Hounds of Love

Infobox Album
Name = Hounds Of Love
Type = Studio album
Artist = Kate Bush


Released = 20 September 1985
Recorded = 1984
Genre = Art rock, Pop rock
Length = 47:33
Label = EMI
Producer = Kate Bush
Reviews =
*Allmusic Rating|4.5|5 [http://www.allmusic.com/cg/amg.dll?p=amg&sql=10:wmfnzfahehpk link]
*Robert Christgau (B) [http://www.robertchristgau.com/get_artist.php?name=kate+bush link]
*"Rolling Stone" (neutral) [http://www.rollingstone.com/artists/katebush/albums/album/149977/review/5944939/hounds_of_love link]
Last album = "The Dreaming" (1982)
This album = "Hounds of Love" (1985)
Next album = "The Whole Story" (1986)

"Hounds of Love" is a 1985 album by Kate Bush. Whereas the first five tracks are regarded as amongst her most accessible, the remainder of the album sees Bush at her most experimental from a production standpoint.

Overview

Despite being Bush's most successful album commercially, 1985's "Hounds of Love" is no less experimental from a production standpoint than its predecessors. Not only did she produce it herself, but for this album, stung by the huge costs she had run up hiring studio space for "The Dreaming", she built a private 24 track studio near her home where she could work at her own pace.cite web | last = | first = | authorlink = | coauthors = | title = Kate Bush | work = | publisher = NNDB | date = | url = http://www.nndb.com/people/504/000025429/ | format = | doi = | accessdate = 2007-04-03 ]

The album is split into two sides, with the first side, "Hounds of Love", containing five "accessible" pop songs, including the four singles: "Running Up That Hill," "Cloudbusting," "Hounds of Love," and "The Big Sky." "Running Up That Hill" re-introduced Kate to American listeners, and received considerable airplay at the time of its release. "The Big Sky" can be viewed as a creative manifesto issued by Bush in response to criticisms of "The Dreaming" (for which she had been criticized for being too obscure). The second side is entitled "The Ninth Wave", whose title is taken from a poem by Tennyson. [cite web | last = | first = | authorlink = | coauthors = | title = Kate Bush radio interview | work = | publisher = Rock Over London with Paul Cooke | date = | url = http://gaffa.org/reaching/ir85_rol.html | format = | doi = | accessdate = 2007-06-27 ] As part of a song cycle, each track helps to convey the story of a woman who is lost at sea, facing death by drowning, and the tortured night she spends in the water. Bush's technical mastery is shown to full effect, using samples and vocals played in reverse to synthesized sounds and folk instrumentation.

A 1997 re-release of the album included 6 bonus tracks: 12" mixes of "The Big Sky" and "Running Up That Hill", and the B-sides "Be Kind To My Mistakes" (which featured on the opening to the film Castaway starring Oliver Reed and Amanda Donohoe),cite web | last = | first =| authorlink =| coauthors =| title = Kate Bush | work = | publisher = IMDb | url = http://www.imdb.com/name/nm0124165/| format =| year = 1985|accessdate = 2007-04-04 ] "Under The Ivy", "Burning Bridge" and "My Lagan Love".

Reception

In August 1985 the British music magazine "NME" featured Bush in a "Where Are They Now" article. Two days later, on "The Wogan Show", the single "Running Up That Hill" was played for the first time. The single, and indeed the album, were showcases of a newfound mastery of production. "Hounds of Love" ultimately topped the charts in the UK, knocking Madonna's "Like a Virgin" from the number one position. [cite book | last = Fitzgerald Morris | first = Peter | authorlink = | coauthors = | title = Hounds of Love lyrics booklet (1997) | work = | publisher = EMI | date = | url = | format = | accessdate = 2007-04-03 ]

The album marked her breakthrough into the American charts with the Top 40 hit "Running Up That Hill (A Deal With God)". The album also yielded a set of videos, the most famous of which is "Cloudbusting", directed by Julian Doyle, co-starring movie star Donald Sutherland and inspired by the life of psychologist Wilhelm Reich.

In 1998, "Q" magazine readers voted "Hounds of Love" the 48th greatest album of all time, while in 2000 the same magazine placed it at number 20 in its list of the 100 Greatest British Albums Ever. In January 2006, "NME" named it the 41st best British album of all time. The 19th edition of "British Hit Singles & Albums", published by Guinness in May 2006, included a list of the Top 100 albums of all time, as voted by readers of the book and "NME" readers, which placed Hounds of Love at Number 70. In 2008 The Atlanta Journal-Constitution said the album should be given consideration when listing albums released between 1978 and 1988 that have stood the test of time while remaining influential and enjoyable to this day. [ [http://www.accessatlanta.com/music/content/music/stories/2008/08/27/michael_jackson_thriller.html?cxntlid=homepage_tab_newstab Our expert names five albums that have best stood the test of time The Atlanta Journal-Constitution 27 August, 2008] ]

Track listing

All songs written by Kate Bush.

ide one: Hounds of Love

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

ide two: The Ninth Wave

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

Bonus tracks (1997 EMI edition)

*"The Big Sky (Meteorological Mix)" (1986) – 7:44
*"Running Up That Hill (12" Mix)" – 5:45
*"Be Kind to My Mistakes" (1989) – 3:00
*"Under the Ivy" (b-side to "Running Up That Hill" 7") – 2:08
*"Burning Bridge" (b-side to "Cloudbusting" 7") – 4:38
*"My Lagan Love" (b-side to "Cloudbusting 12"") – 2:30

Notes

The chorale in "Hello Earth" is a segment from the traditional Georgian song "Tsintskaro", performed by the Richard Hickox Singers. [cite news| url=http://arts.guardian.co.uk/features/story/0,,1589379,00.html| title=Kate Bush rules, OK?|first=Michael|last=Berkeley|month=October 11|year=2005|date=2005-10-11|publisher=The Guardian|accessdate=2008-03-30]

Swedish techno artist The Field sampled "Under Ice" extensively for his song "Over the Ice".

"Be Kind to My Mistakes" was written for Nicolas Roeg's film Castaway and plays during the opening scene.

Personnel

*Kate Bush – vocals, Fairlight CMI, piano
*Stuart Elliott – drums on 1 2 4 5 9 10 11
*Del Palmer – bass on 1 10, handclapping on 3, backing vocals on 5, Fairlight bass on 8, Linn programming
*Alan Murphy – guitar on 1 3 8
*Paddy Bush – violins on 12, balalaika on 1, backing vocals on 5, didjeridu on 3, harmonic vocals on 7, fujara on 12
*Charlie Morgan – drums on 2 3 5 8 10, handclapping on 3

Additional personnel

*Jonathan Williams – cello on 2
*Youth – bass on 3
*Morris Pert – percussion on 3
*Eberhard Weber – bass on 4 11
*The Medici Sextet – strings on 5
*Dave Lawson – string arrangements on 5
*Brian Bath – backing vocals on 5, guitar on 11
*John Carder Bush – backing vocals on 5, narration on 10
*Donal Lunny – bouzouki on 6 11, Irish bouzouki on 10
*John Sheahan – whistles on 6
*Kevin McAlea – synthesiser sequences on 8, synthesiser on 12
*Pink Floyd – helicopter from "The Wall" on 8
*Danny Thompson – double bass on 9
*Liam O'Flynn – uilleann pipes on 10 11
*The Richard Hickox Singers – choir on 11
*Richard Hickox – vocals, choir master on 11
*Michael Berkeley – vocal arrangements on 11
*John Williams – guitar on 12

Production personnel

*Del Palmer – engineer
*Haydn Bendall – engineer
*Brian Tench – engineer, mixing
*Paul Hardiman – engineer
*Nigel Walker – engineer
*James Guthrie – engineer
*Bill Somerville-Large – engineer at Windmill Lane Studios
*Pearce Dunne – assistant engineer
*Julian Mendelsohn – mixing on 2 4
*Chris Blair – digital remastering
*Ian Cooper – cutting engineer

Charts

Album

The RIAA did not certify sales figures for this album. Listed below are the total certified sales of "Hounds of Love" in the United States from Soundscan, in November 2005 since 1991. Figures are unavailable for period 1985 to 1991, when bulk of sales would arguably have occurred. [http://bubble4.2ch.net/test/read.cgi/natsumeloe/1125798311/939] [http://makimo.to/2ch/bubble4_natsumeloe/1125/1125798311.html#939] [http://www.billboard.com/bbcom/ask_bb/index.jsp] .

ee also

*Kate Bush discography
*Kate Bush's Awards and Nominations

References