112) Kate Bush - Hounds of Love

Did I like Kate Bush in 1985? Debatable is probably the answer, the odd song, but I would not seek her out.

It’s 1985, I’m fourteen we would get the odd carry out down the park or an occasional underage disco! but most of our time we just sat about. In Glasgow, it sometimes rains so my mate always let us go back to his for a cup of tea whilst we dried off and then walked home to get soaked all over again. No nasty comments please if you are jealous of my rock n roll lifestyle at fourteen.

His house, so his choice of music and he had recently purchased The Hounds of Love. It wasn’t met with positivity from the rest of us. It rained a lot, so we listened a few more times and I asked if I could borrow it, no, as it would get soaked and he wisely never lent out albums, so he would make me a copy, fair enough.

The albums has two distinct sides, four singles were released from the album, and they are four of the five opening tracks. Even my daughter now knows Running Up That Hill which showed its timeless quality reaching number one last year, but the title track and The Big Sky are its equal, these are layered with, piano, drums, and wind instruments, Cloudbursting surpasses them all and was the song that made me understand Bush’s genius. The string arrangement and the drums pump throughout the song, it’s a uniquely beautiful song and her voice is outstanding.

The traditional Side Two is a seven-track piece called The Ninth Wave which is about a person adrift at sea, the songs are all individual songs, but it fits together perfectly, some of the cut ups of her voice have dated but that’s a small gripe and there are not many artists who have this vision or bravery.

Some artists are unique, no one sounds or makes records like Kate Bush.

9/10

GIVE IT A STREAM: Cloudbursting