# Recommend me some Kate Bush? **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [March 23, 2009, 7:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/recommend-me-some-kate-bush/490496 "2009-03-23T19:56:47Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![tdn](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/94ad74/32.png) [@tdn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/tdn)\ **Post date:** [March 23, 2009, 7:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/recommend-me-some-kate-bush/490496/1 "2009-03-23T19:56:47Z")
What, IYHO, is her best album? Same question, Laurie Anderson. ---
**Author:** ![Dung\_Beetle](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dung_beetle/32/7945_2.png) [@Dung\_Beetle](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dung_Beetle)\ **Post date:** [March 23, 2009, 8:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/recommend-me-some-kate-bush/490496/2 "2009-03-23T20:03:01Z")
Never For Ever, or The Kick Inside. Have you ever heard her, or are you going in totally unprepared? šŸ™‚ ---
**Author:** ![Tamerlane](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/tamerlane/32/7602_2.png) [@Tamerlane](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tamerlane)\ **Post date:** [March 23, 2009, 8:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/recommend-me-some-kate-bush/490496/3 "2009-03-23T20:03:58Z")
For Kate Bush _Hounds of Love_ is honestly the only one of the few Iā€™ve listened to all the way through ( _The Kick Inside_, _Lionheart_ - Iā€™ve heard pieces of _The Red Shoes_ and _The Sensual World_ ) that I like unreservedly. But I like it quite a bit. Kate Bush might be a bit polarizing though - I seem to recall from previous conversations that HoL is not necessarily preferred by the hardcore fans, but more by the casual ones ( which I certainly am ). ---
**Author:** ![tdn](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/94ad74/32.png) [@tdn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/tdn)\ **Post date:** [March 23, 2009, 8:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/recommend-me-some-kate-bush/490496/4 "2009-03-23T20:14:33Z")
> [@Dung\_Beetle](#): > > Never For Ever, or The Kick Inside. Have you ever heard her, or are you going in totally unprepared? šŸ™‚ Iā€™m not a virgin, but Iā€™ve only gotten to 1st base. I heard bits and pieces of one of her albums a few weeks back. I donā€™t remember what it was, but I loved it. I guess what Iā€™m looking for is ā€œtypicalā€ Kate, if there is such a thing. If you had to explain everything there is to know about her but had only one album to do it withā€¦ Like The Beatles Revolver, Zeppelinā€™s IV, or Tullā€™s Aqualung. ---
**Author:** ![Dung\_Beetle](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dung_beetle/32/7945_2.png) [@Dung\_Beetle](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dung_Beetle)\ **Post date:** [March 23, 2009, 8:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/recommend-me-some-kate-bush/490496/5 "2009-03-23T20:18:24Z")
> [@Tamerlane](#): > > _Lionheart_ Iā€™m a pretty casual fan myself. Iā€™d forgotten all about that albumā€¦havenā€™t heard it sinceā€¦1984? I think I really liked it too (except for In The Warm Roomā€”I couldnā€™t get past that marshmallow line). Hmmmā€¦Iā€™ve got to figure out who might be able to loan me that album! ---
**Author:** ![Dung\_Beetle](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dung_beetle/32/7945_2.png) [@Dung\_Beetle](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dung_Beetle)\ **Post date:** [March 23, 2009, 8:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/recommend-me-some-kate-bush/490496/6 "2009-03-23T20:26:32Z")
> [@tdn](#): > > Iā€™m not a virgin, but Iā€™ve only gotten to 1st base. I heard bits and pieces of one of her albums a few weeks back. I donā€™t remember what it was, but I loved it. Iā€™m sure far better-informed folk than I will be along to help you shortly. I was just wondering because Iā€™ve found it difficult to turn people on to Kate. Her voice and the songs she does are soā€¦unusual. šŸ™‚ ---
**Author:** ![GrandWino](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/grandwino/32/67_2.png) [@GrandWino](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/GrandWino)\ **Post date:** [March 23, 2009, 8:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/recommend-me-some-kate-bush/490496/7 "2009-03-23T20:34:37Z")
I just asked my fiancee who is a huge Kate Bush fan and she said\*\* The Sensual World \*\*is her favorite album. Also, find her duet with Peter Gabrial, ā€œDonā€™t Give Up,ā€ which is really good. ---
**Author:** ![tdn](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/94ad74/32.png) [@tdn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/tdn)\ **Post date:** [March 23, 2009, 8:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/recommend-me-some-kate-bush/490496/8 "2009-03-23T20:39:55Z")
> [@Dung\_Beetle](#): > > Iā€™m sure far better-informed folk than I will be along to help you shortly. I was just wondering because Iā€™ve found it difficult to turn people on to Kate. Her voice and the songs she does are soā€¦unusual. šŸ™‚ Iā€™ve always been a fan of the slightly unusual. Lately Iā€™ve been working on some original-ish music, but Iā€™m trying to find my sound. When I heard that album, I was all like ā€œThatā€™s it!ā€ ---
**Author:** ![Scarlett67](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/scarlett67/32/7387_2.png) [@Scarlett67](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Scarlett67)\ **Post date:** [March 23, 2009, 8:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/recommend-me-some-kate-bush/490496/9 "2009-03-23T20:51:12Z")
Paging **Equipoise**. . . ---
**Author:** ![Finagle](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/b19c9b/32.png) [@Finagle](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Finagle)\ **Post date:** [March 23, 2009, 8:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/recommend-me-some-kate-bush/490496/10 "2009-03-23T20:57:34Z")
Iā€™d go for the ā€œbest ofā€ collection, ā€œThe Whole Storyā€. Failing that, ā€œHounds of Loveā€ is a good starting place. Iā€™ve found most of her albums to contain a high proportion of inaccessible material. I bought ā€œNever for Everā€ based on a friendā€™s recommendation back in '82 but couldnā€™t get into it despite my best efforts. Great cover art, though. ---
**Author:** ![Equipoise](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/equipoise/32/151_2.png) [@Equipoise](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Equipoise)\ **Post date:** [March 23, 2009, 9:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/recommend-me-some-kate-bush/490496/11 "2009-03-23T21:39:13Z")
> [@Scarlett67](#): > > Paging **Equipoise**. . . Ha. My favorite Kate album is The Dreaming, but thatā€™s also her weirdest album. Most of it is very inaccessible, though if youā€™re patient and listen to it several times, it will begin to make sense, I promise. I was already a fan when I heard it, and even I went ā€œWTF??ā€ but I knew it would be worth delving into. I knew it would be worth delving into because Iā€™d already had the singles to two songs on the album, ā€œSat In Your Lapā€ and the title song, and loved them (after many many plays) and so I did what I did with the singles, Iā€™d listen to it several times without really paying attention to it. Iā€™d put it on in the background and let it play while I was doing something else. I didnā€™t read the lyrics or anything. I was just subconsciously getting to know the odd rhythms and song structures, as well as her vocal weirdness. One day, the song ā€œNight of the Swallowā€ caught my attention and I went back and played the song from the beginning. CLICK! All of a sudden it was the most wonderful song in the world. I went back to the beginning of the album. CLICK! CLICK! CLICK! It all came together and it became the most wonderful album ever, and became even more wonderful after I sat down and learned the lyrics by heart. Because I already knew the music, it was easy to fit the lyrics to her voice, and the lyrics, being freakinā€™ fascinating (one of the million reasons I adore Kate is that her songs are always _about_ something, sheā€™s a storyteller), elevated the album even more. To this day, even after hundreds of listening, itā€™s still my favorite album ever, by anybody. Itā€™s my Desert Island Disk, if I could only take one. The reason is because itā€™s SO multi-layered and complex that it doesnā€™t matter how many times you hear it, youā€™ll always hear something new and unusual. Itā€™s the album that keeps on giving. But thatā€™s just me, and itā€™s understandable that most people donā€™t want to work at music, though every album, even her most simple, reveals more and more the more you listen to it. Hounds of Love is my second favorite by her, and then The Sensual World. A rough list would go something like thisā€¦ 1. The Dreaming 2. Hounds of Love (especially the ā€œb-sideā€ which is a concept called The Ninth Wave) 3. The Sensual World 4. Never Forever 5. The Kick Inside 6. Aerial 7. Lionheart 8. The Red Shoes Just because The Red Shoes and Lionheart are last, doesnā€™t mean I donā€™t love them. They contain some of her best songs, but something has to be last, so there you go. [QUOTE=Dung Beetle] except for In The Warm Roomā€”I couldnā€™t get past that marshmallow line [/QUOTE] Gay then, huh? šŸ˜› ([the song](http://gaffaweb.org/sensual/l_itwr.html) is just about the sexiest song ever recorded. It drips sex. That line is from the point of view of a man giving a woman oral sexā€¦ā€œHer thighs are soft as marshmallowsā€) ---
**Author:** ![Don\_Draper](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/b2d939/32.png) [@Don\_Draper](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Don_Draper)\ **Post date:** [March 23, 2009, 9:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/recommend-me-some-kate-bush/490496/12 "2009-03-23T21:41:57Z")
For Kateā€¦ **the Sensual World**. I like pretty much every song on this disc, which as much as I love Kate, is a rarity. There are usually at least one or two major clunkers in each collection. For Laurieā€¦ **Strange Angels**. A lot of Andersonā€™s works are by her own description performance pieces - you need to see them performed live with the accompanying visual effects to really get the whole picture. Some ā€˜songsā€™ like ā€œO Supermanā€ arenā€™t particularly listenable on their own. ā€œAngelsā€ was one of the few recordings that existed to be a piece by itself, not a soundtrack of a more elaborate stage-show. ---
**Author:** ![Equipoise](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/equipoise/32/151_2.png) [@Equipoise](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Equipoise)\ **Post date:** [March 23, 2009, 9:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/recommend-me-some-kate-bush/490496/13 "2009-03-23T21:47:30Z")
Btw, hereā€™s [ā€œIn The Warm Roomā€](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jchWWJ1wQCc) on YouTube. If you like her lower voice more than her high voice, stick with albums after Never Forever. Some songs on the early albums use her low voice but mostly itā€™s high. She pretty much quit using it exclusively from The Dreaming on. ---
**Author:** ![Biffy\_the\_Elephant\_Shrew](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/e47c2d/32.png) [@Biffy\_the\_Elephant\_Shrew](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Biffy_the_Elephant_Shrew)\ **Post date:** [March 23, 2009, 10:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/recommend-me-some-kate-bush/490496/14 "2009-03-23T22:06:48Z")
> [@Equipoise](#): > > 1. The Dreaming > 2. Hounds of Love (especially the ā€œb-sideā€ which is a concept called The Ninth Wave) > 3. The Sensual World > 4. Never Forever > 5. The Kick Inside > 6. Aerial > 7. Lionheart > 8. The Red Shoes I havenā€™t listened to _Aerial_ enough to know where it fits. I donā€™t understand why _The Sensual World_ is so highly regardedā€“I always thought that, though good, it was a substantial comedown after _Hounds of Love_. My own preference: 1. Hounds of Love 2. The Dreaming 3. The Kick Inside 4. Never For Ever 5. Lionheart 6. The Sensual World (actually about equal with Lionheart) 7. The Red Shoes ---
**Author:** ![Equipoise](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/equipoise/32/151_2.png) [@Equipoise](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Equipoise)\ **Post date:** [March 23, 2009, 10:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/recommend-me-some-kate-bush/490496/15 "2009-03-23T22:14:36Z")
> [@The New and Improved Superman](#): > > There are usually at least one or two major clunkers in each collection. Blasphemy! šŸ˜ƒ In reality, thereā€™s usually at least one song on each album that I skip, unless Iā€™m in the mood for that specific song. 1. The Kick Inside - ā€œJames and the Cold Gunā€ 2. Lionheart - ā€œDonā€™t Push Your Foot on the Heartbrakeā€ (yeah, itā€™s that bad) 3. Never Forever - ā€œViolinā€ 4. The Dreaming - nothing, I love every song 5. Hounds of Love - nothing, I love every song 6. The Sensual World - ā€œHeads Weā€™re Dancingā€ 7. The Red Shoes - ā€œConstellation of the Heart,ā€ ā€œBig Stripey Lieā€ and the finished album version of ā€œWhy Should I Love Youā€ (the rough [demo version](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IbP-dapt09Q), though, is fantastic!) 8. Aerial - ā€œA Coral Roomā€ and ā€œThe Painters Linkā€ ---
**Author:** ![Equipoise](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/equipoise/32/151_2.png) [@Equipoise](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Equipoise)\ **Post date:** [March 23, 2009, 10:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/recommend-me-some-kate-bush/490496/16 "2009-03-23T22:24:52Z")
> [@Biffy\_the\_Elephant\_Shrew](#): > > I donā€™t understand why _The Sensual World_ is so highly regarded I just think itā€™s a beautiful album, perfect for fall listenings. Itā€™s very different from HoL and TD, but each album is different so I accept it. Itā€™s a highly intimate and feminine album so Iā€™m never surprised when guys dislike it. ---
**Author:** ![lobotomyboy63](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lobotomyboy63/32/2900_2.png) [@lobotomyboy63](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/lobotomyboy63)\ **Post date:** [March 23, 2009, 10:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/recommend-me-some-kate-bush/490496/17 "2009-03-23T22:49:09Z")
ETA: This is all KB. I havenā€™t listened to much Laurie. I have several. The ones Iā€™ve listened to most frequently: 1. Red Shoes 2. Hounds of Love If I were to download a dozen individual mp3s my list would be: 1. Song of Solomonā€”unbelievable voice, incredible song 2. Running up that Hill 3. Love and Anger 4. Moments of Pleasure 5. Babooshka 6. Eat the Music 7. Top of the City 8. Rubberband Girl 9. Hounds of Love 10. The Big Sky 11. Constellation of the Heart 12. And Dream of Sheep Ask me tomorrow and Iā€™ll probably give you a different list. I donā€™t think the top five would change at all, however. ---
**Author:** ![FriarTed](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/friarted/32/1052_2.png) [@FriarTed](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/FriarTed)\ **Post date:** [March 24, 2009, 12:26am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/recommend-me-some-kate-bush/490496/18 "2009-03-24T00:26:01Z")
The Whole Story (of course, as Kateā€™s best) and The Sensual World. ---
**Author:** ![Toxylon](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/f05b48/32.png) [@Toxylon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Toxylon)\ **Post date:** [March 24, 2009, 7:11am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/recommend-me-some-kate-bush/490496/19 "2009-03-24T07:11:27Z")
The Dreaming is my favorite (me = rabid(ish) KB fan for the past 15 years). That album has a huge density of ideas and innovation, easily enough for two or three great albums by many a lesser artist. Were it just slightly different (canā€™t put my finger on it), it might well be the greatest album of all time. Never for Ever is probably the runner-up for me. A big part of Kateā€™s musical appeal to me is the '70ā€™s piano-driven songs with very intricate, always tasteful bass work behind them (as well as other instrumentation). I like weird stuff, schreechy vocals, quasi-classical flights-of-fancy etc. As great as Hounds of Love is, I never really got into it. I really like the Sensual World, itā€™s the most consistent album of Kateā€™s, chock full of heart-wrenching melodies and vocal performances. ---
**Author:** ![Art\_Rock](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/art_rock/32/525_2.png) [@Art\_Rock](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Art_Rock)\ **Post date:** [March 24, 2009, 7:25am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/recommend-me-some-kate-bush/490496/20 "2009-03-24T07:25:47Z")
Hounds of love is my all-time favourite album by any artist. Also excellent: Aerial. After that in order: The dreaming, The sensual world, Never forever, The kick inside, Lionheart. The red shoes. Fantastic artist. [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/recommend-me-some-kate-bush/490496.md?page=2)