Hounds of Love is the fifth studio album by the English musician Kate Bush, released on 16 September 1985 by EMI Records. It was a commercial and artistic success and marked a return to the public eye for Bush after the relatively low sales of her previous album, 1982's The Dreaming. The album's lead single, "Running Up That Hill", became Bush's biggest hit, initially peaking at no. 3 upon its original 1985 release but later giving Bush her second UK number-one single in June 2022. The album's first side produced three further singles, "Cloudbusting", "Hounds of Love", and "The Big Sky", all of which reached the UK Top 40. The second side, subtitled The Ninth Wave, forms a conceptual suite about a woman drifting alone in the sea at night.
art rockpop rockart popprogressive poprockelectronicpopalternative rock
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Character
Earnest, grave, contemporary and meticulous.
- earnestironic
- gravecomic
- contemporarynostalgic
- rawmeticulous
- cooloverwhelming
Who loves it, who doesn't
9 profiled raters. Loved most by The Empaths.
Reviews
- beatsbyleoThe Formalist★★★★
Side one is hits, side two is a drowning woman's dream suite, and somehow it is one album. Nobody else has made this record.
Tracks
- A1Running Up That Hill (A Deal with God)
- A2Hounds of Love
- A3The Big Sky
- A4Mother Stands for Comfort
- A5Cloudbusting
- B1And Dream of Sheep
- B2Under Ice
- B3Waking the Witch
- B4Watching You Without Me
- B5Jig of Life
- B6Hello Earth
- B7The Morning Fog
About the album
- Artist
- Kate Bush
- Label
- EMI
- Released
- September 16, 1985
- Type
- Album
- Format
- 12" Vinyl
- Country
- IT
From MusicBrainz, the earliest official release of this album.
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