33 1/3 Hounds Of Love by Leah Kardos – Book Review

33 1/3 Hounds Of Love by Leah Kardos

(Bloomsbury) Out Now

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Leah Kardos delivers the first 33 1/3 to study Kate Bush, specifically 1985’s celebrated Hounds Of Love.

Kate Bush’s Hounds Of Love invites you not only to listen but to cross the boundaries of sensory experience into realms of imagination and possibility. Side A spawned four Top 40 hit singles in the UK, ‘Running Up That Hill (A Deal with God)’, ‘Cloudbusting’, ‘Hounds of Love’ and ‘The Big Sky’, some of the best-loved and most enduring compositions in Bush’s catalogue. On side B, a hallucinatory seven-part song cycle called The Ninth Wave broke away from the pop conventions of the era by using strange and vivid production techniques that plunge the listener into the psychological centre of a near-death experience. Poised and accessible, yet still experimental and complex, with Hounds Of Love Bush mastered the art of her studio-based songcraft, finally achieving full control of her creative process.

When it came out in 1985, she was only 27 years old.

I’m a fan of the 33 1/3 imprint and have enjoyed reading many including The Pogues, The Smiths, Joy Division, The Clash etc. In addition to being pocket-sized, those I’ve read have all been produced by knowledgeable individuals who often add to what you already know or shine a new light on the subject. I’ll be honest, I’ve never been a massive fan of Kate Bush, but I know a lot of people who worship the ground she walks on. Given the resurgence of the opening track Running Up That Hill following its use in the Netflix series Stranger Things, I thought I saw what I was missing.

In this volume, the first in the 200 published to cover the artist, author Leah Kardos charts the emergence of Kate Bush in the early-to-mid-1980s. The first third of the book covers the milestones in her career since her debut in 1978 and her development through the recording of Hounds Of Love, singling her out as a maverick and courageous experimentalist, expressive recording artist and visionary music producer.

Over the next 40 pages, Kardos provides in-depth track-by-track commentaries, deconstructing each track, picking out the tonal centres and chord sequences, and identifying specific instruments as they occasionally make fleeting appearances. I had tried to read the book along with the record initially, using it as a commentary, but that didn’t work. I found I couldn’t do both, in the way I could with an album I was familiar with. I figured I needed a different approach. Over a week I listened to the album a couple of times a day, as maybe a fan would have done in 1985. I found after doing this, and being more familiar with the subject matter, the book opened. This isn’t a criticism of the author, however, when I picked the book up again, with a better understanding and appreciation of the songs, it was easier to absorb.

Although a relatively slim volume, this 33 1/3 puts the artist’s work into context of the time it was made, drawing attention to the craft of Bush’s songwriting, production and sound design in addition to nuggets of information such as references to popular culture and call backs to her earlier work.

If you’re already a fan of Kate Bush I imagine you will know much of what is contained within through interviews and sleeve notes which you may have read over the years. For myself and coming to this with little knowledge or appreciation then this will enrich the experience of listening to the music and leave you wanting more.

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All words by Iain Key. See his author profile here or find him on X (Twitter) as @iainkey