(12 February 2000) Recorded by various artists and producedby Thomas Dunning, I Wanna Be Kate - The Songs Of Kate Bush(BSR (Canada) 6947, 1999) is an interesting collection andcollaboration of seventeen artists covering classic tracks ofthe legendary female vocalist. Unlike the two-CD set, A Tribute To Kate Bush - The Child In Her Eyes (Dressed To Kill (UK) DOP152) (amazon.com) by E-clypse with Gemma Price doing the vocal work, the Chicago artists' recordings on Dunning's productionhave worked as hard to make them different and their own asthey have to capture their original Kate Bush essence. Furtherinformation on the contributing artists may be accessed fromthe album's website. We were as mystified by the photographs in the booklet as we were by several of the musical arrangements of the tracks. Ordering information is availableonline.

Like Tom Dunning, we were introduced to Kate Bush's musicinitially by Pat Benetar's cover of "Wuthering Heights" andweren't exposed directly to Kate's recordings until years later. The cover versions on this recording are performedby male and female vocalists with singing styles that varyextensively. We didn't like all of the tracks on thecompilation, but several were indeed stunning and theywere good enough to recommend the album to serious KateBush fans.

The Aluminum Group's version of "L'Amour Looks SomethingLike You" is a reasonable interpretation with modern lush jazzy instrumentation backing a male vocalist. "The Sensual World" by Susan Voelz is a mostly faithful, albeitsubstantially slower, reproduction of this sensitive backedwith electronic instrumentation and multitracked vocals.The Moviegoers almost Bruce Springsteen version of "The Hounds Of Love" is certainly listenable but was otherwiseuninteresting. "The Man With The Child In His Eyes" issung emotively by Syd Straw (female) with light acousticinstrumentation; faithfully reproduced but with the artist'sown interpretation, it's a nice track. The J Davis Triomanaged to disappoint us with their rap rendition of"There Goes A Tenner."

Lush instrumentation and Kate Bush-style vocals inNora O'Connor's rendition of "The Saxophone Song" and Victoria Storm's "The Kick Inside" are bothperfect examples of covers with additional artisticcolour. "You're The One" sung in a James Taylor styleby Justin Roberts and "Coffee Homeground" by Mouse (female) in a Beatles-like ("I Am The Walrus") style were both listenable and well played. CatherineSmitko combined a Fleedwood Mac-like (Christine McVie)vocal style with Celtic styles and traditionalinstrumentation in her lively rendition of "Jig Of Life."

The Baltimores significantly rearranged "RunningUp That Hill" into a Go-Gos-style new wave version leavingno resemblence to the Kate Bush original concept. The bluegrass version of "Home For Christmas" byDiamond Jim Greene had lovely banjo music but was otherwiseuninspiring. The male vocal version of "Love And Anger"by Trinkets Of Joy, however, works quite well.

"Kashka From Baghdada/Babooshka" by ThePlunging Necklines is a lovely multi-female singerrendition of these classics accompanied by acousticguitar and light percussion alone.A gothic version "Suspended In Gaffa" by My Scarlet Life with its layer upon layer of heavenly andethereal haunting female vocals is a stunning track inits own right.

The West End version, complete with orchestral overture, of "And Dream Of Sheep" by Thomas Negovan is wonderful. Tom Dunning & Your Boyfriends' rendition of "Not This Time" is an absolutely stunning track, with evocative lead vocals and lush well-produced instrumentation and absolutely terrific soaringchoral backing vocals. These two tracks along with "The Saxophone Song" and "The Kick Inside" discussed above make this compilation of Kate Bush covers worth furtherexploration—a very nice listen!