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Kate Bush / Hounds of Love HMV centenary vinyl unboxed

Last weekend saw UK music retailer HMV issue a number of special ‘centenary’ vinyl editions which were available via their (remaining) shops across the UK, with limited availability online. One of the most popular was a recycled coloured vinyl edition of Kate Bush‘s 1985 album, Hounds of Love.

SDE takes a look at this new edition and compares the presentation to previous releases, including an original pressing, the 2010 Audio Fidelity version and the more recent 2018 remaster. Watch the SDEtv unboxing video below…

It appears HMV have now sold out in-store, although you could get lucky. These are definitely no longer available via the HMV website, so re-sellers are your only option, if you are desperate and missed out (or live outside the UK, of course).

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52 Comments

52 thoughts on “Kate Bush / Hounds of Love HMV centenary vinyl unboxed”

  2. Well the ebay scalpers are out in force with this one! As it’s the same cut as the 2018 issue I’m not bothered. Re the label issue. At least it’s consistent. With the Pink Floyd reissues it was pick and mix. Some you got as a copy of the original label excepting the catalogue number and others got the awful semi circle motif! I suppose, if you no longer have the rights to use the EMI logos etc and it’s a campaign through your own record label then possibly thats to be expected? Or not?

  3. Enjoyed the unboxing video for both an artist and release that Paul loves very much. However, I have a bit of an issue with SDE at the moment… There appear to be plenty of releases attracting newsworthy articles but no mention at present of the Judas Priest box set due for release in October even though it has attracted headlines on other websites. Now don’t get me wrong, you can’t please all the people all the time, but we’re talking here about a 42 disc set from a band celebrating a 50th anniversary! Quite a landmark I would of thought, and fully justified in being covered by a site named SDE. Garbage, Supergrass, Sheena Easton even, all have their fans, but I’m sure one or two Priest fans would like to see their favourites included on this site too. Now I appreciate that Judas Priest aren’t The Beatles, or even Kate Bush, but when a Paul McCartney video and a HMV coloured vinyl reissue get news space ahead of a 42 disc set from a popular metal band then my impression of what constitutes a ‘super deluxe edition’ is somewhat confused…

  4. If you want to hear Hounds of Love in an unusual setting and have Amazon Prime check out the end credits for the movie Shadow in the Cloud. In addition the rest of the soundtrack is an amazing synth dominated score – Fans of John Carpenter, Tangerine Dream and Boards of Canada will love it. The movie itself is terrible however. Be interesting to know how much it cost to licence Hounds for this low-budget film.

  5. One of the greatest albums ever. Agree completely re the original version of The Big Sky. I live about five minutes from East Wickham Farm, and drive past at least once a week, on my way to wherever. I also knew someone whose mum worked at Dr Bush’s surgery, he was friends with Kate round about the age of ten. Off now to play Lionheart, the opening two tracks are unbeatable.

  6. You have to be careful when HMV label their releases as “HMV exclusives”. A few them are available in other countries with other retailers. In those cases what they mean is “exclusive in the UK”. And the number they quote is probably their UK allocation and not the total number pressed. The first one I was aware of was Manic Street Preacher’s Everything Must Go blue vinyl from their promotion 4 or 5 years ago. It was available from other retailers in Germany and Australia. JB HiFi in Australia sell a few of these exclusives as “JBHiFi Exclusives” usually shortly after the HMV promotion. Someone on Discogs pointed out that he bought the Morrissey Bona Drag green vinyl in Canada (without the HMV OBI) I went online and have seen it available for sale with Eastern European retailers so it is out there minus the OBI.
    Like other posters I tried going online at 4pm to get the Undertones Best Of. Website kept hanging and would eventually show “no stock available”. Gave up and walked the dog. Came back at 5pm. Website was working and the album was showing as being in stock, and I made my purchase which I received on Tuesday (it was posted on Sunday with Royal Mail 48 tracked) It is still in stock online at their retail price of £31.99 although for a few days it went up to £37.99 presumably trying to make even more money for HMV, but they have obviously got their fingers burnt and dropped it backdown to £31.99.
    And I’m always suspicious of the albums the use in these promotions. Seems to be the same artists and/or labels each year. A bit like those Indie retailers who produce their Albums of the Year lists around November with what could be described as “strange choices”. It quickly becomes clear why they have been chosen when a few of them are soon appearing as retailer exclusives in a coloured vinyl variant.

    1. Thanks Lara Richards for the info, regarding these HMV “exclusive in the UK” pressings, I managed to purchase the Kate Bush LP & was unaware of the gummy glue below the OBI strip. Strange as the Mavis Staples – We Get By LP did not have any, perhaps this is the added extra Paul wished the Kate Bush LP re- issue had!

      Regarding the Undertones Best Of LP – I was dissuaded due to there being a 1red 1white vinyl edition available for less money on discogs

  7. Sorry one more thing: I think that Urban Outfitters are evil. They target a certain population that does not care about quality of pressing or packaging: it is almost impossible for any of their reissues to arrive at destination without bent corners and split seams, and records are often very warped. The records are also very thin and badly cut so that the outer rim is very sharp, which clearly does not help when the paper of the inner and outer is very cheap and thin. It’s clearly a cash-cow only for the company and it’s a real shame that some albums will see the light of vinyl day only through those releases.

  8. I have to say I’m happy I don’t feel the need to have this version, and that the Fish People label design will never stop being truly atrocious and ruining the whole thing. I think looking at a vinyl record, (after the sleeve and inner and inserts – where applicable) is also a feast for one’s eyes, and clearly the label design has a lot to do with it. In the case of Ms Bush’s case, it ruins that part. Same for the CDs that take on the design on the whole label-side.

    1. I wonder how many people think Kate Bush re-releases are ruined by the Fish People label? (I would be in their number). It’s like graffiti on my memories.

    2. I find the endless complaints about the Fish People label and design ridiculous. I applaud Kate for doing something so off the wall. I get crap about my label logo and I don’t care because it’s my choice and design. It’s no different (or rude) than walking into someone’s house and stating how much you dislike their decor. I would much rather see a fish headed person than some dull monochrome label that consists of nothing more than text and maybe a marginal symbol. Kate’s music has always had an artsy slant and I love the quirky label she chose. I think it only enhances the package. That said, the 30 pound price tag is rather expensive but I do have a copy coming to me from a friend in the UK.

      1. It is different to going into someone’s house because Kate knows these design elements are going to be ‘out there’ for everyone to see. The fact is, an the overall design aesthetic for an album should spread throughout every element. The labels should continue the design ‘narrative’. Chucking her 2011-era Fish People labels on albums from the 1970s and 1980s just doesn’t work. It sticks out like a sore thumb. What’s the point of HMV having a sticker with the original font from Hounds of Love – trying to stay in keeping with the design – if Kate is going to ignore all that and put something totally incongruous on the labels themselves? The design for the CD boxes was hideous too. It was fine with Directors’ Cut because it was IN KEEPING but not with everything else. I won’t comment on your logo’s label, but will say surely the aim of designing these things (Kate’s labels, your logo) is to make it pleasing TO OTHER PEOPLE not to yourself…so that people will embrace what you are doing and buy your products. If you do get lots of “crap” about your logo, I’d respectfully suggest you aren’t meeting the expectations of your audience.

        1. Not to piggyback (which I know I am doing) but I will say what I was going to say anyway before reading Paul’s response. Going with the house leitmotif. The difference is, if you are doing what you want because you are living there and don’t care what people think then that’s all fine and dandy. But if you are aiming to sell your house and you do with it whatever you want, however “out there”, then yeah, you still might sell it if you are lucky enough to find a likeminded person but in general it will take longer to sell and you will make less money than if you follow the process. Kate has never followed the process and has previously stated that she makes music for herself and if people like it then great, and because she is a rare talent she has found many people who like what she does.

          The artful quality of the original image is not the point. If the original was black on white and dull as dishwater then, to me, it’s still preferable to have the original reproduction of the dull black on white than some new funky “out there” image. For me, anyway, there is more to the memory of the teenage musical experience than just the music.
          It’s the price we pay for following an artist, they are still right even when they are terribly wrong. Of all the elements that go into a re-issue campaign, and the Kate Bush boxes made a fair few errors, I do think the packaging art was the low point.

        2. My products are selling just fine and growing stronger with each new release. As far as meeting the expectations of my audience, they expect top quality dynamic remastering from my label, and that’s exactly what they get. Overall, it’s an extremely small % of people who nitpick about the unnecessary things such as label logos or what ‘isn’t’ included on a particular release (regardless of the reasons and obstacles). I agree reproducing an album artwork faithful to the general design is very important, even if it’s not a great album cover to begin with (and I was horrified to see how badly reproduced the audiophile edition cover was that you A/B’d), but Kate isn’t entirely EMI anymore so she’s using her label. Yes, when I do an LP label I try to recreate an original label for at least one side of the LP (this is by choice), but I can’t see Kate’s label ruining a release. If a record label logo is a deciding factor on someone’s purchase, I’m dumbfounded by it. For me, I steered away from her CD box sets because of everything that was missing from the 1990 CD box. To me, that’s the far larger mistake.

          1. I don’t think it is a ‘deciding factor’ for many/any people. Just an irritant when you do buy.

          2. Or a lucky factor that makes you decide you don’t need the tenth version of an album you already have ;) Also I feel like saying, if people aren’t so bothered about what a physical release looks like, they might want to consider digital release lol

        3. “The fact is, an the overall design aesthetic for an album should spread throughout every element. The labels should continue the design ‘narrative’.” That’s not fact, that’s an opinion, and it’s one that runs contrary to many decades of label identity.

          LPs such as Dark Side of the Moon, Everything Must Go and Band on the Run do carry the design aesthetic of their sleeves on their respective disc labels. These are exceptions, not the rule. Part of the wonder of “Holding the Music in Your Hands–space–registered mark” vis-a-vis discs lies in admiring how a label is designed, the layout, typography, perimeter print, and logo: Apple, Immediate, Polar, 2 Tone, Swan Song, the plum Atlantic label, Regal Zonophone, and so on come to mind. To chuck these designs in the bin as you do is a massive disservice. To simply use a cookie cutter on the front sleeve and call it custom artwork is not an improvement on a consistent, thoughtful label design.

          Fish People only serves to (re)issue a limited catalogue, so I understand if the design directive was to establish brand consistency even if the brand is never going to become a household name. Such catalogue transitions are hardly without precedent, either. I’m not aware of any similar outrage or disgust when German and Japanese Odeon labels on Beatles issues were replaced with Apple or when EG labels superseded Island.

          1. We are talking specifically here about artists binning the original label design for a reissue and replacing it with something inappropriate. In other words respecting the original label design that you are waxing lyrical about…

          2. If every other Fish People disc save the picture disc has the same layout and typographical style, this reissue can’t be considered an aberration. It follows the house style they established.

            The artist and/or her associates made decisions that are not without precedent in the record business. Artists tend not to form their own imprints (or have their catalogues revert to them) before their first successful release. To repeatedly chastise Kate Bush for the use of a present-day label design in a reissue that is now intended as part of a product line (as it were) is not a particularly fair criticism.

            Also, it must be said that if reissues were produced to such a degree of exacting faithfulness your unboxing videos would top out at :30: “Everything here is exactly the same as it was in 1985. Same weight, same hype sticker, even the deadwax is the same…this is Paul for SDE, cheers.”

      2. People who feel that graphic design should be taken seriously as an artistic endeavor and communications medium are going to comment on what they view as its strengths and weaknesses, just as music fans will discuss the merits of the music.

        In a world where music is easily accessible via download, consumers are more likely than ever to weigh the aesthetics of physical media when deciding whether to purchase it.

        As for Hounds of Love, the original LP labels were plain but in keeping with the rest of the packaging. The new “Fish People” labels, with the pseudo-Greek type and surrealist illustration, are at odds with the romantic script, white background field and elegant portrait photography on the sleeve. This change in packaging undermines the message of the original.

        On the other hand, the “Fish People” labels match nicely with the rich colors in the vinyl this time. It’s an improvement over the original US gray marbled vinyl version, which in addition to the mundane color choice used a generic EMI center label with the rainbow logotype and cheesy gradient.

  9. Morning all..
    just reading this thread and input from others and the overall shambles of the HMV website. To be honest the manager came out to greet us on Saturday at our local branch {he arrived at about 0800}. He did say that due to the popularity that might be the case of “crashing” on the site. I was first in the queue..got there at 0300. After taking our wish list on the clip board system at about 0810 {to which I am a fan off..no one wants bent/dented corners/rush to get etc etc}. He explained that on checking that Gary Numan, Prodigy and libertines had gone after the first 5 lists had been picked. He did say some { didnt state the amount was kept back for online customers }. Each time a title “went out of stock” he would come back out to inform the awaiting customers. There were people in the queue that i had seen before{also brought there partners}whom clearly were not vinyl junkies but “mules” to enable flipping{ to which it is not an offence, but annoying }. I see down below Jay mentioned pre selling..thats easy the flippers have to be early there to sell to secure a purchase, otherwise its refunds from the evilbay seller. The manager did state that the HMV rule on the day is that staff cannot purchase until 1000. Hope this clarifies. To be honest i will always get up early if its an album I want and limited.
    Regards all

  10. Hi Paul, thanks for the review. Very well done. Have you had a chance to listen to the vinyl and determine if the “recycled” bits are noisier than the other vinyl editions you have?

  11. Thanks Paul for the clarification between the two albums. I was lucky enough to get this from Discogs albeit for £112.
    It was in my cart at HMV, but was told they don’t ship to USA since Brexit. Ugh.

    Anyway, if you’re ever interested in USA exclusives, we can work out a plan. Sell for actual cost plus actual shipping.
    Target.com
    UrbanOutfitters.com
    https://www.vinylmeplease.com
    https://www.newburycomics.com/collections/exclusive-vinyl
    All these companies have interesting releases.
    Thanks again for all you do for us music lovers!

    1. In the USA, Barnes and Nobel seems to have some of those UK exclusives like the white vinyl Duran Duran and the purple Talk Talk – It’s My Life.

    2. It was an interesting day out for me at my local HMV as I was first in the queue of seven people we even got our photos taken of the queue by HMV for marketing purposes! (never to see the light of day, I think) and I did smile :)
      
      Obviously HMV has a good rapport with the Fish People label as The Cloudbusting 12″ picture disc was promoted as a HMV exclusive, for it to become a Limited edition release to select stores worldwide.

      The experience is summed up by me by the “HMV” Morrissey LP – Bona Drag (Teal vinyl+poster) Copies may come with one or more merchant retailing stickers on shrink-wrap & additional OBI strip.

      The below company also has interesting releases, I recommend the Curtis Mayfield LP- Curtis (2 disc Yellow vinyl+Slipmat). As the Sticker on the shrink wrap states (Dont worry) if theres a hell below we’re all gonna go

      https://www.runoutgroovevinyl.com

      1. The Run Out Groove reissue of The Monkees first album is £55……. I’ve taken part in a couple of their polls to decide forthcoming releases but my choices are never pressed! At those prices I’m not too upset about it.

  12. Thank you, Paul, for this great unboxing story. The only one edition missing here is the EMI100 1997 The First Centenary. I have it and I can tell you that it looks like your EMI one, with glossy photos of Kate Bush. The vinyl has the white EMI label and is inserted in a nice white polysleeve. The lyrics is on a great solid cardboard inner sleeve and you can put the vinyl in it, but «No Way!» it stays in its polysleeve . I was really impress when I heard it on vinyl. The sound is incredibly soft and quiet as possible. I bought this album on CD in 1985 so I was used to listen to it as a «LOUD SOUND RECORD» (loud bass, few treble, a real 1980´s record!). But this vinyl gives more space and more details to the instruments and the voices. It is like listening to a HDCD or a SACD, really! That is the story of many album of the 80’s, I think. When I listen to vinyls of Depeche Mode, Simple Minds, U2, Duran Duran, it is all superior to CD. But this one of Kate Bush is far, far more. Excellent edition, this 1997 The First Centenary. I hope for new buyers that the HMV one equals it or better… For my part, I would have love to buy one and also Aqualung and Look At Yourself of Uriah Heep, but I live in Canada and, on Discogs or eBay, prices are too far from the HMV prices. Oh well!

    1. I’ve got that EMI100 pressing as well, it’s absolutely stunning. Completely analog and easily the best version I’ve ever heard. Plus it has the full version of “The Big Sky”.

  13. Excellent review as always Paul, long time listener first time caller here, just wanted to say I love the site and been coming here daily for the past few years and found myself indulging in lots of music purchases beyond my previous inclinations thanks to your reviews and comments, pointers from other readers. Shambles of online experience from HMV going for the Gary Numan, Exile LP received order confirmation only to get subsequent cancellation apology, now on eBay for £80+, but probably did my wallet a favour after recent RSD purchases (Hot Rocks online from vinyl tap) , Noel Gallagher at drop1 and with Billie Eilish ltd coloured vinyl due to arrive this weekend. Thanks again for this brilliant site, your passion and wit, it’s really appreciated

  14. Glad you got one Paul but unfortunately I didn’t. Turned up at HMV in Chelmsford as they opened to be told they’d had 2 copies that were sold , to whom I don’t know as there was nobody in the store before me ? Told to go online at 4 and I got one in my basket to then see it disappear!! Gave up after 30 minutes after being mucked around by the site . Should’ve kept trying.

    1. Same here – some were listed on eBay the day before, I don’t see how that could happen as you couldn’t pre-order them. Very suspicious – almost as if staff were getting hold of them before the sale day (puts on Deerstalker and smokes pipe). In other news – check out the Screamadelica reissues just announced – lovely 12” box set and picture disc.

    2. Hmv were operating a queue booking system.
      They had a stock list of what was available in store. Make your selection and it was put on one side for you & you were given a corresponding slip with your queue number on it…..mine was 21.
      Was told exile had already gone before I got there & there were only 5 people outside the store when I arrived & that was about 40 mins before opening.
      Probably explains why.

  15. I managed to get a couple of the records (Prodigy and Zero7) after a lot of messing about online. It was a crazy experience online though so for those who didn’t join in the craziness here’s a breakdown of what I experienced.

    The release was scheduled to start on Saturday at 4PM online at which point the site stopped responding. On it returning 10 mins or so later a lot of the records were already labelled as sold out. The strange thing however was, they weren’t. It looked as if, because the HMV site seems to allocate stock at basket addition (for 15mins I think), some people had added records to their baskets before the outage and following the outage the session information was lost, so these records were in stock limbo. As baskets timed out the stock seemed to start reappearing randomly. It was incredibly strange and the first time I have ever seen the like in over 22 years working in eCommerce.

    I’m not sure what other people’s experience was. From social media it seemed people had issues with baskets timing out after a couple of seconds and payment gateways refusing to work but I was all good with that stuff. For me at least it was amusing if really strange. Keen to hear other people’s experiences.

    2. I wanted The Offspring, allegedly sold out mid transaction around 4.20 but got a copy just before 9pm when I checked back. Delivered Tuesday afternoon by DPD. Can’t fault the service from HMV on this occasion.

  16. Interesting video Paul. I’m constantly amazed by how sloppy some reproduction sleeves can be with cropped and blurred photos, wrong colour tone, wrong texture, no spot varnishing etc.

    That is an extremely disingenuous use of the words ‘Numbered Edition’. The vinyl itself looks very nice though.

    I detest the Fish People label design and ridiculous as it sounds I’m sure I would play my 2018 reissues more often if they had reproduced the original labels! (Directors Cut is OK of course)

    1. Thank goodness I had no desire to get this, given the fiascos documented here. Really enjoyed the video’s comparisons between all the different pressings/editions through time. As the years pass and albums get multiple reissues across various formats, this kind of comparison becomes invaluable (and quite fascinating in terms of varying quality control or lack of).

      Now, if someone were to issue Hounds of Love with all the best bits of the LPs shown in the video, that might be something….original mix of the album (ie no Big Sky 7″!), spot varnished, perfect typography, no Fish People stuff anywhere, and in a gatefold sleeve….I *may* be interested!

      (I’m too busy accumulating multiple CD versions of it anyway….one of the best 5 or 6 albums ever, for my money).

  17. Paul Firstly, Congratulations on getting hold of a copy at 5pm – like many others I was there at 4pm and finally got through the very slow website, paid and even got a confirmation email.

    Yesterday semingly like many others on Twitter was told…”We’re getting in touch to let you know that the below item from your store.hmv.com order, number xxxx, has been cancelled: 
    Kate Bush: Hounds of Love – Recycled Vinyl
    Please be advised that due to a delay with the availability of this item updating on our website, this was unfortunately incorrectly showing as in stock and able to be ordered after we had already reached our full allocation of stock. As a result of this, we must regretfully confirm that this item had sold out prior to your order being placed and we are unfortunately unable to fulfil your order; we have therefore had no choice but to cancel this. ”

    It was supposed to be despatched in 24 hours yet took them 5 days to realise that they had run out even though others got copies later. Terrible situation by HMV.

    There are different colours shown in Discogs… https://www.discogs.com/Kate-Bush-Hounds-Of-Love/release/19605145

    Mike

    1. Exactly the same happened to me with my Pixies Doolittle coloured vinyl. I never thought I’d get one online and was thrilled and amazed when they took my order and got my confirmation- which made it even more galling when I got my cancellation email yesterday.
      Beyond furious – very poor show by HMV. And of course there’s some on EBay from flippers at triple/ quadruple the price.

      1. Same thing happened to me with the Morrissey green vinyl Bona Drag: seemed to have successfully made an order at 4pm (although it took a nail biting 15 minutes of very slow screen loading to complete the transaction), got a confirmation e-mail, PayPal payment taken… and then the same cancellation e-mail arrived yesterday. Hey-ho, not the end of the world and I was lucky enough to get a Hounds of Love in-store at White City, so I didn’t fare too badly. But they need to look at their servers/bandwidth to avoid this kind of over-selling again.

    2. Same happened to me with the TFF live CD on RSD 1. Banquet Records took my online order (I am in the USA) and payment then cancelled 2 days later. And by then it was too late to get it elsewhere at regular prices. Vowed never to try to use them again but this practice, no matter how unintentional, should be banned.

  18. Of the recent re-issues I found the Hounds of Love to be the least interesting. Probably because the Audio Fidelity version is absolutely spot on sonically. There had never been anything close to an official attempt to improve upon the originals with the other albums. I found the Audio Fidelity version of The Sensual World to be a bit meh compared to the lifted beauty of the Hounds of Love.
    Having said that, the ATR mastercuts version of Lionheart on Vinyl is utterly superb.

    As many have said before it’s just a shame that these special editions put together by companies like HMV / Sainsbury’s etc are so transparently about volume and not interest. It would have been far more interesting if they had done something special for The Dreaming rather than trotting out Tubular Bells again, sorry I mean Rumours, oops typo, I meant Dark side…. you get the point.

    If they are only going to press 1,000 or 2,000 copies of something you will still sell that with albums like Hergest Ridge, Face The Music (instead of Out of the Blue….again) or Never For Ever. It’s too late to be brave for Sainsbury’s and probably the same for HMV

    1. I managed to pick up the 2014 audio fidelity edition on purple marbled vinyl. Mastered by Steve Hoffman & Kevin Gray. It sounds superb. So why bother with a lesser sounding edition . It’s a beautifully put together package.

      1. yes. there are two audio fidelity editions, same audio just slight differences in the packaging and presentation. I have the 2010 numbered edition, I don’t think the re-issue is numbered. But it is really top notch. Unlike this HMV edition it is properly numbered not just “04”

        1. Chris,

          You’re right, the first edition of the audio fidelity version is numbered and the second edition isn’t.

          I must have been going through my OTT purchasing phase, as I bought it once on the original pressing and three more on the follow up.

          Regards,

  19. I’ve found that the gummy glue that record companies use (like on that obi strip) often stains the paper underneath. You are fortunate that didn’t happen here!

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