Hounds Of Love

#272 Heard Before? Yes, but not for a long time. Notes: - it is easy to criticize this list (everyone does) or give up on it (most people do), especially when you can go a week or more without hearing any female artists. and then Kate Bush drops from the clouds to blow my mind. - much like Bjork (or even Joni Michell), Kate has an unearthly voice and is more interested in sound and structure than pop conventions and hooks. i don't mind in the slightest. - I'm sure I'm in the minority, but i think all the most delicious and innovative moments are saved for the second side. - "Waking the Witch" could easily be the best Skinny Puppy song. - maybe the most nakedly experimental pop album of the 80s. i'm enthralled. Verdict: Weird, wonderful and witchy. Listen Again? Yes, most definitely. Next stop, Aerial, which I've never heard.

I don't think I have to explain that this is a 6/5 album, right?

Kate Bush is an artist with a singular vision. The first half of the album is strong, until it disintegrates as her more avant garde proclivities come to the forefront. Great album nonetheless with some of the most compelling music from the 1980s on Running Up That Hill and Cloudbusting.

A very intriguing album well produced arranged and played. She has a uniquely beautiful voice.

What an adorable, crazy talented, visionary kook

Listened before : Yes Listen again : Yes Fantastic album, highlights for me are cloud bursting and jig of life. The only low point in the album is mother stands for comfort which I find a bit monotonous

Slappps Love a shrieking banshee woman over a good drum beat. I love sounds

Enjoyed this more. Some good songs that I hadn't listened to before

Love love love! Obviously the ICONIC Running up that Hill and Cloudbusting!! Never heard ‘The Big Sky’ and think it’s fabulous. Don’t love ‘Mother stands for comfort’ - very repetitive ‘Waking the witch’ is WACKY and kind of hurts my head Enjoyed ‘jig of life’ a lot as well as ‘hello earth’. Final song was a nice ending. First half is lovely, second half is very experimental and wacky vibes. Very theatrical

KATE BUSH I LOVE KATE BUSH Good album, not her best in my opinion, but it is definitely up there. Some songs are out of this world; others are interesting to say the least. Cloudbusting and And Dream Of Sheep are my favorites <3

I don’t love every song, but there is no one like her.

i like this, experimental, not heard sth like this before

7/10

Not really my thing. She's got a great voice, but the dated synths are pretty cheesy, all the songs more or less sound the same to me, and it just doesn't really do much else to engage me.

solid

Jej najskvelejší, pretože je od nej môj najobľúbenejší.

Some great songs on here, an enjoyable listen. Heard it before? ❌ Listen again? ✅ Rating out of ten? 7️⃣

it was ok wasn't for me but if u love older music thats for u

love her

I actually enjoyed her stuff. It was more theatrical and just different

Ahh, 80-talets marina

Not a Kate Bush fan, but she is very original. Way above the heads of the Yanks. And when it really comes off, like Running, its brilliant.

The people who don't like this just don't have enough whimsy in their hearts

kat buh

FUCK YEAH

Love this album

Das Album habe ich vorher schon einmal gehört. And Dream Of Sheep ist so schön, den Rest fand ich okay.

Pas vraiment écoute

masterful art pop, but i'll need some more time with this since I was a bit distracted on first listen.

RANGE! Witchy! Irish! 80s! I get why stranger things vibes with it so hard

meow

A top tier musician/artist who is able to create the surrealistic emotions of the heart n mind. The music itself is flawless her voice is a stage performance with lyrical content to match.

Loved the beginning of the album and then towards the end started turning a bit more on the witchy side. It was cool just not my thing.

Great record with some glaring low points. Doesn’t ruin the album but brings it down a star

Biased as I already listen to this album repeatedly

I like her voice, the songs are quite good but the sound of some of them is very '80s pop. It is a very good album but Tori Amos' music touches me deeper.

Incredible album that still reverberates to this day. The first strains of Running Up that Hill ease into your soul while the Night of the Demon soundbites speak to the urgency of her terror in Hounds of Love. Its both beautiful and strange at the same time.

I hate this

1. Running Up That Hill(A Deal With God) - 7.5/10 2. Hounds Of Love - 8/10 3. The Big Sky - Special Single Mix - 3/10 4. Mother Stands For Comfort - 5/10 5. Cloudbusting - 6/10 6. And Dream Of Sheep - 7/10 7. Under Ice - 4/10 8. Waking The Witch - 3/10 9. Watching You Without Me - 7/10 10. Jig Of Life - 2/10 11. Hello Earth - 5/10 12. The Morning Fog - 7/10 OVERALL - 6.4/10

Ali a roçar o bizarro às vezes

Loved it!

I thought this album was pop cause of stranger things but it was surprisingly weird

I’m a sucker for this unique sound, and love the 80’s production 4.5

I haven't listened to this album since the big Stranger Things crazy around this project, so now over a year later I have decided to come back and see if I like this project more then before. I think the first five tracks of this album are undeniably some of the best work Kate Bush has ever put out. period. But afterwards I found a slight dip in quality with And Dream of Sheep that continued to tumble into Under Ice and continues throughout the rest of the album. I genuinely don't understand how people like Waking the Witch, half of the song is like an acting portion of a music video until the music finally starts. I know this album is experimental but like Kate what happened? I know I will also get some major flak for this but I really don't see myself coming back to anything other then the first five songs of this project. They are near flawless and make the huge shift in quality during the second half of the album look like nothing in comparison. It's a solid art pop album that at times struggles to both impress and experiment.

She ran up that hill and could only go down from there

Started strong but didn’t keep it up.

monumental

Great album. Many of her famous hits. She's so talented

I went into this expecting an incredible album, and I think I properly liked maybe 3 songs. Running Up That Hill is of course a classic, which gains this an extra point from what I'd otherwise score it. I found the rest of the album pretty weird. Waking The Witch was just horrible.

I only knew running up that hill going in but I really liked this album Kate bush has a really nice voice that to me kinda sounds like Ute lemper but not quite as theatric I definitely will listen to this album again at some point because I really liked it 4/5 Favorites: running up that hill, waking the witch, hounds of love, cloud busting

I do not understand how people think this is a great album. Very below average and I will be pleased never to have to listen to it again. 3.5/10 just because I gave the cold beverages group a 3 yesterday. Top song... Jig of life

Smasher. Repeat Listen - 10/7/2026

Joyous listen. Instantly recognisable tracks and thought provoking new finds. Honestly don’t know how this creator waited so long for a number one. Self belief in spades and rightly so, what a talent. Super album.

i really enjoyed this! i normally don’t go for albums that have this sort of 80s sheen, but it worked here for me most of the time, i think because there’s a lot of other interesting things happening simultaneously so they work together rather than sticking out as tacky. it ended a little anticlimactically for me but other than that i really enjoyed it. Fav tracks: Running Up That Hill; Hounds of Love; Mother Stands for Comfort; And Dream of Sheep

Bad music

1985 - 5th & best selling studio album - art pop / progressive pop / new wave / art rock / progressive rock / sophisti-pop; received to critical acclaim and considered her magnum opus; Runnin' Up That Hill went to #3, then #1 in 2022 after ST4; "come on baby, come on darlin" makes chills roll through my whole body; "The second side, subtitled The Ninth Wave, forms a conceptual suite about a woman drifting alone in the sea at night;" "album has been described as post-progressive because Bush voices themes of love and womanly passion rather than the usual male viewpoints associated with progressive rock;" "dramatic, moving and wildly, unashamedly, beautifully romantic;" INCREDIBLE, loved it from the very beginning. Incredible work. Weird, haunting, eerie, emotional. My favorite.

I don't know why I didn't listen to Kate Bush in the 80s, but I would have loved this album then. I love it now.

I have never listened to this album before. Running Up That Hill is, of course, a banger, but there's a lot of good tracks on here. Certainly a time capsule of a particular era, but also some pretty interesting composition in there.

how does she do it

Хаос и сумбур с небольшими проблесками нормальной музыки и вокала

12 /20 du Cinéma , une belle histoire . Polyvalent Titanic

Back in the day, the best way to listen to slightly older music was to buy mid-price CDs (remember those?). Nowadays, Kate Bush is gaining new listeners through a TV series, and TikTok can launch a whole new wave of shoegaze. It doesn't matter where you find good music, as long as you do—and Hounds of Love is an absolute classic.

Favorite track(s): Running Up That Hill (A Deal With God), Hounds of Love, The Big Sky, Mother Stands for Comfort, Cloudbusting, Under Ice, Jig of Life, Hello Earth Nothing will ever confound me more than how the public got such good taste when Stranger Things made this popular. They probably didn't touch the B-side though. Heard before Previous rating: 9/10

I remember saying that I'd probably feel totally differently about this album if I listened to it again. Turns out I was right. I don't know if I was missing something when I heard this album for the first time, but something about it just hit in a way that it didn't earlier. Anyways fun fact, this is one of two 80s pop albums on the list that does not have cymbals in it at all, the other being Peter Gabriel 3. There's a lot of interesting contrast between those two albums. This one kind of feels like the Yin to Peter Gabriel's Yang. Even the cover art for the two records have opposite color palettes. This one is white and purple, PG3 is black and yellow. That all being said, this is a great record. I love the tone of the album and the surprisingly deep parts that went completely over my head the first time. It's all a great time.

Звучит очень интересно и нестандартно, инструментал правда великолепный как и вокал, но для меня звучит слощаво как то. Хотя mother stands for comfort прям до мурашек пробрало. Самобытный автор, но из за того, что стал слишком популярен и звучал из всех утюгов потерял уникальность звучания. Была бы я помладше, если бы я это у слышала лет в 13 вместо кейпопа, то мне бы сто процентов зашло

Running up that hill is fun, feels timeless. The rest... pretty good pop album. back half really seems to drag on unfortunately.

Partially known. I get it but I can't hang with a whole album of it.

it has a very ethereal quality like you are walking on the moors in the mist

Stunning album and right up there with some of my favorite albums of the 80s. Have always felt like this was sort of a kindred spirit to Peter Gabriel's "So", and not just because of the collaboration on "Don't Give Up", but really in how it marries a relentless sense of experimentation with some great pop songcraft. The opener has now been played to death (thank you Stranger Things) but it still hits every time. The sonic palette she creates here is just fabulous with the synth washes, the orchestration, the pounding gated drums that underly many tracks. Also so interesting in how she splits the album into the more pop first half and the mini-concept album in the second half. I remember hearing Waking the Witch the first time and being gobsmacked by how delightfully weird and creepy it is. Just a fantastic record all around and well deserving of 5 stars.

Honestly not a huge fan of her voice. The second half of the album made me physically uncomfortable. Not a fan

0/5 Really disappointed in this album. Having only heard Running Up That Hill, I was expecting so much more than what it was. It truly took so much effort to not skip every song in under 30 seconds into them, but I listened through to give it a fair shot. This album was trash; if this is her best album, I will spare myself the pain of listening to any others.

Kate Bush’s Hounds of Love is an album I really wanted to love, especially given how highly regarded it is, but it didn’t quite click with me as a whole. The obvious standout is “Running Up That Hill”, which is easily my favorite track on the album. It has this dramatic, almost hypnotic quality, with a fantastic synth-driven sound and a vocal performance that gives the song a real sense of urgency. It’s one of those songs where everything seems to come together perfectly. Unfortunately, I found the rest of the album much less compelling. A lot of the songs felt flat and somewhat repetitive to me, and I often found myself waiting for them to develop into something more exciting. There are certainly interesting ideas in the production, and I can appreciate how distinctive Kate Bush’s approach was, but appreciating the ambition and actually enjoying the listening experience were two different things for me.

It's you and me. What a song. Phenomenal. I love Kate Bush. Take me back to a simpler time. The good ol days. Big fan of this. Very fun, very camp, very cunty, great album. Great music. So fun and well made. Her vocals are so interesting and unique and suited to her music. It doesn't hurt this has one of my favourite songs ever. Kinda music that makes you believe anything could happen. Maybe even something good is gonna happen. I like this piano ballad. Ok violins. We've become evil. Let's hear this. I am awake I swear. Really liking this surprisingly. I even enjoyed the little interlude part ngl. Almost giving me bollywood. Oh now we're vikings okay. Very strong first act, kind've falling off in this second half unfortunately. Still great music just a little weird. Maybe I don't understand the album or something. This is kinda unfortunate because the music truly was out of this world for a little, then it got a little too experimental I think. Favourite: Cloudbusting Least favourite: Hello Earth

An absolute classic of my childhood and teen years that became part of the soundtrack of my second adult relationship. Listen to it three times that day and my girlfriend and I will probably listen to it three times this weekend

I would give this 3 straight away just for running up that hill the other songs also pretty good and vibey

She is a great lady and love her songs but I think if I listen ill just get abit bored so I cant give 5

icl i like one song but its alright

8/10

Dream-like, complex sound, Avant-garde, artistic

Good stuff. Solid 4.

Enough classics for a comfortable 4

This was such a good listen, it was a cohesive listening experience from start to finish. Running Up That Hill is a great way to kick off the album. Other stand outs include the title track, and Cloudbusting. My favorite track of the album also happened to be the final track, The Morning Fog. It is such a beautiful and relaxing way to end an excellent album. I am so glad I was able to listen to this!!

It's okay, not my cup of tea

Lovely album! "Hounds of Love" "Running up that Hill" "Cloudbusting" are all great songs!

A beautiful warm hug of an album. Great songwriting, less reliance on the fairlight samples, but the arrangements are always interesting.

I really enjoyed this album. Kate Bush was a pioneer in new wave female singer-songwriters.

It contains the classic: "Running Up That Hill (A Deal with God)" (made again popular with the TV show "Stranger Things" (2016)). Besides the hit I also liked the final 2 songs (with the choirs).

Meh

Parts of this have not aged well, particularly the synth lines. And sometimes Bush's idosyncracies get the better of her. But when an album boasts such astonshing songs as Cloudbusting and Running Up That Hill, you have to pay attention. And The Morning Fog is about the most wonderful, joyous closer I have ever heard.

Exceptional and weird but great.

I remember when "Running Up That Hill" was popular thanks to Stranger Things. It became slightly overplayed on the radio because of that. The rest of "Hounds of Love" was completely new to me (except for "Cloudbusting" because of Utah Saints). However, I enjoyed every song on it. Bush really paved the way for good pop music. 4 stars for "Hounds of Love".

Its what id expect, running up that hill was a surprise. Very 80s, fun, stranger things prom dance vibes. But thats at only 3 songs in will give it a chance. But yooo, jig of life outta nowhere?! Banga. Voice overall feels weird, but will be curious if its my lack of palette as i go forward. Not my jam but very nostalgic. Wouldn't complain when on at party, never putting it on myself.

fun album, a few really unique songs

I don't think I would have enjoyed this at the beginning of the project, but I did enjoy it now!

Fun and a lot of unique elements I did NOT expect. Will be giving it another go at some point.

Album pop des années 80, Pas trop mon genre mais la fin de l’album avec le violon est meilleur, Ressemble à du Billy Joel

I have no words. Such an incredible album. By far album of the decade for the 1980s

FUUUUUUUUUUCKYEESSSSSSSSSSS!!!!! Truly I don’t think I’ve ever been this excited to listen to an album as I was to listen to this one. It’s a perfect album. A movie of an album. Every song is incredible and adds to the overarching theme. Kate Bush’s songwriting and construction of story is incomparable and awesome. Surely, the production is fantastic but the sequencing!! The diction! The figurative language!! She’s tantamount to the best songwriters of all time, and she has a better knack for melody than most. This album is perfect. PERFECT PERFECT PERFECT PERFECT PERFECT. 10/10 DOES IT BELONG ON THE LIST: YESSSSS REASON: PERFECT

5/5. Up there with Talking Heads “Remain in Light” as my favorite album of the 1980’s. It’s split into two halves, with the first five tracks of the album being massive pop bangers. Even with its overexposure due to stranger things a few years back, “Running Up That Hill” will always be one of the best pop songs of all time. But the amazing hooks just keep coming with tracks like “Big Sky” and the title track. Then comes the back half of the album which is a seven track conceptual suite about a person trapped at sea in the cold darkness after a shipwreck and their hallucinations/nightmares/grapples with mortality and their life. And the production/performances in this back half get very weird like the demonic shouting on “Walking the Witch.” But that’s the beauty of Kate Bush as an artist, she brought both the pop bangers and the genuine experimentation/adventurous production. You can feel her influence all over so many artists that came after such as Bjork or more modern indie darlings like Magdalena Bay. Amazing album, can’t recommend it enough.

Kate Bush still as lovely as ever. This album is a delight, I could listen to it all day.