One of EMI’s most profitable and prestigious acts, Bush accrued greater power each step of the way. It not only made Bush the first British female solo artist ever to have a No 1 album in the UK charts, but it also gave her another memorable hit single in “Babooshka”. The follow-up, Lionheart, had been a rushed and somewhat unresolved act of consolidation, but the sonically inventive Never For Ever, released in 1980, marked another huge leap forwards. She was, at that time, Britain’s most popular female artist – her first album, 1978’s The Kick Inside, had sold over a million copies on the back of her No 1 debut single, “Wuthering Heights”. In May, 1981 Bush entered London’s Townhouse Studios to start work on her fourth album, The Dreaming. People shouldn’t be fooled by the mystical hippy stuff, this girl is very, very tough.” Story by: Graeme Thomson

To celebrate, here’s our cover story from the archives (June 2010, Take 157), in which Uncut takes a phantasmagorical trip into suburbia to learn the untold story of Kate Bush’s masterpiece, Hounds Of Love. Tonight, August 26, Kate Bush returns to the stage for her first live shows in 35 years.

Kate bush the hounds of love