Kate Bush - Running Up That Hill - Official Music Video

Hounds of Love

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Hounds of Love
Studio album by Kate Bush
Released	16 September 1985
Recorded	1983-85
Genre	Art rock, baroque pop, New Wave, pop rock
Length	47:33
Label	EMI
Producer	Kate Bush

Hounds of Love is a 1985 album by English singer Kate Bush. It was Bush's fifth studio album, and her second to top the album charts. It has since been certified Double Platinum in the UK.^[1] In 2002, Q Magazine named Hounds of Love the third Greatest Album of All-Time by a Female Artist, and in 2000, the twentieth Greatest British Album of All Time.^[2]

Overview

Bush's most successful album commercially, 1985's Hounds of Love reflects Bush's continuing growth as an artist and producer. To avoid the huge expense of her previous album, The Dreaming, and to support her increasingly slow and painstaking recording process, Bush was inspired to build her own 24-track studio in the barn behind her family home.^[3] Hounds of Love ultimately topped the charts in the UK, knocking Madonna's Like A Virgin from the number one position.^[4] Making extensive use of the Fairlight CMI synthesizer, piano, traditional Irish instruments, and layered vocals, Hounds of Love is a "complex and richly layered work."^[5]
The album takes advantage of the LP vinyl format, with Side One, titled "Hounds of Love", containing five unrelated songs linked only by the common theme of love and relationships; these include the four singles "Running Up That Hill", "Cloudbusting", "Hounds of Love", and "The Big Sky". "Running Up That Hill" became one of her biggest hits in the UK, and re-introduced Bush to American listeners, receiving considerable airplay at the time of its release. The second side of the album, titled "The Ninth Wave", takes its name from Tennyson's poem, "Idylls of the King", about the legendary King Arthur's reign, and is a single piece of music, a song cycle which Bush describes as "about a person who is alone in the water for the night...it's about their past, present and future coming to keep them awake, to stop them drowning, to stop them going to sleep until the morning comes."^[6] In an interview with French television in 1985, Bush said she thinks of the two sides as "two separate albums."^[7]
A 1997 CD re-release of the album included six bonus tracks: 12" mixes of "The Big Sky" and "Running Up That Hill", and the B-side singles "Under The Ivy", "Burning Bridge", "My Lagan Love", and "Be Kind To My Mistakes", which was written for the film Castaway starring Oliver Reed and Amanda Donohoe),^[8] and used for its opening title sequence.
In 2010, Audio Fidelity reissued Hounds of Love on vinyl with new mastering by Steve Hoffman.^[9]
A 10" pink vinyl version of the album was released for Record Store Day 2011, with 1,000 copies produced worldwide.^[10]

Reception

Professional ratings
Review scores
Source	Rating
Allmusic	[11]
NME	(Highly Favourable) [12]
Robert Christgau	B [13]
Rolling Stone	(mixed) [14]
Stylus	(Highly Favourable) [15]
Paul Roland	[16]
Virgin Encyclopedia of Popular Music	[17]
Spin Alternative Record Guide	(8/10) [18]

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 premiered for the first time. The single entered the UK singles chart at no.9 (a considerable feat at that time) and ultimately peaked in the top 3. The Hounds of Love album entered the UK album chart at no.1, knocking Madonna's Like a Virgin from the top position.^[19]
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, and co-starring Donald Sutherland. The video — like the song — was 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 2006, Q magazine placed the album at #4 in its list of "40 Best Albums of the '80s".^[20] 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.^[21] In 2012, Slant Magazine listed the album at #10 on its list of "Best Albums of the 1980's".^[22]

Track listing

All songs written by Kate Bush.

Side one: Hounds of Love
No.	Title	Length
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

Side two: The Ninth Wave
No.	Title	Length
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

Bonus tracks (1997 EMI edition)
No.	Title	Length
13.	"The Big Sky (Meteorogical Mix)"	7:44
14.	"Running Up That Hill (12" Mix)"	5:45
15.	"Be Kind to My Mistakes"	3:00
16.	"Under the Ivy" (B-side to "Running Up That Hill" 7")	2:08
17.	"Burning Bridge" (B-side to "Cloudbusting" 7")	4:38
18.	"My Lagan Love" (B-side to "Cloudbusting" 7" and 12")	2:30