The Sensual World
| Kate Bush
The Sensual World
The Sensual World is the sixth studio album by the English singer Kate Bush. It was released in October 1989 and peaked at no. 2 on the UK Albums Chart. It has been certified Platinum by the BPI for sales of 300,000 in the UK, and Gold by the RIAA in the US. -Wikipedia
Critic Reviews
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Consequence of Sound
Though she has always exhibited mature themes in her music, on The Sensual World, she not only expands upon earlier themes like love and loss, but the approach she takes on topics like sex is also demonstrative of a more personal and intimate Bush. Coupled with smoother production and a broad palette of musical flavors that includes traditional Irish instruments, elegant string arrangements, and the Bulgarian folk trio, Trio Bulgarka, The Sensual World amplifies Bushs penchant for writing delicately complex material while maintaining her progressive pop edge.
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BBC
The Sensual World is unmistakeably of the eighties, but thankfully, due to the inventiveness and sophistication of the sound, it’s aged a thousand times better than either shell suits or Bros. Kate Bush’s ethereal, unmistakeable voice equally enchants and divides audiences, but its uniqueness, and the daunting ambition of her songs, set her apart from any of her contemporaries from her 40-year recording career.
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AllMusic
An enchanting songstress, Kate Bush reflects the most heavenly views of love on the aptly titled The Sensual World. The follow-up to Hounds of Love features Bush unafraid to be a temptress, vocally and lyrically. She's a romantic, frolicking over lust and love, but also a lover of life and its spirituality. The album's title track exudes the most sensually abrasive side of Bush, but she is also one to remain emotionally intact with her heart and head.
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The Guardian
With inspiration from Ulysses by James Joyce and Jerusalem by William Blake, this album was a tapestry of passion, intellect and soul searching lyrics. The stand out track of This Woman's Work is a thing of beauty which showcases Bush's amazing vocal range in its entirety, and has the ability to make the hairs at the nape of your neck stand up. The lyrics are heart wrenching. The album in general is one of her strongest, and the title track bought teenage girls and boys of the 90's screaming into their adolescence.
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Sputnik Music
Kate Bush’s 6th studio release is perhaps one of the greatest pop releases to ever be recorded. Wildly underrated, ‘The Sensual World’ is an entertaining listen, as you hop on and experience Kate’s train of emotions, in song-form.
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Analog Planet
Revealing her continued fascination with relationships, sexuality and love, The Sensual World is said to be Kate’s “feminine“ album. It also highlights her experimental interest in global music, as well as the use of a Fairlight digital sampling synthesizer she had been using since The Dreaming. Unfortunately, there’s always been a processed “coldness” to the sound of the original CD cut by Robert Ludwig at Masterdisk that has kept many audiophiles from embracing this record completely.
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Don Ignacio
As always, this album is full of great musical ideas and melodies that are brimming to the core with beauty! People who only listen to pop music from mainstream divas like Mariah Carey should listen to this vastly superior album for comparison. I would like to point out, mainly, the song arrangements. Most pop albums have awful arrangements as if the producers didn’t care (and perhaps they didn’t). But The Sensual World gives as much care to the arrangements as the melodies and vocal performances. Bush might not have the same vocal capabilities as Mariah Carey, but she is a vastly superior singer expression-wise.
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Fear of Albums
Kate Bush steers in a decidedly more “mature” direction in The Sensual World, an album focused on the sensory pleasures and pains of human existence. While it isn’t as bold and awe-inspiring as the one two punch of The Dreaming and Hounds of Love, the songs are all pretty good.
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NME
Only Kate Bush would make an album boasting a song – ‘Heads We’re Dancing’ – about dancing, or not, with Hitler, but ‘The Sensual World’ stands out for more wholesome reasons. There’s the oozing title track with Bush playing the orgasmic Molly Bloom from Ulysses (but without permission, at this stage, to actually quote the book), the soaring, skittering and plain anthemic ‘Love And Anger’, and of course ‘This Woman’s Work’, one of the clutch of Bush songs that’ll always be right there, almost unbearable in its regret and dwindling hope.
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Uncut
Bush’s sixth album is a stately, autumnal slow-burner which largely lives up to its title. Among the many highlights are three tracks Bush recorded with Bulgarian folk singers Trio Bulgarka. It peaked at No 2 in the UK album chart.
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The Solute Record Club
After conquering synth-pop on her first attempt with Hounds of Love, Kate Bush took another long break of four years to work out the creative direction her next album should take. Thankfully the British public did not react this time by writing pre-emptive “career over” articles, and also thankfully that wait was worth it for another great piece of work; it’s probably not the absolute masterpieces that her previous two albums can claim, but the transition from mellower baroque pop was achieved with ease, and this album also contains three of the strongest songs of Kate Bush’s entire catalogue.
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Adrian's Album Reviews
After experimenting with programmed sound, Kate returns to nature for this LP. The lush, intricate arrangements never actually detract from the songs, often they are the songs. Elsewhere, the tunes are allowed to breathe yet arguably never has a Kate Bush album been as richly textured in terms of sound as 'The Sensual World', quite appropriate so.
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Aphoristic Album Reviews
There’s good material on The Sensual World, but it’s one of Bush’s weaker efforts overall; when I return to it I usually just cherry-pick the highlights rather than listen to it in entirety.
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Grinning Planet
The Sensual World marked a shift to a slightly more pop-oriented sound for Kate, though stand-out tracks like "Heads We're Dancing," "The Fog," "Deeper Understanding" and "Never Be Mine" proved that she had not lost her progressive underpinnings. "Love and Anger" and the title track were both radio hits for her, and the emotionally powerful "This Woman's Work" is unforgettable. Like many of Kate Bush's albums, this one is a must-have.
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