“the findings were truly astonishing!”

WE WERE THE first band of our generation that started to grow up,” Billy Corgan says, reflecting on the making of the Smashing Pumpkins’ 1995 grand opus, Mellon Collie and the Infinite Sadness. “The b

Forty years ago this September, Kate Bush released Hounds Of Love . Her fifth studio record reinstated her position as one of the most innovative and creative artists of all time and yielded the (future) chart-topper Running Up That Hill . But its creation wasn’t always smooth. Here’s the story behind one of Bush’s best-loved albums.

In 1974, Mike Oldfield defied the critics and hit the top of the UK charts with Hergest Ridge, the ambitious follow-up to his unexpectedly successful debut Tubular Bells . To coincide with the release of the 50th-anniversary edition, the musician, his siblings and collaborators recount the story of an album created by an overwhelmed 21-year-old taking refuge near the Welsh borders.

The great and good of progressive music give us a glimpse into their prog worlds. As told to Grant Moon.

PETER GILES

Renowned Italian photographer Guido Harari snapped Kate Bush during the commercial peak of her career from 1982 to 1993. In an extract from his book The Kate Inside , he offers a fascinating glimpse into what it was like to work with the singer-songwriter and how the Hounds Of Love press images came about.