The Sensual World

Vinyl reissue and essential listening. 1989's Sensual World remains Kate Bush's most mature, entrancing album. Expectations ran high for the long-awaited follow-up to her 1986 breakthrough The Hounds of Love, and she met them with this sometimes breathtaking, often introspective work. On songs like the erotic title track and the dramatic Love and Anger, Bush charts the many rhythms of relationships with a keen eye for detail and less frilly bluster than usual. Elsewhere, with the tense Between a Man and a Woman and the lush This Woman's Work (which never fails to bring a tear to Mint and Sealed's steely eyes) she virtually lays the foundation for Tori Amos's future success. Musically, Bush broadens her palette with the smart additions of irish piper Davey Spillane, Balkan singers the trio Bulgarka, and jazz bassist Eberhard Weber.