Never For Ever

Product Information

As a pioneer of theatrics and pyrotechnics, it comes as no surprise that the artwork for many of Kate Bush’s albums evoke that precise level of extraordinary: her debut album demonstrated this beautifully with its depiction of Bush holding onto a large dragon kite, gliding across a vast, all-seeing eye. One thing that did surprise me is that the 'worst move' mispronunciation from Babooshka wasn't addressed - it should have been fairly easy to soften out that 'T', but hey, that's a minor pedantic niggle 😊The packaging is lovely, it's now a gatefold digipak, and having the whole album artwork in your hands is much nicer than the much smaller image and black spine of the jewel case, and this adds to the vinyl-like experience. It’s an inevitable aspect of the human experience – the convergence of inner and outer worlds – and the cover’s depiction of the intricate and omnipresent nature of emotions and the darkness within is astounding.

To calculate the overall star rating and percentage breakdown by star, we don’t use a simple average. Firstly; it had three pretty big hit Singles to its credit - two of which were her best ever in my opinion, and should really have given Kate Bush at least one Number One; 'Babooshka' and 'Breathing'. In 2020, Rolling Stone included Never for Ever in their "80 Greatest albums of 1980" list, praising Bush for her songwriting and her imagination.It features the UK Top 20 singles 'Breathing', 'Army Dreamers' and 'Babooshka', the latter being one of Bush's biggest hits. However, the album that encapsulates her entire essence and arguably stands as one of the finest in the realm of music due to its profound relevance and unparalleled creativity is undoubtedly Never For Ever. It would prove to be her only tour for various suggested reasons, a few being a fear of flying and the death of her stage lighting director Bill Duffield, who fell through a trapdoor while finishing up after a show. The album became Bush's first record to reach the top position on the UK Albums Chart, also making her the first female British solo artist to achieve that status.

It followed her "Tour of Life" in Europe to promote her previous albums "The Kick Inside" and "Lionheart".The 80 Greatest Albums of 1980 What came out of all this was, arguably, the greatest year for great albums ever". Evoking an intriguing sense of mysticism and surrealism, various animals emerge underneath her dress, including a yellow-eyed owl, a black crow, and a pair of white doves. As Bush explained herself, the image represents “an intricate journey of our emotions: inside gets outside, as we flood people and things with our desires and problems. The album was favourably received by music critics at the time, save for a curiously critical review in Record Mirror, which appears to criticise the album (and Bush herself), while complimenting a number of tracks.

The woman featured in his work, ‘Undine in the Wind’, bears a striking resemblance to the figure of Bush depicted on the cover of Never For Ever, right down to the detail of both figures standing on their toes.Army dreamers- a stunning song with pure resonance now more than ever before, the message is stronger than any other ballad and deeper than a cut, the backing vocals add to the purity of Kate's vocals and the beat is gentle if unique with the clockwork toy style effect showing how life can be wasted through fighting when you haven't yet come into your true form, your life hasn't started yet don't waste it when you're still young. This visual medium communicates more about the essence of a record than mere word of mouth ever could.

Babooshka' I think had already reached Number Five, and a friend had 'fibbed' to me the following week and told me it had gone to Number One when I'd missed the Chart - I believed her, as this had been Kate's best effort since her last chart topper of more than two years previous. Her incredible talent with this album, therefore, didn’t go amiss, and, as her first fully-fledged foray into production, served to be just about as archetypal Kate Bush as you could get. That Kate Bush rolling around like a squealing 'ninny' like this (Granny imitating her movements from within the sphere) in a great big ball'! However, as someone has already commented, the older albums do seem to benefit from being remastering better, including this one.The infant Kiss-now for a change of pace from the previous songs, Kate goes more mellow with the ballad of the album, but unlike most ballads this is told with Kate's unique style and kitsch attitude with sound effects while the message still hits as deep as it should with pure emotional resonance, as pure as Kate can be. Never For Ever" is another Kate Bush masterpiece that, in hindsight, bridges "Lionheart" and her next album "The Dreaming", containing elements from both. Blow Away (for Bill)" commemorates her lighting director Bill Duffield, killed in an accident at Poole Arts Centre during her 1979 tour. What he created firmly resonated with Bush’s inner world, echoing the artistic influences she held dear. Though at the time she was younger than 21, Bush confidently became the careful, experimental studio-only artist she remained for the remainder of her career.