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Stars indicate the most critically-acclaimed albums.

Aerial
by Kate Bush


9.2

based on 23 reviews
Read critic reviews
How did we calculate this?

based on 251 votes
Read user comments
Rate this album

This double-disc set is the influential singer-songwriter's first album in a dozen years.

LABEL:	Sony
RELEASE DATE:	08 November 2005
DISCS:	2 discs
GENRE(S):	Alternative, Rock, Singer-Songwriter

All critic scores are converted to a 100-point scale. If a critic does not indicate a score, we assign a score based on the general impression given by the text of the review. Learn more...

100

Playlouder

'Aerial' towers over the vast majority of even this year's embarrassment of riches.

100

The Guardian

It is filled with things only Kate Bush would do.

100

Entertainment Weekly

Considering the length of her hiatus, this is a remarkable surprise.

100

Mojo

Kate Bush is the greatest living British artist in song and this is her masterpiece. [Dec 2005, p.96]

Stylus Magazine

Aerial isn’t perfect, but it is magnificent.

musicOMH.com

Like all ambitious double albums, [Aerial] is not without its flaws, but even Bush's moments of failure are much more interesting than those of her contemporaries.

Q Magazine

You could lose yourself for days here. [Dec 2005, p.142]

Neumu.net

Over two CDs the music expands towards novel-like richness.

All Music Guide

There's no pushing of the envelope because there doesn't need to be. Aerial is rooted in Kate Bush's oeuvre, with grace, flair, elegance, and an obsessive, stubborn attention to detail.

Billboard

Despite her prolonged absence, Bush sounds as vital as ever.

The Onion (A.V. Club)

It's a stirring return to that special place behind the eyes of Kate Bush, where every raindrop contains universes within universes.

E! Online

The songs don't always match the brouhaha surrounding their arrival, but there's no denying the exquisite craft on display.

Dot Music

A more satisfying album intellectually than it is musically.

PopMatters

Even if Aerial doesn't set the world on fire, it's good to hear Kate Bush again, and to hear a record that sounds so organic and grounded.

Prefix Magazine

Even without the quirky, theatrical pop she offered in the 1980s, she has held up beautifully after her long hiatus from recording, creating a record that is very much her own.

New Musical Express

'Aerial' has more than its share of static, but the highs are more than worth the lows. [12 Nov 2005, p.45]

Blender

She balances her freakiness by matching her sublime chirp with grounded glories. [Jan/Feb 2006, p.93]

Under The Radar

At times Aerial feels like such a grandiloquent monument to sweetness and motherhood and baroque English chamber pop that it gets a bit queasy. [#12, p.94]

Paste Magazine

It's great to have her back. [Feb/Mar 2006, p.100]

Austin Chronicle

This is Kate Bush's domestic album. Listen to it stoned on a Sunday afternoon.

Pitchfork

Far be it from me to criticize happy endings, but in musical terms, a comfortable, even-keeled existence sometimes comes out as isolated and ordinary art.

Uncut

A madly ambitious, darkly despondent and goofily exuberant grand folly of a record. [Album of the Month, Dec 2005, p.98]

New York Magazine

Too much of Aerial fades into a soft-focus background of soothing synthesizers, murmuring bass, and twittering birdsong.

The average user rating for this album is 9.2 (out of 10) based on 251 User Votes
Note: User votes are NOT included in the Metascore calculation.

Tomasz S gave it a10:
Hopefully, she is back for good.

Piyu T. gave it a10:
Simply put, one of the best albums I have ever had the fortune of listening to. Just shows how much KB has matured as an artist and a person.. her vioce is deeper and if it is possible, more mellifluous than it was twelve years ago. Just one thing Kate - please don't go into a sabbatical again, EVER (or atleast not one lasting twelve years)!

Anya Z. gave it a10:
Buying this album was best spending of money ever!!! Aerial is amazing album, great work of art and music. One of Bush's best.

Bill M. gave it a0:
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).

Robbie C gave it a10:
Simply stunning.

Chris P gave it a10:
The second CD, a Sky Of Honey, grew and grew on me. and is now one of my very favourite albums. Think of it as a single piece as it's full of cross-references. And it's introspective yet ecstatic, everyday yet transcendent, full of secrets and wonderful from beginning to end.

Olav L gave it a10:
Soundscape is like traveling my own country's landscape!

Aerial by Kate Bush

Aerial
by Kate Bush