Album title: Lionheart
Artiste: Kate Bush
Genre: Art rock/Pop
Year: 1978
Label: EMI
Producer: Andrew Powell
Chronological position: Second album
Notes:
Album chart position: 6 (UK)
Singles: “Hammer horror”, “Wow”
Lineup: Kate Bush - vocals, harmony vocals, piano, keyboards, recorder
Ian Bairnson - acoustic, rhythm & electric guitar (1, 2, 3, 6, 9, 10)
Brian Bath - guitar (3)
Paddy Bush - mandolin (3), harmony vocals (4, 5, 8), pan flute (8), slide guitar(4), mandocello(8)
Richard Harvey - recorder (5)
Duncan Mackay - synthesizer (9, 10), Fender Rhodes (1, 2, 4)
Francis Monkman - harpsichord (4, 5), Hammond organ (6)
Del Palmer - bass (3, 8, 10)
David Paton - bass (1, 2, 4, 6, 9)
Stuart Elliot - drums (1, 2, 4, 6, 9, 10), percussion (8, 9)
Charlie Morgan - drums (3, 8)
Andrew Powell - joanna (8), harmonium (10)
Like record labels the world over, EMI emulated Warner Bros with Prince around the same time across the water, demanding Kate release another album in a hurry, the same year in fact as her debut. Kate does not like to be rushed, having her own organic way of working, but the suits had spoken, and though she already had a number one single this did not guarantee longevity – we're all aware of the one-hit-wonder syndrome – so she had to take a bunch of songs she had composed when she was as young as thirteen, add a few new ones, and the followup to
The Kick Inside was ready to hit the shelves, a mere nine months after it. Talk about having two children in quick succession!
Review begins
There's a beautiful laidback feel to “Symphony in blue”, though I can still detect right away the influence of the APP guys, some very familiar guitar licks there from Bairnson. I feel it's a better opener than on the debut though, and it kicks up quickly enough with a lot of power and passion, some great guitar work from the Project man and some really nice touches on the keyboards, that kind of ethereal flavour that characterised much of the first album leaking through again. “In search of Peter Pan” nods back to the big hit single from the debut, driven on the piano for the most part but that APP sound comes sliding back in. Nice children's choir (none credited, unless the voices are hers?) with a very sort of flowing, rippling melody, kind of like a river slowly meandering along. She even uses a sample (well, not a sample: it's her singing it) of “When you wish upon a star”, which is perhaps odd, as that song belongs in Disney's
Pinocchio not
Peter Pan.
The big hit single this time is “Wow”, which I assume most of you reading know, and if you don't, well it's a great vehicle for the power of Kate's voice, where at times she dips from soprano to baritone, just showing how versatile her pipes are. Well, EMI wanted a hit single, and they got it. You can see why. There's a certain punch and a rise in tempo and energy for “Don't push your foot on the heartbrake”, probably the first time you can say Kate really rocks out so far on this album., then the song which gives the album its name (though it's not a title track; there isn't one) brings in soft violin and flute as “Oh England my lionheart” rides along on a soft piano line with some great vocal work from Kate. There's somehow a very medieval feel to this, then “Fullhouse” reminds me of James Taylor and The Carpenters for some reason, got a soul vibe to it too, quite strong and punchy, but I have to admit it doesn't really do it for me.
I feel I've heard “In the warm room” before? Wonder if it was re-released on some other album? Let's see. No. Must have been thinking of “A coral room” on
Aerial. Nice ballad, real croon by Kate on this one and pretty much entirely on the piano so a real showcase for her talents. Hmm, seems like it slipped into “Kashka from Baghdad” without my realising. I don't think that can be taken as particularly good. I do like the sort of discordant piano she uses here though. “Coffee homeground” has a sort of twenties jazz feel to it, with what sounds like an accordion leading the line in a weird little tango, reminds me oddly enough of
Dracula's Musical Cabinet from The Vampires of Dartmoore. And that leaves us with “Hammer horror”, the first single released from the album originally, which was pretty unsuccessful. Big cinematic/operatic build up leads into a soft gentle vocal from Kate, the tempo picking up as the orchestra comes in, but given the subject matter the song comes across as too much of a pastiche, which might explain its failure to chart.
Track listing and ratings
Symphony in blue
In search of Peter Pan
Wow
Don't push your foot on the heartbrake
Oh England my lionheart
Fullhouse
In the warm room
Kashka from Baghdad
Coffee homeground
Hammer horror
Afterword:
Though I certainly don't hate these albums, I'm still waiting for, to quote Kate herself, the wow factor. I've enjoyed the debut and this album, but I can't see very much in them (other than the singles, which I already knew) that would make me want to come back to them any time soon. There haven't been any incredible revelations, I haven't slapped myself upside the head and said “How have I gone so long without listening to this?” and my impression of her music so far, though it's impressive for a girl at such a tender age, is decidedly lukewarm. I'm not sure I can even remember any track on either album – again, other than the singles – and certainly will not be humming anything afterwards. But there's a way to go yet, so she might still impress me. On we go.
Rating: 