FEATURE:
Where It All Began
Kate Bush’s The Kick Inside
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BECAUSE I recently purchased…
IN THIS PHOTO: Kate Bush doing the washing up at her family’s home in East Wickham, Welling, on 26th September, 1978/PHOTO CREDIT: Chris Moorhouse/Evening Standard/Hulton Archive/Getty Images
Kate Bush The Kick Inside: In-depth, I have been compelled to re-explore Kate Bush’s debut album. In future features, I am going to look at topics such as Hounds of Love and The Tour of Life – as a new edition of MOJO covers these areas they are worth mentioning again. I know a lot about The Kick Inside, but I wanted to source a few sections of the book and things that add new perspective and angles. Before then, here is a synopsis about the new book:
“For Kate Bush, and indeed many in her strong fanbase, The Kick Inside is the album that started it all. Her 1978 debut was certainly attention grabbing; it propelled her to fame and got the ball rolling for a phenomenal career as a much appreciated musician and admired female talent. With the iconic 'Wuthering Heights', the young Kate had captured people's imagination with her original songwriting style and of course, her unique voice.
In this book, music author Laura Shenton MA LLCM DipRSL offers an in depth perspective on The Kick Inside from a range of angles including how the album came to be, how it was presented and received at the time (live as well as on record), and what it means in terms of Kate Bush's legacy today.
As the author explains: "Basically, the book covers how the album was made, what was going on with the music in terms of the artist's intentions, how it did musically and commercially and what happened next."
The narrative is essentially driven by contemporary interviews with the artists with small bits of music theory where relevant... in some cases they delve into the structure / key signatures / time signatures, based on the original sheet music without straying away from being an engaging read for non-musicians”.
One of the first things that caught my eye in the book was on page twelve, when we get an interview quote from the Reading Evening Post from April 1979. Bush said that she wants her music to make people shiver. Although it seemed that, from The Dreaming in 1982, Bush was looking to create something more physical, experimental and broad, beauty and tenderness was very much at the front of her mind on her debut. Perhaps that is something to do with age (she was a teenager when The Kick Inside came out), or it might be to do with the types of songs she was writing (and what she wanted to say through her music). I know the album is a very beautiful and feminine-sounding. There are multiple songs where one shivers and feels something sensational! Most songwriters were releasing similarly beautiful music by talking of love and romance; Bush was so much broader in her subject matter and bravery – making people shiver and also spiking their mind and making them think is a remarkable achievement on a debut album!
It is interesting Bush said (on the promotional record for The Kick Inside) that she writes songs so she can express herself. Maybe music and her debut was a way to be heard. Perhaps her natural shyness held her back from really being understood or being able to convey her emotions and thoughts. That idea of being heard and noticed does not result in bold and needlessly intense tracks. Quite the opposite. It is the intelligence of the lyrics and the nuance in Bush’s voice that means the songs resonate the first time that you hear them – though one comes back again and again because the tracks are so original, rich and accomplished! Although The Kick Inside arrived in 1978, Bush’s songwriting pre-dates the album by years. In 1972, a family friend, Ricky Hopper, presented some songs to a record company (who were not interested). He approached David Gilmour. Thinking about the fact Bush was still in school at that point, and it would have been easy just to ignore the music and say that she hadn’t matured as a songwriter. Hopper and Gilmour clearly saw and heard the talent and promise Bush had! Whilst Bush would assimilate new influences on futures albums, she did tell the New Zealand Listeners in December 1978 how “Folk was my first introduction when I was just a baby”. English and Irish (her mother was Irish) was prevalent in the household. I think she extrapolated from those songs she would have heard and brought in into her own music. I think Folk possesses a lot of beauty and personal exploration. I will move on to explore how The Kick Inside was received. Maybe, in 1978, there a shift and move where Folk and the sounds Bush presented on her debut were out of step or less popular.
One of the most evocative and wonderful images regarding the making of The Kick inside happened just before Bush went into the studio to record the album (she already recorded The Man with the Child in His Eyes and The Saxophone Song in 1975 at AIR Studios under the guidance of David Gilmour). In March 1978, during a full moon at midnight, Bush was in her flat and looked out the window. It was, as she explained to the Kate Bush Magazine in 1979, the first song she had written for a while. She had been busy rehearsing with The KT Bush Band and didn’t have much writing time. Bush had not read Wuthering Heights before writing the song (she was inspired by a T.V. adaption where she caught the final ten minutes). Her brother, John, talked about the story. Bush looked at a few pages and, as she shared a name with Cathy (Catherine), it made it easy to relate to the heroine. Apologies to jump around in terms of themes and chronology but, as Laura Shenton’s book has revealed new things, I wanted to put them out there. It is a shame that the Brontë Society were against Wuthering Heights. I guess they felt that the purity of the text had been cheapened or turned into something mainstream and Pop). Bush revealed how a lot of people loved the song, however. The book appeared on the GCE syllabus and many students used Bush’s song to relate to the text! Bush was clearly struck by Wuthering Heights and Cathy (which she was called as a child). The fact that the author, Emily Brontë, share the same birthday (30th July) with Bush was another thing that intrigued her. Bush would eventually read Wuthering Heights in full a long time later.
It is angering to read some of the negative press Bush received. In February 1979 (on page twenty-five of the Shenton book), Superpop observed how she was “undeniably beautiful” and had her physical charms; the fact people bothered to write mail to her stunned them. The sexist and belittling tones bellied a talent who was a breath of fresh air on the music scene! Having to read remarks about her looks must have been hugely discouraging and upsetting for an artist who wanted to be taken seriously. Bush was not male, angry or working-class. A lot pf Punk and Rock was dominating in the late-Seventies where angrier young men ruled and were idolised. Bush was inspired by artists like Billie Holiday, Steely Dan, Roxy Music ad David Bowie. Although New Wave was coming through, I think that Punk was still very important; the feeling that, perhaps, Bush was an unknown quantity. In July 1978, Bush said the following when she spoke with Trouser Press: “Maybe it’s ironic, but I think punk has actually done a lot for me in England. People were waiting for something new to come out – something with feeling”. Although Bush liked Punk, she felt that it was a transition to something more interesting. News Wave was more about interesting lyrics and richness. I think a lot of the prejudice she received from press corners related to this transitioning period; some feeling that The Kick Inside was unappealing or was too soft. Bush did not want to fall into the trap of being seen as a sex symbol. Although some of the press were labelling her as such, she knew that if she accepted that then she would be seen as having made it because of this - and not because she is a great artist.
Recording engineer Jon Kelly (The Kick Inside was his first project) told Sound on Sound in 2004 how the calibre of the musicians who played on the album was remarkable. Rather than the musicians taking direction from producer Andrew Powell and not connecting with Bush, they were keen to sit down with her and have songs explained if they felt something was too heavy or unusual. Bush could explain her songs and, if parts needed to be redone, they were happy with that. The incredible musicianship and professionalism was reflected in the range of instrumentation on The Kick Inside. Whilst people assume that albums like The Dreaming and Hounds of Love were Bush progressing her music and moving on from a simple and limited sound, her debut was very broad and advanced. Thought had to go into how the microphones were positioned in the studio to capture these musicians and interesting sounds. Jon Kelly stayed true to the set-up Geoff Emerick used for the recordings of The Man with the Child in His Eyes and The Saxophone Song in 1975. It was clear that EMI wanted the album to do well and reach as many nations as possible. A total of seven different covers were used around the world – The Kick Inside is the only Bush album to have separate covers for the U.K., U.S., Canada, Japan , Yugoslavia (the cover that appears at the very top of this feature), and Uruguay. An interesting fact I wasn’t aware of was that Jay Myrdal – who did the photography for the U.K. cover - did not have much hope for the album doping well because of Bush’s shrill voice (his words)! He later admitted that he was a bit naïve in that respect. A kite was rigged up with ropes and bars against a black painted wall in a photography studio as Bush was hanged from the structured. The concept (which Bush worked on with art director Steve Ridgeway) had its roots in Pinocchio (where Jiminy Cricket glides past the whale’s eye using his umbrella as a parachute). Although there would be better album covers from Lionheart (her second album released in 1978), it is good to know Bush has input and some control when it came to her direction and visual elements!
One of the missed opportunities was having Them Heavy People released as a single in the U.K. (it was put out as a single in Japan). The label wanted it to be the second single. Bush was against this so, instead, The Man with the Child in His Eyes was released. Bush was used to signing Them Heavy People and felt it was like a hymn; something that meant a lot to her. She was not too happy with the album version, as she felt the song should have been looser (perhaps closer to the versions she performed during 1979’s The Tour of Life). Regardless, it is a highlight from The Kick Inside that would have been a successful single. A reason why it would have been good to see Them Heavy People arrive with an official video is because the videos were getting a lot of focus. Keith Macmillan directed those early videos. Bush and Macmillan would sit down and discuss concepts. She would send routines and he would work on camera angles/shots etc. They were very much on the same page and had this great working relationship. I think the videos for Wuthering Heights and The Man with the Child in His Eyes, whilst not as cinematic and advanced as future videos, were/are really impactful.
I will end by talking about some of the reaction The Kick Inside received. Sounds were not impressed. They thought the song were doom-laden and described Bush’s voice as being “the most irritating yelping voice since Robert Plant…”. They thought the album was contrived; that there was talent trying to get out. One of the observations in Kate Bush The Kick Inside: In-depth was that the trippy-ness of The Kick Inside could have fitted in the late-Sixties but, in 1978, maybe it was not what people were used to. Some said that Bush would go on to better things. Hot Press liked the album but did not feel it would rank alongside the best albums of 1978 – maybe it didn’t rank high in 1978 but, now, it is seen as one of the best of that year! I think critical opinion has improved through the years. As more people have listened to it and, looking back, the album has aged well and has inspired a lot of artists, there has been this fairer and deeper representation. Bush liked the album when it came out but, as she acquired ambitions to produce and her music changed, I think she sort of dismissed the album as being incomplete; not as she would have liked or a weaker work. She told Tune In in December 1978 that she could not remember when she was last alone and had any opportunity to breathe and focus on herself and new music.
The issue was getting songs written and having that space. Lionheart was released in November 1978 and, with no time to write many new songs, Bush was unable to sufficiently progress and create an album that she truly liked. Like The Kick Inside, Bush was positive about Lionheart when it was released but, looking back, she has sort of disengaged herself from that album. Maybe that is why she is also a bit cold towards her debut. If things were different and she had co-produced The Kick Inside or was undertaking less promotion, maybe she would feel more favourable towards the album. Bush spoke with Wireless in 1983 (a year after The Dreaming arrived) and could not believe how young she sounded on The Kick Inside. She was interviewed by Musician in 1985 (the year Hounds of Love was released) and was not happy with her first two albums – Bush rued “of all the things I’d have liked to have done”. Bush matured after The Kick Inside so, when interviewed, it is natural that she would feel estranged regarding those early sounds. When Kerrang! interviewed her in 1982, Bush said that she liked a lot of the songs on the first two albums but was not happy with the way they came across – again, if she had produced them then things might have been different. I sort of think artists are subjective when it comes to opinions on their own albums, so I sort of take Bush’s dissatisfaction (or indifference) with a pinch of salt! Bush would start producing solo from 1982’s The Dreaming. I think she learned a lot from The Kick Inside. Laura Shenton closes the book by offering positivity towards The Kick Inside: “…the fact remains that The Kick Inside is full of wonder and intrigue. With regards to music innovation and music history…”.
IT matters”.