[12] Musicians such as Björk, Steven Wilson of Porcupine Tree, and Big Boi of Outkast have cited The Dreaming as one of their favourite albums.

She also collaborated with a variety of engineers, including Nick Launay, who had previously worked with artists such as Public Image Ltd and Phil Collins.

[7] Recording began around the release of Never for Ever, with the first demo for "Sat in Your Lap" being laid down in September 1980, inspired after Bush attended a Stevie Wonder concert.

According to critic Simon Reynolds, "armed with the Fairlight and other state-of-the-art machines, Bush pushed her existing maximalist tendencies to the brink of overload.

"[17] In June 1981, the first single was released, "Sat in Your Lap", which peaked at No.11 in the UK, but the rest of the album was slow to develop, with Bush saying she suffered from writer's block.

[19][7][20] The album employs folk instruments such as mandolins, uilleann pipes, and didgeridoos,[21] shifting time signatures and textures, polyrhythmic percussion, samples[7] and vocal loops.

[23][24] The Quietus suggested that "The Dreaming's disparate narratives frequently seem to be tropes for Bush's quest for artistic autonomy and the anxieties that accompany it.

"[7] Barry Walters of Pitchfork described its sound as more similar to experimental post-punk bands such as Siouxsie and the Banshees and Public Image Ltd in comparison to her previous works.

In the picture shown, Bush (wearing a houndstooth jacket/coat) is acting as Harry Houdini's wife Bess, holding a key in her mouth, which she is about to pass on to him.

"[7] Colin Irwin of Melody Maker wrote that "initially it is bewildering and not a little preposterous, but try to hang on through the twisted overkill and the histrionic fits and there's much reward."

American critic Robert Christgau wrote that "the revelation is the dense, demanding music", calling it "the most impressive Fripp/Gabriel-style art-rock album of the postpunk refulgence.

"[21] Jon Young of Trouser Press called it "a triumph of inventive songwriting and unpredictable performances" but warned that "its sensory overload will drive away the less than dedicated.

"[39] In a later review, AllMusic called it "a theatrical and abstract piece of work", as well as "a brilliant predecessor to the charming beauty of 1985's Hounds of Love.

[41] In 2018 The Guardian's chief critic Alexis Petridis wrote, "The Dreaming isn't Kate Bush's best album, but it remains my favourite; there's something very beguiling about the sound of an artist finally letting their imagination fully run riot.

Not that Kate Bush's imagination was ever terribly constrained, but The Dreaming is marked by the sense that sampling technology had now enabled her to fully recreate the sounds in her head, and that she was now successful enough to please no-one other than herself.