Review: 'Before the Dawn' A Monumental Revisitation of the Kate Bush Canon

When Kate Bush announced her first live shows in 35 years, fans went crazy. Demand for the concerts – which were slated to take place at Hammersmith Odeon in London – was so immense that the original run of 15 performances was expanded to 22 performances. Those lucky enough to have attended in August and September of 2014 will never forget the experience – and the three-CD release that records the shows will serve as a cherished souvenir.

For the rest of us, of course, the new release will serve as the closest thing we're liable to have to seeing Kate Bush live in concert. (Evidently the show was also committed to film, so there's always hope for a Blu-ray at some point in the future.)

Anyone who remembers Kate's 1979 tour – which ended tragically when a member of her crew was killed in a fall; one reason, or so it's been said, that Kate declined to tour for so many years – will know that she's a highly dramatic performer with a keen visual sense and an instinct for story to match. (This is also evident in her videos.) Expectations for the 2014 concerts were, thus high... and this CD package delivers. Fans will be in absolute ecstasy.

The three discs contain the show's three acts. Act I is dedicated to favorites that wouldn't necessarily fit well into Acts II and III for the simple reason that each of the latter acts is devoted to a suite of songs. Thus, in Act I we begin with "Lily" (from "The Red Shoes") before moving on to "Hounds of Love" (from the smash 1985 album of the same title), "Top of the City" (from "The Red Shoes"), "Never Be Mine" (from "The Sensual World"), and then – and only then – the much-covered "Running Up That Hill (A Deal With God)." You have probably heard one or another of the versions of "Running Up That Hill" that other groups have recorded, if not the tribute album versions, but nothing compares to Kate singing her own single most successful song. The chills continue with the seventh and final track from Act I, "King of the Mountain," which was the first single from 2010's "Aerial," the double-CD masterpiece that Kate's fans had been awaiting in the 12-year gap that followed "The Red Shoes."

Act II takes the suite of songs from the second part of "Hounds of Love," collectively known as "The Ninth Wave," and reinterprets them, complete with a framing story about a rescue at sea. In this section, the audiences at the live shows saw a video prepared beforehand – one of the few instances of anything pre-recorded being used – in which Kate was seen floating in dark waters, in a life preserver, her pale features speaking to the hypothermia her character experiences in the course of "The Ninth Wave" (and which Kate actually did experience, though to a lesser degree, after spending long hours in a tank filming the video).

Anyone who was left a little cold by 2011's hit-or-miss album "50 Words for Snow," or was unconvinced by Kate's revisitation of select tracks from "The Sensual World" and "The Red Shoes" with the release of "Director's Cut," also from 2011, can rest easy: These songs don't simply replicate Bush's oeuvre (though in some instances the re-creations of the studio album versions are meticulous); these are reinvigorated takes on the material, and while Kate's voice is now lower and huskier, it's also capable of more colors and depth. There were moments on "Director's Cut" where her voice seemed uncertain or tired; there's none of that here. Every track showcases her vocals to best effect, from the atmospheric mix to the orchestrations and arrangements.

Act III mostly consists of another suite of songs, the "Sky of Honey" cycle that comprised Disc Two of "Arial." The set is plumped up with some vocal narration and with a new track titled "Tawny Moon," performed by Kate's son Albert. (The new song blends into the flow of the act so seamlessly you might at fist hesitate: Is this really a new song? The answer is yes, and it works a treat.) The set is energetic, hypnotic, and inerrantly beautiful; my own favorite song from "A Sky of Honey" is "Sunset," and the song is given a dramatically different reading here than on the studio album. Slower, more pensive, rhythmically a little different, this is Bush reconsidering one of her own most soaring musical accomplishments. (Similar effects mark out Act I's "Never Be Mine.")

But Act III doesn't end there; a single track from "50 Words for Snow," the mysterious and moving "Among Angels," appears, like a soothing balm; a rendition of "Cloudbusting" that lasts more than seen minutes serves as the grand finale.

The CDs are accompanied by a handsome booklet in which Kate offers her own commentary on the show. Full color photos show scenes from the different acts, and show off the opulent lighting and design work.

The best way to characterize this release is to compare it to the experience of returning to a favorite place from your past. You know how fondly remembered places are never as large as you remember them being? That's not the case here. These selections have been tweaked and reinvented just enough to keep them fresh and large in experience as well as memory. Everything you loved about Kate's masterpieces is here, as masterfully presented as you could wish.

If this release (which is to say, the concerts) is missing anything, it's some representation of the Kate Bush canon earlier than "Hounds of Love." Alas, there's no "The Dreaming," "Houdini," or "Get Out of My House"; no "Suspended in Gaffa," no "Lionheart" or "The Kick Inside"; no "Wuthering Heights," or even "The Man with the Child in His Eyes." Kate has chosen to stick with later works, and in the abstract that seems rather a pity. Then again, hearing the result, it's impossible to quarrel: This is one of those Kate Bush records you wait years for, only to know, once it arrives, that it was worth the wait.

"Before the Dawn" is available now.