FEATURE:
Deserving of a Full House!
Why Kate Bush’s Lionheart Warrants a Long Podcast
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AN album that I have had to defend before…
PHOTO CREDIT: Gered Mankowitz
it seems odd and wrong to have to do that. If people are not familiar, Lionheart was Kate Bush’s second album. Released in 1978, mere months after her debut, The Kick Inside, it is an album that did not get the same great reviews. When people rank Bush’s ten studio albums, they often put Lionheart in the bottom three. I have seen it placed higher but, normally, it is down there with The Red Shoes (1993), Director’s Cut (2011) and The Sensual World (1989). Maybe some were expecting something like The Kick Inside, or they felt that Lionheart sounded a bit too like that album. As I have said before when featuring Lionheart, Bush was put in an awkward position by EMI. Her debut was a success and took her all around the world. Rather than let he rest or spend time writing new material, there was this expectation of a new album. That would not happen today! Only able to write a few new songs (including the remarkable Symphony in Blue), Bush had to use older songs for her second album – ones that might have been considered in some form for The Kick Inside. I am not sure how comfortable and assured Bush was releasing a quick follow-up to The Kick Inside. Recording at Super Bear Studios in Berre-les-Alpes, France, Bush assisted with production alongside The Kick Inside’s producer, Andrew Powell. I think that she managed to help create an album that is varied and different (compared to The Kick Inside).
There have been some positive reviews for Lionheart but, in the main, they are mixed. Running at ten tracks, it is concise and has very little weakness. The single, Wow, is the third track. Symphony in Blue opens the album. Tracks like Kashka from Baghdad are among Bush’s best tracks. Whilst she would produce a stronger and more accomplished album with 1980’s Never for Ever, Lionheart definitely deserves to be given its dues. Mixing in slightly unusual elements on songs such as Coffee Homeground and Full House, Bush did expand her sound. Full House has this sense of dread and anxiety. Coffee Homeground has an almost fairground/carnival vibe to it. In the Warm Room could have fitted on The Kick Inside, whilst Don’t Push Your Foot on the Heartbrake is a rockier song that shares vocals share similarities with Babooshka (Never for Ever). There is a lot to love on Lionheart. Bush’s voice is extraordinary and, using most of the personnel from The Kick Inside, there is a consistency and link between the albums. Released in November 1978, I hope that its forty-fifth anniversary next year gets people reassessing an album that is actually a lot stronger than it has been given credit for. Maybe releasing Hammer Horror as the first single was an error. I think that Kashka from Baghdad or Oh England My Lionheart would have been more successful. That said, the song is very strong, and it featured a particularly memorable music video! Lionheart did get to number six here in the U.K. It can be seen as a success but, if Bush was given more time, it could have been more of what she wanted.
Before moving along, I want to source the Kate Bush Encyclopaedia. They collated some great interviews where Bush talked about the album (and we discover her views). It is interesting reading what she had to say about Lionheart:
“Maybe I'm a bit too close to it at the moment, but I find it much more adventurous than the last one. I'm much more happier with the songs and the arrangements and the backing tracks. I was getting a bit worried about labels from that last album; everything being in the high register, everything being soft, and airy-fairy. That was great for the time but it's not really what I want to do now, or what I want to do, say, in the next year. I guess I want to get basically heavier in the sound sense... and I think that's on the way, which makes me really happy.
I don't really think there are any songs on the album that are as close to Wuthering Heights as there were on the last one. I mean, there's lots of songs people could draw comparisons with. I want the first single that comes out from this album to be reasonably up-tempo. That's the first thing I'm concerned with, because I want to break away from what has previously gone. I'm not pleased with being associated with such soft, romantic vibes, not for the first single anyway. If that happens again, that's what I will be to everyone. (Harry Doherty, Kate: Enigma Variations. Melody Maker, November 1978).
[Recording in France] was an amazing experience. I mean it's the first time I've ever recorded out of the country. And the environment was really quite phenomenal, I mean it was just so beautiful, it was so unlike anything I'd seen for a long while. And I think there was so many advantages to it, but there were a couple of disadvantages - the fact that it was so beautiful, you couldn't help but keep drifting off to the sun out there, you know, that sort of thing. But you just didn't feel like you needed a break, because the vibes and the weather and everyone around was just so good, you know, you didn't feel like you were working. It was really, really fun. (Lionheart Promo Cassette, EMI Canada, 1978)
It was a difficult situation because there was very little time around and I felt very squashed in by the lack of time and that's what I don't like, especially if it's concerning something as important for me as my songs are, they're really important to me. But it all seemed to come together and it was really nicely guided by something, it just happened great. And there were quite a few old songs that I managed to get the time to re-write. It's a much lighter level of work when you re-write a song because the basic inspiration is there, you just perfect upon it and that's great. And they're about four new songs so they all came together, it was great. In fact, we ended up with more then we needed again, which is fantastic. (Lionheart Promo Cassette, EMI Canada, 1978)”.
Although there have been Kate Bush podcasts, not many of them (if any) have spent time with Lionheart. 1978 was a busy and eventful year for Kate Bush. To hear about her getting Lionheart together and entering a new studio would be fascinating. I know there are fans of the album, and it would be great to hear about their thoughts and feelings. The cover’s photo (shot by Gered Mankowitz) is brilliant! I love the variety of sounds on the album - and, although it is not her finest, there is more than enough to discuss and unpick. Recorded between July and September 1978, it amazes me that she started recorded her second album only five months after her debut arrived! Given such a tight deadline, Lionheart is an amazing album with so many interesting songs. Bush was not resting after Lionheart’s release. The Tour of Life took up a lot of 1979. In 1980, she released her next album, Never for Ever. Maybe a slight track rearrangement would create an even stronger listening experience. I think a lot of people got too hung up on comparing Lionheart with The Kick Inside. If you take it on its own merits as a new album that was not trying to repeat The Kick Inside, then you will find a lot to appreciate. The 1978 gem is a fascinating album from…
A brilliant artist.