Great Rock Albums of 1986: Kate Bush- The Whole Story

Believe it or not, my first experience of Kate Bush came way back in 1978 when she appeared on “Saturday Night Live.” As per usual with the programme, she sang two songs that night, her first big hit, “Wuthering Heights” and “Rolling the Ball to Me.” I remember her performances of both songs very well. On “Wuthering Heights,” she sang while sitting on the piano, which was played by Murphy Dunne of Blues Brothers fame. I found her unique vocals mesmerizing on both songs and I could see that she was eccentric to say the least. On her performance of “Rolling the Ball to Me,” she was dressed in a raincoat and hat and the way she performed that song definitely illustrated her eccentricity and I was quite disappointed that the song doesn’t appear on this album.

Unfortunately, for the most part, although she was very big in Britain, the rest of Europe and even Japan, she seemed to go virtually unnoticed in the US. I did discover on my first visit to the UK with the military in 1980, her hit “Babooshka” and on one occasion, did get to hear that song played on a juke box in a pub in Southampton. I got excited but my two friends who were with me, were not impressed.

Kate’s big American breakthrough came with the song, “Running Up That Hill,” which isn’t my favourite song of hers. Anyway, when I did get over to Britain in the Autumn of 1986, her greatest hits album, “The Whole Story,” was out and being listened to quite extensively. It is through this compilation album where I finally got to fully experience Kate Bush and I loved it. Sure, it wasn’t metal but her eccentricity shows through and I love eccentricity.

Being a greatest hits album, it’s obviously a case of Kate’s best songs, which is sometimes the best way to introduce oneself to an artist they have little experience of. However, only having a limited experience of her before 1986, I will bend the rules and say that for me, the hidden gem on the album is “The Man With the Child in His Eyes.” I can’t say what there is exactly about that song I like so much but I just do. Maybe I thought the lyrics applied to me at the time and maybe still do. “Wow” is a great song because it shows her how powerful her vocal range is. In addition to liking her songs, I had the added bonus of seeing the videos for many of the songs on the album. Those videos are really way out there and they certainly appeal to my sense of eccentricity. Probably the wildest one is for “Babooshka.” That one is definitely way out there as is “Sat in Your Lap.” Then “Army of Dreamers” has a quite cool video and a great song too. It is all why I became a Kate Bush fan upon my arrival in the UK.

Track Listing:

1. Wuthering Heights
2. Cloudbusting
3. The Man With the Child in His Eyes
4. Breathing
5. Wow
6. Hounds of Love
7. Running Up That Hill
8. Army of Dreamers
9. Sat in Your Lap
10. Experiment IV
11. Dreaming
12. Babooshka

Kate Bush

Kate Bush- vocals, keyboards

When I did get to England in 1986, I was glad to discover that I wasn’t the only metalhead who liked Kate Bush. A good number of my new found British metalhead friends liked her too. She is definitely unique on so many levels and being able to find a compilation of her greatest hits was like finding treasure at the time.

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