The Kick Inside

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The Kick Inside
The Kick Inside cover
Studio album by Kate Bush
Released 17 February 1978
Recorded June 1975 – August 1977
Genre Art rock
Length 43:13
Label EMI
Producer Andrew Powell
Professional reviews
Kate Bush chronology
The Kick Inside
(1978)		 Lionheart
(1978)
Alternate cover
The Kick Inside US cover.
The Kick Inside US cover.

The Kick Inside is the debut album by Kate Bush. It was first released on February 17, 1978 and contains her only UK number one hit to date, "Wuthering Heights".

Contents

[edit] Overview

The album was released when she was 19 years old; she had written some of the songs when she was only 13.[1] The album opens with 20 seconds of whale song, which leads into the first track, "Moving", inspired by her dance teacher, Lindsay Kemp. The album, which contains her biggest hit to date, "Wuthering Heights", which reached number one in the U.K. and Australia, and became a Top Ten hit in many other countries.

Her cinematic and literary influences, two qualities considered her trademarks, were most obvious in "Wuthering Heights". The song was not initially inspired by Emily Brontë's novel but by a television adaptation, although she did read the novel later to, in her own words, "get the research right".[2] Further influences can be found when she namechecks Gurdjieff in "Them Heavy People", while the title song is inspired by the ballad of Lizie Wan. The album is also rather open about sexual matters, particularly on the erotic "Feel It" and "L'Amour Looks Something Like You". "Strange Phenomena" has been labelled "a frank paean to menstruation".[3]

A second single, "The Man with the Child in His Eyes", was released to another warm reception, reaching number six in the UK charts.[1] It also made it onto the American Hot 100 Billboard Charts, Bush's only single to do so until 1985.

As part of her preparation for entering the studio, Bush toured pubs with the KT Bush Band, supported by her brother Paddy and close friends, but for the album she was persuaded to use established session musicians, some of whom she would retain even after she had brought her band mates back on board.[1] Paddy Bush was the only member of the KT Bush Band to play on The Kick Inside. Unlike on later albums where he would play more exotic instruments such as balalaika and didgeridoo, here he played the more standard harmonica and mandolin. Stuart Elliot played some of the drums and would become her main percussionist on subsequent albums,[1] along with session drummer Charlie Morgan, who later went on to be a regular with Elton John. Preston Heyman was credited with some subsequent studio work but mostly performed on the live tour of 1979.

The album was produced by David Gilmour's friend, Andrew Powell.[4] Six different varieties of the album's cover are known; the one shown on the right is the regular UK cover, which is the most widespread. It is Bush's only album to have a different cover in the U.K., the U.S., Canada and Japan.

[edit] Trivia

  • While recording the album, Bush worked at the same studio complex as New Zealand band Split Enz, who were in the process of recording their third album Dizrythmia.
  • The British band The Kick Inside took their name from the album.

[edit] Track listing

All songs written by Kate Bush

[edit] Side one

  1. "Moving" – 3:01
  2. "The Saxophone Song" – 3:51
  3. "Strange Phenomena" – 2:57
  4. "Kite" – 2:56
  5. "The Man with the Child in His Eyes" – 2:39
  6. "Wuthering Heights" – 4:28

[edit] Side two

  1. "James and the Cold Gun" – 3:34
  2. "Feel It" – 3:02
  3. "Oh to Be in Love" – 3:18
  4. "L'Amour Looks Something Like You" – 2:27
  5. "Them Heavy People" – 3:04
  6. "Room for the Life" – 4:03
  7. "The Kick Inside" – 3:30

[edit] Personnel

[edit] See also

[edit] References

  1. ^ a b c d Kate Bush. NNDB. Retrieved on 2007-04-03.
  2. ^ Kate Bush TV Interview. Ask Aspel (1978-09-05). Retrieved on 2007-04-03.
  3. ^ Doyle, Tom (October 28, 2005). I'm not some weirdo recluse. The Guardian. Retrieved on 2007-07-29.
  4. ^ Cowley, Jason. The Wow Factor. The New Statesman. Retrieved on 2007-04-03.

[edit] External links


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Kate Bush
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