Never for Everin kansikuva vetää kuitenkin naisenergian ytimeen: varvistelevan sankarittaren hameen alta rynnistää maailmaan pahaa ja hyvää suloisessa sekamelskassa. Yökköaiheinen takakansi sekoittaa pakkaa entisestään ja tuo vähintäänkin mieleen Arielin laulun Myrskystä. Levy on sisällöltään kirjava kattaus. Hittiavauksen lisäksi mukana on omituinen Delius-tunnelmointi, äänenkäytöltään raju Violin ja outo a cappella kokeilu Night Scented Stock. Progressiivisen rockin peruja on selvimmin asenne: kuulija ei pääse helpolla, vaan joutuu kulkemaan Katien perässä myös outoja, pelottaviakin polkuja.
Päätösraita Breathing, jonka olen levyltä poiminut valinnakseni, on aikansa tuote, sen ydinaseiden vastainen viesti on selkeä. Video on ahdistavaa katsottavaa: oma henkeni uhkaa salpautua sikiö-Katien taistelua seuratessa. Kappale viedään loppuun Katemaisella perusteellisuudella ja ällistyttävällä taiteellisella innolla, jossa eteerisyydestä ei ole tietoakaan. Taiteellisuus on korostettua ja ei välttämättä kovin tasapainossa itse sanoman kanssa. Hengityksen vuorottelu sisään ja ulos tulee liiankin selväksi: vähempikin riittäisi, mutta uppoutuminen aiheeseen ei jää epäselväksi.
Ehkä myöhäistuotannossaan Kate saavuttaa mukavuuden, tässä heittäytymisessä ei pyritä siihen. Levyllä hyödynnetään uudentyyppistä syntetisaattoria kokeiluhengessä: tyrmäävän ulkonäön ja pinnan takaa on paljastunut nainen, joka etsii täysin omanlaistaan ilmaisua. Hän on artisti, joka ei tiedä mitä hakee, mutta uskoo sen varmasti löytävänsä. Levy jättää kuulijan hämmentyneeksi sekä suorasukaisuudellaan että vihjailevuudellaan: on pakko jäädä odottamaan, mitä tämä kummallinen muusikkovelhotar keksii seuraavaksi.
***
Never for Ever is the first Kate Bush record - in the sense she got there what she wanted. She kept that position - even though it was not always easy for Emi to follow her Ariel-like flights. Nor it is easy for listeners: her catering service in Never for Ever is varied, from light and strange pieces to violent outbursts in Violin and Breathing. The last piece is an uncomfortable ballade about nuclear disaster and the difficulty of breathing - it asks nerves to see foetus-Kate struggling with life.
"Breathing"
Outside
Gets inside
Through her skin.
I've been out before
But this time it's much safer in.
Last night in the sky,
Such a bright light.
My radar send me danger
But my instincts tell me to keep
Breathing,
("Out, in, out, in, out, in...")
Breathing,
Breathing my mother in,
Breathing my beloved in,
Breathing,
Breathing her nicotine,
Breathing,
Breathing the fall-out in,
Out in, out in, out in, out in.
We've lost our chance.
We're the first and the last, ooh,
After the blast.
Chips of Plutonium
Are twinkling in every lung.
I love my
Beloved, ooh,
All and everywhere,
Only the fools blew it.
You and me
Knew life itself is
Breathing,
("Out, in, out, in, out...")
Breathing,
Breathing my mother in,
Breathing my beloved in,
Breathing,
Breathing her nicotine,
Breathing,
Breathing the fall-out in,
Out in, out in, out in, out in,
Out in, out in, out in, out...
("Out!")
"In point of fact it is possible to tell the
("Out!")
difference between a small nuclear explosion and
a large one by a very simple method. The calling
card of a nuclear bomb is the blinding flash that
is far more dazzling than any light on earth--brighter
even than the sun itself--and it is by the duration
of this flash that we are able to determine the size
("What are we going to do without?")
of the weapon. After the flash a fireball can be
seen to rise, sucking up under it the debris, dust
and living things around the area of the explosion,
and as this ascends, it soon becomes recognisable
as the familiar "mushroom cloud". As a demonstration
of the flash duration test let's try and count the
number of seconds for the flash emitted by a very
small bomb; then a more substantial, medium-sized
bomb; and finally, one of our very powerful,
"high-yield" bombs
"What are we going to do without?"
Ooh please!
"What are we going to do without?"
Let me breathe!
"What are we going to do without?"
Ooh, Quick!
"We are all going to die without!"
Breathe in deep!
"What are we going to die without?"
Leave me something to breathe!
"We are all going to die without!"
Oh, leave me something to breathe!
"What are we going to do without?"
Oh, God, please leave us something to breathe!"
"We are all going to die without
Oh, life is--Breathing.
Gets inside
Through her skin.
I've been out before
But this time it's much safer in.
Last night in the sky,
Such a bright light.
My radar send me danger
But my instincts tell me to keep
Breathing,
("Out, in, out, in, out, in...")
Breathing,
Breathing my mother in,
Breathing my beloved in,
Breathing,
Breathing her nicotine,
Breathing,
Breathing the fall-out in,
Out in, out in, out in, out in.
We've lost our chance.
We're the first and the last, ooh,
After the blast.
Chips of Plutonium
Are twinkling in every lung.
I love my
Beloved, ooh,
All and everywhere,
Only the fools blew it.
You and me
Knew life itself is
Breathing,
("Out, in, out, in, out...")
Breathing,
Breathing my mother in,
Breathing my beloved in,
Breathing,
Breathing her nicotine,
Breathing,
Breathing the fall-out in,
Out in, out in, out in, out in,
Out in, out in, out in, out...
("Out!")
"In point of fact it is possible to tell the
("Out!")
difference between a small nuclear explosion and
a large one by a very simple method. The calling
card of a nuclear bomb is the blinding flash that
is far more dazzling than any light on earth--brighter
even than the sun itself--and it is by the duration
of this flash that we are able to determine the size
("What are we going to do without?")
of the weapon. After the flash a fireball can be
seen to rise, sucking up under it the debris, dust
and living things around the area of the explosion,
and as this ascends, it soon becomes recognisable
as the familiar "mushroom cloud". As a demonstration
of the flash duration test let's try and count the
number of seconds for the flash emitted by a very
small bomb; then a more substantial, medium-sized
bomb; and finally, one of our very powerful,
"high-yield" bombs
"What are we going to do without?"
Ooh please!
"What are we going to do without?"
Let me breathe!
"What are we going to do without?"
Ooh, Quick!
"We are all going to die without!"
Breathe in deep!
"What are we going to die without?"
Leave me something to breathe!
"We are all going to die without!"
Oh, leave me something to breathe!
"What are we going to do without?"
Oh, God, please leave us something to breathe!"
"We are all going to die without
Oh, life is--Breathing.
