LIONHEART

Kate Bush spent three years in writing and recording The Kick Inside (due to she was still on school at that time...) And I think she used the best work made among this years to her first album, with the best singles and the most commercial melodies, and the rest was put into this second release.

Lionhear was recorded very close after The Kick Inside was released, in 1978, and the style is very similar to its predecesor (it's logical...), but the general quality of the songs is a bit under the Kate's debut. There are no bad tracks here... But only a few are really excellent. The songs are maybe not so slow as in The Kick Inside were, but so full in details as in this great album. The music is not strictly progressive or symphonic... But the richness, originality and creativity of this wonderful singer make Lionheart deserving a good place in this site, like almost all of her albums.

The musicians are almost the same as in The Kick Inside... I specially appreciate the bass playing, and some guitar melodies (courtesy by the genious Ian Bairnson...) The pianos and keyboards are also really prominent. The song structure is based in keys more than in guitars or percussion... Except some rockier tracks like Hammer Horror or Don't Push your foot on the Heartbrake.

Best songs: Symphony in Blue (great verses and piano playing...), Wow (the best track of the album, and the most famous one... Wonderful Kate's singing here), Oh England My Lionheart (I really love the chorus...) and Hammer Horror (after classic horror film's introduction comes a catchy and funny song... A good ending).

Conclusion: far from being the best Kate Bush's release, and really similar to the previous The Kick Inside, Lionheart is still a good album, and every Kate's fan will love it... Like I do. But I must say that I miss more originality (wich would come later in Never Forever), because having heard The Kick Inside, there are almost no surprises in Lionheart. Very good, but not essential.

My rating:***1/2

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