album #19

the kick inside (kate bush)

I've listened pretty much only to Kate Bush the past few days, this album and several singles. This was her debut album, from 1978. There are the tracks with the typical rock/piano sound with a little synth, and other songs that are… I don't really know what adjectives are best for her music, I guess I'll go with 'baroque'- lots of old instruments- strings, harpsichord, more tender piano. Her voice is pretty diverse, ranging from operatic to quirky-squeaky. This album definitely feels like a creature of the late 70's, it makes me think of Heart (to the extent that I know Heart). I didn't listen to the lyrics too closely, but there seems to be a fair amount going on about love and womanhood.

For the most part I'm really, really loving what I hear of Kate Bush. I barely knew her catalogue before, but I listened to a whole lot of her singles and I loved a whole lot of them. This album grew on me slowly, but my general impression is that it's pretty lovely. It's very feminine music, not in a pejorative way. Sweet, slow, plaintive in several tracks. Plenty of catchiness as well. There's also undeniably a cheesiness in a few of the tracks (a natural side effect of an artist who is unapologetically, proudly weird)- it's the sort of music that I really like but would feel mildly embarrassed to listen to around my roommates.

"Wuthering Heights" I love- So, so different. Squeaky, operatic, but god, such a knockout hook in the chorus. "Saxophone Song" has got some ridiculous lyrics in there, but I really really like it, when she sings "it's in me" with that yearning urgency, I absolutely love it. "Oh to be in Love" is catchy, and it's a fine example of her effortless slides between a, musical-theatre, operatic voice, and those really strong pop-rock hooks she hits in the chorus. Hm, even as I type it, that strikes me as the best way to summarize her formula on this album. Winding, delicate verses, with choruses that hit the hooks really well. "Them Heavy People" reminds me of a very particular type of music and I don't know what to call it. I guess, pop rock with a hint of reggae influence. But Lennon's 'Living on Borrowed Time' is the same style. Not sure what to call it, but Kate rocks it on that track. And "The Kick Inside" is a beautiful, beautiful closing track. She has a few numbers on this album that are, a little slower, more ballad types, and the closer is the absolute best among those tracks.

"The man with the child in his eyes" is not one of my favorites, but I wanted to mention it because it's just interesting how much it sounds like it could be a solo McCartney song. "Kite" is memorably funky. Not one of my favorites, but really cool music, a different kind of sound there. Sort of Elton John influence.

Altogether I really liked this album, there was some great stuff on here, and I'm looking forward to hearing some more of her albums. I have a feeling that, although this one is good, somewhere out there she's made an album that I would absolutely Love.