Published 11/7/2021 - Reid Kyle
One man’s attempt at ordering (from worst to best) the queen of art pop’s legendary work spanning from 1978 to 2011
Born as Catherine in Kent, England on July 30th 1958, Kate Bush would grow into becoming one of the most influential artists of the 20th century. Being praised for her eclectic song structures and unique approach to baroque pop, the most captivating element of Bush’s music has always been her incredible vocal range. Often teetering between experimentation and conventional pop sensibilities, Bush’s popularity hit a new height in 2022 with the release of the fourth season of Stranger Things. Featuring her 1985 hit single ‘Running Up That Hill’, the show presented her music to a whole new audience, subsequently leading to ‘Running Up That Hill’ becoming her second ever UK number 1 hit. With the TikTok and Spotify generation being introduced to her music, it only seemed right to leave a roadmap to help new listeners trespass through one of modern music’s most brilliant discographies.
9th: The Red Shoes (1993)
There had to be a worst album, and 1993’s The Red Shoes gets this unfortunate honour. Lacking many of the unique, bold, and expansive instrumental pallets of previous albums, The Red Shoes sees Kate Bush creating pop music that frequently finds itself somewhere in the purgatory of early 90s pop pastiche. Notable tracks include ‘Moments of Pleasure’, which hits the same highs of other romantic Kate Bush piano ballads backed with orchestral strings and ‘Lily’, whose infectious groovy chorus embraces some of the subdued funk and hip-hop oriented sounds popularized by trip-hop in the 1990s. Although I believe it to be the weakest in her catalogue, there are moments with the effervescent Kate Bush flair that are not totally lost in the mundanity of her least captivating LP.
8th: Lionheart (1978)
Following her ground-breaking debut, EMI convinced a young Kate Bush to capitalize on her newfound popularity with her second album being released in the same calendar year. Unfortunately, this accelerated release had a damning impact on her sophomore LP. Lionheart features the idiosyncratic vocals and baroque pop instrumentals found on The Kick Inside, leading to Kate Bush classics such as the hypnotic ‘Wow’, ‘Full House’ and album opener/ode to sexuality ‘Symphony in Blue’ that remain impressively produced almost 45 years on. Beyond these tracks are enjoyable moments that unfortunately do not connect into a cohesive album experience fans would later come to expect from Bush. Luckily enough, this dip in form proved to be an outlier in her ascension to music royalty, as her subsequent releases quickly established her as one of the most brilliant artists of the 80s and onward.
7th: 50 Words for Snow (2011)
Spacious and chilling, Kate Bush’s most recent release 50 Words for Snow shows the tenured musician further embracing the ambient elements explored on her 2005 LP. With an album titled as such, it makes perfect sense that 50 Words of Snow’s exploration into winter, with its unique landscape, perfectly fits Bush’s icy timbre. More of a cohesive concept than a track list with notable choruses and grooves, 50 Words for Snow demands the listener’s attention to appreciate the nuances and subtleties. Featuring looming drones and frequent piano passages, Bush proves she is still able to craft a concept album that stays true to its desired theme, even in the twilight of her career.
6th: Aerial (2005)
Certainly unique from her discography up until this point, Aerial shows Kate stripping back the dense instrumentation and quirky nature typically expected from her records. Instead, the first seven tracks focus on topics varying from an appreciation for a mathematician’s obsession with the number Pi, to a reflective look at the tragic and intimate moments experienced between a mother and child. Aerial sees Bush’s song writing take a buoyant form, leading to the 42-minute-long ambient baroque pop behemoth, ‘An Endless Sky of Honey’. At this late stage in her career, Kate Bush had nothing to prove as an artist. Instead, she allows the listener into her heart, portraying an optimistic view of our world and the simple pleasures daily existence has to offer.
5th: Never for Ever (1980)
Maintaining many of the baroque pop elements from her debut, Bush effortlessly floats over bombastic instrumentation, intimate ballads, and colourful production in Never for Ever. Bush’s third album combines quirkiness, softness and beauty whilst diving deeper into the experimental soundscapes she perfected on subsequent releases. Tracks like ‘The Wedding List’ and ‘Violin’ feature wailing vocals accompanied by late 70s action movie instrumentation, which contrast wonderfully with the delicate closers of the album. Although not her most cohesive release, Never for Ever was a key album for Bush, seeing her transitioning from an uber-talented vocalist to the generation defining artist she would become.
4th: The Sensual World (1989)
Setting the mood with its lust induced opener, The Sensual World sees Bush at a creative peak, combining the best elements of her previous five LPs. Following the trend of 1985’s Hounds of Love, Bush embraced the popular sounds of the late 80s, including a variety of glam rock guitar ballads and synth-backed crooning love songs. In ‘Reaching Out’, she reflects on the instinctive nature of a child to explore the world around them, tying the theme up with the finale track ‘This Woman’s Work’. Following the lavish guitar solo featuring ‘Rocket’s Tail’, Bush tells the story of a couple dealing with a frightening crisis during the birth of their child. Without a conclusion, the story leads the listener to contemplate the worries of a mother and father in dismay. Love’s sweet moments exist alongside the bleak certainty of mortality in The Sensual World, with Bush weaving her way through life’s truths with the elegance of a tenured veteran.
3rd: The Kick Inside (1978)
Entering the top three we finally have Bush’s miraculous debut. Writing many of the songs from the age of 11, she released her first LP at 19. Simply said, the three-and-a-half octave ranged vocals displayed on this album were unmatched in the late 70s art pop scene. The impact of this album is exemplified knowing that The Kick Inside led Bush to become the first female artist to have a self-written single and album become UK number ones. One of the greatest debut releases in popular music, The Kick Inside features driving punk-inspired ballads mixed in with intimate and often intelligent tracks. It is difficult to define this album within a specific genre, more of it being a dip into the many stylistic branches explored by Bush later in her career. Featuring some of the most celebrated songs in her discography, The Kick Inside is unapologetically feminine, especially in songs such as ‘The Man with the Child in his Eyes’, ‘Wuthering Heights’, and ‘L’Amour Looks Something Like You’. Perhaps the most sonically accessible Kate Bush release, there is no better album to start with when unfolding the discography of baroque pop’s original enigma.
2nd: Hounds of Love (1985)
Considered by many to be the greatest baroque pop album of all time, we have Hounds of Love coming in second place on this list. Immaculately produced, this record sees Bush tackling the most popular sounds of the 1980s. Including disco (‘Running Up that Hill’) and sombre balladry (‘Mother Stands for Comfort’), Hounds of Love is Bush’s most commercially oriented project, without sacrificing her love for experimentation and varied soundscapes. Love for oneself, those in their life and love for life itself are explored across this album, as Kate uses subdued icy electronic grooves to reflect on the past and the progressive Celtic masterpiece ‘Jig of Life’ to convince herself the future is worth fighting for. The effortless dream state that is Hounds of Love remains exhilarating to new audiences as it did in 1985, thanks to the timeless song writing Bush delivered in this concept album.
1st: The Dreaming (1982)
What can I write to do this album the justice it deserves? Say it’s a 10/10? That it’s a perfect album? One of the greatest pieces of music ever conceived? Most certainly, although this doesn’t even begin to explain Bush’s magnum opus. Described as Bush’s favourite project in a 1985 Music Box interview, The Dreaming shocked audiences with the extent of its experimentation. Endlessly creative, each track takes the listener on an experimental pop journey with expansive and varied instrumentation including kettle drums, accordions, car horns and manipulated vocals. From the sassy Cockney accent on ‘There Goes a Tenner’ to the wailed screams during the chorus of ‘Night of the Swallow’, Bush’s vocal versatility is utilized better than any other album she has released. Crassness balanced with beauty; baroque pop of this style is designed to flourish with its theatrics. In 1982’s The Dreaming, Bush creates this ten-track musical opus only available to an artist achieving perfection.
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