robert Christgau: CG: kate bush". robertchristgau.com. Retrieved 18 July 2011.
  3. ^ a b "British album certifications – Kate Bush – Sensual World". British Phonographic Industry. Select albums in the Format field. Type Sensual World in the "Search BPI Awards" field and then press Enter. Cite error: The named reference "United KingdomKate BushSensual WorldalbumCertRef" was defined multiple times with different content (see the help page).
  4. ^ a b "American album certifications – Kate Bush – The Sensual World". Recording Industry Association of America.
  5. ^ Littlejohn, Maureen. "The Sensual Woman". Network magazine. Retrieved 2007-04-03. {{cite web}}: Cite has empty unknown parameter: |coauthors= (help)
  6. ^ "Official UK Download Chart Book" (PDF). DigitalStar.org.uk. Archived from the original (PDF) on 2007-01-06. Retrieved 2007-04-03. {{cite web}}: Cite has empty unknown parameter: |coauthors= (help)
  7. ^ http://www.audiofidelity.net/content/kate-bush-sensual-world
  8. ^ http://www.facebook.com/notes/kate-bush/kate-bush-releases-directors-cut-a-new-album-which-sees-her-re-visit-a-selection/10150117786960680P
  9. ^ "Chart Stats - Kate Bush - The Sensual World". chartstats.com. Retrieved 2 June 2011.
  10. ^ The Sensual World at AllMusic
  11. ^ "Canadian album certifications – Kate Bush – The Sensual World". Music Canada.
  12. ^ "French album certifications – Kate Bush – The Sensual World" (in French). Syndicat National de l'Édition Phonographique.
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