Search - Kate Bush :: Hounds of Love

Sonoko F. from MONTCLAIR, NJ
Reviewed on 2/5/2007...

Marvelous. Melodically rich, original and still fresh. Those who like Sarah Machlaclan, Bjork, Aimee Mann will enjoy Kate.

From CDNow review: "...HOUNDS OF LOVE seems...like a combination of the melodic delicacy of her earliest recordings with the raw power of her immediately previous THE DREAMING. HOUNDS OF LOVE breaks into two distinctly separate yet stylistically similar parts, and it is a tribute to Bush's talents that she was able to unify these portions in such a way as to make them obviously different in content without making them feel separate in tone. The first half of the recording-"Running Up That Hill," "Hounds of Love," "Big Sky," "Mother Stands For Comfort," and "Cloudbusting"-are at once independent of each other yet distinctly of the same album, raveling the same musical and lyrical thread. The second half-"And Dream of Sheep," "Under Ice," "Waking the Witch," "Watching You Without Me," "Jig of Life," and "Hello Earth"-are more in the line of a single recording from which the individual titles cannot be easily separated. In these selections, she seems to be telling a story of her dreamlife, capturing the beautiful and fearsome images that come to her in sleep and then awakening to face the new day with the concluding "Morning Fog."...Her voice is full, rich, and sure, and her bursts into extreme displays of range seem less a matter of showmanship than of artistic inevitability. This is Kate Bush shorn of her eccentricities, and she is every bit as remarkable without them as she was when she gave them full play....With HOUNDS OF LOVE, however, she made a perfect leap into American commercial success, creating a more popular sound without sacrificing any of her uniqueness in the process. It was and remains a remarkable feat, and even some fifteen years after its release HOUNDS OF LOVE remains as fresh and as compelling as the first day it was recorded. A powerful statement by a truly gifted artist, highly recommended. -Gary F. Taylor"

Ravishing, thoughtful stuff

tierny | 05/16/2010

(5 out of 5 stars)

"For anyone who thinks I only disparage things on Amazon......



Back in the day, when I first saw the video for Running up the Hill, I scoffed at it. Kate Bush was too girly for me. I was punk. But then I succumbed to the drivign 'wall of percussion' of 'Running' and was drawn in. That single is song number one on the album, and what a surprise it was to find that all that follows is of astonishingly high quality, a labor of love. I always found the album to be an interesting listen. Eventually I came to respect the whole effort quite a bit, and now it can easily be said; this is a great, seminal work of the 80s, the peak of Kate Bush's career. My respect for this album has only grown, as new singers like Tori Amos borrowed and built on Kate Bush's persona. Over twenty five years I continue to stumble across the references hidden in these songs; (i.e. Kate was trying to make us inerested in the life, odd ideas and persecution of William Reich). The album is inhabited by untold multitudes of femininity.



This album is now a deeply-respected milestone, a classic. I didn't know when I was buying it that this was no t just another album I'd tire of and forget. These songs haunt and inspire me almost 30 years later. While doing my laundry today I caught myself humming, then singing:

"Motherrr ...stands for COMfort

MoTHER will.. hide the madman

M0therrrr ...stands for comfort

MoTHER will... staaaaay mum"



Kate Bush associated herself with Peter Gabriel, a decent songsmith who eventually dissolved under tepid, generic world-music urges."