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Trollheart · 03-31-2017, 05:38 PM

Album title: The Kick Inside
Artiste: Kate Bush
Genre: Art pop
Year: 1978
Label: EMI
Producer: Andrew Powell
Chronological position: Debut album
Notes:
Album chart position: 3 (UK)
Singles: “Wuthering Heights”. “Moving”, “Them heavy people”, “The man with the child in his eyes”, “Strange phenomena”
Lineup: Kate Bush - songwriter,composer,piano,keyboards, vocals, background vocals
Ian Bairnson- guitar (1, 3, 4, 6, 7, 9, 10, 11, 12), background vocals (9), beer bottles (12)
Paul Keogh - guitar (2)
Alan Parker- guitar (2)
Paddy Bush-mandolin(9), vocals (11)
Duncan Mackay-organ(4, 6, 7),synthesizer(3), electric piano (1, 10),clavinet(4)
Andrew Powell- synthesizer (9), keyboards (2), bass (6), electric piano (3),celesta(6), beer bottles (12), producer
Alan Skidmore-saxophone*(2)
David Paton- bass (1, 3, 4, 7, 9, 10, 11, 12), acoustic guitar (6, 9), background vocals (9)
Bruce Lynch- bass (2)
Barry DeSouza -drums(2)
Stuart Elliott- drums (1, 3, 4, 6, 7, 9, 10, 11, 12), percussion (9, 12)
Morris Pert-percussion(3, 4, 6),boobam(12)

From the first moment her high-pitched, almost unintelligible voice was heard on her first ever hit single, “Wuthering Heights”, Kate Bush was someone you took notice of. Not a rock chick, not a pop diva, she was and is and always has been and probably always will be a force of nature, a law unto herself, an innovator, an experimenter, almost more soul than body and certainly unique. Few artistes can boast of having, not only a hit, but a number one hit, with their very first album, but Kate rocketed into the British consciousness with the release of the sixth track on this, her debut album, and would go on to have hit after hit throughout the seventies and eighties, though she would not always be in the public eye. Indeed, after a while, a concert by Kate Bush was a rare, nay freak occurrence.

My own experience of Kate is limited mostly to her greatest hits collection, The Whole Story, the singles I've seen or heard her perform during my youth and three albums: Aerial, The Hounds of Love and 50 Words For Snow, so this will be something of an education for me, but I already like much of her music so hopefully I'll get to like more.

Review begins

“Moving” opens the album with wolf howls (oh: it says here it's whalesong. All right then) and orchestral strings before the piano comes in just before her voice, that almost indefinable vocal – there are few if any who can sing like Kate – and a very full sound on the piano. There are quite a few alumni from the Alan Parsons Project here – David Paton, Ian Bairnson, Stuart Elliott – so there's a certain APP melody pervading the tune here. It seems to flow almost seamlessly into “The saxophone song”, which unsurprisingly has some fine work on the horn from Alan Skidmore and again some bright piano from Kate peppered with synthesiser lines from Duncan MacCay, and spooky piano then leads in the appropriately-titled “Strange phenomena”, but again I can't shake the APP influences here, almost as if the boys are guiding her music along. Her voice certainly takes centre stage here though and there are foreshadows of the later hit “Wuthering Heights” in some of the piano riffs.

Like Prince, on whom we concentrated earlier, Kate has the ability to reach very high notes or drop her voice down to a low moan, very versatile, the latter at times almost making her sound like a man singing. “Kite” is the first really uptempo song, quite pop and a lot of fun, bouncing along on Kate's almost childlike vocal, with carnival-style synths and backing vocals added by Kate herself, but like Prince, they sound as if someone else is singing. Considering that the Alan Parsons Project's Pyramid came out only four months later, I do find myself wondering if the guys took a few musical ideas from this song for “Pyramania”, but the next song is pure Kate, one of her big singles, “The man with the child in his eyes” survives almost completely on her aching vocal and piano, with gorgeous violin really setting the mood. The piano in the bridge almost seems to float in mid-air, lending the music the idea of being the next best thing to totally ethereal.

The big hit single is of course “Wuthering Heights”, based on the novel by Emily Bronte, and if you don't know it then you should. It's a superb piano-driven love song from a lost soul, and instantly established Kate as a major talent and one to watch. Honky-tonk piano then kicks off “James and the cold gun”, and again it's hard to ignore the APP melody here – sounds like much of The Turn of a Friendly Card, especially “The gold bug”. It's an uptempo rocker with a great organ line from Mackay driving it and hard guitar. Piano then continues as we head into “Feel it.” I must admit, I can see why Kate's voice is not for everyone: it can be quite grating at times, almost like a little girl singing. But I love her. This is pretty much a ballad, as is “Oh to be in love”, with a slightly faster pace but not much. Sort of a country feel to this in ways. Nice bassline, though the chorus is cringeworthy. Oh dear. That was pretty poor. At least “L'amour looks something like you” makes up for it; yet another ballad, again a Country edge to it, but much much better than the previous. Well, that wouldn't be hard, would it?

There's a reggae twist to “Them heavy people”, another single, though it didn't do as well as the other two, and I can see why. It's never been one of my favourites either., and not just because of the terrible misuse of grammar. Decent enough but a little throwaway and I can't understand why they decided to release it as a single. Oh well. Sort of back to the ballads then for “Room for the life”, with some really nice gentle percussion (congas? Bongos?) but again it doesn't do a whole lot for me, and the album ends on the title track, which is, yes, another ballad but a much better one, again piano-led, but softer and kind of echoes “The man with the child in his eyes” to an extent, and features the return of the violins, which kind of makes the comparison even more valid. Decent closer though.

Track listing and ratings

Moving
The saxophone song
Strange phenomena
Kite
The man with the child in his eyes
Wuthering Heights
James and the cold gun
Feel it
Oh to be in love
L'amour looks something like you
Them heavy people
Room for the life
The kick inside

Afterword:

I couldn't honestly say I was knocked out by this album. Had I not heard the singles already, then maybe yeah, but the tracks around them, while they're generally very good, don't make me step back and say “Holy fuck!” as I did with Prince's debut. I know how good Kate got, so I know this is not her best album, and as a debut it's very solid, but really only that. It's a good start but there's a way to go yet.

Rating:

03-31-2017, 05:38 PM	#3253 (permalink)
Trollheart Born to be mild Join Date: Oct 2008 Location: 404 Not Found Posts: 26,996	Album title: The Kick Inside Artiste: Kate Bush Genre: Art pop Year: 1978 Label: EMI Producer: Andrew Powell Chronological position: Debut album Notes: Album chart position: 3 (UK) Singles: “Wuthering Heights”. “Moving”, “Them heavy people”, “The man with the child in his eyes”, “Strange phenomena” Lineup: Kate Bush - songwriter,composer,piano,keyboards, vocals, background vocals Ian Bairnson- guitar (1, 3, 4, 6, 7, 9, 10, 11, 12), background vocals (9), beer bottles (12) Paul Keogh - guitar (2) Alan Parker- guitar (2) Paddy Bush-mandolin(9), vocals (11) Duncan Mackay-organ(4, 6, 7),synthesizer(3), electric piano (1, 10),clavinet(4) Andrew Powell- synthesizer (9), keyboards (2), bass (6), electric piano (3),celesta(6), beer bottles (12), producer Alan Skidmore-saxophone(2) David Paton- bass (1, 3, 4, 7, 9, 10, 11, 12), acoustic guitar (6, 9), background vocals (9) Bruce Lynch- bass (2) Barry DeSouza -drums(2) Stuart Elliott- drums (1, 3, 4, 6, 7, 9, 10, 11, 12), percussion (9, 12) Morris Pert-percussion(3, 4, 6),boobam(12) From the first moment her high-pitched, almost unintelligible voice was heard on her first ever hit single, “Wuthering Heights”, Kate Bush was someone you took notice of. Not a rock chick, not a pop diva, she was and is and always has been and probably always will be a force of nature, a law unto herself, an innovator, an experimenter, almost more soul than body and certainly unique. Few artistes can boast of having, not only a hit, but a number one hit, with their very first album, but Kate rocketed into the British consciousness with the release of the sixth track on this, her debut album, and would go on to have hit after hit throughout the seventies and eighties, though she would not always be in the public eye. Indeed, after a while, a concert by Kate Bush was a rare, nay freak occurrence. My own experience of Kate is limited mostly to her greatest hits collection, The Whole Story, the singles I've seen or heard her perform during my youth and three albums: Aerial, The Hounds of Love* and 50 Words For Snow, so this will be something of an education for me, but I already like much of her music so hopefully I'll get to like more. Review begins “Moving” opens the album with wolf howls (oh: it says here it's whalesong. All right then) and orchestral strings before the piano comes in just before her voice, that almost indefinable vocal – there are few if any who can sing like Kate – and a very full sound on the piano. There are quite a few alumni from the Alan Parsons Project here – David Paton, Ian Bairnson, Stuart Elliott – so there's a certain APP melody pervading the tune here. It seems to flow almost seamlessly into “The saxophone song”, which unsurprisingly has some fine work on the horn from Alan Skidmore and again some bright piano from Kate peppered with synthesiser lines from Duncan MacCay, and spooky piano then leads in the appropriately-titled “Strange phenomena”, but again I can't shake the APP influences here, almost as if the boys are guiding her music along. Her voice certainly takes centre stage here though and there are foreshadows of the later hit “Wuthering Heights” in some of the piano riffs. Like Prince, on whom we concentrated earlier, Kate has the ability to reach very high notes or drop her voice down to a low moan, very versatile, the latter at times almost making her sound like a man singing. “Kite” is the first really uptempo song, quite pop and a lot of fun, bouncing along on Kate's almost childlike vocal, with carnival-style synths and backing vocals added by Kate herself, but like Prince, they sound as if someone else is singing. Considering that the Alan Parsons Project's Pyramid came out only four months later, I do find myself wondering if the guys took a few musical ideas from this song for “Pyramania”, but the next song is pure Kate, one of her big singles, “The man with the child in his eyes” survives almost completely on her aching vocal and piano, with gorgeous violin really setting the mood. The piano in the bridge almost seems to float in mid-air, lending the music the idea of being the next best thing to totally ethereal. The big hit single is of course “Wuthering Heights”, based on the novel by Emily Bronte, and if you don't know it then you should. It's a superb piano-driven love song from a lost soul, and instantly established Kate as a major talent and one to watch. Honky-tonk piano then kicks off “James and the cold gun”, and again it's hard to ignore the APP melody here – sounds like much of The Turn of a Friendly Card, especially “The gold bug”. It's an uptempo rocker with a great organ line from Mackay driving it and hard guitar. Piano then continues as we head into “Feel it.” I must admit, I can see why Kate's voice is not for everyone: it can be quite grating at times, almost like a little girl singing. But I love her. This is pretty much a ballad, as is “Oh to be in love”, with a slightly faster pace but not much. Sort of a country feel to this in ways. Nice bassline, though the chorus is cringeworthy. Oh dear. That was pretty poor. At least “L'amour looks something like you” makes up for it; yet another ballad, again a Country edge to it, but much much better than the previous. Well, that wouldn't be hard, would it? There's a reggae twist to “Them heavy people”, another single, though it didn't do as well as the other two, and I can see why. It's never been one of my favourites either., and not just because of the terrible misuse of grammar. Decent enough but a little throwaway and I can't understand why they decided to release it as a single. Oh well. Sort of back to the ballads then for “Room for the life”, with some really nice gentle percussion (congas? Bongos?) but again it doesn't do a whole lot for me, and the album ends on the title track, which is, yes, another ballad but a much better one, again piano-led, but softer and kind of echoes “The man with the child in his eyes” to an extent, and features the return of the violins, which kind of makes the comparison even more valid. Decent closer though. Track listing and ratings Moving The saxophone song Strange phenomena Kite The man with the child in his eyes Wuthering Heights James and the cold gun Feel it Oh to be in love L'amour looks something like you Them heavy people Room for the life The kick inside Afterword: I couldn't honestly say I was knocked out by this album. Had I not heard the singles already, then maybe yeah, but the tracks around them, while they're generally very good, don't make me step back and say “Holy fuck!” as I did with Prince's debut. I know how good Kate got, so I know this is not her best album, and as a debut it's very solid, but really only that. It's a good start but there's a way to go yet. Rating: __________________ Trollheart: Signature-free since April 2018 Last edited by Trollheart; 03-31-2017 at 05:46 PM.