Hounds of Love

I love when an album feels like I'm listening to a musical... Purple is my favourite colour... I stopped watching Stranger Things after the third season and I usually have social media on mute, so THE song didn't get ruined for me... All these things and more is why this album is perfect for me.

One of the most beautiful albums of all time. It has no skips and is so enthralling yet innovating for its time. In my opinion the greatest album of the 80s.

10/10 [KEEP]

One of the easiest 10/10s ever

I should like this because I like most things Kate Bush adjacent - Tori Amos, Siouxsie and the Banshees, Patti Smyth, Christie Hynde, but I don’t like it. There is nothing about this that makes me want to come back to it. It’s not brilliant or beautiful… it’s weird and indulgent. It’s off and it’s off-putting. Incredibly overrated.

What a wonderful excuse to pull out the album, sit down and listen to it in one go....

It's just a piece of musical genius. There are so many levels it works on. The songs are all gems in their own unique way. The production is timeless....it could have been released last week - most albums from the 80s show it, but not this. It is practically it's own Genre for me.

The second side (The Ninth Wave) is simply sublime - I love that it is an album of two parts. And Dream of Sleep is simply one of the most gorgeous pieces of music ever recorded.

It's been a favourite of mine for 40+ years and it's wonderful to me that more modern ears have now discovered it thanks to Stranger Things.

It might just be THE best album of the 80s.

5

2.92

Thanks to this project for getting me to dive into these Kate Bush albums. This one's got a lot of great songs on it, but I found parts a little too theatrical, especially compared to The Sensual World, which is pretty much perfect.

Kate Bush is one of the few artists who have managed to leverage 80's aesthetics in a way that I really enjoy. The reverb and the synths and all the other 80's isms are used to create a dreamlike atmosphere that elevates what would have already been excellent pop songs. The 5 songs on side 1 are all pretty much pop perfection, I can barely pull out favorites. Not to even mention Kate Bush's powerful, unique vocal presence. If this album was just perfect pop songs, that would be one thing, but side B really shows just how ambitious and daring Kate Bush really was here. Side B is all loosely interconnected mood pieces and experimental songs. Under Ice is almost eerie, the tape effects on Waking The Witch almost sound like early glitch music (it's kind of shocking), and Hello Earth is just floaty and gorgeous. Although, what I think really epitomizes why this album is a 5 for me is Jig Of Life. The idea behind Jig Of Life, as like an Irish folk song or something out of absolutely nowhere is, on paper, just straight up bad. But the execution and the vision of Hounds Of Love is so strong, that Jig Of Life is just as emotionally complex, and nuanced as anything else on here, without any real cheesiness. It's as though Kate Bush is operating on such a high level that she simply willed it into being a good song. And that is a hell of an accomplishment. Hounds Of Love is beautiful and compelling, and nearly perfect. And I cannot praise it enough.

I’m not a huge Kate Bush fan, but you cant really fault Running up that Hill and Hounds of Love (albeit the Futureheads cover is far superior) for an opening.
Unfortunately and somewhat unsurprising the quality and interest levels drops off after that. Overall it’s just a bit dull which is odd given it is a fairly eclectic collection. Under Ice and Waking the Witch mistake eccentricity for creativity.

I love Kate Bush's voice. And parts of this album are astonishingly weird; honestly some of the weirdest things the Generator has provided (and I've already heard Trout Mask Replica). Waking the Witch might be the peak weirdness, but I did enjoy finding out one of the random voices on it was old Hagrid himself, Robbie Coltrane.

The "conceptual" side of the album is, for me, a little weaker than the other, though having said that, I still liked parts a lot (like Jig of Life, where I loved her vocals). The singles though? The singles are universally great.

After my second run through of this record which was needed for me to really make up my mind, I listened to The Futureheads version of Hounds of Love and China Drum's version of Wuthering Heights, the later because I need no excuse to listen to it, not because it features on this album. Both are great covers - well worth a listen, despite (or maybe because?) they all very different to the original compositions.

I think this would have been a 3.5, but it's worth a 4 for her voice alone, so I'm rounding up.

4/5

I first heard Running Up That Hill as a Placebo song before I knew it was a cover. And of course heard a lot of the original after Stranger Things made it popular. And Cloudbusting I heard the Matthew Good cover first. So this is the first really listening to Kate Bush. I was a big fan of Tori Amos and always heard that she copied Kate's sound, and I can hear that. But ya, it was really good.

I had to break this down track by track to understand my thoughts:
1. "Running Up That Hill (A Deal with God)" 5
2. "Hounds of Love" 5
3. "The Big Sky" 5
4. "Mother Stands for Comfort" 4
5. "Cloudbusting" 5
6. "And Dream of Sheep" 3
7. "Under Ice" 3
8. "Waking the Witch" 5
9. "Watching You Without Me" 3
10. "Jig of Life" 3
11. "Hello Earth" 4
12. "The Morning Fog" 3
Turns out I think Side A is close to perfect, but Side B I generally consider "mid". And Dream of Sheep" and "Under Ice" are way too slow and underwhelming to continue the story. Waking the Witch is so cool and unique. I found the Jig of Life and the Morning Fog to be the weakest tracks, which is too bad because the latter is the closer. All around my score averaged to a 4, which is still high given the relative weakness of the second half. 4/5

Not sure what to even say about this. I appreciate her as an artist which she clearly is. But this is just not my thing, still probably 4 stars and I like some songs but her voice is just so shrill to me and I really have to be in the mood. Good music. I like all the Irish and Celtic influences here.

Amazing album. I only knew Wuthering Heights before this so wasn’t sure what to expect but this one blew me away. Every track was great.

I’m a long way from the end of this list but when I rank all my five stars at the end I reckon this will be quite high up the list.

Top Track - Hounds Of Love

Hounds of Love is a genuinely unique and innovative pop record, and still sounds unlike anything else from its era. It’s a thrilling listen from start to finish, balancing accessibility with ambition in a way very few artists manage.

Every song feels purposeful and fully realised. The music is rich and inventive, while the lyrics are vivid, story-led and deeply imaginative. Bush comes across not just as a pop star, but as a poet and conceptual artist, weaving emotion, drama and experimentation into songs that remain instantly engaging.

Favourite tracks: Running Up That Hill and Hounds of Love – iconic, timeless pop songs that fully deserve their iconic status.
Least favourite track: Waking the Witch was very odd.
Album artwork: A cool, distinctive cover that perfectly matches the album

This is such a great album by such a singular artist.

I think this album is fantastic. Of course, I didn't discover it until Stranger Things 4 featured Runnin' Up That Hill- inarguably the biggest hit of the album. But the rest of the album is cerebral, layered with instruments, and excellently produced- it was self-produced afaik. It also feels personal, not like a product of a studio or an artistic compromise. Highly recommend for both the auditory entertainment and the cultural significance in music history.

Great album. Varied and interesting with the skein of her odd voice rubbing through it. I guess I'm a sucker for unusual singers. I quite enjoy rush. I feel like folks either love or hate them. Wake the witch and the first track are standouts here for me.

Only few songs are actually good on here. The rest just does not sound good...

Necessary this week