Hounds of Love

by

Kate Bush

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At first listening, HOUNDS OF LOVE would seem to have little in common with Kate Bush's previous work; in some ways, however, it is a logical extension, for throughout her earlier work she had increasingly fused unlikely instruments with synthesizers while gradually leaving behind certain vocal affectations. For HOUNDS OF LOVE she would repeat this, fusing distinctly Irish-sounding instruments with synthesizers while continuing to downplay her extraordinary range to create a remarkably clean yet multi-layered sound that serves her material remarkably well. At the same time, she worked her penchant for macabre and bizarre imagery into a much more subtle idiom. The resulting HOUNDS OF LOVE seems, to me at least, 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." Throughout the recording, Bush seems considerably less interested in vocal gymnastics than in the past-although "Big Sky" and "Waking The Witch" certainly make good use of her remarkable talents in that direction. 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.

Although Bush has always been extremely well regarded in England and in Europe, she was not widely known in the United States, where her recordings were deemed too alternative for the mass market. 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.

If you have the original vinyl of Hounds of Love, you are all set. The Audio Fidelity version has a touch and I mean "just a touch" of fuller bass at the expense of clarity and definition. The older (colored vinyl)version has more snap and the backing vocals, keyboards and cymbals are more easily heard; creating a much higher resolution effect. This new vinyl remaster tries to soften everything to the point of exclusion of the instruments. The Audio Fidelity pressing is known for its defects on side 2 and I can tell you its is made without sufficient quality control. If you are looking for an ornament than buy it, but if you want the complete Kate Bush experience, buy the old version.