Kate Bush – Under Review
Picture: C+
Sound: C+ Extras: C Documentary: B
The Under Review series of music documentaries is
so amazing, that no less than four critics on this site are covering each
release. The installment on Kate
Bush (2006) was so impressive that I had to take it on myself. Loaded with interviews, Music Videos, other
performances by Kate and an album-by-album look at her career to this year so
thorough that the 90 minutes is always interesting and rich, Bush has not
received the attention she deserved in the U.S. so it is no wonder this was
made in the U.K.
Early on, out of nowhere, she debated with her first
record label (EMI) which songs of hers to put out as singles. When she picked Wuthering Heights and
it was a huge hit, it was an early artistic victory for her and the label
realized she knew more about what she was talking about than they
expected. Even Pat Benatar, at sister
label Chrysalis, did a remarkable cover of that hit early on. But Kate was on her way to being more than
just a one hit wonder.
Eventually by the 1980s, she had worked herself up to such
complex artistic heights that Cloudbursting became a huge event single
and Music Video on MTV as she reached the peak of her relationship with
EMI. Soon, she was at rival Columbia
Records/Sony Music and both The Sensual World and The Red Shoes became
big event album releases. Like Stanley
Kubrick, she too likes to live out of the public eye and increasingly takes
longer to release a new album, but she is a major success on her own terms
extending to the visual arts and this look at her career is very well
rounded. That makes this another ace
release in the Under Review series.
The 1.33 X 1 image is PAL-originated and some slight
ghosting here and there is an issue, but with the great wealth of material and
the variant nature of documentaries anyhow, such flaws are not as
distracting. The Dolby Digital 2.0
Stereo is simple and has no surrounds, while it reminded this critic that much
of Bush’s catalog needs and deserves to be issued in audiophile format versions
like SACD and DVD-Audio. Extras include
the toughest quiz ever made on Bush to date and additional interview footage
with Paul Gambaccini.
- Nicholas Sheffo
