HOUNDS OF LOVE

Generally speaking, I'm not particularly enamoured of Kate Bush's vocals, and I must admit most of the songs on the original A-side of HOUNDS OF LOVE leave me cold. It's not that they're bad, but as soon as you've heard the first verse and the chorus of each, you know exactly how they're going to continue. After a minute or less you're fed up with each.

The 'Ninth Wave' suite on the B-side of the album, that's what it's all about! Some earlier reviewers have indicated that they actually prefer this to "Supper's Ready", and I'm inclined to agree. A portrait in music of a drowning woman, it's not only more intense, more frightening and exhilerating than Genesis' piece, it's also a more grown-up work of art, almost as demonic as LA DAMNATION DE FAUST by Berlioz. The orchestrations are superb - but here's where my doubt set in. I mean: perhaps it's not really fair to compare 'The Ninth Wave' to Genesis' work, which was completely written and performed by the band's own members. It's true that Kate Bush 'produced' (in a technical sense) HOUNDS OF LOVE, but all choral and orchestral arrangements were carried out by others, so to what extent does this album count as her artistic statement? Whatever your views on this matter, it must be pointed out that Kate's singing (both lead and backing vocals) is unmatched in its range and its imagination. There's not a single male prog vocalist who ever pulled off a 26-minute suite like this. I doff my cap.