[Review] Kate Bush: The Kick Inside (1978)

The greatest discovery since Emily Dickinson’s poems.

Kronomyth 1.0: Every elf and fairy sprite, hop as light as bird from brier, and this ditty after me, sing and dance it trippingly.*

Kate Bush is a faerie-witch made of moonwater and dragon’s tears, and the songs she sings ring with the laughter of pixies at play. How else to explain the supernatural thrill of hearing Wuthering Heights, Moving, Kite and the rest of The Kick Inside for the first time? There was something uniquely liberating in the music of Joni Mitchell, and a sense in hearing songs like “Chelsea Morning” that your feet had lifted off the ground, but the music of Kate Bush catapults you into the ether. The first side of music is breathtaking in its beauty, closing with two songs that define the very magic essence of her muse, The Man with the Child in His Eyes and “Wuthering Heights.” I immediately fell in love with Kate Bush the moment I heard “Wuthering Heights” on the radio. And then, years later, watching Kate Bush Live at the Hammersmith Odeon on laserdisc, I fell in love with her all over again. She was the archetype of every fairy tale female wrapped into one: beautiful, dangerous, unattainable yet vulnerable. The first side of The Kick Inside is flawless. The second side has a few delicious moments (James and the Cold Gun, Them Heavy People) but favors piano ballads that sometimes sound like Joni Mitchell on helium. The backing band, built mostly from the members of The Alan Parsons Project, is fantastic. With rich accompaniment that gives her songwriting the perfect amount of oomph at just the right moments, the parallel shifts from Joni Mitchell to Joan Armatrading. It seems shameful to limit the comparisons to women, but it reminds me of Dune and the place where the Bene Gesserit dare not go. There is a place in music where only women dare to go, and Joni Mitchell, Joan Armatrading and Kate Bush have all gone there, each returning with very different accounts of their journey. Joni took you inside her head, Joan took you inside her heart and Kate Bush takes you inside her imagination. That’s an oversimplification, I’m sure, but I am simply a man after all.

(*William Shakespeare, “A Midsummer Night’s Dream”)

Original elpee version

A1. Moving
A2. The Saxophone Song
A3. Strange Phenomena
A4. Kite
A5. The Man with the Child in His Eyes
A6. Wuthering Heights
B1. James and the Cold Gun
B2. Feel It
B3. Oh to Be in Love
B4. L’Amour Looks Something Like You
B5. Them Heavy People
B6. Room for the Life
B7. The Kick Inside

All songs written by Kate Bush.

The Players

Kate Bush (backing and lead vocals, piano), Ian Bairnson (guitars, backing vocals, beer bottles), Stuart Elliott (drums, percussion), Duncan Mackay (electric piano, synthesizer, organ, clavinet), David Paton (bass, acoustic guitar, guitars, backing vocals), Andrew Powell (arrangements, keyboards, electric piano, bass, celeste, synthesizer, beer bottles), with Paddy Bush (mandolin on B3, backing vocals on B5), Barry de Souza (drums on A2), David Katz (orchestral contractor), Paul Keogh (electric guitar on A2), Bruce Lynch (bass on A2), Alan Parker (guitar on A2), Morris Pert (percussion on A3/A4/A6/B6), Alan Skidmore (saxophone on A2). Produced by Andrew Powell; executive producer: Dave Gilmour on A2/A5; engineered by John Kelly.

The Pictures

Sleeve concept by Kate Bush. Front cover design by Splash Studio. Photography by Jay Myrdal. Back cover original ideas by John Carder Bush and Del Palmer.

The Plastic

Released on elpee and cassette on February 17, 1978 in the UK, Australia and Singapore (EMI, EMC/TC-EMC 3223), the US (Harvest, SW-11761), Canada (Capitol, 4XW-11761), Japan (EMI, EMS-81042), Portugal and Yugoslavia (EMI, LSEMI 70870) (EMI, 8E 272-03 603) with regional cover.
1. Re-issued on elpee picture disc in 1979 in the UK (EMI, EMCP 3223).
2. Re-issued on compact disc on November 8, 1989 in Japan (EMI, CP21-6082).
3. Re-issued on elpee in the US (EMI America, SW-17003) with different cover.
4. Re-issued on compact disc and cassette in the US (EMI Manhattan, CDP 7 46012 2/E4-46012).
5. Re-issued on compact disc on November 2, 2005 in Japan (EMI, TOCP-67185).
6. Re-issued on remastered 180g vinyl elpee in 2018 in the EU (Parlophone).