Maybe my expectations were just too high. Maybe I need to listen to the album a few more times (had 5 -close- listens so far). But I can't help being completely and utterly disappointed by Aerial. 12 years is a looong time by anyone's standards. I always thought that if Kate Bush had found different priorities in her life, well, then that's all right. She had already given us some of the best songs in any musical genre. That's enough for me. But now, consider Aerial. The songs in Aerial are completely unremarkable. There is not a single melody on this album worth remembering. I listen to it, I really try to concentrate on the music, but my mind wanders off to something more interesting while I'm doing it. As I am a musician myself, I can appreciate the craft and ingenuity that went into the arrangements - this is Aerial's one saving grace. But the songs? Kate's songs used to be earth-shaking. These don't even manage to ruffle the wings on a fly. The best example is perhaps the song "Pi", which is really as exciting as someone reciting the number Pi to you - endlessly, mercilessly. No dynamics, the song starts nowhere and goes nowhere. Intellectually, I know that the musical form is supposed to mirror the lyrical content here, but emotionally, I am left out in the cold. And that's ultimately how I feel about the entire album, even though the subject matter of some of the songs should be able to move me. It doesn't. Well, that's not entirely true It all really makes me sad, because it took Kate Bush 12 years to come up with a beautifully wrapped waste of time, but thankfully, I can easily dispel that feeling by putting Hounds of Love or The Dreaming in my CD player. Even her last disappointment, The Red Shoes, was a strong album by comparison.… Expand

nice, yes, but considering her prior output this record is rather boring. the beats are reminiscent of cheap keyboard pre-sets. the vocals aren't interesting. the lyrics are atrocious on many of the songs.

She is a mental case and is trying to make music. Why do people like it? The words in her songs are so shocking, "King of the mountain" which is apparently about Elvis (he's never been king of the mountain, he probably couldn't have walked to the local shop). Mybe you need to understand the complex lyrics, and quite simply I don't and I don't want to. So Bad.

Kate is laughing up her her English garden-soiled sleeve. Her label should have shown her the Dana Carvey skit "Chopping Broccoli" before they let her release this. Come on, Ms Bush...who are you kidding?

I TRULY don't understand why everyone is going ON about this album! It's schlock! Plain & simple! As my best friend who has been totally OBSESSED (really) with Kate since the early 1980's said, "Kate is clearly not the artist she once was." This album is even worse than Red Shoes and that tells you something right there! She's lost her artistic vision altogether, perhaps truly explaining why she disappeared for 12 years...knowing that she truly had nothing left to sing about! :(… Expand

This sounds like it was made in 1991.

What a gigantic disappointment. The songs just drag on and on and on without any tension or climax.

Pretentious rubbish. Worse than that, it's boring and embarrassing (Mrs Bartolozzi, Bertie). If an unknown had made this, it would never have been released.

At the age of 14 I first heard "The Man with the Child in his Eyes" and for the first time I couldn't stop listening to a song - and couldnt't even explain why. It was pure magic and it made me learn English. When at the age of 16 I got "Never for Ever" it was the first time I wanted to write a book and illustrate it. This album was a piece of art all around and the magic grew stronger. The magic continued and every time I got to listen to a new album it enriched my life and made me daydream the way I used to when I was just a boy. But "Aerial" is as mundane as any other New Age album - and thats exactly what its at best, at worst its a tragic travesty of her work. I wish Kate had never released it. Maybe for those who started knowing Katie with her Best of Album "The Whole Story" there is still some fairy dust in the "Aerial". But for someone like me, who grew up with Kate Bush all along the magic just vanished this year as did her bewitching voice. I am listening to her cover of Elton Johns "Rocket Man" from 1991 right now and it has more Katie in it than the whole of the 16 tracks of "Aerial". At the age of 41 the dream is gone.… Expand

I can't understand the rave reviews some people gave this, they must be listening to something very different to my copy of the album. This is drivel of the first order. There is not one redeeming song on the entire double album, not one that is actually spending any time listening to (I listened to it several times when I got it as I couldn't believe just how bad it was, I';ve just listened again having convinced myself I must be wrong - I'm not).… Expand