The RealAudio servers for BBC Radio 2 must have got a bit of a hammering this evening. The Ken Bruce show hosted the first-ever playing of Kate Bush’s new single, ‘King Of The Mountain’, doubtless attracting a global audience of obsessives like myself.
I’ve been a Kate Bush fan more or less since I was first able to watch Countdown, but she definitely tests your patience: the last time she put an album out, I hadn’t left university, had no career to speak of and had never experienced the Internet. 12 years later, Kate’s finally got a new double album, Aerial, due on November 7. The single, a taster, is due on October 24, and I’ve spent the whole evening listening to my mildly boomy recording from the Beeb’s audio stream.
It certainly isn’t an easy or obvious single the way that ‘Babooshka’ or ‘Running Up That Hill’ or even ‘Rubberband Girl’ were, but then Kate has never been particularly concerned with being easy or obvious. Lots of subtle, half-Indian, half-electronic influences and some great jangly guitar as the song builds, plus lots of moody wind sounds — I can’t wait to purchase a proper copy and really appreciate the production. On every listen, I’m liking it more . . .
King Of the Mountain is a great song – you are certainly right, the song grows and grows! Initially it doesn’t seem to be an obvious single, and before you know it, it is stuck in your head! Kate is a genius – it deserves to get huge airplay here!