Best song on Kate Bush's Hounds Of Love

Hello Earth.

The title track, with "And Dream of Sleep" second.

no B-sides?

i have a hard time disaggregating the ninth wave into individual tracks. i guess i'll go "jig of life," although what i really mean is "jig of life"/"hello earth."

(almost need separate polls for side A and side B, they seem like different albums to me.)

B-Sides... were not on Hounds of Love.
It is a hard call to make, really. Big Sky or Hello Earth?

i like the Big Sky mention. i love that song, and it encapsulates so many memories for me, but it doesn't get due cred in my experience./

almost impossible to choose, comes down to either cloudbusting, mother stands for comfort, or running up that hill....so I choose cloudbusting.

This seems to be tougher than the Dreaming poll. I can't decide on my favorite Ninth Wave track but at the same time Cloudbusting is simply perfect. 10 days might not be long enough to work this out.

"Watching You Without Me". Would have voted for the entire "Ninth Wave" had it been possible.

this one was easier for me that the poll for the dreaming.

word. title track in a heartbeat

craziness!

Hello Earth, then the title track, then And Dream of Sheep, then Running Up That Hill, then...

cloudbusting, but it's been ages since i've listened to this

Hello Earth
Cloudbusting
Jig Of Life
And Dream Of Sheep
Hounds Of Love
Under Ice
Waking The Witch
The Big Sky
Running Up That Hill
Mother Stands For Comfort
Watching You Without Me
The Morning Fog

i guess

It's gotta be the Jig!

Under Ice.

And *COUNT* the drug references!

ugh under ice is so hot

i will not participate in this thread

bump for bimble

Yeah, cheers for leaving out the bonus tracks, Surmounter, I was going to recommend doing that.

wow, i love this entire album, but am totally surprised by the fact that most people haven't chosen 'running up that hill.' i thought that would be the obvious winner!

not around here - i think ILM really likes The Ninth Wave.

running up that hill should not be underrated tho.

great album but the hits are the best!

"Running Up That Hill" (with "Cloudbusting" napping at its heels).

"The Big Sky" is sadly neglected!

This is so hard to pick. Could be Cloudbusting.

I said I'd vote for "Hello Earth" and that's what I'm a gonna do!

word!

The Ninth Wave is the shit!

oh don't ruin it

but am totally surprised by the fact that most people haven't chosen 'running up that hill.' i thought that would be the obvious winner!

I'm pretty sure it is when we get to see what all the lurkers have voted for.

hmmmm

Running up That Hill is the most dull song on the entire album for me. Whenever I listen to Hounds, I start at track 3.

i really hate you

i don't hate you but that is unfortunate. those first three songs are pretty magical.

hounds of love in particular - or the end of Big Sky? nothin gets me movin like that.

you don't hate anyone, you are sir mounter

i was going to say i don't hate anyone but then i thought of a couple of ppl

I mean, I like the first side too, but the songs sound a bit too much like each other. Plus those drum machine beats are kind of annoying.

RONG

I feel a bit prejudiced, because some songs have just aged more over time than others. If you'd asked me in 1985 or even in the 90's I would have said something different than today.

For me "The Morning Fog" is the one that has endured the most. Go figure.

i can do without the jig of life

I can now, but for a billion years that was my fave song on this album. So you're making a bold statement, there.

certainly far from the worst on this album

wow.

jig of life = exclusion and The Morning Fog = best are 2 ideas that i just can't wrap my mind around.

Obv, the most classically amazing song is fucking Hello Earth, and the song the album could do without is The Morning Fog.

i'm sorry bimble. but jig of life, i must agree, is more than can be hoped for.

The Morning Fog is the perfect song to finish the album with; especially after Hello Earth.

its true its a good contrast tool

i don't dislike jig of life. i just could take it or leave it. too medieval times for me--i do like the guy talking at the end, that is funny

hilarious

It's a beautiful video. Great piece too.

I saw this just now while looking for director credits: http://www.katebushnews.com/index.php/2011/07/rip-gow-hunter-1960-2011/

Then Play Long reaches out to Hounds of Love: http://nobilliards.blogspot.co.uk/2014/07/kate-bush-hounds-of-love.html

So I listened to this 12" version of "The Big Sky" for the first time in forever, and realized that midway through it has those same voices that show up in "Waking The Witch."

Which also made me think that Side One has always felt like a string of more conventional pop songs, while Side Two is this novella...but if this longer version of "The Big Sky" were on the album, it would make Side One just as much of a story.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gemzegd0YZQ

better poll would've been what's the second best song lol

I've always preferred 'Cloudbusting' to 'Running Up That Hill', fwiw.

been really enjoying 'The Big Sky' lately. it works really well as a surprise drop in a DJ set

cloudbusting is the best song here. One of the finest uses of a minimal drum beat in a pop song ever and the train SFX ending is perfect

Are these the only 12" mixes she put out? Cause they're all damn good.

Cloudbusting (The Organon Mix) 6:33
The Big Sky (Meteorological Mix) 7:45
Experiment IV (12" Mix) 6:37

The 12" Extended Mix of Running Up That Hill is mainly louder drums and some dubby echo effects on the vocals. Probably of some use for 'club play' but loses atmosphere by bringing elements into sharper focus IMO. Actually the Instrumental on the other side works better and does retain some parts of the vocal.

Some of the Red Shoes singles had "12-inch" remixes, I think?

this is one of the finest kate bush remixes/covers i've heard

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FQxEVhyvA0I

(Under the Ice)

The 12" of "Hounds of Love" (the song) is close to being an entirely different song iirc?

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5R86V64GLq4

Right, that's from the "Hounds Of Love" 12", I forgot about that one. It's on the "This Woman's Work" bonus discs.

The "Running Up That Hill" 12" has a 5:45 extended version.

"The Big Sky" 7" has a 4:34 "Special Single Mix". Are any of the other 7" versions more than just an edit?

Oh, and it looks like those two I mentioned are on this CD single: https://www.discogs.com/Kate-Bush-The-Red-Shoes/release/1412937

It'd be neat if she did a tour where the set was just a 70-90 minute version of Running Up That Hill

Has there ever been a thread for extended
Mixes of 80s songs? There’s tons of dope extended mixes online of everything from kim carnes to the cars. Like the extended version of Drive is beautiful

this fuckin album

indeed :)

love this too

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FQxEVhyvA0I

with the under the ice samples

^ I love this track, too. I've seen The Field live a bunch of times and he always plays it; particularly great with a live drummer. There's something super uplifting about dancing to these samples of Kate's voice.

absolutely :)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oWaj8wU_qRg

https://thequietus.com/articles/26096-kate-bush-under-the-ivy-official-music-video

Pulled this up for a listen today and found that Spotify has a “2018 Remaster” version. Through headphones, the strings are much more distinct and the drums are intense.

how the hell did Big Sky only get two votes here?

we never understood it

Some surprises here, looking back;

And Dream Of Sheep 2
The Big Sky 2
Under Ice 2
Mother Stands For Comfort 0

Not so strange, those are mostly subtle mood pieces on an album with a lot of tracks and several better-known songs. If someone told me their favourite song on the record was "Mother Stands For Comfort", I'd respond, "Oh, you don't like Kate Bush?"

sad no love for waking the witch that's when shit really gets going

So i guess i don't like Kate Bush :(
Xpost

maybe I love Kate Bush AND Eberhard Weber

If someone told me their favourite song on the record was "Mother Stands For Comfort", I'd respond, "Oh, you don't like Kate Bush?"

i know, ILM is a safe space, it welcomes people saying daft shit in an authoritative register

but ffs

Love the radio-type sounds on that song.

the fairlight? yeah particularly the very final flourish that ends the song (and cuts out rather than fades)

Where, I ask, were all these supporters of "Mother Stands For Comfort" in 2007, when your vote counted?

I just think of it as the epitome of a breather/change-of-pace track. Also, for Bush/Weber fans, "Houdini" is a way more impressive song.

"Mother" is maybe my third-favourite song on the album, but that won't earn it any credit if that's true for everyone. Mods, please implement first-past-the-post voting

there aren't any bad songs on that album, but Mother is definitely one of the more subtle ones... what chance does it have stuck between the Big Sky and Cloudbusting?

it's a better song than the Morning Fog.

love "waking the witch" and "watching you without me"

A more controversial opinion is that this is the weakest of her first five records (though the best tracks on this are better than those on Lionheart.

this new reissue is ugly and preposterous, what on earth. I guess the prices are really for the artwork, but the artwork is...not good?

https://music.katebush.com/buy/hounds-of-love-lost-at-sea/

Re the conversation about "Mother Stands For Comfort" above, it would only be like top 6 for me, but I used to include it on a lot of mixtapes paired with The Blue Nile's "Automobile Noise" as a kind of mini-suite of found-sound synth balladry.

$300 for a vinyl reissue with no new songs or anything, that is pretty obnoxious... is it for charity or something?

it's not clear at all. apparently she had a limited artwork like this as part of a War Child charity, and this is another go at that, but I don't think these go to War Child. Plus...it's not the full album! Most of these configurations are for like...1/2 the album

more info on this page: https://www.katebush.com/hounds-of-love/

LED light. like PF's Pulse. c'mon Kate.

The Baskerville Edition is the first in the series of illustrated editions of the albums.

so she has a whole series planned

maybe this is to make the elevated prices of the colored vinyl reissues seem reasonable

it's all tacky af

No outtakes or 12 inch mixes (“The Big Sky” Meteorological Mix is outstanding)? Fuck this.

big agree there, beamish. stop neglecting remixes and long edits!

(lotta other 80s acts guilty of this schitt, too)

it's missing some stuff from the period, but this version is pretty hard to beat: https://www.discogs.com/release/7727012-Kate-Bush-Hounds-Of-Love

(and ya, this new reissue is gimmicky af)