Never for Ever

"Never For Ever" was released on September 11, 1980, reaching #1 on the UK album chart(the first for a solo female artist in the UK). It followed her "Tour of Life" in Europe to promote her previous albums "The Kick Inside" and "Lionheart". 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.Musically, the album is where her experimentation begins with the Fairlight CMI, which is a type of sampling synthesizer/drum machine. Though it is not used heavily, this equipment gives certain songs a deeper atmosphere. The dark and gothic "Never For Ever" contains tales of deception, death, longing, and a love of Egypt and violins. This provides quite a mystical trip, but the subject matter keeps in touch with reality."Never For Ever" is another Kate Bush masterpiece that, in hindsight, bridges "Lionheart" and her next album "The Dreaming", containing elements from both. In the end, it's one of her most complete works to date.5 Stars!

My 3rd Kate Bush album (after the Red Shoes and the Sensual World) and my favourite so far. It has Babooshka, the song that made me get any of her music in the first place. Then there's Delius, which is such a pleasant and beautiful song. Violin makes you wanna sing along, The Wedding Gift is probably my favourite, because its so funny. And Egypt is so, soooo awesome.Kate Bush has an awesome voice, and the background music is just awesome. I haven't owned anything like this before. The only thing that reminds of this is Goldfrapp's Felt Mountain, which is something that came way after (and Goldfrapp herself like's Kate Bush).

OKAY. THE 80S WAS ONE OF MY FAVORITE DECADES FOR MUSIC. IT WAS FUN. IT WAS COLORFUL. MAYBE MORE THAN CHEESY AT TIMES, BUT SO WHAT. OTHER TIMES IT WAS ALSO A CREATIVE CORNICOPIA OF , WELL, STUFF. THIS CD IS NO DIFFERENT. WELL, KIND OF SORT OF. ONE SONG DEALT WITH THE STUPIDITY OF WAR ,ANOTHER ABOUT TWO NEWLYWEDS AND A GUN ON THEIR HONEYMOON. ANOTHER ABOUT THE EXPECTATIONS OF YOUR FAMILY. YOU KNOW, TYPICAL 80S STUFF. OVERALL, ONE OF HER BETTER ALBUMS.

Although it clearly belongs to the same style as the previous THE KICK INSIDE and LIONHEART, NEVER FOR EVER marks a decided change in Kate Bush's direction; less whimsical and considerably more overtly macabre, on this particular recording Bush largely eschews both the purely playful and the warm love songs of previous recordings. Her tone of voice is also fuller and considerably less girlish than on previous recordings.The material here is also considerably more violent in terms of lyrics. In her previous recordings Bush certainly showed a tendency toward images of impending or actual death ("James and the Cold Gun" and "Don't Push Your Foot On The Heartbrake" leap to mind), but in NEVER FOREVER she is less inclined to present such pieces as "character pieces," less inclined to romanticize them with a gothic flavor. And irony, never far beneath the surface in earlier work, is much more apparent.Such tracks as "Violin" (concerning a neurotic/erotic obsession with the instrument, in which Bush's voice mimics the tone of the instrument), "Wedding List," (in which a frustrated bride contemplates the slaughter of the whole wedding party), and "Breathing" (in which the singer is dying of radium poisoning following an atomic blast) are perhaps the logical extensions of Bush's earlier work; at the same time, with such tracks as "All We Ever Look For" and "Army Dreamers," we begin to see a transition from material based on internal private fantasy into something much broader and considerably more subtle: deliberate commentary on the world around her. This is particularly true of "Army Dreamers," which is very clearly a percusor to her next album, THE DREAMING--which will be a radical departure from her earlier sound.Even as she is toying with new dimensions in her lyrics and vocal interpretations, Bush is also toying with increasingly complex arrangements. There is a sense of greater delicacy and greater deliberation in terms of pure music on this particular recording, again with "Army Dreamers" a case in point. Fans of the earlier recordings will find enough similarity to them in NEVER FOR EVER to enjoy them as a continuation; fans of her later work, however, will see in it the build toward her two finest recordings, THE DREAMING and HOUNDS OF LOVE, both of which are as completely unlike her early works as can be imagined.GFT, Amazon Reviewer

I love every song on this album. You would think that ever song is written by a different person, but it is just Kate. What I mean by that is every song is so different and incredible at the same time. These songs were written by Kate when she was 20 and 21 years old. GO Kate.

This is another great CD of Kate Bush. My favorites on the CD are: Breathing, Babooskha, The Wedding List, and Song of Delius. I like the art work of the CD, Violin is another great track on the Cd. I will say that it is a must have for your Kate Bush music collection.

I still remember that when I was a kid and saw for the first time Kate Bush in the Wuthering Heights video. It left a big impression. And the older I got, the more I appreciated her music. So this is one of her CD's that I bought to complete my collection with music of her.

One of Kate's all time best albums. Creative, weird, dynamic, though-provoking -- and through it all that amazing voice that at times is as delicate as a shy child's and then as shrieking as a banshee at full blast. This is definitely NOT background music. Love ya Kate!

Kate Bush's 3rd studio album is, arguably, her best. Released in 1980, she became the 1st British female solo singer to have a UK No.1 album.This stunning album opens with the Top 5 hit "Babooska" & is followed by some very distinctive tracks which today's artists would never dare to do.From the very bizarre "Violin" to the soft, beautiful "The Infant Kiss" & culminating in the rather frightening track "Breathing" (ironically the 1st song to be released as a single from this album), this really is a true classic album

Arrivato nei tempi, il secondo cd di Kate Bush, sono soddisfatta.

Ranking Bush is like ranking Bowie. Almost impossible. This is a top 4 in some order for me. Get this one, Kick Inside, Hounds of Love, Dreaming and you're doing pretty good. Heck get them all.

Je préfère cet album de Kate Bush à n'importe quelle compilation de Kate. Bon, je l'ai acheté à sa sortie -en vinyle- j'avais alors 15 ans et je l'écoutais et l'écoutais et...

Es sind nicht nur die unvergesslichen Geschichten wie "Babooshka" oder "The Wedding List", die begeistern. Da sind tief berührende Songs wie "Breathing" oder "Army Dreamers", und da ist noch so viel mehr in ihrem ersten selbst produzierten Album, das für mich einen großartigen Höhepunkt repräsentiert."Never for Ever" war mein erstes Kate Bush-Album und ist bis heute mein Lieblingsalbum. Das ist sicher sehr subjektiv, aber das ist Musikgeschmack wohl sowieso immer.