Kate Bush Album: “Lionheart”

As a sophomore this is amazing and as an album it is wonderful!

The music on this album is very quaint and tightly structured.

"Lionheart" is probably the most 'english' album of all time.

With bold refrences to mostly everything remotely english this album is possibly an ode to her home country.

With subjects ranging from murder,affairs and death this album is certainly not lacking in subject matter.

Although the main thing that attracts about this album is it's beauty and majesty.

Kate's voice as usual is phenomenal, an individual rarity you may say.

Highlights on this album include the wonderful "Coffee Homeground", the groovy "Hammer Horror" and the lusty "Don't Push Your Foot On The Heartbrake".

Spectacular imagery is also a treat here and you really feel what she is trying to get across. Overall, "Lionheart" is one of the most spectacular and superb albums ever and will appeal to a wide range of musical tastes.

I discovered Kate Bush almost by accident when I was studying in Europe almost 25 years ago. I only had a cheap little cassette player and while I bought just about everything I could get ahold of at the time (which was everything up to and including THE DREAMING), I knew full well that could only be that much better with a reasonable (let alone audiophile level) sound system.

But actually, the muddiness of those tapes made them somehow all the more intriguing. I couldn't make out most of the lyrics, but what I could decipher was strangely fascinating. (This was in the era, of course, when cassette versions of a record seldom--if ever--included a lyric sheet). Listening to Kate was just one more example of the kind of code-breaking I had to do every day, learning another language and negotiating another culture. (The fact that she threw in the occasional German or French phrase kind of emphasized her European-ness and may have added to the attraction--she was, however, obviously veddy British, in a very GOOD way).

Some people have made mild fun of her own Anglophilia as it's demonstrated here on the (kinda sorta) title track, "Oh, England My Lionheart." Penned by some accounts on the eve of her first foreign tour, it may seem at first like a schoolgirlish expression of advance homesickness. But once I finally did get ahold of a lyric sheet, I realized it was much more than that. If anything, the song's patriotism is muted by melancholy. Those air raid shelters were "bloomin' clover," but for how long?

It would only be a few years later that Kate would be singing of fall out shelters on NEVER FOREVER's "Breathing" after all.

I wouldn't be surprised if many of the tracks from this album were from her storehouse of material penned during her adolescence. That doesn't speak ill of them necessarily, but in all likelihood the Kate Bush of a few years later would have avoided mentioning Peter Pan in TWO songs on one album. That risks "preciousness" in the eyes of many--and certainly did in the eyes of macho American rock critics--but, sorry, both the aformentioned "Lionheart" and "In Search of Peter Pan" work despite, if not BECAUSE of their defiant whimsy.

I often risk belaboring the point of the readily apparent kinship between Kate Bush and the equally precocious American singer-songwriter Laura Nyro. I'll try to avoid harping on that theme, since I don't even know for sure whether Bush even claims Nyro for an influence. But it's hard not to think of Laura's famous musical synesthesia (she use to tell her accompanists to "play purple," for instance) when listening to Kate's equally color-themed "Symphony In Blue" and her sensuous "In the Warm Room" (so reminiscent of the early Nyro composition "December's Boudoir").

But Kate also had more of a sense of the theatrical (Laura's MUSIC was pretty dramatic, but her stage presence was muted) and she exhibits here more of a sense of humor, however bizarre. "Symphony in Blue" is puns more than once on "blue/blew." And songs like "Coffee Homeground," which is either about ARSENIC AND OLD LACE style murders or the paranoid fear of same, serves as a kind of nightmare novelty song, vaguely reminiscent in its Germanic 30s jazz feel of Grace Slick's equally remarkable "European Song." It's also something of a precursor to the even more paranoid, in fact downright nightmarish "Get Out of My House" from Kate's own masterful 80s release THE DREAMING.

Like some of this CDs other enthusiastic (including a namesake almost directly below), I am rather baffled that this brilliant, innovative record is considered by many (including Kate herself, I now learn?) to be among her weakest efforts. I find it a pure delight. What it did not do is break much new ground after KICK INSIDE. And it has fewer songs. That hardly makes for a true "sophomore slump." The worst you could say about it is probably that Kate was in something of a holding pattern. Hardly a bad thing when you consider the quality of the pattern. Or when you consider how much further she would be taking her music within the matter of just a few short years.

Although some may say this is Kate's 'weakest' album i would strongly disagree. For a start there is no such thing as a weak Kate album and secondly this is pure brilliance! 'Symphony in blue' and 'in search of Peter pan' are beautiful, relaxing songs, which get you in the 'Kate' mood. Then of course there is 'Wow', one of my favourite Kate songs, and somewhat of a classic! 'Dont push your foot on the heartbrake' is an upbeat rocky number, one of the albums standouts! And then 'Oh England my lionheart' which is one of my fave song on the album, the music is almost medeival sounding! Then are the slower numbers 'Fullhouse' and the sexy 'Warm room'. 'Coffee homeground' is a erm, interesting song mainly about er, coffee! 'Kashka from Baghdad' is another good song on the album but possibly the best is 'Hammer horror'! One of my favourite Kate albums, please dont skip this you'll be missing out!

We all know how high Kate Bush ranks in terms of iconic stature over here in England. Is there anyone above her in terms of respect? Hardly. Her music has become almost a genre unto itself over the years. After her smash hit debut album "The Kick Inside," Kate released "Lioneart." The album was actually released in the same year as her debut, which was obviously just a record company ploy to capitalise on Kate's new-found success. As a result, this album didn't do as well as her debut, and sold a mere 300,000 copies in the UK. It peaked at No.6 and didn't really spawn any massive hit singles. When stood next to Kate's masterpieces such as "Hounds Of Love" and "The Dreaming," this album doesn't really stand a chance. There are great moments on all of Bush's albums, but this album just so happens to feature the least amount. Or at least that's my opinion.

The album opens with "Symphony In Blue." This is a very classy mid-tempo song and has trademark vocals from Kate, very high and operatic. It's also quite a sexual song and has some rather racy lyrics for 1978! "In Search Of Peter Pan" is actually one of my least favourites on the album. No matter how many times I listen to it never seems to fully connect with me like most of Kate's music does. The end of the chorus is very beautiful though, and the piano is rather shrill and very harmonious. "Wow" is one of the best songs I think Kate has ever done. This song runs for four minutes and has one of the most fantastic intros I've ever heard. It's incredibly atmospheric and almost eerie. Kate's vocals are so beautiful and remind me of a starry night. The chorus is amazing as she bursts out singing, "Wow, wow, wow, wow, wow, wow! Unbelievable!" It ends just as beautifully as it started too.

"Don't Push Your Foot On The Heartbrake" is a fantastic song that has quite a subdued, quiet opening. However, things pick up in the section before the chorus, until Kate is screaming her head off in that chorus! I love it when the guitars kick in as she sings, "Come on! You've got to use your flow!" "Oh England My Lionheart" is a very sad song about the war, and is interesting in how this is the only song to feature hand-written lyrics in the inlay, while the rest are simply printed. The chorus is quite impressive as Kate's voice rises. "Fullhouse" is a rather weak offering, because I feel that the vocals are bit too eccentric on this song. "In The Warm Room" is a very sensual and erotic song. This worked very fell on Kate's debut album on songs such as "L'Amour Looks Something Like You" and "Feel It." This isn't as good, but it's still a great song. The lyrics become more sensuous as the song progresses, right down to, "You'll fall into her like a pillow, her thighs are soft as marshmellows, say hello, to the soft musk of her hollows." Kate's vocals rise and fall to the sweet tenderness of such a beautiful song.

"Kashka From Baghdad" is one of Kate's most famous songs, in which she sings about a gay couple, shunned by their friends and family because of their homosexuality. However, they don't seem to care, as their landlady observes every night as she can hear them laughing and getting along just like any ordinary couple. You can feel the longing for them as a couple in Kate's voice, which was quite risky back in 1978. "Coffee Homeground" is a song about murder, yet it's supposed to be set in the 19th Century. To achieve this, the song sounds very spacious and cold, like an eerie cellar haunted by ghosts. It's a very British song, and is perfect for expressing Kate's dynamic voice. The album closes with "Hammer Horror," another song about murder. In this song, Kate takes on the role of an understudy who plots to kill off the main star in a play so that she can have the part. It's a rather unusual song, very diverse for its time, and ultimately very rewarding.

OVERALL GRADE: 8/10

This is probably my least favourite Kate Bush album, but that's only because after this she went on to release some real masterpieces. Infact, the three albums that came after this are all stunning and 10 times better than this album. Lionheart is probably more famous for the album artwork than the actual songs, which is quite a shame, but some people saw this as a poor rehash of her more successful debut album. The best song on here for me is Wow and probably always will be. However, this is still an essential addition to any Kate Bush fan's collection.

Kate Bush's "Lionheart" is, in many ways, a disappointing follow-up to the brilliant "The Kick Inside". Lionheart's song structures are not at all progressive of TKI's songs: many of them follow a set formula and are somewhat predictable (as opposed to the innovative TKI), the lyrics are embarassing, and the overall production seems rushed.

However, this is not to say that this is a bad album. "Lionheart" remains perhaps her most 'whimsical' album, with songs about Peter Pan, poisoners, exotic arabs, showbiz, and a beautiful homage to the fantastical England of childhood. The cover, to me, perfectly captures this whimsical strain of the album.

The point I am making is that although "Lionheart" is a good album, it pales in comparison to Kate's other albums, and seems the 'odd one out' in that it doesn't seem evident of any progression in her undeniable talent as a songwriter and musician. This progression isn't evident until "The Dreaming" (although aspects of "Never For Ever" are an exception).

Having said that, it should be pointed out that "Lionheart" was written and recorded in two months (or so I am told) at the instigation of her record company to capitalise on the success of TKI. Bearing this in mind, "Lionheart" is a remarkable achievement.

Standout tracks: "Wow", "Oh England My Lionheart" and "Coffee Homeground".