It took a while for me to listen to the original “Hounds of Love” as recorded by Kate Bush in 1985. Twenty years later I was ten and beginning to get into this ‘indie music’ stuff when The Futureheads, the four-piece ‘post-punk revival’ band from Sunderland, released their cover of the song. At the time I was unaware of that it was a song that had already existed for two decades, though that does explain why her name was credited in the liner notes of the album.

The track is a prime example of what a cover version should be. The Futureheads don’t merely take the song and create a carbon copy, but add their own style whilst remaining true to the original’s musicality. Differing from the Prince Charming-like stomp of Kate Bush’s track, the band’s cover plays like a soundtrack of a man on the run from these hounds. Barry Hyde’s vocals succeed in expressing the passion and emotion displayed within the lyrics, he seems to elongate syllables and borderline shouts unable to contain himself, and the background ‘oh-oh’ vocals of Ross Millard, Jaff Craig and Dave Hyde give the track a great edge, providing a bold sense of solidarity as Hyde sings of this crisis he is going through.

One of my favourite covers. Good times.