Iconic Albums Kate Bush The Dreaming Era (1982)

Kate Bush - The Dreaming Era (1982) explores the extraordinary creation of one of the boldest, strangest and most influential albums of Kate Bush's career.

After the success of Never for Ever, Kate made a decisive move: for the first time, she would produce an entire album herself. What followed was nearly two years of experimentation as she pushed the recording studio, the Fairlight CMI and her own voice into unfamiliar territory.

From the pounding rhythms of "Sat in Your Lap" and the dark wartime perspective of "Pull Out the Pin", to the Irish drama of "Night of the Swallow," the mystery of "Houdini" and the astonishing finale "Get Out of My House," The Dreaming became a record where almost anything could become music.

This book explores the stories behind every track, the musicians and engineers who helped Kate realise her increasingly ambitious ideas, the innovative use of sampling, the remarkable Houdini-inspired album cover and the pressures of taking complete creative control.

It also examines the album's difficult commercial reception. Although The Dreaming reached No. 3 in the UK, its challenging singles struggled to find a mainstream audience. Yet over the decades, the very qualities once regarded as excessive have transformed it into a cult classic admired for its fearless production, theatrical storytelling and refusal to follow conventional pop rules.

Most importantly, The Dreaming changed the way Kate Bush would work forever. The enormous cost and exhaustion of recording in commercial studios encouraged her to build a studio of her own-creating the environment in which she would make her next masterpiece, Hounds of Love.

Inside you'll discover:

• How Kate Bush became sole producer for the first time
• The revolutionary role of the Fairlight CMI
• The stories and inspirations behind all ten songs
• The creation of The Dreaming, Houdini and Get Out of My House
• Kate's collaborations with Del Palmer, Paddy Bush, Stuart Elliott and specialist musicians
• Why the album proved so difficult to market in 1982
• How its reputation grew from commercial disappointment to cult classic
• How The Dreaming laid the foundations for Hounds of Love

An unofficial exploration of the music, recording and remarkable creative world behind Kate Bush's most fearless album.