Expert: Lee Bastian - 5/17/2005

Question
Do you know if the EMI twofer of Hounds of Love/Sensual World from Sept of '04 is remastered or just a simple reissue?  I suspect the latter but would like to know for sure before investing.  AND if they're not do you know if there is a reissue/remaster series coming down the road?  Thanks very much.

Answer
    Hello.What's up Dok?(sorry,I couldn't resist).Thank you for your question.I will try to answer to the best of my knowledge.
    First,I could not find any evidence of a Hounds of Love/Sensual World double release.I searched EMI on the internet and the only double I could find was for Lionheart/The Dreaming.I'm in Canada and we don't have access to as many Kate Bush rarities as many others do in other parts of the world.
    I do know thar in 1997 a remaster was issued for Hounds of Love with six bonus tracks all of which can be found on her eight-CD box set "This Woman's Work".There was much talk and rumours of all of her releases coming out in remastered form with bonus tracks and that is what's keeping me from buying the box set again(tragically,I bought the box set when it came out years ago but it was stolen from me with all of my CD collection during a break and enter)
    I do own all of her seven studio releases again,so it probably doesn't matter if I buy the box set to get all of the rare tracks or buy all seven studio releases again if they ever materialise.
    As you probably know,there is a highly anticipated new release due sometime this year.This will be her first in twelve years and likely her last.It would not surprise me to see a full set of remasters within a year or two of the new release to cash in on any new interest in Kate's music brought on by the new disc.
    Thanks again for your question,Dok.Sorry I couldn't be of more help but I just could not find any info at all on the twofer release to which you refer.Should you ever have any other questions about Kate or her work,please don't hesitate.It is always my pleasure.Thanks again and have a great day!!
 
    Upon further investigation(after sending the above reply) I did indeed find the twofer you asked about.There are a lot of sites that pop up when searching for EMI U.K.
Anyway,the tracks on the Hounds of Love part are from the Hounds of Love remaster with the six bonus tracks:remixes/extended versions of Cloudbusting,Running Up That Hill,and The Big Sky,plus the previously unreleased(on studio albums anyway)Burning Bridge,Be Kind To My Mistakes,and My Lagan Love.The last track,My Lagan Love is a truly beautiful and haunting song with no music at all,only Kate's wonderful voice.This song alone makes it worth the investment.
    However,the Sensual World part has no extra tracks and so is probably not remastered and likely exactly the same as the original Sensual World release.
    I just wanted to add this p.s. to let you know that I did find it after the fact.