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80
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72
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61
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79
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72
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79
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88
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69
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78
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69
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Zero 7
Stars indicate the most critically-acclaimed albums.
Aerial
Universal acclaim
Based on 23 critic reviews
How did we calculate this?
Based on 253 votes
Read user comments
Rate this album >
Album Info
Label: Sony
Release Date: 08 November 2005
Discs: 2 discs
Genre(s): Alternative, Rock, Singer-Songwriter
Summary
This double-disc set is the influential singer-songwriter's first album in a dozen years.
What The Critics Said
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...
Playlouder
'Aerial' towers over the vast majority of even this year's embarrassment of riches.
Read Full Review >Entertainment Weekly
Considering the length of her hiatus, this is a remarkable surprise.
Read Full Review >Mojo
Kate Bush is the greatest living British artist in song and this is her masterpiece. [Dec 2005, p.96]
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.
Read Full Review >Q Magazine
You could lose yourself for days here. [Dec 2005, p.142]
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.
Read Full Review >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.
Read Full Review >E! Online
The songs don't always match the brouhaha surrounding their arrival, but there's no denying the exquisite craft on display.
Read Full Review >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.
Read Full Review >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.
Read Full Review >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.
Read Full Review >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.
Read Full Review >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.
Read Full Review >What Our Users Said
The average user rating for this album is 9.2 (out of 10) based on 253 User Votes
Note: User votes are NOT included in the Metascore calculation.
Takis S gave it a10:
A real experimental masterpiece! Only Kate can make songs like Aerial Prologue or Prelude in that Age. The album is the successor of Hounds of Love! A masterpiece!
Keith D gave it a10:
4 years later and Aerial continues to shine brilliantly, deliriously so.
El C gave it a10:
Frankly speaking, I did not like it too much the first time I have listened. Yet, with every time I listened it sort of opened up more and more. It is so rich that it unfolds and unfolds and unfolds, presenting each time with more, even when you thought you have it all. Kate must be a real witch, there is an incredible amount of "force" in this album. She is a very wise and mature person in sense of understanding the world and stuff, too - her songs prove it. Practically all songs on this album are charged with very deep emotions, and some are so much, that you can not hold tears listening. In short, this is an amazing, incredible album, one of the real treasures I have pleasure to listen to, ever.
m h gave it a1:
What a gigantic disappointment. The songs just drag on and on and on without any tension or climax.
adam a gave it a10:
Hey if you don't "understand" why this album is a brilliant masterpiece maybe you should think about what you're saying. Since when has understanding factored into the enjoyment of getting lost in a magical world that Kate Bush has created for us to explore? Either you give in to the magic or you resist it. Those who resist usually end up with comments like "disappointing" or "some good tunes but a lot of filler" or "I could do without all the bird noises". Come on people, where are your hearts? Your souls? If this album can't touch you I don't think there is any hope for you. Not that it's completely your fault. You've been conditioned to respond only to certain elements of music in a positive way, ususally music that doesn't challenge or offend. God forbid an artist should request your full attention for the duraton of a double album for the sole purpose of transporting you out of your dull but rational existence into a world of adventure, emotion and dreams where anything is possible. God forbid an artist should have the nerve to break all of the rules of music we've wasted our lives creating. Who does Kate Bush think she is anyway?
Caroline B gave it a10:
Incredible - atmospheric, thoughtful intelligent and beautiful. Bill M's problem is not the music. He needs to open his ears, mind and heart.
Tomasz S gave it a10:
Hopefully, she is back for good.
