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When Kate Bush released her fourth studio album in September 1982, it had been two years since her last effort, Never For Ever. While her first three long-players had seen the singer work alongside different producers, with The Dreaming she decided to take full creative control in the studio. More technically adventurous than her previous records, it’s an album that’s particularly fond of the Fairlight CMI. Its singles, with the exception of Sat In Your Lap, failed to make much of an impact, though (four 7"s – the title track as well as There Goes A Tenner, Suspended In Gaffa and Night Of The Swallow – missed the Top 40). The LP itself would peak at No.3 in the UK, two places down from the chart-topping Never For Ever and subsequent album Hounds Of Love. “The main thing I heard was ‘uncommercial’,” Bush told Radio 1 in 1984, “that’s the label that the press, the record company put on it. But for an uncommercial record to go straight in at No.3 in the charts seems ironic to me.” Despite EMI’s misgivings, The Dreaming became the first Kate Bush album to enter the US chart, albeit at a lowly No.157 (Hounds Of Love would prove much more popular, hitting No.12). Critical reaction at the time was mixed, though the LP’s reputation has grown in recent years with artists as diverse as Björk and Outkast’s Big Boi lining up to sing its praises.