The Whole Story

The Whole Story
Greatest hits album by
Released10 November 1986[1]
Recorded1975–1986
Length48:53
LabelEMI
Producer
Kate Bush chronology
Hounds of Love
(1985)
The Whole Story
(1986)
The Sensual World
(1989)
Singles from The Whole Story
  1. "Experiment IV"
    Released: 27 October 1986
Professional ratings
Review scores
SourceRating
AllMusic[2]
Encyclopedia of Popular Music[3]
The Great Rock Discography9/10[4]
Mojo[5]
MusicHound Rock[6]
Record Mirror[7]
Robert ChristgauA−[8]
The Rolling Stone Album Guide[9]
Sounds[10]
Spin Alternative Record Guide9/10[11]
The Whole Story
Video by
Released1986
Recorded1977–1986
GenreArt rock
Length55 Minutes
Label
Kate Bush chronology
The Hair of the Hound
(1986)
The Whole Story
(1986)
The Sensual World – The Videos
(1990)
Professional ratings
Review scores
SourceRating
AllMovie[12]

The Whole Story is the second compilation album by English singer-songwriter Kate Bush and her first greatest hits album worldwide. Released on 10 November 1986,[1] it earned Bush her third UK number-one album and went on to become her best-selling release to date, being certified four-times platinum in the United Kingdom.

The album includes eleven of Bush's singles. It also includes "Experiment IV", which had been released as a single three weeks earlier; it also reached the UK top 30. A remix of Bush's debut single "Wuthering Heights" (1978) with newly re-recorded vocals opens the album. The album mix of "The Man with the Child in His Eyes" features on this release rather than the single version.

A home video compilation of the same name was released simultaneously, which includes the promotional videos for each song on the album. It was nominated for the Best Concept Music Video at the 1988 Grammy Awards.

In 2014, during Bush's Before the Dawn residency at the Hammersmith Apollo, The Whole Story charted at number 8 in the UK.[13] Following a resurgence of popularity for "Running Up That Hill (A Deal With God)" in 2022,[14][15][16] The Whole Story peaked at number 17 on the UK Albums Chart.[17]

  1. ^ a b "Best of Bush compilation". Music Week. 1 November 1986. p. 3.
  2. ^ AllMusic
  3. ^ Larkin, Colin (2011). "Bush, Kate". The Encyclopedia of Popular Music (5th concise ed.). Omnibus Press. ISBN 978-0-85712-595-8.
  4. ^ Strong, Martin C. (2006). "Kate Bush". The Great Rock Discography. Canongate U.S. pp. 146–47. ISBN 978-184195-827-9.
  5. ^ Sutcliffe, Phil (June 2011). "A Magnificent Obsession". Mojo. No. 211. pp. 82–83.
  6. ^ Galens, David (1999). Graff, Gary; Durchholz, Daniel (eds.). MusicHound Rock: The Essential Album Guide (2nd ed.). Farmington Hills, MI: Visible Ink Press. pp. 179–80. ISBN 1-57859-061-2.
  7. ^ Strickland, Andy (15 November 1986). "Albums". Record Mirror. p. 20. ISSN 0144-5804.
  8. ^ "Robert Christgau". Archived from the original on 11 September 2016. Retrieved 13 November 2004.
  9. ^ Considine, J. D. (2004). "Kate Bush". In Brackett, Nathan; Hoard, Christian (eds.). The New Rolling Stone Album Guide (4th ed.). Simon & Schuster. pp. 122–23. ISBN 0-7432-0169-8.
  10. ^ Holland, Roger (15 November 1986). "Katherine The Great". Sounds. p. 30.
  11. ^ Sheffield, Rob (1995). "Kate Bush". In Weisbard, Eric; Marks, Craig (eds.). Spin Alternative Record Guide. Vintage Books. pp. 62–63. ISBN 0-679-75574-8.
  12. ^ "AllMovie". Archived from the original on 22 October 2023. Retrieved 14 July 2010.
  13. ^ Grow, Kory (2 September 2014). "Kate Bush Lands Eight Albums on British Chart Following Comeback Shows". Rolling Stone. Archived from the original on 5 September 2014. Retrieved 26 July 2017.
  14. ^ Simpson, Dave (31 May 2022). "The strangest thing? Why Kate Bush is back at the top of the charts. Thanks to the Netflix show Stranger Things, the 80s classic Running Up That Hill has found a new audience. And it's not the only 40-year-old hit the show could revive". The Guardian. Archived from the original on 8 July 2022. Retrieved 1 June 2022.
  15. ^ Tangjay, Jazz (1 June 2022). "How 'Stranger Things' Landed Kate Bush's 'Running Up That Hill'". Variety. Archived from the original on 17 July 2022. Retrieved 1 June 2022.
  16. ^ Savage, Mark (14 June 2022). "Kate Bush heading to number one after chart rule reset". BBC News. Archived from the original on 12 July 2022. Retrieved 14 June 2022.
  17. ^ "Official Albums Chart Top 100 - 24 June 2022 - 30 June 2022". Official Charts. 24 June 2022. Archived from the original on 22 October 2023. Retrieved 24 June 2022.