Project 1001: Hounds of Love by Kate Bush
Kate Bush is one of those artists I’ve always heard about, especially from music writers as she’s a critical darling, but I never quite got around to listening to her work. Big mistake. This is a truly exhilarating album even after four decades. My rating:
Spin magazine gave a positive review writing, “Kate creates music that observes no boundaries…” 1
Rolling Stone gave the album 4.5 stars while asserting, “Bush's sound collages make appropriate settings for her themes of transcendence”2
AllMusic’s retrospective review brims with high praise:
“Hounds of Love was more carefully crafted as a pop record, and it abounded in memorable melodies and arrangements…at the center of it all was Bush in the best album-length vocal performance of her career…(with) the spirit of experimentation at every turn.” And a “wonderfully overpowering as a piece of pop music.”3
In 1001 Albums You Must Hear Before You Die, Bruno MacDonald wrote:
“Finally a star of sorts in America, (Bush) proved an inspiration to Tori Amos and Prince. The latter was smitten with ‘Cloudbusting’…Hounds of Love is the Kate bush album you do not have to be fan to adore.”4
Enjoy and listen without prejudice. Cheers!
Prime Playlist: 227. Hounds Of Love by Kate Bush
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For details about this project, read this: Project 1001 Albums
Charts
• Peak on Billboard 200 album chart: #125
• Singles on Billboard Hot 100 chart: "Running Up That Hill (A Deal with God)", #3 (2022)6
• RIAA certification: n/a
Released on September 16, 1985. Here’s what else was happening:
Pop Culture
• Number one song: “St. Elmo's Fire (Man In Motion)” by John Parr7
• Number one album: Brothers in Arms by Dire Straits8
• Number one movie: Back to the Future by Robert Zemeckis9
• Most watched TV programs: The Cosby Show, Family Ties, Murder, She Wrote, 60 Minutes, Cheers10
• NYT bestseller, fiction: Lake Wobegon Days by Garrison Keillor11
• NYT bestseller, non-fiction: YEAGER: An Autobiography, by Chuck Yeager and Leo Janos12
Some other albums released that month
• You're Under Arrest by Miles Davis
• Knee Deep in the Hoopla by Starship
• In Square Circle by Stevie Wonder
• Asylum by Kiss
• This Is the Sea by The Waterboys
• Here's to Future Days by Thompson Twins
• Ready for the World by Ready for the World
• The Wishing Chair by 10,000 Maniacs
• Eaten Alive by Diana Ross
• Soul to Soul by Stevie Ray Vaughan
• Alibi by Vandenberg
• How Could It Be by Eddie Murphy
• Don't Stand Me Down by Dexys Midnight Runners
• Flip Your Wig by Hüsker Dü
• The Process of Weeding Out by Black Flag
• Under a Raging Moon by Roger Daltrey13
Sport
• Sep 15 Ryder Cup Golf, The Belfry: Europe beats US, 16½-11½; first US loss since 1957; Sam Torrance clinches for Europe beating Andy North, 1 up.
• Sep 21 Michael Spinks beats Larry Holmes in 15 to become Heavyweight Boxing Champion.
• Sep 29 MLB Baltimore Orioles manager Earl Weaver is ejected from both games of a doubleheader, at Yankee Stadium, NYC; Weaver is the only manager be tossed twice in a day two times.14
Notable Births
• Sep 17 Alex Ovechkin, Russian ice hockey player (Moscow Dynamo; Washington Capitals) who is one of the greatest goal scorers of all time, born in Moscow, Russian SFSR, Soviet Union.
• Sep 22 Tatiana Maslany, Canadian actress (Orphan Black), born in Regina, Saskatchewan.
• Sep 23 Hasan Minhaj, American stand-up comedian (Patriot Act with Hasan Minhaj), born in Davis, California.15
Historical Events
• Sep 9 President Reagan orders sanctions against South Africa, targeting apartheid
• Sep 19 Magnitude 8.0 earthquake rocks Mexico City, killing an estimated 10,000 people and leaving 250,000 homeless.
• Sep 29 1st of 5 cyanide-laced Tylenol victims dies.16
Notable Deaths
• Sep 15 (Charles) "Cootie" Williams, American jazz, jump-blues, and R&B trumpeter (Duke Ellington Orchestra, 1929-40 & 1962-74), dies of kidney problems at 74.
• Sep 27 Lloyd Nolan, American actor (A Tree Grows in Brooklyn; Peyton Place, Earthquake), dies of lung cancer at 83.
• Sep 30 Simone Signoret, German-French BAFTA, Emmy, and Academy Award- winning actress (Room at Top; Diabolique), dies of pancreatic cancer at 64.17
MacDonald, Bruno, 1001 Albums You Must Hear Before You Die, Fifth printing, ed. by Robert Dimmery p. 538.
Ibid.