HOUNDS OF LOVE

The only problem with 'The hounds of Love' is the dramatic shift between 'poppy' side one and the undoubted successful side two. Back in '85 we had to get off our fat butts and, yes, would you believe it, had to flip the damn record over in order to hear side two before sitting back down again. Blimey, what a hassle! Nowadays with the advent of cd technology we can hear it all in one go! Praise technology!

Unfortunately this is the one thing that barricades 'The Hounds of Love' from receiving a five star award. Sure - 'Running Up that Hill' and 'Hounds of Love' are brilliant and original pop singles, but listening to it as a whole makes you wish Kate Bush had recorded this just 4 years later, as the disjointed continuity would have been banished if this were made for CD.

Stodgy singles aside, what makes this a super album is the second half. A brilliant conceptual construction which even has helicopter sound effects leant by none other than Dave Gilmour. Her vocals on this recording are when she was clearly at her peak with power and clarity that vanished rapidly on subsequent recordings. In 1978 my dad told me Kate Bush was a witch... and now I believe him after all these years.

'The Hounds of Love' is sometimes disturbing - paricularly in 'Waking the Witch', but is mostly beautiful in this Irish tinged, out of place for its time album, which hits all the right notes with me. A placid and somewhat emotionless side one is seriously outdone by a gut wrenching and power through beauty side two which I can very much relate to.