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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.
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Despite her prolonged absence, Bush sounds as vital as ever.
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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.
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'Aerial' towers over the vast majority of even this year's embarrassment of riches.
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It is filled with things only Kate Bush would do.
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The songs don't always match the brouhaha surrounding their arrival, but there's no denying the exquisite craft on display.
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Aerial isn’t perfect, but it is magnificent.
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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.
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A more satisfying album intellectually than it is musically.
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Considering the length of her hiatus, this is a remarkable surprise.
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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.
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It's a stirring return to that special place behind the eyes of Kate Bush, where every raindrop contains universes within universes.
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Too much of Aerial fades into a soft-focus background of soothing synthesizers, murmuring bass, and twittering birdsong.
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UncutA madly ambitious, darkly despondent and goofily exuberant grand folly of a record. [Album of the Month, Dec 2005, p.98]
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Q MagazineYou could lose yourself for days here. [Dec 2005, p.142]
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MojoKate Bush is the greatest living British artist in song and this is her masterpiece. [Dec 2005, p.96]
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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.
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New Musical Express (NME)'Aerial' has more than its share of static, but the highs are more than worth the lows. [12 Nov 2005, p.45]
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BlenderShe balances her freakiness by matching her sublime chirp with grounded glories. [Jan/Feb 2006, p.93]
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This is Kate Bush's domestic album. Listen to it stoned on a Sunday afternoon.
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Over two CDs the music expands towards novel-like richness.
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Under The RadarAt 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]
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Paste MagazineIt's great to have her back. [Feb/Mar 2006, p.100]
Awards & Rankings
User score distribution:
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Positive: 291 out of 325
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Mixed: 8 out of 325
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Negative: 26 out of 325
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TakisSOct 19, 2009
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AdanRJan 13, 2006
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MintyZNov 9, 2005