Buddha Of Suburbia

KATE BUSH: “Moments Of Pleasure” (EMI); DAVID BOWIE: “Buddha Of Suburbia” (Arista)

Once both Lindsay Kemp’s proteges but now veterans condemned to be part of any scenic London rock’n’roll suburban stroll, Bush and even the latterly inconsistent Bowie can still teach the lessons of experience.

Bush’s ballad can seem outwardly conventional and conservative in its piano and strings twin-set but she wins through the richness of her perception and her ability to throw destabilizing details into a lyric that spins its tale around snowy balconies in New York, Douglas Fairbanks and an odd folksy metaphor about “an old sock needing an old shoe”.

Meanwhile Bowie’s return to his own early scene of South London social grime seems to have re-invigorated him. The tune’s focussed and moreover, he recaptures the smart, observant compassion that once made him such a beguiling intelligence.