Aug 192022
 

Full Albums features covers of every track off a classic album. Got an idea for a future pick? Leave a note in the comments!

Hounds of Love

In June of 2022, Kate Bush’s “Running Up That Hill (A Deal With God)” was used to soundtrack a climactic scene in the premiere episode of season four of the Netflix series Stranger Things. What happened next is already the stuff of pop music legend and a tale that will be remembered and recounted for years to come. As the 37-year-old pop song by the reclusive legend played, millions of kids and teens who had never known of Kate Bush’s existence completely lost their minds. Then came the real mayhem.

The next week saw “RUTH” (let’s just call it) ascend to the top of pop charts all over the world, going to number #1 in eight countries (England! New Zealand! Switzerland! Lithuania! More!). Okay, it only got to #4 in the U.S., but still, that’s Top 5 (upon the song’s original release in 1985 it only got as high as #30)! The song garnered millions of plays across all the streaming services (Apple! Spotify! YouTube!), inspired masses of TikTok videos, and most importantly introduced a whole new generation to the incomparable genius of Catherine “Kate” Bush.

But while the pop-chart-exploding Stranger Things-inspired introduction was a singular event unto itself, the experience of just plain hearing Kate Bush for the first time has never really changed. As existing Kate fans can confirm, the excitable reaction of the new listeners was perfectly normal. When Kate Bush enters your pop listening life for the first time, the natural human tendency has always been to go a little “oh my God” crazy.

But perhaps the most mind-blowing thing about all of this is that “RUTH” is not even the best song on the album it actually hails from. That’s how great Hounds Of Love is.

A foundational fixture on every “Best Albums of All-Time” list from now until forever, Hounds Of Love is Kate Bush’s finest hour. Despite its unending sonic drama, Hounds was recorded in the comically peaceful and idyllic environs of a converted barn at Kate’s childhood home. Yes, this madly ambitious album, consisting of four gorgeously unhinged anthems of love, an eerie demon ballad, and a 26-minute oceanic fever dream, actually came to be in storybook surroundings full of greenery, birdsong, and sweet dogs (that’d be Kate’s front cover co-stars and forever icons, Bonnie and Clyde). Epic and anthemic enough to scream along to in the car, but brimming with enough empathy and intimacy for intensive solo headphone engagement, Hounds Of Love is just plain magic.

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Oct 242011
 

This past week, New York City swarmed with bands, bloggers, and industry folks looking to discover the next big thing at the 23rd annual CMJ Music Marathon. Over 1,200 artists played parties and showcases, often two or three in a day. We ran around the Lower East Side and Brooklyn like everyone else, trying to catch as much hot new music as possible and hoping for that left-field cover to blow a show wide open. Like we did for SXSW (here and here), we’re going to round up our favorite CMJ discoveries in a series of posts. These artists have never appeared on Cover Me before, but you can count on hearing from them again. Continue reading »

Apr 082011
 

On April 1, cover fans missed something incredible – or, at least, those of us who couldn’t be in Dublin did. Neil Hannon (of The Divine Comedy) covered Vampire Weekend‘s self-titled debut album in its entirety, with the help of Cathy Davey, Romeo Stodart (of The Magic Numbers), and the band Jape. The show was organized by The JD Set, a Jack Daniels venture into the music scene of the British Isles. Continue reading »