Kate Bush's Stories
I got into Kate Bush by way of Peter Gabriel's music, and I found this 1986 compilation a pretty good introduction to her work. She's a little theatrical, a storyteller and her work features a subtle twist of innovative production, which adds to the unique atmosphere of the songs. Have to be in the right mood for Kate Bush, but it's interesting music, with subject matter going everywhere from a Bronte novel (Wuthering Heights), the aftermath of a nuclear bomb (Breathing), wives deceiving husbands in strange ways (Babooshka) and academics who wants status quickly (Sat in Your Lap).

It's a pretty decent spread of tracks. Here's what you get:

2 songs from "The Kick Inside" (1978, though "Wuthering Heights" here has a re-recorded vocal from 1986)
1 song from "Lionheart" (1979)
2 songs from "Never for Ever" (1980)
2 song from "The Dreaming" (1982)
3 songs from "Hounds of Love" (1985)

and

1 song (Experiment IV) that is exclusive to this album.

There isn't anything from "The Red Shoes" or "Aerial", as the compilation was made before they came out. The tracks aren't in chronological order on here, which would have been nice. Ah well...

Not needed.
Watch Video Here: http://www.amazon.com/review/R2UVGEVEDM5CJ2 My name is Jeremy Gloff. I am a musician (check me out on Amazon!) and retro music enthusiast. If you enjoyed this review make sure to check out my Amazon user profile to check out my other reviews. I am always up for making new friends and discussing the music I love!!!

Tip of the iceberg
This album was my introduction to Kate Bush. I heard it in my friend's mother's car and could not stop laughing. The songs were bizarre and this woman's voice was the strangest thing I'd ever heard. We struggled to contain our laughter for the whole car ride.

Fast forward 2 years. On a whim, I found the same CD in a used bin in a store and bought it, just for a laugh. I was blown away when I put on some headphones to give it a listen for the first time in years. The chorus of Wuthering Heights practically drove me mad with its intense odd rhythms and frighteningly pretty melody. I soon found something unique and beautiful in each song that followed, and immediately went back out into the cold and back into the CD store to buy some more Kate Bush. I got the Dreaming and Hounds of Love, and I can truly say that Kate Bush became my favorite musician of all time overnight.

This is a very good starting point for Kate, but it really only shows a glimpse of her work. She has many, many better songs than a lot of the ones offered here, but I guess it is quite a challenge to assemble a Best Of album for an artist like Kate. Start here, give it many spins while wearing headphones, and you'll hear what so many other people hear. Then it's just a matter of going out and buying all her other CD's. You won't regret it.

Time for an "Essential KB w videos" but still a decent intro
If you ever catch the video for "Experiment IV", you'll see a young Hugh Laurie (from "House") in the video.

This is a similar collection to The Cure "Standing On A Beach" collection, where it ends in the mid 80s. But their fans wound up with a followup collection.

In 1986, this collection covered the first 5. My opinion is that they're all worth getting, even "Lionheart", if you can find a copy of "This Womans Work" box set, you have to get it, unless there are plans to rerelease it to contain everything up to now. In 2007, a year after "Aerial" was released, we're now wondering when she's going to put out a 2 CD collection of songs from this as well as b-sides, remixes, live cuts ("James and the Cold Gun" esp) , duets with Midge Ure and Peter Gabriel ("Don't Give Up" and one she did with him for a TV special in the late 70s that's just as good), and "Sensual World" and "Red Shoes".

Comparisons to Tori are ridiculous. The "Little Earthquakes" cover was seen as a big time KB rip off of the "Kick Inside" album cover (there's 2 versions of that cover), and there are some influences, but Tori's built her own sound and style.

I think that you could hear a lot of Joni Mitchell's influence with the voice and Del Palmer's bass playing does remind me of the stuff she did around the mid to late 70s with Jaco... but considering Kate was only 18 when she put her first album out, it's pretty mindblowing the stuff she was writing. When she turned 21 she was pretty much self-producing her albums. The musicians on her albums have always been the best, and she seemed to try to go for all sorts of sounds.

But when I hear this, stuff like Wedding List, Moving, Violins, Infant Kiss, Don't Give Up, This Womans Work, Moments of Pleasure, Them Heavy People, James and the Cold Gun, Pull Out the Pin, and I could keep going... but there's a lot that she's done that would fare better on a 2 CD collection that would cover a lot of favorites in 2 1/2 hours.

This does capture the different styles, so no complaints there.

Gimmie, Gimmie, Gimmie, Gimmie Kate Bush!
I'm probably the least likely person to review a Kate Bush album, as an R&B/Pop lover of the Black sista persuasion but I have a English chat buddy who I trade music with and she recommended Kate Bush to me. I had heard of Kate before and had caught the "Wuthering Heights" video while flicking channels and landing on VH1 Classic and was awe-struck at this song about the classic novel. But never did I think I was going to be reintroduced to Miss Bush. So my chat buddy gave me this album of Kate Bush's highlights. And at first listen I was like, "Whoa...this is weird"...then slowly a smile started to creep on my face as the album went on and I noticed how Kate really draws you into a song by lyrics and weird rhythms and phrases...it's pure GENIUS! I love how each song tells a story...not the usual "I Love You" songs I'm used to listening to, there's more to the songs than meets the eye, which is like reading a mystery novel and trying to figure out the conclusion.
This album has grown on me as I keep listening to it, and admist my Justin Timberlake, Mariah Carey, The Killers and Mary J Blige albums, this album is nestled inbetween them like a gooey intellectual morsel.
First off, "Running Up That Hill" has to be my favorite track off of this and me being a fan of 80's music, I guess it digested with me better. Still what a great intro and the lyrics of wanting to swap places with God is truly out of the ordinary. "Babooshka" is my next favorite, it's slinky, yet fun and the story of a woman testing her husband's faithfulness is like reading a children's fable book and laughing at the end of the happy ending. The music is beautiful and funky in one package! Other highlights I enjoyed were, "The Man With The Child In His Eyes" which is just a gorgeously arranged track with such a heart-tugging point of affection for someone. Also "Breathing" took my by suprise at first because I was like, "That song was soo not about that!" but it was...and I even got a bit emotional thinking about the baby in the womb breathing in the poison...deep stuff and heart wrenching. One of the most unique songs I've ever heard. Now I'm not going to escape talking about the two tracks from "The Dreaming", "Sat In Your Lap" and the title track are featured here and in their oddity they are the most complex of the collection. "Sat In Your Lap" is stark and in your face and has a thundering keyboard backing Kate up, while "The Dreaming" is almost a trance chant that it's just a world of imagery and hodge-podge of rhythm...truly the weirdest of the set! Other good songs, "Experiment IV" is soothing and has a cold computer soul about it while "Hounds Of Love"'s music gives the image of actual hounds running in the fields howling. And least not forget "Wuthering Heights" which is her tour-de-force and a very unique song, and her writing that at 19 is quite impressive.
So to conclude, I find Kate Bush quite the artist and a visionary that she is. I know for a fact that she influenced alot of performers of today, and one that comes to mind is another favorite of mines, Tori Amos...who uses that imagery and quirkiness in most of her music. This is a great overview of Kate Bush's work, though this came out like when I was born, it still stands strong and has some themes that still apply to todays world. What an innovated mind that Miss Bush has!