(1980) EMI label.  Purchased used in LA in 1989 from Penny Lane Westwood. Original inner sleeve with lyrics printed. Cover includes the following stamped in the upper right hand corner: “Property of Capitol Records, Inc. This album is on loan for promotional uses only.  Holder agrees to return it on demand.  Attempted sales are void, and in violation of law. No 421938.”  What is all that you may ask?  This album was once part of the catalog made available to radio stations for airplay consideration.  My guess is, either a station employee borrowed it and never returned it, thus making its way eventually to a used records store for resale OR as radio stations started eliminating catalogs of vinyl in favor of CDs it was sold to a collector or buyer for a used record store.

This is Kate Bush’s third studio album. The back cover shows Kate in the bat costumes worn during the Live Tour. Tracks on this album smoothly blend from one to another in a complete storytelling fashion.  The magical creatures sketched on the cover and inner sleeve a la Harry Potter, lend an otherworldly sensibility to the album. Indeed these creatures are depicted coming out from underneath her skirt. This hints at the secret world known to women seated in the uterine power of birth and creation. It also takes the listener along a path that questions how this power is flexed.

SIDE ONE

1. Babooshka  (3:20)
2. Delius  (2:51)
3. Blow Away  (3:34)
4. All We Ever Look For  (3:48)
5. Egypt  (4:12)

SIDE TWO

1. The Wedding List  (4:15)
2. Violin  (3:15)
3. The Infant Kiss  (2:50)
4. Night Scented Stock  (0:51)
5. Army Dreamers  (2:58)
6. Breathing  (5:29)

Favorite songs on this album include All We Ever Look For, Army Dreamers, and the hauntingly beautiful Breathing.  This album reached #1 in the UK charts and firmly established Kate Bush as a force to be reckoned with. Hers are the shoulders upon which Tori Amos, Fiona Apple, Alanis Morrisette and others would stand.