Kate Bush

This mid-career retrospective picks 12 tracks from KB's stunningly varied oeuvre. From her debut "Wuthering Heights" (ethereal vocals, piano, Pink Floyd production values) to "The Dreaming" (aboriginal rhythms and chants) to "Babooshka" (catchy pop), her key characteristic is her unclassifiable style. That, and her genius for melodies built on layers of ideas and secrets.

This extravagantly brainy spiritual sexpot was made for the Fairlight synthesizer, and her beautifully crafted best-of proves it. Even the best of the old U.K. hits she strews among the tokens of her American breakthrough, 1980's "Army Dreamers," lives and dies with its lyric. But as she learns to manipulate her electronic orchestra, which took a while (cf. 1980's "Breathing"), the songs turn into compositions, so that if the unfettered emotionalism of "Hounds of Love," say, isn't your cup of tea, you're still rooting for her as she takes off her shoes and throws them in the lake. And then there's "Running Up That Hill," a woman's orgasm in 4:58. (Grade - A-)