Kate Bush "Experiment IV" / "Rocket's Tail" / "This Woman's Work" (First Time Reaction)

[@L33Reacts]

What is your favorite Kate Bush song?

[@lemming9984]

A Sky Of Honey.

[@RandyHall324]

I think it might be Experiment IV...such a creative idea - who else but Kate Bush could come up with it? Never knew there was a video for it, so thanks!

[@j.k.1963]

There can't be ONE favorite when it comes to her music. An interesting one that doesn't get much attention is The Red Shoes' Big Stripey Lie. It sounds like it could have been written for The Dreaming, but it wasn't. Kate played the electric guitar ánd bass on this one. Nigel Kennedy appears again with his magical strings (as he did on Experiment IV) When you want to explore this one, make sure to pick the 1993 album version. The later remastered albumversion has been butchered big time. To be clear about it, the strong ending of the first release ended up with a terrible fade-out in the remastered releases from 2011 and 2018.

[@gillwaugh7212]

Moments of Pleasure is another emotional song and video. Breaks my heart.

[@bartholomewswarmkrunsh3859]

This Woman's Work & Moments of Pleasure - both make me cry, but then she matched them with A Coral Room - awesome. Pull Out The Pin and The Dreaming need listening to. Never Be Mine is my favourite from The Sensual World album. The Ninth Wave was Kate at her ultimate, yet the second CD of the Aerial double album "A Sky Of Honey" is close behind, especially the tracks Sunset, Nocturn & Aerial. Plus "You Want Alchemy" is a great non-album track.

[@saturninebear]

This Woman's Work doesn't just make me cry. It makes me bawl my eyes out. Every time.

[@aldo34]

Same. Every f***ing time.

[@Bobsherunkle]

Watching these Kate Bush reactions has been a joy. What a genuine Top Man you are. I wish you well and hope for the very best for you in the future.

[@anthonyblakely399]

The back up singers on this track, "Rocket's Tail" and other tracks on Kate Bush's Sensual World album are the "Trio Bulgarka" They were a Bulgarian vocal ensemble. They gained international prominence through their contributions to the groundbreaking 1975 world music album Balkana: The music of Bulgaria, originally released on the now defunct Hannibal label. Kate Bush introduced the group to the Western world particularly America. They were a hit....I saw them in concert Live in L.A. and Santa Barbara. Twice. Really Unworldly sounds and vocals from their Bulgarian ancient world.

[@Johnny_Socko]

Good call on David Gilmour! "Rocket's Tail" is probably my favorite Kat Bush song, if I were forced to name one.* For background vocals on that song, Kate chose a trio of traditional Bulgarian choir singers. That ancient Bulgarian vocal style also sneaked into popular culture in things like the TV show Xena Warrior Princess. Kate also *directed* the videos for "Experiment IV" and "This Woman's Work". There is no end to her talent. *I do think her best _vocal_ performance was on "Reaching Out," off _The Sensual World._

[@mrwomby5007]

The video of Sensual World has me in a puddle on the floor every time. The combination of the music, the words and her dancing is overwhelming.

[@svaughan3851]

Something that I've always loved about Kate is the way she writes about men. In many ways she's an icon of feminist ideals: fiercely independent and self-governing in a male-dominant industry that chews beautiful women up for breakfast but she writes about men in such loving terms - she almost never wanders into slushy romanticism about relationships, instead she always seems to come from a place of tender emotional/romantic maturity... I love that about her writing.

[@glebivanov6323]

That's why her role in "Don't Give Up" fits her so much.

[@skbirds]

Perfect comment. I flove her for her independence, artistic determination and intellectualism, but she always seeks to understand & sympathize with men at the same time.

[@catschorus4684]

Rockets tail is an extraordinary piece of work.

[@stever7732]

Thanks for all your Kate Bush reactions. It has been a treat. And there are many more of her memorable songs to choose from if you want to do an extra bonus selection. I wasn’t sure if you realised that Kate was sharing vocal duties in Rocket’s Tail with the Trio Bulgarka (three middle-age Bulgarian folk singers). And it was a good news outcome in ‘This Woman’s Work’ as indicated by the smile on the nurse’s face when she gave him the news. Kate was commissioned to write the song for a harrowing scene in the 1988 film She’s Having a Baby when a young Kevin Bacon is fretting in the hospital waiting room while the birth of his child goes into crisis putting the lives of both mother and child in danger.

[@corawheeler9355]

I hadn't been familiar with Kate Bush's work, so this month has been a treat for me. Thank you Lee and Lee

[@markferrett700]

Great, great way to start the year......Kate is a musical Goddess 👏👏....really shows off her interest and intrigue with Celtic myth and instrumentation......the Irish ( bag) pipes sound amazing .

[@realbser1956]

Thanks for the deep dive into Kate Bush Lee. That last song, that was a heartbreaker.

[@joeyblowey123456]

If you aren't crying by the end of This Woman's Work , you just aren't human

[@PanarchyInTheUK]

Wow! Dawn French AND Hugh Laurie together in a Kate Bush music video!

[@BecomeConsciousNow]

Great Artist!

[@WhisperingJaneASMR]

"This Woman's Work" gets me everytime. It was so lovely seeing you being fully into the songs and motion picture (when your head stopped rocking 😀). Kate is really one of a kind, I hope she will never ever be forgotten and many generations to come will be able to know and enjoy her art. "Running Up That Hill", "And So Is Love", also "Cloudbusting" are one of my absolute favorites songs of her! ❤

[@slavaukraini404]

My 3 favorite artists ever are:: The Beatles, Kate Bush and Eivor. Eivor has a Kate Bush moment with her song boxes and it's brilliant.

[@markwade2530]

This Woman's Work is so beautiful. Her work overall is stunning, beautiful, original, imaginative, and always inventive.

[@davidhanson8681]

The Sensual World: gorgeous melody, gorgeous video, gorgeous Ulleann bagpipe, gorgeous lyrics mainly from last paragraph of James Joyce's Ulysses.

[@RhettAnderson]

Oh man I've always loved Kate Bush. No one like her.

[@tommydevlin702]

Hi L33, glad you enjoyed your Kate Bush exploration and a little relieved that you enjoyed my Patreon request (Rocket's Tail) as much as you did. As for me I would always make a distinction between my favourite KB song and what I think is her greatest. Speaking personally my favourite will always be "Wuthering Heights" first because it is a great song and great vocal performance (done in a single take), but also because of how it landed upon my ears when I first heard it way back at the very beginning of Kate's career. I was (and at heart still am) a Punk rock fan but when I heard her in 1978 it was like the intrusion into my world of something 'other', from a different place, different dimension. At the end of the 1970's the UK could be really quite grim and quite grimey: and "Wuthering Heights" granted me with the realization that there was actually beauty in music and beauty all around me if was willing to look at it. Even then it wasn't really 'current' and never has been ever since, but even then it seemed at the same time to be both older than the times but also ahead of the times - and to me even after nearly 50 years it still has that feeling for me. So, if I can only take one Kate Bush song with me through the years it will always be Wuthering Heights. As for her greatest song. Well, I have two, neither of which you have been able to get to yet. The first is "The Kick Inside" the title track of her first album, it is unbearably bleak in its subject matter, but exquisitely beautiful. For a girl of that age to make this song the title track and final song on her debut album is unthinkable given what it contains. You do have to know the lyrics, but also know the old folk song (The Ballad of Lucy Wan) that inspired it, and know too how Kate Bush completely changed the original folk song so that the girl (Lucy) instead of being just another female victim of another man is turned into the narrator, main protagonist, and 'heroine' of the song; instead of meeting a grisly end she makes the ultimate sacrifice, instead of the brother being something of a monster, he is loved, cherished, and shielded by the sacrifice of his sister, instead of the brother fleeing from the scene of his crimes and getting away with what he did, she departs this time and place in order to save him. And the entire chain of events is set in motion by what the song calls the kick inside - the kick inside her womb. The second is "A Coral Room" - in which Kate compares the death of her mother to the violent overthrow of an entire civilization and likens her mourning for her mother to that of the grief of an entire civilization. Inspired in part by a classical music piece, Debussy's "The Sunken/Submerged Cathedral" she takes the death of her mother and then goes on to describe how everything that humanity has ever built is ultimately doomed to fall into rubble and become a home for spiders spinning their webs. But alongside of that she creates this worldview where that lost world (or those lost people whom we loved so dearly) are almost within touching distance if only we reach out and feel for them - our memories can almost conjure up the dead to us once more just by holding in our hands cherished trinkets or everyday items that speak to us about those we lost. For me it is her greatest piano work, some of her greatest vocals and probably her greatest lyrical composition. Thanks for the Kate Journey over recent weeks. Looking forward to more great music from your channel in 2025

[@annesmith2259]

This woman’s work always makes me cry as well

[@raycornford283]

"The Sensual World" was Kate's take on the soliloquy of the character Molly Bloom in James Joyce's novel Ulysses. The lyrics she wanted to use quoted some of Molly's lines but Joyce's executors wouldn't give permission for them to be used. They later relented and Kate wrote a second version of the song entitled Flower of the Mountain.

[@TheoZoffrok]

Despite the second version being Joyce's actual words, I prefer The Sensual World to Flower Of The Mountain.

[@adamgreener3887]

Been a real treat watching you listening to Kate & moving on a short journey through some of her songs. Suggest you look up Roy Harper, an English folk musician who was a big influence & inspiration to Kate in her earlier years & played and sang with her on a number of songs. Great, heartfelt reactions. No BS. Kudos. 🙏🙌🏼

[@gillwaugh7212]

Lovely reaction to four great tracks Lee. Thank you. Happy new year everyone ❤

[@skbirds]

At 11:46 the voice you're listening to is the soloist of Trio Bulgaria. Kate was so appreciative of this group that she created the song to showcase them... and David Gilmore.

[@thescrewfly]

It would be a good idea to come back to Kate Bush from time to time. There is a lot more to discover.

[@andrewwright9378]

Don’t worry Lee, everybody cries to “This Woman’s Work”.

[@KLStorer]

I think you may know that Gilmore discovered her and got her first record contract. Kate IS a musical genius. I once put together a mix tape that was my wish list of set list for a concert tour by her. "Rocket's Tail" was what I had her open the show with.

[@jeanroebuck4737]

Aww bless you ❤

[@j.k.1963]

Thank you L33 for reacting to her work, so far. I just know it won't be your last reaction to her music. She' s got you under her spell too. ❤

[@Rhiannon011]

Laura Nyro and Kate Bush have a lot in common, as both are so unique and produced, wrote their own songs,, played piano and created their own music. Both Tori Amos and Kate have said Laura Nyro has influenced their music big time, as Laura was "so unique and talented"..

[@stevegirard-voiceaudiopodcasts]

Ha! You are exactly correct… Gilmore was the guitarist on Rocket Tail!

[@samguberman2288]

Rocket's tail is ny favourite track from an incredible album. The addition of The Trio Bulgarka is genius, their voices are other worldly. Kate Bush is a Goddess. Is there a more lush video than The Sensual World, i don't think so.

[@jstock2317]

Kate: *hits blunt* "I've got an idea..."

[@-R.Gray-]

The female vocalist with the pronounced vibrato on "Rocket's Tail" was one of the Bulgarian singers on the album. It was the unusual harmonies on an album of Bulgarian singers which inspired Jeff Beck's song "Where Were You", where he played the melody by manipulating harmonics with the whammy bar. Beck got to work on the same track as the Trio Bulgarka on Kate's next album ("You're The One").

[@andymccracken4046]

Good selection.

[@dominicschaeffer909]

Kate was one of the pioneers of The Fairlight Computer Music Instrument. It’s is basically how the album Hounds of Love was produced. She and Peter Gabriel were the first to have one. Basically you can sample any sound and turn it into music. Project IV was Kate’s fantasy about the military applications of such a machine.

[@stevegirard-voiceaudiopodcasts]

Nice… also fun to note that Kate says at first she borrowed Gabriel’s Fairlight, loved it and got one herself.

[@jerrydial5984]

Thanks Lee! Great songs! From what I understand the song The Sensual World is about Kate getting married. The dude that played "House" on the show "House" is in the Experiment IV, I think he's at the phone and collapses. Rocket's Tail features the Trio Bulgarka, a Bulgarian...well...trio. This Woman's Work was made for the movie She's Having a Baby. I could be wrong about any or all of that. Thanks again!

[@mickdarcy3063]

was Dawn French the short, blonde assistant in the Experiment IV video?

[@jerrydial5984]

@mickdarcy3063 yes

[@leehyett]

From one Lee to another Lee (and another!), thank you both so much for these Kate Bush selections over the past month! If I were to suggest any more, it would be 'All The Love' and 'Houdini', both from The Dreaming.

[@alanbeaumont4848]

There is an epic live performance of Experiment IV (from The Wogan show BBC1) with virtuoso violinist Nigel Kennedy performing with the band.

[@whitneyjacobs7874]

Sensual World is possibly my favorite KB album. My favorite track from it is Deeper Understanding, which also employs the wonderful voices of the Trio Bulgarka and was prescient in its treatment of virtual relationships decades before they became a widespread phenomenon. FYI, the late John Giblin, who played bass on Rocket's Tail, also recorded with Brand X.

[@davidrauh8118]

This Woman's Work is from the soundtrack of the movie, She's Having A Baby. The song is written from the man's point of view. The end of her music video is often mistaken for a sad ending, but in fact the nurse is reassuring him with a smile and he is relieved, not grieving.

[@Hartlor_Tayley]

She really is beyond words to describe besides Incredible

[@nekoti.8-2]

That is The Trio Bulgarka doing the backing vocals. Paddy Bush was always using instruments from around the world. Both he and Kate were into music from around the world. I have to sub to anyone who plays 4 Kate Bush songs in a row and clearly gets her. Maybe in not all the nuanced ways that Kate moves in. But you definitely get the feeling of how she creates a story, a journey, the sonic atmospherics and mysticism. She is just about the most brilliant artist that's ever lived.

[@skbirds]

I have about 20 "favorite" Kate Bush songs.

[@Muckylittleme]

I don't know if you want advice or even if mine is worth reading but as someone who has suffered and been in very dark places I can only say that you already have what you need to ultimately find meaning in life and that is humility which itself comes from suffering. Stay grounded and appreciate life for life's sake and the simple pleasures and never take yourself too seriously. There will always be challenges and slaps from fate but whether we are rich or poor it ends the same way so hold on to the moments and try to understand what a miracle and gift your existence is. I have no idea if that makes any sense in the context of your life but those are the things that have helped me survive the worse times of my life. Good luck with everything.

[@franohmsford7548]

Quentin Tarantino's son was Tim McInnerny, otherwise known as Lord Percy/Captain Darling from Blackadder!

[@jameswarner5809]

I hadn't realised that Dawn French and Hugh Laurie were in the Experiment IV video. It wasn't actually on the Sensual World album originally, it was a stand-alone single.

[@Beejay950]

The guy strapped in the chair in Experiment IV was Kate's partner at the time, Del Palmer, also bass player in her band, who died in January 2024.

[@dandare42]

Kate definitely got into the Irish mysticism and "New Age" kick in the late 80s and early 90s. It was always fascinating, even if it didn't have the same breathtaking effect as her first 4 albums. But still, she really hasn't done much work these last 30 years. There was even a 12-year gap between releases from 1993-2005. Not that she needed to be prolific. She'd already done so much by '93 and was barely 35! What a legend. I think she was in her best voice during the period of 1986-93 where she focused more on her lower end and her breathier side as opposed to the higher, shriller style of before, even if she sounds pixie-like on "This Woman's Work." A huskier sound too (partly attributed to her frequent weed and cigarette smoking haha). Always evolving!

[@Mente-Cuerpo5]

David Gilmour IS the co-producer of her First record "the Kick inside". In 1978.....and He discovered her when she was only 15 years old....they have been good Friends throw All this years

[@j.k.1963]

Indeed, David Gilmour did produce a number of tracks in 1975 to introduce Kate to recordcompany EMI. Two of these recordings did appear on The Kick Inside in 1978: 'Strange Phenomena' and 'The Man With The Child In His Eyes'. The rest of the album was produced by a friend of his, Andrew Powell.

[@WarrenBridges-um5cg]

@@j.k.1963 The three songs he actually co produced were " MWTCIHE" "Saxophone Song" and "Maybe" later renamed "Humming". Dave also produced "Passing Through Air" in his home studio.

[@henriknilsson1565]

Great reaction! Pls keep it up! The Bulgarian trio Trio Bulgarka is on more tracks. And note that the church bells from "Waking the Witch" are back at the start of "The Sensual World"!

[@LeeShort-e2y]

Such an incredible run of records from the debut to The Sensual World, you can just throw a dart and hit a great song. The next two are still good records with some incredible songs, but the songs are not as consistently good as before, IMO. Then with Aerial, she's back all the way on form. If it proves to be her last record, it will have been a fitting capstone. But here's hoping we get more releases from her!

[@martinegauthier9081]

Hey, that’s Hugh Laurie (House) in the Experiment IV video!!!

[@MattyP-ou3lk]

And Dawn French

[@cyclops60]

Glad you get Kate so well, she's a bit too much for many! Another one worth a listen is 'Deeper understanding' from the Sensual World, re-worked in 2011 into a fantastic video featuring Robbie Coltrane (Hagrid from Harry Potter). Impossible to choose a favourite Kate song so I'll cheat like you and go with the 'Ninth Wave'! Cheers.

[@gerstelb]

Only Kate Bush could sandwich herself between Trio Bulgarka and Dave Gilmour and still manage to make herself heard. Incidentally, “That November night…” means that Rocket’s Tail is about Guy Fawkes Night. As in, “Remember, remember, the fifth of November…”

[@stevedoumas7701]

“Where does the end of me-begin the start of you”

[@kevjones5047]

One of my fav Gilmour solos

[@kevjones5047]

Young Dr House twitching on the floor there and the Vicar of Dibley in Experiment IV

[@roumiaou]

Rocket's Tail

[@michaelzzzzzzzzzzzz]

Womans Work is a killer. Also Shakespears Sisters Stay is another one

[@thomasovens478]

Check out Kate's cover of Elton John's "Rocket Man." Has a great accompanying music video.

[@geob3963]

A little Cocteau Twins action going on in "Rocket's Tail". Cocteau Twins along with some Akira soundtrack coral Gregorian chant . Crazy, crazy. Oops, my bad. Sorry, "Ghost in the Shell" soundtrack Gregorian Chants.

[@lilaelsi5766]

I think rather Dead Can Dance, as they loved to use eastern music as a major influence 😅

[@spiderbass65]

Oh it be David Gilmore!

[@colrhodes377]

Hey L33, have you noticed that everything is different to everything else?

[@Lwize]

Various "governments" around the world have tried to do their own Experiment IV's...

[@mickjones5381]

Suspended in gaffa

[@delorangeade]

The Sensual World was the album where Kate lost me. It just didn't have what it took to keep me coming back to it. I must admit Rocket's Tail sounds very good here, but I think I'd just moved on in my own life at that point and Kate's songs belonged to a different era.