Kate Bush - The Dreaming (FIRST REACTION) 

updated thoughts: www.albumoftheyear.org/user/davecher/album/19413-the-dreaming/ patreon: www.patreon.com/DAVECHER

In my eyes, "The Dreaming" is her true masterpiece. If you still wanna listen to her albums I'd suggest "The Sensual World" next.

The Dreaming almost ruined Kate's career. It was too weired for the music market, but today it is considered as a masterpiece

I'm thrilled to see the younger generation getting into the best artist in history that is Kate Bush. She is the musical Shakespeare of our time.

Kates pitch and vocal range is legendary mate. No other female singer comes close to the magic she inspires in her music. Listened to her music almost daily since 1979. No other artist has held my attention like Kate. She is adorable in person and her music shows us what type of a person she is.

I love this guy's reactions! The Dreaming is a masterpiece for me... I enjoy so much seeing young people try it out! In my opinion THE most underappreciated album at it's time of release but years later is renowned 🙌

It took me a while to really appreciate this album. It's so weird on the surface, but re-listening reveals a bunch of great hooks and brilliant little moments. I nowadays prefer Dreaming to Hounds of Love (and Aerial to both of them).

If you react to her debut album you’ll be blown away by her high-pitched voice once again.

I love your reaction to Kate's work! When these albums were recorded, AutoTune did not exist yet, so this is all Kate. Clearly some distortion such as they were capable of is added to some songs, but there is no digital forcing of the vocals to flatten out onto a pitch, which I think is one reason her albums sound so rich, all the little flaws and waverings around a note that make the human voice so magnificent are still there. Lots of piano, yes, she composes on the piano. That tail end of the song Suspended in Gaffa is the lead-in for Night of the Swallow, which is obvious when you have vinyl on the turntable and the two tracks run together, but that effect is lost when tracks are played discretely. The strange chanting at the end of Get Out of My House is drum talk, and if you want to hear the real thing, look up the utterly incredible Sheila Chandra. She has tracks that are completely made up of drum talk and vocal drones. P.S. You might enjoy the videos that Kate made for the songs on The Dreaming, they're as wild and weird as the album.

This album is strange the first time I listened I didn't like it but now is one of my favorite albums of all time Sooo excited for this reaction

I'm so happy "Leave It Open" is your favorite, it's my favorite too ! Although I love every track on this album

Since "the dreaming" is SO prog it's usually not going to truly blow your mind on the first listen (sometimes it can), it grows and grows on you after each and every time you listen and that's what I love the most about prog in general!

I got The Dreaming (and Japan's Tin Drum) on my 18th birthday in 1982 - can't believe that was 40 years ago! Brilliant album - the tracks are more like a collection of short stories than songs. Still a favourite of mine after all these years.

This is my "internally screaming" album, for when I'm feeling extremely overwhelmed and need to let out steam without losing my mind

She really does sing that high. Her vocal range is enormous

Another great reaction to a Kate Bush album, I'm happy that you liked and appreciated it, because it's her most experimental album, it can take a few listens to get fully adjusted to it. It's my favourite Kate Bush album, with "Hounds Of Love" in second place, I'm not going to reveal which one is in third place yet 😀! Reading the comments (to date) it would seem that there are three main choices which all have merit, [1] See how Kate developed after "Hounds Of Love" by listening to "The Sensual World" [2] Listen to "Never For Ever" the album prior to "The Dreaming", "Never For Ever" is the 1st studio album where she gets a production credit as a co-producer, for "Yhe Dreaming" and all subsequent albums Kate is the sole producer [3] Go back to the beginning and start with her debut album "The Kick Inside" an album that includes two tracks from the professional studio session that David Gilmour paid for. Whichever route you take, I'm sure that you gain much enjoyment in your further explorations of Kate's catalogue. I think that she's such a unique artist and talent.

This is my favorite Kate album. Here Kate really put all of her creativity, it’s such an underrated masterpiece

I love your Kate Bush Album reactions. You are amazing. I love your reflections here. Both Hounds of Love and the Dreaming are amazing albums. Please do her Album The sensual World. There is a range of vocals on that album

'The Dreaming' was the first Kate Bush album recorded after John Lennon's death in December 1980. Some of the darker themes on the album relate to that, I think, such as "so now when they ring, I get my machine to let them in" in 'All the Love', and 'Get Out of My House', which touch upon not being able to live as openly as before/being more impersonal, as a celebrity, so that a crazed fan doesn't get too close, ending up in your house trying to kill you.

What I like about this album is that it wasn't originally supposed to be self-produced. The producer involved at the time quit because Kate didn't want to get rid of all the multiple layers, vocally and instrumentally. Apparently they had a big fallout, and I am glad for it. He said she is crazy and nobody can do what she wants. She listened to her gut and decided to do it all herself, and became a mastermind producer inspiring others for decades with her skills. If you want it done right you better do it yourself, the Kate Bush way :)

Get out of my House is is PERFECT

I'm fucking loving your reactions about Kate Bush work and art in general, If you wanna continue listening to her discography, I would suggest "The Sensual World", or maybe "The Kick Inside", anyways, both are great albums. I'll be waiting for your next reaction

None of those notes were "pitched up" -- that is 100% the genius/talent of Kate!

Absolutely love this album! One of my favorites from Kate! Definitely her least “commercial” album, but it’s just a deep and heavy one. Genius explained most of it, but Pull Out The Pin is about the experience of the VietCong during the Vietnam War, Kate wrote it after seeing a documentary. The Dreaming is about aboriginal Australians and how they were pushed off of their territory and their concept of “Dreamtime”, which is what she’s spelling in the “dree-ee-ee-ee-ee-a-a-a” part. Houdini is about Bess Houdini, Harry Houdini’s wife and how before Harry would leave for every performance Bess would give him a kiss and pass him the escape key through the kiss, so he could use it to escape the locks and chains. Suspended In Gaffa is about seeing something you really want or desire and then not be able to see it again, in the song that thing is God. Leave It Open is about letting your weird and personal side show rather than keeping it hidden. There Goes A Tenner is about a robbery gone wrong. The robbers are afraid, scared and nervous of what may happen. Sat In Your Lap is about the human urge to gain “universal knowledge”. Night Of The Swallow is about a smuggler’s wife begging her husband to not go on his next job. All The Love is about being lonely and grieving and how grief and pain can lead to feelings being shown that wouldn’t otherwise be let out or shown. Get Out Of My House is about the ghost of the past housekeeper returning to the house and haunting Kate and the house and she wants him to leave and go away, but it can also relate to success and fame and not wanting to be recognized and chased down. There’s no cymbals one this album. Kate would sample a spray from a bottle of windex or a cleaner for her hi-hat sound, especially on Never For Ever.

Thank you for reacting to this. I have really enjoyed your two Bush reactions. I have loved her since 1986 and she blew my mind. I a, 50 now! It is very emotional watching someone with ears from a different musical generation (you!) so I am really enjoying it. 💙 By the way- The Dreaming is not a concept album and although she used (and some say abused the Fairlight synthesiser on this album, she probably did sing those very high notes (her voice has lowered with age on more recent albums. PLEASE PLEASE react to her other albums. I’m loving watching your experience of Kate. I do not know if you have an order in which to listen to them but I would recommend Never For Ever and Aerial particularly. If you listen to them chronologically, it is possible to hear how she developed as a songwriter and artists. Thanks again so much fir the video and I hope you do more Bush reactions. 🙏

so excited for this 🥰 i love seeing people react to kate bush

This album solidified KATE BUSH as the QUEEN OF ADVENTUROUS POP... joining PETER GABRIEL (KING OF ADVENTUROUS POP... on his 3rd album). It's a BRILLIANT album.... and I agree... her BEST.

Sat in Your Lap is a Philosophy 1.01 on definitions of knowledge and certainty regarding knowledge. It is highly topical right now, when a lot of people feel able to assert that their 'truths' can (cough) trump reality.

Great to watch! Just like your Hounds Of Love react. If you feel like it: do the album “The Kick Inside”. That’s her debut. And again quite different.

Of course she is singing that high it’s Kate Bush. Not sure if you have heard Wuthring Heights then you would know. Great reaction video.

IMO The Dreaming, Hounds of Love and Sensual World are her masterpieces.

Get out of my House was written after seeing some horror movies, maybe The Shining, haunted houses. Look for a track that was only on the compilation album The Whole Story, but not released on any prior album called "Experiment IV". It's haunting too but very obvious what it's about. You can watch the video for it starring a young Hugh Laurie of House right here on RU-vid. I recommend that one.

Il you like The Dreaming you probably like IV (security) by Peter Gabriel

“The Dreaming” was a big song for us at the time who considered alternative. For Kate to sing about the struggles of Australian Aborigines was a big deal at the time. There was no internet yet so there were limited ways you learned and cared about issues on the other side of the planet-music was a big one for those who listened to non-mainstream music. I love this song but understand if it’s difficult to access, but like “Breathing,” the video may be helpful because she becomes, along with Aborigines, part of and of the land, leading to the perspective of the song. The “strangeness” is necessary to convey the difference in worldview from the original inhabitants compared to the newcomers-who are introduced musically the end and with European fiddles and where you felt comfortable. For Aborigines, Dreamtime is the real world/they didn’t map constellations, but the empty space between stars… so the complete clash of worldviews and alieness from the Native Australian perspective being portrayed in this song.

Wonderful reaction! I love how you feel it but you also bring an appreciation of the technicalities of the music. Thank you!

“Those Drums” replicate the wings of a Swallow..

So ready, so excited

I love watching you loving / discovering the music I loved / discovered at your age.

The Dreaming lovely album,.. GET OUT MY HOUSE IS ABOUT .. a ghost that haunting a woman house Kate got the idea from teh horror movie the entity .,... love the movie but so scarry base on true story .. when i first heard it i thought about a abused woman .. and she rather go as an donkey fly away .. The Dreaming you have just go with it it is one my favorite Kate Bush album .. i first heard it when i was only 15 years old an loved it it was way different what i hear on American radio winch gets so sugar coded boring .. Kate is a amazing artist .. been a long time huge fan of her music so special rare jam and so underrated in America .

Since you liked kate, you should listen to little earthquakes by "tori amos" and "to bring you my love" by pj harvey, both of them feature strong female vocalists like kate but stylistically they're way different!

I fell in love with Kate the same way a lot of people are now, with RUTH back when MTV played music videos. Then I worked my way backwards through her albums. I didn't love them immediately, but after a few listens and finding the right mood, I loved them all. The Dreaming was my go-to when feeling down, to wallow in those feelings and let them burn out with Get Out of My House.

Never for ever next

She is THE Fairlight innovator. Although she applied effects to her voice, that is all her voice - her theatrics are unmatched. I’m glad the young people like it and can appreciate it and now I hear her in the supermarket. 🤩 I get totally different meanings from some of her songs than others do. So strange.

Glad you liked this album right off the bat; sometimes it takes people a while to warm up to it. Not because of quality, but it’s just so….out there. This was her first completely self-produced album, and reportedly the studio was *not* happy with it - while the album hit #3 on the charts, none of the singles got higher than Sat in Your Lap at #11. They wanted another Wuthering Heights and she gave them Get Out of My House. (They released The Dreaming as a single, and I’m convinced teenage boys bought it because at times it feels like Kate is blowing in your ear.) When I heard it, the first track I connected with was, strangely, Houdini, because I knew the whole story behind it - Harry Houdini debunking fake mediums (because, as a stage magician, he knew all the tricks they used), his death after his appendix ruptured during one of his underwater escapes, and the “Rosabel, believe” code that he had given his wife. Back in the bad old days of music filesharing on Napster and Limewire, there was a track (When the Rain Came Down) that went around being advertised as a duet between Annie Lennox and Kate Bush. Of course, it wasn’t; it was a release by a little-known singer-songwriter named Happy Rhodes, who had a ridiculous vocal range. You can find it here: ru-vid.com/video/%D0%B2%D0%B8%D0%B4%D0%B5%D0%BE-jP8Nv8XWMgU.html

bahahah thank you for reacting to this masterpiece of an album, PLEASE please react to one of her earlier albums too, i would very much recommend the kick inside or lionheart, both are sooo slept on. all the love, another gen z fan ❤

This album was looked at as Kate losing her marbles at the time. But it's actually a very coherent masterpiece that was far ahead of its time.

Awesome reactions! I, personally, think this is her best album. Each song tells a story about a person on the edge of madness. The title song is stunning! You'll never hear anything like it! It took about 20 years to become my favorite song.

also is there any chance you could react to motomami by Rosalía... I think you might like it a lot since you like charli xcx and kanye

The Kick Inside should be next, it's a masterpiece as well 😁

Welcome to the world of Kate Bush😀❤❤

I just found your channel so I’ll probably be popping up on random videos commenting pretty frequently in the next few days great channel by the way! What I love about your channel just scrolling through here is your doing full album reactions which is pretty rare and more importantly the music you choose to react to is really really good music for the most part which is pretty rare in this space here

Spot on - loved this review - thank you so much :)

The Dreaming , despite how upbeat it sounds , is a serious subject..

The "weird Kate" started to take over on Never For Ever. Her first two albums are more singer-songwriter oriented, with her voice mostly in the upper range. So if you want more straight forward vocals, they might do the trick, with The Kick Inside a couple notches above Lionheart.

This is my favorite album: I didn't like it as much when I first heard it because it felt like such a departure from her previous three. But wow, it grew on me pretty fast. Great reaction. Thanks!

if you have a chance, look at the back of the physical album. It has a note saying " this album is meant to be played loud" . something like that. i cant remember the exact sentences.

This was/is my kate bush album. Had heard the early stuff..army dreamers👍hounds of love great, and This Womans Work tears me up everytime...but this one blew me away..get of my house video on MTV drew me in the album exploded my head...

Thanks for this reaction. I felt like being 12 again listening to this album. It changed my life. "Who thinks of this stuff?". Thx!

If you loved this album, you just gotta gotta gotta react to Nunsexmonkrock by Kate's evil sister, Nina Hagen. Vocally, it's this album to the power of 10.

The title track was actually released as a single in the UK. It got to number 40 in the singles chart!

Arca reaction when? Like bro if you haven't listened to the kick saga we need to get you to react to her asap!

My favorite album of all time. Cheers man great vid

Great - thanks a lot for this thorough reaction! Look further into the songs - they are weird and great. Perhaps go to "Never for Ever" next, or "The Sensual World"?

i just discovered your channel thanks to this video and i really LOVE your content !! thank u for this vid really, hope you get to listen to the sensual world soon!!

I was waiting to see what happened when you got to the mule. 😁👍🏼 a great take overall on this record. Great to see love for Gaffa, which I think is one of the best-ever songs about what depression feels like.

Although she has a large discography, maybe look into diving into Tori Amos as well? She is often compared to Kate. I’d recommend any of her first three albums for a first listen: Little Earthquakes (traditional singer-songwriter), Under the Pink (brings in more band elements and textures), and Boys for Pele (abrasive, harpsichord-heavy).

Thank you for reacting to this album 🔥 This is Kate's most avant-garde album and can be off-putting for mainstream listeners but not bad for a first-listen 👍 To answer your question, Kate's voice, especially in the earlier part of her career, could go really, really high. For her high pitch sound, Kate's debut album "The Kick Inside" (1978) is the route to go. I also suggest Kate's album "The Sensual World" (1989). This is the last leg of Kate's "Holy Trinity" of albums ("The Dreaming" (1982) and "The Hounds of Love" (1985) being the other two). The album builds off of the other two effort but with more mature and mellow tones. I also recommend checking out Tori Amos. I consider Tori the Kate Bush of America but with her own style and swag. Tori is a musical prodigy; an accomplished pianist, master lyricist, incredible stage performer, and one hell of a vocalist. Tori was/is a part of the 1990s Female Alternative Rock scene that also featured artists like Bjork and Alanis Morissette. Do check out her first three albums if you get the chance: "Little Earthquakes" (1992) "Under the Pink" (1994) "Boys for Pele" (1996)

Night of The Swallow is my fav Kate Bush song

This is a great reaction. So wonderful to see someone react to this bonkers and genius album. Those websites just make shit up about these songs, though. Kate's work is often inspired by cinema, and Get out of My House is inspired by The Shining, and her changing into the mule also recalls Pinocchio. Kate was rarely writing about her own life. I'm excited to see what's next on your Kate journey!

This album is about transformation, literally, e.g. the tree becoming an Aborigine in the title track and then the smuggler shapeshifting into a swallow (alliteration!) in the next track

After almost forty years of listening to them, I rank The Dreaming above Hounds of Love. I rank The Dreaming album about equal to Sky of Honey at number one and Hounds of Love at number two. ,

Yes. King of Limbs. My favorite RH album. Glad to see it gets love

if you approved the dreaming, i would like to recommend you to Tori Amos' From the Choirgirl Hotel'. for me it has the resemblance of kate's The Dreaming. the album was solid and and has the same energy as kate. because tori was dealing with her miscarriages during that album. so it was a dark and intense album. ànd just like kate , tori plays piano too. so bear in mind when you heard the piano in FTCH , it was her banging her piano like nobody's business. go give it a try !

Awesome reactions to an awesome album!

The reaction on THAT part of Get Out of my House, was all I was expecting

I was so scared you weren’t going to like it!

When you are angry - play 'get out of my house'. It helps. Brilliant.

'All the love' the most accessible :oooo i've been listening to her for almost 8 years and only 3 months ago realized the otherwordly genius of this one haha

I'm obsessed with this album atm

If you had listened to her first three albums, you wouldn't be asking the questions about her voice being that high. Girl got range

My personal fav KB album. It's the first one she produced, which is why it's so wild and experimental. She's a weird lady, and her weirdness speaks to me

Masterpiece!

The dreaming is her best record and the night of the swollow is her best song.

This album to me is unfiltered pure kate bush and thats why i love it

The bit at the end of Get Out of My House is tabla drum talk.

This is her MASTERPIECE!...IMO

This album was for her a liberation, at the time many artists were after a specific synth, the Fairlight CMI, that could emulate sounds of real stuff with ease. At the time she was one of the few musicians that could afford that kind of tech and it meant that her music could be much more on her hands. which was so rare at the time, when musicians had to bend to record label machinery to compose. When she got her hands on it she wanted to release the album she wanted for so long and this was what came out ( this and what came on the second half of Hounds Of Love) She was inspired by horror movies and the british colonialism in foreign lands (especialy Australia and Southern Asia) and for Get Out Of My House she was inspired by The Shinning.

Please note this album was meant to be played LOUD

This was me when Iwas your age. Blew me away. Never Forever - that is a good album too.

An album to dive in. And fully enjoy

Hey! I'm glad so you like KateBush but Kate is British :) not Australian if you watch her interviews she is fully British, and yes those pitches in the songs are her (I know really impressive) you should definitely listen to wuthering heights by the way.

When I first heard this album my reaction was: I don't know what's going on but I love it. Glad to see you're now a Kate Bush fan. There's lots more of her work for you to explore.

This album could only have been made at that time, with Fairlight techniques, fretless bass etc. It has always been my go to KB album, the strangest and most fascinating, with no concessions to the charts. The b side of the rare Sat In Your Lap single has a gorgeous version of Lord of the Reedy River. A hidden gem

17:36 -- yeah, Australia was colonized by the British as well around the same time as Canada. What's funny about this song is that Kate has incorrectly been accused of cultural appropriation here, but it's just that the accusers are too dense to understand her storytelling -- it's the exact opposite lol -- same thing applies to her song 'Egypt' and its video.

Kate Bush is literally the best thing since sliced bread. Your reactions are top drawer too. Can you do Never Forever next. You’ll love it, I promise

Pleaseeeee bring back the Kate Bush reactions

If you want to hear how high she can go then find the live version on here of Oh England My Lionheart!

Actually my favourite KB album, even more than HoL.

Hey buddy, subbed!🤗

I have loved this album for 40 years. I never get tired of it. My favourites are actually the same as yours Leave It Open and All The Love