Kate Bush

Hounds Of Love

Labor of Love

Review Score:

(10/10)
For the past 22 years (since the release of "The Kick Inside"), I've been trying to decide why Kate Bush is such a household name in both Great Britain and Europe, but barely recognizable in the United States. My conclusion is that Americans like their music simple: melody they can hum, toe-tapping rhythm and harmony following the modal scale.

Appreciation of "Hounds of Love" (and all of Kate's work) requires active listening rather than passive hearing. "Hounds" is composed of two conceptual movements. "The Ninth Wave" (cuts 6 through 12) is a fairly straight forward narrative about death and resurrection. The lullaby (And Dream of Sheep) softly woos the listener into the tragedy awaiting "Under Ice." "Hello Earth" is the most moving musical description of spirituality that I have ever heard. The ending (The Morning Fog) portrays an angelic resurrection.

The second movement ("Hounds of Love" cuts 1 through 5) is not so easy to define. Certainly the theme is love, but what kind of love? Is this a story about fear and intimacy (Hounds of Love) or is there an darker underlying theme of incest (Cloudbusting).

Kate has composed two incomplete musical theater pieces with story line and characters. Only your imagination and creativity can fill in the missing parts. Listeners will be well rewarded.

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