Kate Bush - The Whole Story

The Whole Story is a sampler of the early tracks that show the promise of Kate Bush, who never contented herself as an ordinary singer/songwriter. The always-experimental Bush had a knack for populating her songs with peculiar characters. There's Catherine of "Wuthering Heights"; there's Peter Reich of "Cloudbusting" (an extraordinary track in every way); there's the mother in the lilting "Army Dreamers"; and there's also the womb-confined baby who documents a nuclear blast in the moving "Breathing."

Bush also looks to eclectic sources for inspiration. "The Dreaming" was inspired by Rolf Harris's "Sun Arise" and the Aboriginal song "Aeroplanes, Aeroplanes." "Hounds of Love" took its inspiration from the film "Night of the Demon." This compilation covers the first decade of Kate Bush's career (until 1986) and is a great place for discovering her myriad talents. Many have followed in her footsteps, but few have matched her.