Hounds of Love by Kate Bush (1985)

A few Kate Bush albums fit the brief here, however none hit the 'masterpiece' bit quite as hard. An absolute favorite of critics (and Stranger Things' Max Mayfield) and I mean favorite - 48th album of all time (NME), 4th best album of the 80s (Pitchfork), 50th best album of all time (Apple Music), 4th greatest album made by a woman (NPR), 68th best album of all time (Rolling Stone) etc. - Hounds of Love's brilliant Artpop fever dream starts with Kate Bush taking your hand while 'Running Up That Hill' and doesn't let go until the end, falling alongside you like a stone in 'The Morning Fog'.

PopMatters said it best in a 2025 reappraisal "Forty years later, Hounds of Love‘s true power lies in this invitation: to use its sound to neurologically film what our dream worlds sound like." No one sounds like, dreams like or lives like the great Kate Bush.

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