Kate Bush – Hounds Of Love (Black Vinyl)

Kate Bush's Hounds of Love arrived in September 1985 as her fifth studio album and a decisive return after the comparatively muted response to The Dreaming. Self-directed in its musical world and famously split in two, it balances a run of sharp, immediate songs on side one with The Ninth Wave on side two, a connected suite following a woman adrift at sea through fear, memory and hallucination.

That structure is a big part of why the record still feels so distinctive. Bush gives the album four major singles, including “Running Up That Hill (A Deal with God)”, “Cloudbusting” and the title track, but she also pushes far beyond straightforward pop sequencing. “Running Up That Hill” became one of her biggest songs, and its 2022 return to the top of the UK singles chart only underlined how completely it has outlasted its era.

Hounds of Love was both a commercial and critical high point: Bush's second UK number-one album, a US Top 40 success, and for many listeners the clearest example of how accessible and adventurous her music could be at once. The 2018 Fish People remaster, prepared by Kate Bush and James Guthrie, keeps that scale intact, from the punch of the singles to the dreamlike sweep of The Ninth Wave.

Features

• 2018 remaster by Kate Bush and James Guthrie

Reviews

• wonderfully overpowering as a piece of pop music - AllMusic.com
• a milestone in penetratingly fanciful pop - Pitchfork