Hounds Of Love - Kate Bush

Hounds of Love, Kate Bush's 1985 album was her most commercially successful to date. That is not to say it isn't packed full of kate's eccentricities but it has also some of her finest pop moments to boot.

The album was produced by Bush in her own 24 track studio. She split the album into two parts. The first half had her accessible pop tracks the second showing her more adventurous side.

The first single to be released was Running Up That Hill. Apparently Kate is singing about men and women and how we can never really understand each other (I think she is on to something). The song was originally just titled Deal With God, but Kate was warned that if the title remained it wouldn't be played in any religious countries, like Ireland! The video was a dance number that even had a weird pre curser to being John Malcovich where Kate Bush gets swept down a corridor by a stream of people wearing Kate Bush masks, even weirder still MTV never played it, preferring a live performance of the song to the video.

The second single taken from the album was the wonderful Cloudbusting. Written about the relationship between a father and son in this case controversial psychologist Wilhelm reich's arrest as seen through the eyes of his son.

Hounds of Love was the third single and was yet another commercial and critical success for Kate. It is actually my favorite from the album too.

The second side of Hounds of Love is a concept suite of songs called the Ninth Wave. It seems to be about a young woman who is terminally ill, and has repeated hallucinations. The critical success of hounds of love was further proof of the huge talent that is Kate Bush. The singles released from the album are still mainstream radio staples which is testament to the craft and originality of the album.

Track Listsing

1. "Running Up That Hill (A Deal with God)" – 5:03
2. "Hounds of Love" – 3:02
3. "The Big Sky" – 4:41
4. "Mother Stands for Comfort" – 3:07
5. "Cloudbusting" – 5:10

The Ninth Wave

6. "And Dream of Sheep" – 2:45
7. "Under Ice" – 2:21
8. "Waking the Witch" – 4:18
9. "Watching You Without Me" – 4:06
10. "Jig of Life" – 4:04
11. "Hello Earth" – 6:13
12. "The Morning Fog" – 2:34