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This Woman's Work
God, I love both of these versions. Such a beautiful song. Maxwell does a tremendous job of capturing the essence. Remarkable since he's a male, naturally. His falsetto gives the song a more soulful & seductive sound. But Bush's warmth & tender beauty keeps drawing me in. If I want sleak & sexy though, I'd go with Maxwell.
- Matt, New York, NY, United States, 21.11.2005
Maxwell
2001 |
vs. |
Kate Bush
1989 |
| Click on the cover for listening |
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Click on the cover for listening |
Comments about This Woman's Work:
I have never thought of a male singer covering this beautiful song and doing it as captivating as Maxwell. His version will probably stand among best cover of any Kate's songs, ever. But having been a long time Kate fan and listened to the original hundreds of times, I feel a bit awkward listening to Maxwell's 'artificial' interpretation while trying to compare to Kate's natural simplicity, smoothness, and passionate rendering. Unlike Kate's original, Maxwell's version is never close to bringing me to tears.
- Arief, Jogja, Indonesia, 12.05.2007 |
We must admit both versions are beautiful in their own way. They are indeed very very different versions. In this case, both performers are outstanding, but Maxwell's will always be an interpretation, whereas Kate is singing, playing and performing her own creation, her own feelings, her own talent. The only way we could ever judge Maxwell is by listening to one of his own songs.
For those who say Kate Bush concentrates in pronouncing every word. Well, she's from Kent, in England, she DOES speak like that. The most beautiful way to speak the English language.
For those who keep on saying that Maxwell brought this to wider audience and that they didn't know who Kate Bush was, they must be either too young or/and musically illiterate to ignore the greatest English female artist of all time. The millions of copies sold worldwide and the cult status of all her albums. Maxwell, 5 years after that Unplugged, is back to complete an anonymous one-hit-wonder.
- Fernando, London, England, 28.04.2007 |
Kate Bush' version will always be the precious original. Combined with the scene's from "She's having a baby" or her music-video starring herself and Tim McInnerny (from Blackadder) tears are gauranteed to flow. Haunting and ethereal, Kate delivers her delightfull though thinly veiled "mad genius" schtick.
Maxwell's version is somehow smoother, wider, with the choir better complementing his (indeed angelic) voice.
Where Kate alienates the listener with her distant, slightly detached, unworldly feel (leaving me lonesome in the end), Maxwell's version draws you close, almost embracing you, forcing you to (in your mind) confront the gap between how you FEEL and how you ACT towards loved ones.
I would choose Maxwell's version to be played at my burial.
- 2Fresh, Groningen, Netherlands, 23.02.2007 |
Maxwell's falsetto in this cover is immortality in personae. He truly has the voice of an angel. Listen to the unplugged version and you know what I mean. Since Kate Bush IS an angel, I can only applaud her for giving Maxwell the opportunity to shine. Hands down for Kate!
- Jackie, The Hague, Netherlands, 17.02.2007 |
Maxwell's falsetto in this cover is immortality in personae. He truly has the voice of an angel. Listen to the unplugged version and you know what I mean. Since Kate Bush IS an angel, I can only applaud her for giving Maxwell the opportunity to shine. Hands down for Kate!
- Jackie, The Hague, Netherlands, 17.02.2007 |
I would like to give a different perspective. I first heard Maxwell's version, and I fell in love with the song. I believe that if you write a good song, a great number of people can do it and hopefully add something to it. I also give "props" to the original creator always, because the greatest gift is to bring forth something original that "hands-down" touches something in our inner-most emotions. I covered the song myself because I fell in love with it, then I saw the movie "She's having a baby" ... I had no clue that the original was in the movie and performed by Kate Bush. I've always felt that Maxwell has the 'voice of an angel' and is very very talented. But when I heard Kate's lilting, sweet voice coupled with the visual of Kevin Bacon there in the Hospital ... like him I too was driven to tears. My wife and I generally flip channels on Sundays, and anytime that movie comes on we leave it on just to re-live that moment on the movie. When I perform live, I always set the song up by discussing the Maxwell / Bush thing, giving appropriate credit where credit is due. I would appreciate it very much for those of you that love this song, please go to my web-site www.nosweatrecords.com for a soundbyte, or go to www.cdbaby.com for a digital download of my version. You can even download a listen of the whole song for a couple of pennies. I also have other cover songs on my CDs ... Xotica (sometimes spelled Exotica) is my latest and has everything I've recorded recently. All songs are recorded in my home studio, produced and packaged by me. I would consider it a great honor to be aligned with the above two artists for this song, and I would appreciate any feedback you add to this web site. Thanks so much for taking the time to read this. Stay well.
- Reginald Van Carreker, Stafford, United States, 11.01.2007 |
No question... Kate Bush's original is one of the most hauntingly beautiful and captivating songs I've ever heard. Maxwell makes it sound like another derivative of so much bland r&b music, whereas Kate's original in it's simplicity is utterly gorgeous. Kate Bush hands down.
- Stephen, Tacoma, United States, 12.12.2006 |
That was horrible.
Kate Bush, definitely.
- Alex, Vancouver, Canada, 30.11.2006 |
Maxwell wins
- Toni, Pickering, Canada, 22.11.2006 |
I'm sorry but I just listened to the Kate Bush original version and I have to say that Maxwell sounds a million times better than her. I actually think Mrs Bush' version is horrible.
- Travis Smith, Zebulon, United States, 12.08.2006 |
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