To celebrate 20 years of the Aerial album, we’re putting together a time capsule each day this week leading up to November 7th (the release date anniversary). It’s a daily miscellany of the events, people and objects that relate to Kate’s extraordinary eighth studio album. We can’t believe it’s been two decades, for so many of us this still feels like a “new” album, and the album’s beautiful gifts just keep revealing themselves…
Aerial – Happening of the day
So, how was the Aerial album received then? On 13th November 2005, Aerial entered the UK Albums Chart at number three, and hit the no.2 position on the Billboard compiled European chart, a huge result! It would go on to sell well over 1 million copies worldwide. Needless to say, Kate was thrilled. She thanked everyone on her new official site: “I’m so thrilled and excited, thanks a million”, she wrote.
The reviews spoke for themselves. Aerial was instantly considered a highlight of Kate’s career by reviewers around the world, an avalanche of overwhelmingly positive pieces praised the album for its artistic ambition (many deeming it a masterpiece), its exquisite production quality, its emotional depth, and the sheer immersiveness of the cinematic A Sky of Honey in particular. It was heralded as a complex and mature album that would (and did!) continue to resonate with listeners years later. Here’s a mere handful of the reviews:
The UK Times: “…its closing triptych, Somewhere in Between, Nocturn, and Aerial, represents the most joyous and euphoric finale to an album that you will hear all year.” BBC: “This is a masterpiece.” The Observer (5-star review): “…an artist superbly articulate in the language of experimental pop music…(she) occupies a cherished and indulged position in the culture. There is no one quite like her…we are lucky to have her back.” The Independent: “..still operating at the cutting-edge of intelligent adult pop, every bit as relevant now as at any point in her career. Just a little bit weirder, thank heavens.” Hot Press (10/10 review): “A work of genius….there are millions of impossibly beautiful things about it.” Attitude Magazine (5/5 rating): “the ultimate in unbridled, unself-conscious masterpiece.”
Kate had a lot of fun with the reviews in a special Christmas 2005 TV ad she produced in conjunction with the music retailer HMV. Deciding she needed the perfect voice to celebrate this majestic album, she approached the veteran English actor, Leslie Phillips, known for his roles in Carry On films and as the voice of the Sorting Hat in Harry Potter. Interestingly he was also in the cast of GLC, the Comic Strip film that Kate scored in 1990.
A master of raffish comedy, known equally for his rakishly debonaire upper-class characters, and immortal catchphrases (“ding-dong!”), the much loved Leslie passed away in November 2022 at the age of 98. In a 2006 interview, he said: “It’s funny – she called me recently because she wanted me to do a voiceover for an advert for the record. She said she loved my accent and we’ve spoken a lot since and become good friends.” Thanks to fan Caleb Alwyn James for locating it buried on a Youtube clip after I put the feelers out online! Enjoy it below.
In early November Kate sent a printed personalised thank you letter to Kate Bush Club subscribers for their continued support:
In Japan the album release date was almost a week earlier than the rest of the world, on the 2nd November. Thanks to @hiromgogo for the following photo, they describe as “…taken at Tower Records Umeda store in Osaka on November 1, 2005. It was a wonderful space filled with love for Kate.”
On 10th January 2006, Kate was nominated for two Brit Awards for Best British Female Solo Artist and Best British Album.
Aerial – Person of the day
Danny McIntosh, aka Bertie’s “daddy”(!) is everywhere on the Aerial album, making it a true family affair – which is of course business as usual for a Kate Bush release. Danny was born on 4th May 1956 in London, developing a keen interest in playing the guitar from his childhood. Danny started taking formal training in playing guitar at the age of 10 but only launched his career as a guitarist after completing his degree.
He quickly became guitarist with the band Bandit, who released the albums ‘Bandit’ (1976) and ‘Partners In Crime’ (1978). Lead singer of Bandit, Jim Diamond, went on to have a very successful solo chart career in the UK. Danny subsequently joined the band The Quick on the album ‘One Light In A Blackout’ (1982). He played guitar on albums by Dollar, Deniece Williams and Amii Stewart during the 1980’s.
In 1993, on Kate’s The Red Shoes album, Danny had the unenviable task of picking up the guitar-work baton on Kate’s albums after the incredible Alan Murphy passed away in 1990, and Danny delivered with aplomb. He played guitar on Kate’s songs Rubberband Girl (spot Danny in the music video!), The Red Shoes, Constellation Of The Heart, Top Of The City, The Song Of Solomon, and Lily.
On Aerial Danny played more wonderful guitar on An Architect’s Dream, How To Be Invisible, King Of The Mountain, Nocturn, Pi, Sunset, Somewhere in Between and Aerial. In 2011 he played on 50 Words For Snow, Misty, Snowed In At Wheeler Street, Snowflake and Wild Man. Hats off, Danny, outstanding work!
Aerial – Artefact of the day
(Brought to you in association with katebushcollectibles.com)
As Christmas 2005 approached, Kate sent selected Kate Bush Club subscribers a Christmas Card, with more artwork from Bertie, thanking them for the success of the album.
Perhaps knowing that this would be the final piece of posted material sent to members of the Kate Bush Club (KBC) now that her official site would replace it, Kate included a 9-track EMI CD sampler in card sleeve featuring songs from 1978-1993, noting the CD was an edition of just 2000 copies. It featured the imagery from her Eat The Music single cover, with photography by John Carder Bush.
This promo CD had been specially created to re-introduce Kate to press, media and supporters and had been sent out in press packs before the release of the Aerial album. Some copies were issued in the UK with a 1-page A4 EMI press release. The tracklisting, hand-selected by Kate, included favourites of Kate’s from The Red Shoes album, including The Song of Solomon, Lily and Top of the City, songs she’d re-visit in 2011’s Director’s Cut and the latter two she would even perform live on stage in 2014. Clues everywhere, as always…
Aerial – Trivia of the day
Another work by an English artist that Kate used in the Aerial booklet artwork was the painting Fishermen and Boat (1920) by Joseph Edward Southall, (1861-1944). For her album, Kate flipped the direction of the painting and added the name “Aerial” to the boat itself in white paint. The painting is now owned by Kate, as mentioned by writer Tom Doyle who interviewed her at her home for Mojo Magazine in 2005: “Atop the fireplace sat a painting, ‘Fishermen and Boat’ by Joseph Southall, depicting weather-beaten seadogs wrestling with a rowboat, soon to be familiar to all as part of the inner artwork of Aerial.”
Joseph Edward Southall RWS NEAC RBSA (23rd August 1861 – 6th November 1944) was an English painter associated with the Arts and Crafts movement. A leading figure in the nineteenth and early twentieth-century revival of painting using the tempera medium, Southall was the leader of the Birmingham Group of Artist-Craftsmen—one of the last outposts of Romanticism in the visual arts, and an important link between the later Pre-Raphaelites and the turn of the century Slade Symbolists.
A lifelong Quaker, Southall was an active socialist and pacifist, initially as a radical member of the Liberal Party and later of the Independent Labour Party. Southall was elected an Associate of the Royal Birmingham Society of Artists (RBSA) in 1898 and Member in 1902. He became President of the Society in 1939 and stayed in this post until his death in 1944.
Another work from 1920, “Up From the Sea” is a version of the same painting, this time with a boy watching the fishermen at work launching the boat.
Aerial – Bird of the day
The lovely little Robin, also getting its dues in the lyrics of Prologue (Before the Dawn), was featured in Kate’s Christmas message to her fans in 2022. She wrote: “I used a little robin in some of my Christmas gifts to friends this year. I felt that this humble little bird, which symbolises Christmas could also symbolise hope in the context of Emily Dickinson’s beautiful words: Hope is the thing with feathers that perches in the soul.”
Probably the most familiar garden bird in Ireland and the UK – the bright orange-red breast and facial area make it unmistakable. Upper parts a uniform greyish brown, belly and lower breast greyish white. The bill is dark and pointed and the legs black. Can appear very plump and rounded, especially in cold weather when the bird fluffs out its feathers. Can be very confiding, often perching motionless close to gardening activity. Occasionally cocks tail briefly.
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