With five albums under her belt from EMI Records, it was time for Kate to put out a greatest hits. She'd made it big with Hounds Of Love, which spawned four hit singles, and The Whole Story brings her EMI songs to closure. And it was this album that introduced me to Kate Bush, and the rest is history. Key, []=original studio album.

The version of "Wuthering Heights" features a newer vocal, which is more developed than the girlish vocals of the Kick Inside days and helps the piano and drums of this song. Yes, she does sing about the longing about Kathy towards Heathcliff. Much better than the original.

"Cloudbusting" is my favorite single from here, especially with its martial rhythm set by the strings and synthesizers. The song and the video are related, as it's sung from the POV of the daughter of an inventor who creates a rainmaking machine that gets the government after the inventor, considered a threat to the men in power. [Hounds Of Love]

"Breathing" is one of Kate's most serious pieces, about the effects that radioactive fallout has on a baby still in the womb, and it's sung from the perspective of the infant. The addition of a cold official sounding voice reporting the results of fallout from a nuclear test and the crescendo that rises with the "What are we going to do, we are all going to die refrain" shows that Kate is an artist with political conscience. [Never For Ever]

One of Kate's best realized pieces is the piano ballad "The Man With The Child In His Eyes" on a man who is most surely her Prince Charming, [The Kick Inside]

The dreamy "Wow" about the travails of fame and show business [Lionheart] is followed by two songs from Hounds Of Love, the frantic title track, and "Running Up That Hill", where she is ready to make a deal with God and trade places. There's some weird background vocals towards the end.

The sombre guitar ballad "Army Dreamers" tells the story of a serviceman in the B.F.P.O. who's been killed and the opportunities he never had, such as a proper education, the ability to play a guitar, or getting married and having a child. "What a waste, army dreamers" Kate laments.

The upbeat weirdness of "Sat In Your Lap" tells the story of someone who wants to be an intellectual, scholar, full of knowledge, but can't be bothered to learn and just wants it set in her lap, i.e. "just gimme gimme gimme gimme gimme."

"Experiment IV" the new song, is about some people asked by the military to create a "sound that could kill someone from a distance," instead of "music made for pleasure, music made to flow." And the regrets of the inventors for making such a weapon is felt in the lyrics. The sound neatly fits in the Hounds Of Love era.

"The Dreaming" featuring a didgeridoo, and Kate's slight Australian twang, tells how the aborigines and the natural habitat are being exploited by the mining companies, with the aborigines being driven to drink and even kangaroos being hit by vehicles. [The Dreaming]

Finally, "Babooshka" is about a woman who tests her husband's fidelity by writing him anonymous letters, disguising herself as a younger version of herself, and seeing if he'll go through with an adulterous affair with his own wife. The piano is struck forcefully during the verses, before the electric guitar riffs kick in the prechorus and chorus. [Never For Ever]

Kate's greatest hits does not tell the "whole story", as she had two more albums and a record deal with Sony, but it tells the best stories of the recording chapters of her career, as they were the most experimentally creative and lyrically enriching.

The Whole Story covers all of Kate bush's most memorable songs from the 1970s and early 1980s although it is by no means the whole story of her career. It opens with the re-recorded version of her spooky and atmospheric 1978 hit Wuthering Heights. This version has greater depth than the original single and still remains a most remarkable song based as it is on the novel of the same name.

Bush is a unique singer-songwriter with a gift for striking romantic imagery, although her work is not always immediately accessible. The Man With The Child In His Eyes is a complex and moving ballad, whilst Wow is a powerful atmospheric pop song.

Her music can be quite idiosyncratic and full of oneiric imagery, like Breathing and The Dreaming. On the other hand, Babooshka is a buoyant pop song with a catchy tune. This compilation is charming and very enjoyable. Overall, Kate's music can be described as a form of art rock, not always appealing on first listen, but very rewarding if you persist.

I first bought this album on vinyl, later again on cassette, and finally on CD - It was my introduction to this artist's very distinctive music, and the selection of tracks, given the original LP format and time frame of covered work, is a worthy assortment - There's not much I will attempt to add to what others have written here about her music and these songs, EXCEPT:

The sound on this CD is among the worst analog-to-digital mastering jobs I've ever heard, definitely the worst I've heard on a major label release - The cassette sounded better on my Walkman than this CD does on my home stereo - It's straight LP master tape to digital transfers like this that gave CDs such a bad rap when they were first introduced onto the market - Any amateur home recordist knows that audio needs to be very expressly mastered, in terms of EQ & dynamics/compression especially, for the medium on which it is to be listened to (excuse my clumsy syntax) - The art and science of remastering has dramatically improved in the past 15+ years since CDs became the predominant medium and the subsequent reissue of thousands of classic recordings - It is long overdue for this album to be rereleased in an expanded and remastered edition, along with Kate's other albums for that matter - With an artist of Kate Bush's reputation and broad appeal, I can't think of what they're waiting for - If Capitol Records did such a phenomenal job with remastering all those classic 50s/60s lounge records for the Ultra-Lounge series (which I highly recommend), then they ought to be able to do as good or better with this music - It certainly deserves better than what we're getting here...

One day I heard at the radio "Army dreamers" and instantly this song reminded me of "Beatrix" from Cocteau Twins, I dare to say it's even better than "Beatrix". I wanted to know more about this Kate Bush, so I bought this album, called "The Whole story". Boy, I was stunned and this hadn't happen to me since many years! These songs are just haunting, I hear them again and again in my mind long after I have heard them. Her voice is sublime, like coming from another world... What a strange beauty in her words !... She's like nobody else, not even Tori Amos , to whom I see that some people compare her. I adore Tori but this one (Kate Bush) is just so different. I can't compare her to anyone else nor classify her style which is unique.

I give a five star rating to this album and long to hear to her other albums, to her new album as well, which is called "Aerial" (Sylvia Plath comes to my mind here with "Ariel", I wonder if there is a connexion between them).

My favorite songs from this album, the ones which, in my opinion, stand out are the following : "Breathing" (one of the best songs by far that I' ve ever heard), "Army dreamers", "Cloudbusting", "Wuthering heights", "Running up that hill", "The Dreaming", "Hounds of love", "The Man with the child in his eyes", "Babooshka".

Finally I would like to indicate to new listenners (like me) the following link which is a great source of information about Kate Bush (including a short biographical note, discography and some very interesting external links):

http://www.answers.com/Kate%20Bush

There really isn't too much more to say that hasn't yet been said about this woman. Kate Bush has one of the most, if not THE most, incredible female voices in history. 1986's The Whole Story encompasses a range of her talents spanning 12 popular hits and singles, all released in the late seventies and early eighties. These songs can range from catchy pop-rock ("Wuthering Heights") to calm, chilled-off ballads ("Wow", "Breathing") with some strange, exotic tastes in-between. Not all the songs are lovable on first listen, as I listened to "Army Dreamers" numerous times before it caught onto me, and I was never a fan of "The Dreaming", but Bush manages to tie it all together into one nice package. One of her biggest hits, "Wuthering Heights", has been dubbed with new vocals, offering the song a nice polished feel to the original. "Wow" was my first taste of Bush, and it's still my favorite song of hers by far - a very beautfiul ballad with great lyrics, I believe about someone who has been warped by fame and fortune. And who could forget that song "Running Up That Hill"? Probably her biggest, if only, States-side hit, this is one of her catchiest, most charming offerings. "Cloudbusting" is an instant favorite, a bit more layered than others, and is followed by another tearjerking ballad, "The Man With the Child in His Eyes." "Breathing" is a nice comfortable track, the longest of the album which features some male vocals to complement those of Kate. The non-album single, "Experiment IV", can be found here as well - a great song not to be missed out on. And finally, this story closes with another mega-hit, "Babooshka", a song whose lyrics describe the story of a woman who plays a secret game with her husband to see if he is worthy of her trust. This song is very catchy, bound to have you humming its chorus after a listen or two.

All in all, with 12 great tracks, there's not too much more to want. Definitely recommended to people like me, who enjoy her beautiful voice, but don't have the time to invest in her entire catalog.

10/10