There is no other album like The Dreaming. This is clear from the first few moments of the opener Sat in your Lap, with its frantic, leaping percussion and laughing staccato piano. It is discordant, off-putting, and almost frightening, qualities that remain throughout the rest of the album. On The Dreaming, Kate brays like a donkey, speaks in both a Cockney and Australian accent and wails desperately for her lost lover (who is, of course, Harry Houdini). She creates a dense soundscape of pianos and Pink Floyd samples, bamboo sticks and didgeridoos, a stage on which her Victorian absurdities of characters can dance. The album is daunting and dramatic, and the only natural response to it upon first listen is confusion. It blew my mind, and it continues to do so after about 600 listens.
Produced entirely by herself, The Dreaming is a testament to Kate Bush’s creativity. At the time of its recording, she had already carved out a niche for herself with her first 3 albums. Songs like Babooshka and Wuthering Heights defined her as a theatrical, siren-like popstar, showcasing her hypnotic soprano voice and uniquely literary lyrics. Many of the songs for these albums were written over the course of her teen years, brought into EMI, recorded, produced, and then compiled into albums. The Dreaming was the first album for which Kate wrote entirely new material, thus allowing her newfound creativity and artistic freedom. To add to this, she handled all production and songwriting duties. The songs of The Dreaming have minimal credits, often only including background singers and Kate’s brother, Paddy. Kate used The Dreaming to fully capitalize on this independence, creating some of the most original music of the 1980s.
Upon its release, however, The Dreaming received mixed reactions. The consensus among critics was one of confusion and mild approval. Writing for Smash Hits, Neil Tennant described the album as “Very weird… obviously trying to become less commercial.” Melody Maker called the album, “initially… bewildering and not a little preposterous,” but admitted that if you would, “ try to hang on through the twisted overkill and the historic fits…there’s much reward.” It was not a complete commercial failure, but was Kate Bush’s lowest-selling album to date.
Despite its lukewarm critical reaction, The Dreaming was a pioneering work of pop music. It made extensive use of the Fairlight CMI, a synthesizer that would come to dominate the music of the 80s. With this new technology, Kate created a maximalist labyrinth of sound that captured the zeitgeist of the decade, despite the album being released only in its third year. There are hints of The Dreaming everywhere in 80s music, from Depeche Mode to Siouxsie and the Banshees, to The Smiths. And, although the album leverages the musical trends of the 80s such as New Wave and Post Punk, it still remains, firmly and fiercely, its own unique work. From: https://medium.com/@laurenann0624/kate-bushs-the-dreaming-from-mad-experiment-to-masterpiece-8b11c1e35964
