I hear where you are with The Dreaming Snarf, but for me nothing beats Hounds of Love - nostalgia has a lot to do with that I think. The second half of that album is like a deeply intense (and just a bit disturbing) dream sequence that I will never shake. I think I listed it on my top 10 album list somewhere else on these forums...
I RAISE YOU FROM THE DEAD!
The thread about Christmas songs (I posted Kate's song, of course) caused me to come back here and I saw that I never replied to this.
You're not wrong! I don't think anyone can be criticized for saying
Hounds of Love is the "best" Kate album. And, like you, that second side ... it kills me. Every single time. The transition from Sheep to Under Ice to Waking the Witch .... and then Jig of Life to Hello Earth ... all of it is great. But the Ice/Witch part, especially.... I was in THE NORTH at one point long ago, and I remember walking in the darkness, snow everywhere on the ground and falling around me, listening to a tape* on a walkman** with that playing and just being transported to somewhere else.
*This is an old way of listening to music. See also, 8-track, reel-to-reel.
**See above. It's like an iPod. An iPod? Um... Nevermind.
That said, we all know the rules of
True Fans(tm). We can never make the obvious choice! Seriously, though,
The Dreaming might not have that specific transition, or any of the "hits" (defined loosely) of
Hounds, but the songs are so powerful and surreal. There are times when, for no particular reason, that part (and you know the part) from Night of the Swallow will come, unbidden, to my brain, and I have to dig out the vinyl and play the album*** until it goes away.
***This is a euphemism for streaming the album from Apple Music or Spotify or your service of choice. Unless you are hip to the youth of today, in which case ... yeah, vinyl.
