Hounds of love cover
Bush doesn’t have a conventionally strong pop voice, but it is remarkably expressive, and she uses it in weird and wonderful ways. The enthusiasm and motivation to experiment is not just impressive, it’s thoroughly engaging. The mystical quality that runs throughout Hounds of Love not only arouses mystery and wonder, it covers a few minor blemishes on the way too. These imperfections are perhaps merely part of the charm, such is the aura of abnormality. The pirate frolic of “Jig of Life” is as jarring as it is aggravating, though undoubtedly still a lot of fun.
Indeed, whilst it’s clear to see what Bush was envisaging on “Waking the Witch”, the implementation is certainly clumsy, somewhat lumbering and heavy-handed, and it ends up feeling overblown as a result. There’s a direct purpose behind every move, even if the execution isn’t always flawless. There’s a lofty concept behind the albums structure - the weight and meaning of its two sides - but Bush rarely lets the music slip away from pop arrangements.
Despite its quirks, the record retains a level of accessibility that keeps it well within the territory of pop. The music is beautifully dramatic, like a howling wind moving ferociously through a magical landscape. Instead, the new recognition simply reinforces the ongoing applause Hounds of Love always deserved as an unassumingly brilliant album.Very few albums evoke the sense of mystery and wonder like Kate Bush’s Hounds of Love. While the new season of “Stranger Things” offers Hounds of Love and its lead single a different platform and audience, it would be heedless to mark Bush’s recent gains in popularity as a comeback when, in reality, her impact never left. She pulls listeners into an all-at-once fantastical, relatable and haunting world of her own creation. Hounds of Love may not be laced with catchy radio tunes comparable to its lead single, but Bush’s experimental artistry is magic. Bush imbues Side B with an eerie tone as she tells the story of someone lost at sea, adding a voice as menacing as Vecna’s to “Waking the Witch.” Rescue comes for the adrift soul, as scenes of sunrise conclude the album in a finale track fittingly titled “Morning Fog.” “And Dream of Sheep” shifts the album into the original seven-song Side B titled “The Ninth Wave,” which is noticeably more abstract than the first half of the album. Within this triad, Bush plays with pacing, switching from fast to slow, cheerful instrumentals to melancholy lullabies, subtly conveying the ever-changing nature of childhood. The songs “The Big Sky,” “Mother Stands For Comfort” and “Cloudbusting” offer an escape into simple pleasures, motherly protection and father-son relationships. From the phenomenon of “Running Up That Hill (A Deal with God)” to the emphatic art rock title track “Hounds of Love” - which features Bush’s stylistic barking - the album bleeds between genres in a pulsing wound as exciting as it is painful. Hounds of Love can be adequately described as a double-edged sword of love and solitude, cutting into an alternate universe far more beautiful but equally as haunting as the Upside Down. In revisiting Hounds of Love, it becomes clear that where the rest of the album lacks in radio hits, it makes up for in conceptual artistry, captivating storytelling and experimental sounds. No other song from Hounds of Love compares to “Running Up That Hill (A Deal with God)” in fame, but streaming numbers are not everything. 1, they will be searching longer than poor Barb has been dead. After that happens and listeners look to the rest of Hounds of Love for another No. However, because it has become everybody’s new hyper-fixation, the public will eventually grow tired of “Running Up That Hill (A Deal with God)” and boot it out of the spotlight. Given the popularity of “Stranger Things” and Bush’s relevance to the show’s soundtrack, it only makes sense that her resurgence continues as the grandfather clock ticks closer to Friday. 4 ahead of the release of the fourth season’s final two episodes on Friday, July 1. While it may disservice Bush to credit her recent gains in popularity to the nostalgia bait of “Stranger Things,” the Hounds of Love lead single remains on the Global 200 chart at No. 1 on the Billboard Global 200 chart during the week of June 18. Thanks to an ugly Dungeons & Dragons villain with bulging veins called Vecna, a red-headed tomboy named Max and a particularly dusty underworld, Kate Bush’s 1985 hit song “Running Up That Hill (A Deal with God)” rose to No.