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''Never for Ever'', released in 1980, is the third studio album by British art pop musician Music/KateBush. Following the conclusion of the Tour of Life, Bush found herself exhausted with the idea of extensive concert performing (something she wouldn't do again until 2014) and directed herself back towards the studio, moving away from the live-friendly sound of her first two records in favor of a more elaborate, effects-heavy style.
to:
''Never for Ever'', released through Creator/{{EMI}} in 1980, is the third studio album by British art pop musician Music/KateBush. Following the conclusion of the Tour of Life, Bush found herself exhausted with the idea of extensive concert performing (something she wouldn't do again until 2014) and directed herself back towards the studio, moving away from the live-friendly sound of her first two records in favor of a more elaborate, effects-heavy style.
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Together with this change in sound, Bush took up production duties alongside ''Lionheart'' engineer Jon Kelly; while Bush was previously credited as producer for the live EP ''On Stage'', this marked the first time that Bush would produce a full-length album of her own. According to Bush, the decision to do this was one she'd been keen on for a while, and resulted in the album feeling more personally-driven than before; she would consequently describe it as the first record of hers that she felt truly content with. Consequently, like the change in sound, the change in staff would stick to her later material as well, with Bush becoming the sole producer on her work starting with her next album, ''Music/TheDreaming''.
to:
Together with this change in sound, Bush took up production duties alongside ''Lionheart'' engineer Jon Kelly; while Bush was previously credited as producer for the live EP ''On Stage'', this marked the first time that Bush would produce a full-length album of her own. According to Bush, the decision to do this was one she'd been keen on for a while, and resulted in the album feeling more personally-driven personally driven than before; she would consequently describe it as the first record of hers that she felt truly content with. Consequently, like the change in sound, the change in staff would stick to her later material as well, with Bush becoming the sole producer on her work starting with her next album, ''Music/TheDreaming''.
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* GenreRoulette: The album dives into a number of styles, including HardRock, soft rock, BaroquePop, Irish folk, and ProgressiveRock, among others.
to:
* GenreRoulette: The album dives into a number of styles, including HardRock, soft rock, SoftRock, BaroquePop, Irish folk, and ProgressiveRock, among others.
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* RecordProducer: Unlike ''Music/TheKickInside'' and ''Lionheart'', which were produced by Andrew Powell (with Music/PinkFloyd guitarist David Gilmour co-producing the former), this album was handled by Jon Kelley and Bush herself. Bush would switch to producing her material entirely on her own starting with [[Music/TheDreaming her next album]].
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** "Night Scented Stock" hard-cuts into "Army Dreamers".
to:
** "Night Scented Stock" hard-cuts into "Army Dreamers".Dreamers" via the sound of a rifle cocking.
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* ShoutOut: "Blown Away (For Bill)" namechecks the then-recent deaths of Music/MinnieRiperton, [[Music/TheWho Keith Moon]], [[Music/FairportConvention Sandy Denny]], Music/SidVicious, and Music/MarcBolan and the much older death of Music/BuddyHolly.
to:
* ShoutOut: ShoutOut:
** "Blown Away (For Bill)" namechecks the then-recent deaths of Music/MinnieRiperton, [[Music/TheWho Keith Moon]], [[Music/FairportConvention Sandy Denny]], Music/SidVicious, and Music/MarcBolan and the much older death ofMusic/BuddyHolly.Music/BuddyHolly.
** "Violin" namedrops Italian violinist Niccolò Paganini and obliquely references the rumors within his lifetime that he became so skillful at the instrument via a DealWithTheDevil.
** "Blown Away (For Bill)" namechecks the then-recent deaths of Music/MinnieRiperton, [[Music/TheWho Keith Moon]], [[Music/FairportConvention Sandy Denny]], Music/SidVicious, and Music/MarcBolan and the much older death of
** "Violin" namedrops Italian violinist Niccolò Paganini and obliquely references the rumors within his lifetime that he became so skillful at the instrument via a DealWithTheDevil.
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* WarIsHell: "Army Dreamers" concentrates on the grief of a mother who's son is killed in an overseas war and his body flown home. The narrator points out how said son only joined the army because he was unqualified for anything else, lacking both money and education and consequently being preyed on by the British armed forces.
to:
* WarIsHell: "Army Dreamers" concentrates on the grief of a mother who's whose son is killed in an overseas war and war, with his body being flown home.back home in a metal casket. The narrator points out how said son only joined the army because he was unqualified for anything else, lacking both money and education and consequently being preyed on by the British armed forces.
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* CrusadingWidow: The protagonist of "The Wedding List" is a woman hunting down the people who killed her husband on her wedding day.
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* FidelityTest: "Babooshka" revolves around a woman who decides to test her husband's faithfulness by sending him pseudonymous love letters.
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* ShoutOut: "Blown Away (For Bill)" namechecks the recent deaths of Music/MinnieRiperton, [[Music/TheWho Keith Moon]], [[Music/FairportConvention Sandy Denny]], Music/SidVicious, and Music/MarcBolan and the much older death of Music/BuddyHolly.
to:
* ShoutOut: "Blown Away (For Bill)" namechecks the recent then-recent deaths of Music/MinnieRiperton, [[Music/TheWho Keith Moon]], [[Music/FairportConvention Sandy Denny]], Music/SidVicious, and Music/MarcBolan and the much older death of Music/BuddyHolly.
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* AlternateAlbumCover: The initial Japanese CD release crops the cover illustration to only focus on the creatures in the bottom-right corner. Reissues from 1995 onwards revert to the full cover.
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* VariantCover: The initial Japanese CD release crops the cover illustration to only focus on the creatures in the bottom-right corner. Reissues from 1995 onwards revert to the full cover.
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* GratuitousPanning: "All We Ever Look For" features the sound of Bush wandering a room and opening doors to a raucous party, a tranquil nature scene, and waves crashing upon a beach, a sequence which pans across the two stereo channels as it goes on.
to:
* GratuitousPanning: "All We Ever Look For" features the sound of Bush wandering a room and opening doors to a raucous party, "Hare Krishna" mantra, a tranquil nature scene, and waves crashing upon a beach, a sequence which pans across the two stereo channels as it goes on.
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* {{Sampling}}: The scene behind the first door in the interlude to "All We Ever Look For" is represented by a clip of the Radha Krsna Temple reciting the "Hare Krishna" mantra.
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* ForeignCultureFetish: "Egypt" is narrated by a person obsessed with a surface-level image of Egypt, which they've never been to, based on romanticized depictions of it in western media. According to Bush, the aggressive tone of the instrumental breaks is meant to contrast these wistful lyrics by representing the un-glamorous reality of the country, describing the juxtaposition of the two as "how blindly we see some things."
to:
* ForeignCultureFetish: "Egypt" is narrated by a person obsessed with a surface-level image of Egypt, which they've never been to, based on romanticized depictions of it in western media. According to Bush, the aggressive tone of the instrumental breaks is meant to contrast these wistful lyrics by representing the un-glamorous reality of the country, describing the juxtaposition of the two as an allegory for "how blindly we see some things."
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* ForeignCultureFetish: "Egypt" is narrated by a person obsessed with a surface-level image of Egypt, which they've never been to, based on romanticized depictions of it in western media. According to Bush, the aggressive tone of the instrumental breaks is meant to contrast these wistful lyrics by representing the un-glamorous reality of the country, describing the juxtaposition of the two as "how blindly we see some things."
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* GratuitousPanning: "All We Ever Look For" features the sound of Bush wandering a room and opening doors to a raucous party and a tranquil nature scene, a sequence which pans across the two stereo channels as it goes on.
to:
* GratuitousPanning: "All We Ever Look For" features the sound of Bush wandering a room and opening doors to a raucous party and party, a tranquil nature scene, and waves crashing upon a beach, a sequence which pans across the two stereo channels as it goes on.
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* IronicName: A case that happened completely by accident. The protagonist of "Babooshka" disguises herself as a beautiful young woman to test her husband, and takes on the pseudonym Babooshka, which, unbeknownst to Bush, is Russian for "grandmother."
to:
* IronicName: A case that happened completely by accident. The protagonist of "Babooshka" disguises herself as a beautiful young woman to test her husband, and takes on the pseudonym Babooshka, which, unbeknownst to Bush, Bush at the time, is Russian for "grandmother."
* LastNoteNightmare:
** "Babooshka" ends with a series of haunting glass-shattering noises, implying that the wife's TwoPersonLoveTriangle with her husband ended in violence.
** "The Wedding List" ends with the narrator [[SayMyName screaming her husband's name]] before abruptly cutting off into a jarring echo, representing her death.
** "Babooshka" ends with a series of haunting glass-shattering noises, implying that the wife's TwoPersonLoveTriangle with her husband ended in violence.
** "The Wedding List" ends with the narrator [[SayMyName screaming her husband's name]] before abruptly cutting off into a jarring echo, representing her death.
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* PayEvilUntoEvil: The bride in "The Wedding List" tracks down the man who murdered her new husband at their wedding. In the end, she shoots him before turning the gun on herself. On top of everything, she was pregnant, so her unborn child died with her.
to:
* PayEvilUntoEvil: The bride in "The Wedding List" tracks down the man men who murdered her new husband at their wedding. In the end, After killing them all, she shoots him before turning turns the gun on herself. On top of everything, she was pregnant, so her unborn child died with her.
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* CreditsGag: The liner notes credit "Roland" with playing percussion on track 2, a tongue-in-cheek nod to the fact that the percussion track consisted solely of a Rhumba beat from a Roland CR-78 drum machine.
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* AlliterativeTitle: "Delius ('''S'''ong of '''S'''ummer)", "Night '''S'''cented '''S'''tock".
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* OneWomanSong: "Babooshka", an unusual example in that the woman in question is the protagonist.
* OneWordTitle: "Babooshka", "Egypt", "Violin", "Breathing".
* OneWordTitle: "Babooshka", "Egypt", "Violin", "Breathing".
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[[quoteright:350:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/never_for_ever_4.jpg]]
[[caption-width-right:350:''"Vibes in the sky invite you to dine."'']]
''Never for Ever'', released in 1980, is the third studio album by British art pop musician Music/KateBush. Following the conclusion of the Tour of Life, Bush found herself exhausted with the idea of extensive concert performing (something she wouldn't do again until 2014) and directed herself back towards the studio, moving away from the live-friendly sound of her first two records in favor of a more elaborate, effects-heavy style.
In the leadup to the album's recording sessions in September of 1979, Bush provided backing vocals for two songs on Music/PeterGabriel's own third studio album, ''Music/{{Melt}}'', where she was introduced to the Fairlight CMI, a new digital sampler that provided a much greater amount of flexibility than previous tape loop equipment. Excited by this, she brought the device to this album as well, using a mixture of it, digital synthesizers, and drum machines to consolidate the more layered approach and setting the stage for the even denser style of her future albums. "Babooshka" in particular would be credited as the first single to utilize the Fairlight, which provided glass-shattering sounds at the end of the song.
Together with this change in sound, Bush took up production duties alongside ''Lionheart'' engineer Jon Kelly; while Bush was previously credited as producer for the live EP ''On Stage'', this marked the first time that Bush would produce a full-length album of her own. According to Bush, the decision to do this was one she'd been keen on for a while, and resulted in the album feeling more personally-driven than before; she would consequently describe it as the first record of hers that she felt truly content with. Consequently, like the change in sound, the change in staff would stick to her later material as well, with Bush becoming the sole producer on her work starting with her next album, ''Music/TheDreaming''.
A commercial success in the UK, ''Never for Ever'' was Bush's first album to top the UK Albums charts (as well as the first studio album by a female solo artist to achieve that distinction), additionally hitting No. 1 in France. The album would go on to be the 27th best-selling of 1980 in Britain and stay on the charts for 23 consecutive weeks; it would later be certified platinum in Canada and gold in the UK, France, Germany, and the Netherlands. Not keen on touring again, Bush instead promoted the album through record-signing events and promo appearances on various TV and radio shows throughout Europe. In the US, meanwhile, ''Never for Ever'' initially went unreleased thanks to the commercial underperformance of both ''Music/TheKickInside'' and ''Lionheart''. However, the chart entrance and strong CollegeRadio and Creator/{{MTV}} airplay of ''The Dreaming'' would motivate Creator/EMIAmericaRecords to belatedly release the album Stateside in 1984, reissuing Bush's first two albums over there as well.
''Never for Ever'' was supported by three singles: "Breathing", "Babooshka", and "Army Dreamers".
!!Tracklist:
[[AC: Side 1]]
# "Babooshka" (3:20)
# "Delius (Song of Summer)" (2:51)
# "Blow Away (For Bill)" (3:33)
# "All We Ever Look For" (3:47)
# "Egypt" (4:10)
[[AC:Side 2]]
# "The Wedding List" (4:15)
# "Violin" (3:15)
# "The Infant Kiss" (2:50)
# "Night Scented Stock" (0:51)
# "Army Dreamers" (2:55)
# "Breathing" (5:29)
!!''Tropes of Plutonium are twinkling in every lung'':
* BriefAccentImitation: Bush affects an Irish accent on "Army Dreamers".
* ChainmailBikini: The music video for "Babooshka" features Bush in one as part of a stylized Valkyrie costume.
* ConceptVideo: "Army Dreamers" depicts a harrowing wartime scenario befitting the song's antiwar lyrics.
* DeadlyEuphemism: The protagonist of "The Wedding List" uses the title phrase to refer to her hitlist against the people who killed her husband.
* DesignStudentsOrgasm: An elaborate pencil drawing by Nick Price (who previously designed the tour program cover for the Tour of Life) depicting a myriad of monsters and animals flying out from Bush's dress. According to Bush, the idea behind the illustration was to represent the dichotomy of people's light and dark sides and how they conflict with one another.
* DownerEnding: The album closes out with "Breathing", about a fetus witnessing a nuclear apocalypse. The music video likewise ends with a shot of a nuclear blast in the distance.
* DrivenToSuicide: The protagonist of "The Wedding List" offs herself after completing her RoaringRampageOfRevenge.
* FaceOnTheCover: The album cover depicts a drawing of Bush with various creatures flying out of her dress.
* FadingIntoTheNextSong:
** "Babooshka" fades into "Delius (Song of Summer)".
** "Night Scented Stock" hard-cuts into "Army Dreamers".
* GenreRoulette: The album dives into a number of styles, including HardRock, soft rock, BaroquePop, Irish folk, and ProgressiveRock, among others.
* GratuitousPanning: "All We Ever Look For" features the sound of Bush wandering a room and opening doors to a raucous party and a tranquil nature scene, a sequence which pans across the two stereo channels as it goes on.
* GriefSong: "Blown Away (For Bill)" mourns Bill Duffield, the lighting director for the Tour of Life who was killed in a stage accident during the tour.
* {{Instrumentals}}: "Night Scented Stock", an interlude that reprises the melody of "Blown Away (For Bill)".
* IronicName: A case that happened completely by accident. The protagonist of "Babooshka" disguises herself as a beautiful young woman to test her husband, and takes on the pseudonym Babooshka, which, unbeknownst to Bush, is Russian for "grandmother."
* {{Irony}}: The husband in "Babooshka" sees the title character as representative of her wife before her luster faded away over the years, unaware that Babooshka is actually said wife in disguise.
* LongestSongGoesLast: The closing track, "Breathing", outpaces every other song on the album at five and a half minutes.
* ThatManIsDead: The protagonist of "The Wedding List" notes that she spiritually died with her husband when he was murdered, using this to justify her RoaringRampageOfRevenge.
* MelismaticVocals: The vocals of "Night Scented Stock" consist solely of this.
* MinisculeRocking: "Night Scented Stock" just barely falls short of one minute.
* MurderSuicide: The protagonist of "The Wedding List" mows down her husband's murderers before ultimately taking her own life.
* NewSoundAlbum: Thanks to Bush becoming co-producer and introducing digital synths and samplers, the album's sound is more layered and effects-oriented than ''Music/TheKickInside'' and ''Lionheart'', informing the approach of her following material.
* PayEvilUntoEvil: The bride in "The Wedding List" tracks down the man who murdered her new husband at their wedding. In the end, she shoots him before turning the gun on herself. On top of everything, she was pregnant, so her unborn child died with her.
* RevengeBallad: "The Wedding List", where a pregnant bride tracks down and kills the murderers of her husband before committing suicide.
* RoaringRampageOfRevenge: After her husband is killed on their wedding night, the protagonist of "The Wedding List" hunts down and kills his murderers one-by-one.
* SayMyName: "The Wedding List" ends with the protagonist loudly shouting her husband's name before the audio cuts off into an echo, implying that his name was the last word on her lips before she killed herself.
* SelfFulfillingProphecy: In "Babooshka", the wife who sets up the TwoPersonLoveTriangle to trap her husband in the act of infidelity is implied to have "freezed on him" due to her suspicions that he was having an affair, leading to him being easily tempted by a woman who reminded him of her before the tension arose between them. Essentially, her own paranoia and bitterness over her suspicions of his infidelity are the main thing that led to him contemplating infidelity in the first place.
* ShoutOut: "Blown Away (For Bill)" namechecks the recent deaths of Music/MinnieRiperton, [[Music/TheWho Keith Moon]], [[Music/FairportConvention Sandy Denny]], Music/SidVicious, and Music/MarcBolan and the much older death of Music/BuddyHolly.
* SpecialGuest:
** Longtime Bush collaborator Ian Bairnson (of Music/TheAlanParsonsProject) provides backing vocals on "Delius (Song of Summer)".
** Roy Harper provides backing vocals on "Breathing".
* SpokenWordInMusic: There's a long, eerie instrumental break near the end of "Breathing" with a recording of a man describing the effects of a nuclear bomb.
* TooYoungToDieLamentation: The mother in "Army Dreamers" laments how her son was killed in battle before even reaching his twenties.
* TranslatedCoverVersion: Bush recorded a French-language version of "The Infant Kiss", titled "Un Baiser D'enfant", as the B-side to the French-exclusive non-album single "Ne T'enfuis Pas".
* TwoPersonLoveTriangle: "Babooshka" revolves around a woman who creates a pseudonym to communicate with her husband incognito to test his faithfulness; he ends up falling in love with the alter-ego.
* VariantCover: The initial Japanese CD release crops the cover illustration to only focus on the creatures in the bottom-right corner. Reissues from 1995 onwards revert to the full cover.
* WarIsHell: "Army Dreamers" concentrates on the grief of a mother who's son is killed in an overseas war and his body flown home. The narrator points out how said son only joined the army because he was unqualified for anything else, lacking both money and education and consequently being preyed on by the British armed forces.
* WholePlotReference:
** "Delius (Song for Summer)" is based on the 1968 made-for-TV film ''Song of Summer'', about the final five years in the life of composer Frederick Delius.
** "The Wedding List" is based on the 1968 film ''Film/TheBrideWoreBlack''.
** "The Infant Kiss" adapts the 1961 film ''Film/TheInnocents'', about a woman who believes that the ghosts of a deceased couple are possessing the children she's looking after.
----
[[caption-width-right:350:''"Vibes in the sky invite you to dine."'']]
''Never for Ever'', released in 1980, is the third studio album by British art pop musician Music/KateBush. Following the conclusion of the Tour of Life, Bush found herself exhausted with the idea of extensive concert performing (something she wouldn't do again until 2014) and directed herself back towards the studio, moving away from the live-friendly sound of her first two records in favor of a more elaborate, effects-heavy style.
In the leadup to the album's recording sessions in September of 1979, Bush provided backing vocals for two songs on Music/PeterGabriel's own third studio album, ''Music/{{Melt}}'', where she was introduced to the Fairlight CMI, a new digital sampler that provided a much greater amount of flexibility than previous tape loop equipment. Excited by this, she brought the device to this album as well, using a mixture of it, digital synthesizers, and drum machines to consolidate the more layered approach and setting the stage for the even denser style of her future albums. "Babooshka" in particular would be credited as the first single to utilize the Fairlight, which provided glass-shattering sounds at the end of the song.
Together with this change in sound, Bush took up production duties alongside ''Lionheart'' engineer Jon Kelly; while Bush was previously credited as producer for the live EP ''On Stage'', this marked the first time that Bush would produce a full-length album of her own. According to Bush, the decision to do this was one she'd been keen on for a while, and resulted in the album feeling more personally-driven than before; she would consequently describe it as the first record of hers that she felt truly content with. Consequently, like the change in sound, the change in staff would stick to her later material as well, with Bush becoming the sole producer on her work starting with her next album, ''Music/TheDreaming''.
A commercial success in the UK, ''Never for Ever'' was Bush's first album to top the UK Albums charts (as well as the first studio album by a female solo artist to achieve that distinction), additionally hitting No. 1 in France. The album would go on to be the 27th best-selling of 1980 in Britain and stay on the charts for 23 consecutive weeks; it would later be certified platinum in Canada and gold in the UK, France, Germany, and the Netherlands. Not keen on touring again, Bush instead promoted the album through record-signing events and promo appearances on various TV and radio shows throughout Europe. In the US, meanwhile, ''Never for Ever'' initially went unreleased thanks to the commercial underperformance of both ''Music/TheKickInside'' and ''Lionheart''. However, the chart entrance and strong CollegeRadio and Creator/{{MTV}} airplay of ''The Dreaming'' would motivate Creator/EMIAmericaRecords to belatedly release the album Stateside in 1984, reissuing Bush's first two albums over there as well.
''Never for Ever'' was supported by three singles: "Breathing", "Babooshka", and "Army Dreamers".
!!Tracklist:
[[AC: Side 1]]
# "Babooshka" (3:20)
# "Delius (Song of Summer)" (2:51)
# "Blow Away (For Bill)" (3:33)
# "All We Ever Look For" (3:47)
# "Egypt" (4:10)
[[AC:Side 2]]
# "The Wedding List" (4:15)
# "Violin" (3:15)
# "The Infant Kiss" (2:50)
# "Night Scented Stock" (0:51)
# "Army Dreamers" (2:55)
# "Breathing" (5:29)
!!''Tropes of Plutonium are twinkling in every lung'':
* BriefAccentImitation: Bush affects an Irish accent on "Army Dreamers".
* ChainmailBikini: The music video for "Babooshka" features Bush in one as part of a stylized Valkyrie costume.
* ConceptVideo: "Army Dreamers" depicts a harrowing wartime scenario befitting the song's antiwar lyrics.
* DeadlyEuphemism: The protagonist of "The Wedding List" uses the title phrase to refer to her hitlist against the people who killed her husband.
* DesignStudentsOrgasm: An elaborate pencil drawing by Nick Price (who previously designed the tour program cover for the Tour of Life) depicting a myriad of monsters and animals flying out from Bush's dress. According to Bush, the idea behind the illustration was to represent the dichotomy of people's light and dark sides and how they conflict with one another.
* DownerEnding: The album closes out with "Breathing", about a fetus witnessing a nuclear apocalypse. The music video likewise ends with a shot of a nuclear blast in the distance.
* DrivenToSuicide: The protagonist of "The Wedding List" offs herself after completing her RoaringRampageOfRevenge.
* FaceOnTheCover: The album cover depicts a drawing of Bush with various creatures flying out of her dress.
* FadingIntoTheNextSong:
** "Babooshka" fades into "Delius (Song of Summer)".
** "Night Scented Stock" hard-cuts into "Army Dreamers".
* GenreRoulette: The album dives into a number of styles, including HardRock, soft rock, BaroquePop, Irish folk, and ProgressiveRock, among others.
* GratuitousPanning: "All We Ever Look For" features the sound of Bush wandering a room and opening doors to a raucous party and a tranquil nature scene, a sequence which pans across the two stereo channels as it goes on.
* GriefSong: "Blown Away (For Bill)" mourns Bill Duffield, the lighting director for the Tour of Life who was killed in a stage accident during the tour.
* {{Instrumentals}}: "Night Scented Stock", an interlude that reprises the melody of "Blown Away (For Bill)".
* IronicName: A case that happened completely by accident. The protagonist of "Babooshka" disguises herself as a beautiful young woman to test her husband, and takes on the pseudonym Babooshka, which, unbeknownst to Bush, is Russian for "grandmother."
* {{Irony}}: The husband in "Babooshka" sees the title character as representative of her wife before her luster faded away over the years, unaware that Babooshka is actually said wife in disguise.
* LongestSongGoesLast: The closing track, "Breathing", outpaces every other song on the album at five and a half minutes.
* ThatManIsDead: The protagonist of "The Wedding List" notes that she spiritually died with her husband when he was murdered, using this to justify her RoaringRampageOfRevenge.
* MelismaticVocals: The vocals of "Night Scented Stock" consist solely of this.
* MinisculeRocking: "Night Scented Stock" just barely falls short of one minute.
* MurderSuicide: The protagonist of "The Wedding List" mows down her husband's murderers before ultimately taking her own life.
* NewSoundAlbum: Thanks to Bush becoming co-producer and introducing digital synths and samplers, the album's sound is more layered and effects-oriented than ''Music/TheKickInside'' and ''Lionheart'', informing the approach of her following material.
* PayEvilUntoEvil: The bride in "The Wedding List" tracks down the man who murdered her new husband at their wedding. In the end, she shoots him before turning the gun on herself. On top of everything, she was pregnant, so her unborn child died with her.
* RevengeBallad: "The Wedding List", where a pregnant bride tracks down and kills the murderers of her husband before committing suicide.
* RoaringRampageOfRevenge: After her husband is killed on their wedding night, the protagonist of "The Wedding List" hunts down and kills his murderers one-by-one.
* SayMyName: "The Wedding List" ends with the protagonist loudly shouting her husband's name before the audio cuts off into an echo, implying that his name was the last word on her lips before she killed herself.
* SelfFulfillingProphecy: In "Babooshka", the wife who sets up the TwoPersonLoveTriangle to trap her husband in the act of infidelity is implied to have "freezed on him" due to her suspicions that he was having an affair, leading to him being easily tempted by a woman who reminded him of her before the tension arose between them. Essentially, her own paranoia and bitterness over her suspicions of his infidelity are the main thing that led to him contemplating infidelity in the first place.
* ShoutOut: "Blown Away (For Bill)" namechecks the recent deaths of Music/MinnieRiperton, [[Music/TheWho Keith Moon]], [[Music/FairportConvention Sandy Denny]], Music/SidVicious, and Music/MarcBolan and the much older death of Music/BuddyHolly.
* SpecialGuest:
** Longtime Bush collaborator Ian Bairnson (of Music/TheAlanParsonsProject) provides backing vocals on "Delius (Song of Summer)".
** Roy Harper provides backing vocals on "Breathing".
* SpokenWordInMusic: There's a long, eerie instrumental break near the end of "Breathing" with a recording of a man describing the effects of a nuclear bomb.
* TooYoungToDieLamentation: The mother in "Army Dreamers" laments how her son was killed in battle before even reaching his twenties.
* TranslatedCoverVersion: Bush recorded a French-language version of "The Infant Kiss", titled "Un Baiser D'enfant", as the B-side to the French-exclusive non-album single "Ne T'enfuis Pas".
* TwoPersonLoveTriangle: "Babooshka" revolves around a woman who creates a pseudonym to communicate with her husband incognito to test his faithfulness; he ends up falling in love with the alter-ego.
* VariantCover: The initial Japanese CD release crops the cover illustration to only focus on the creatures in the bottom-right corner. Reissues from 1995 onwards revert to the full cover.
* WarIsHell: "Army Dreamers" concentrates on the grief of a mother who's son is killed in an overseas war and his body flown home. The narrator points out how said son only joined the army because he was unqualified for anything else, lacking both money and education and consequently being preyed on by the British armed forces.
* WholePlotReference:
** "Delius (Song for Summer)" is based on the 1968 made-for-TV film ''Song of Summer'', about the final five years in the life of composer Frederick Delius.
** "The Wedding List" is based on the 1968 film ''Film/TheBrideWoreBlack''.
** "The Infant Kiss" adapts the 1961 film ''Film/TheInnocents'', about a woman who believes that the ghosts of a deceased couple are possessing the children she's looking after.
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