THE KICK INSIDE

It´s funny but Kate Bush is one of the first artists I remember listening to on the radio in my childhood and of course it was Wuthering Heights which was the great hit from The kick Inside and probably the greatest hit Kate Bush have ever made. It´s doubtful that I heard Wuthering Heights in 1978 as I was only 1 year old at the time, but a couple of years after is more plausible. It´s strange how things that we associate with our childhood can bring out strong emotions but that´s exactly what Wuthering Heights does to me. I get goosebumps every time I listen to that song. Just beautiful.

I didn´t listen to Kate Bush for many years then but around 1995 I started listening to Tori Amos and in interviews with Tori, I read that she was very influenced by Kate Bush and of course I was curious to know if that was true. Listening to the two artist it´s clear that it is very true. Tori is very influenced by Kate Bush as are many other female singer/ songwriters.

The music is piano driven, but the main focus is on Kate Bush beautiful voice which spans over many octaves. Her voice can be tiny as a mouse and as grand as a bear but always with a sensual edge. The structure of the songs are mainly vers chorus radio friendly but there are twists here and there to keep things exciting. All songs are either good or excellent, but a couple of the songs stand out from the rest. These two songs are simply masterpieces of progressive rock. Moving and Wuthering heights are very special songs that even Kate Bush herself has only made a handful of in her career. Listen to the emotional singing in those songs, it just can´t be done better. Note the beautiful and pretty original harmony and background vocals in Moving. Fantastic, just fantastic.

Kate Bush has assembled an outstanding cast of musicians to play on The Kick Inside, but the brightest star is definitely herself. Her piano playing is outstanding and her vocal perfomance here on her debut is beyond what can be expected even by the most experiences singers. Her vocal performance is simply outstanding and unique.

The production is nice and soft, a typical seventies production with soft drum and bass sound. The vocals have gotten the most attention though and they are very well produced.

This is not a masterpiece as there are too many songs that are just good, but the few masterpieces and the couple of excellent songs makes this album a 4 star album for me. It´s higly recommendable though.