Sarah was procrastinating her post by having drinks at The Toasted Oak in Novi, MI, so Brandon called the joint and had them play some Kate Bush because there’s nothing Brandon likes more than a little passive-aggressive omniscient motivation. Also, Sarah now understands the power and genius of “The Ninth Wave” side of Bush’s Hounds of Love, which means Brandon’s job here is done.
Kate Bush – “The Big Sky”
From: Sarah Braunstein
To: Brandon Hall
So get this: On Wednesday (aka ThanksDrinking) night, I drove back to Michigan and went out to dinner with an old friend at a new-ish gastro-pub that seemed like the best non-chain dining option in the area. Throughout the meal, I noted the “eclectic” mix of music playing overhead which included The Killers, Rod Stewart, and Cat Power. I paid the bill and my friend and I were chatting over the last swallows of our wine when “The Big Sky” came on. Brandon, did you call The Toasted Oak in Novi on Wednesday night and ask them to dedicate a track to me (aka encourage me to drink swiftly and return to my parents’ house to write this)? More importantly, how many times do you think Kate Bush has made it into my life’s soundtrack without me ever realizing it?
Alas, here I am, heeding the orders from the restaurant playlist gods and I have to say that you did a nice job with “The Ninth Wave” round-up. I don’t have much to dispute. Maybe it’s because we’re each other’s audio vole or maybe it’s just that I really like your word choice and general use of adjectives, but I’m starting to get on the same page as you. I think my initial “meh” reaction to Hounds of Love stemmed from a couple of things. First, you really built up the album (yes, this is your fault). I mean, you basically told me to abandon the book/Youtube video/work/FeministRyanGosling in order to listen to Kate Bush’s seminal 1985 album. So I followed your advice and expected to be immediately transported by Hounds of Love. I expected it to be easy. News flash: this album isn’t easy. Sure, the first half is generally accessible and hooky but even the “easy” stuff is darker and more dramatic than most of what makes it on to the radio. For godssakes, the DEMON VOICE makes its first appearance before the opening track is over (see 4:38 on “Running Up That Hill”).
Which brings me to my next musing. When this album was released in 1985, it was a commercial success (insert impressive data about record sales here*). How many people do you think picked up Hounds of Love thinking the whole thing would be as dance-ready as “Running Up That Hill,” only to get to track 6 and beyond and think they took a wrong turn at some point? I mean, “Waking the Witch” is absolutely terrifying. Did the record buyers of 1985 realize what they were getting themselves into? And how many of them quickly decided that “side one might be the side for me,” keeping that record facing the same way whenever it hit the turntable? My gut thinks a lot of folks stayed away from the dark side after one or two spins through but maybe I’m not giving Kate Bush’s fans enough credit.
I actually hope I’m wrong about this because “The Ninth Wave” is what keeps me confused and entranced and likely to return to this album throughout the long haul. I’ll be frank: I don’t get a lot of it. The album’s overall theatricality makes me uncomfortable. The first few times I listened to “And Dream of Sheep,” I glanced at my iPod to make sure some mega-depresso musical soundtrack (synced to my device by a cruel third-party or thespian-developed malware) hadn’t usurped the Bush album. And I guess that’s my biggest complaint about the album as a whole. Bush’s voice is pure and poignant – a strength, to be sure – but she doesn’t keep it in check and some of her arrangements get into Andrew Lloyd Webber territory. I could go for more subtlety in Hounds of Love but that’s not to say it isn’t a masterpiece. Like you, I haven’t parsed it all out yet but listening to the album conjures thoughts of Ophelia, the Salem witch trials, The Lovely Bones (which is unfortunate for many reasons but I’m just being honest here), The Knife opera Tomorrow In A Year and, well, the list of embedded references and post-Hounds referential works goes on and on. Although we’re wrapping this conversation up, it feels kind of like we just got started. Maybe we should sit back down at this table in a few months, once we’ve had some more time to ruminate. Until then, I hope your family’s Thanksgiving involved as much day-drinking as mine did.
“Take my shoes off and throw them in the lake / And I’ll be two steps on the water”
Sarah
*[ed: or here.
#1 UK Albums Chart for ’85/’86
#33 Billboard 200 for ’85/’86
Platinum in Canada and Germany
2x Platinum in UK]
From: Brandon Hall
To: Sarah Braunstein
Yes! Ahahahaha! I did indeed call The Toasted Oak! I knew you’d be there procrastinating. Never question the range and scope of my power, Miss Braunstein. I have eyes everywhere. I’m like a less good looking Tyler Durden.
As for the record sales, it’s kind of hard to deny the radio-friendly attractiveness of those four singles from the “Hounds of Love” side. They do sound weird and a little out there for today’s radio, but her contemporaries at the time were The Talking Heads and Devo and Blondie and Brian Eno and the B-52s. Weird and out there were pretty “in” in 1985.
This album, though, is like an artistic bait and switch. It was Bush’s fifth album, so I doubt her fans were caught off guard by anything other than the album’s greatness. But for the casual fans, the American fans, who “discovered” Bush with “Running Up That Hill” and ran out to buy the record, I bet the B side of this album hit them like a mack truck from their blind spot. I’m sure you’re right that it didn’t get much play on the ol’ phonograph, and is probably the reason it didn’t do better here in the States.
As an artist with fringe or niche sensibilities, though, what more could you ask for? Radio-friendly hits that are weird enough to save face and keep your sanity, but popular enough to attract an audience, and the rest of it, a completely noncommercial suite with irish jigs and demons and heavenly choirs. She got to have her cake and eat it too! Brilliant. It’s like David Lynch making people think Blue Velvet was going to be this cool, Hollywood thriller only to get “He put his disease in me.” Ha. Suckers.
And for what it’s worth, this album would do horribly today, in an age where people don’t have to buy albums, just the individual songs they like. No one would ever get to hear “The Ninth Wave.” Which would be a shame. It’s really what makes the album “seminal” in the first place.
I’m with you. I’m not nearly done talking about this album. We should keep it going. But maybe not publish it. I think AudioVole may have had its fill of Kate Bush Crate Digging for a while.
“Confess to me, girl!”
Brandon
AudioVole 
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