The Kick Inside

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The Kick Inside
The Kick Inside (Album Artwork).png
Studio album by
Kate Bush
Released17 February 1978 (1978-02-17)
RecordedJune 1975, July–August 1977
Studio AIR (London) [1]
Genre
Length43:13
Label
Producer
Kate Bush chronology
The Kick Inside
(1978)		 Lionheart
(1978)
Singles from The Kick Inside
  1. "Wuthering Heights"
    Released: 20 January 1978
  2. "Moving"
    Released: 5 February 1978 (JP)
  3. "Them Heavy People"
    Released: 5 May 1978 (JP)
  4. "The Man with the Child in His Eyes"
    Released: 26 May 1978
  5. "Strange Phenomena"
    Released: 1 June 1979 (BR)

Contemporary reviews were full of praise for the album. Billboard favoured the songs "Wuthering Heights" and "Them Heavy People" among others and said Bush wrote "evocative lyrics" and delivered them with "smooth and unrestrained vocals". [23] Kris DiLorenzo of Crawdaddy said that "Bush's talent for soul-baring would be frightening were it not so ingenuous; she writes from a well of fantasy and feeling with a patina of experience, her concerns universal and womanly, not the usual wilted kitten yearning or last-rave bathos." [24] Peter Reilly of Stereo Review praised Bush for going against the grain in women's music. He favoured the songs "The Man with the Child in His Eyes" and "Room for the Life" but cared less for "Wuthering Heights" and "James and the Cold Gun". [25]

In later reviews, the album continued to receive universal praise. Pitchfork critic Laura Snapes said of the album, "It is ornate music made in austere times, but unlike the pop sybarites to follow in the next decade, flaunting their wealth while Britain crumbled, Bush spun hers not from material trappings but the infinitely renewable resources of intellect and instinct: Her joyous debut measures the fullness of a woman's life by what's in her head." Snapes spoke highly of every track, but had slight lyrical reservations for "Room for the Life". [19] In a 2008 review for BBC Music, writer Chris Jones said, "Using mainly session musicians, The Kick Inside was the result of a record company actually allowing a young talent to blossom. Some of these songs were written when she was 13! Helmed by Gilmour's friend, Andrew Powell, it's a lush blend of piano grandiosity, vaguely uncomfortable reggae and intricate, intelligent, wonderful songs. All delivered in a voice that had no precedents." He says that the record company wanting to push "James and the Cold Gun" as the first single was a mistake as he labels it the album's "dullest track". [26] AllMusic's Bruce Eder said that the album is "the sound of an impressionable and highly precocious teenager spreading her wings for the first time" and called it "a mightily impressive debut". [13]

Not all reviews were positive. Sandy Robertson, from the now defunct music magazine Sounds , criticized the lyrics, especially on the song "Kite": "WHAT IS this supposed to be? Doom-laden, 'meaningful' songs (with some of the worst lyrics ever; sample: 'Beelzebub is aching in my belly-o/My feet are heavy and I'm rooted in my wellios') sung with the most irritatingly yelping voice since Robert Plant". [27]

In an article for Stylus Magazine , Marcello Carlin wrote that The Kick Inside "probably kicked down more doors than the whole of the first and second waves of punk combined", writing of Bush's unusual subjects, stark voice ("seeming to glide and swoop at will, covering three-and-a-half octaves with minimal apparent effort") and piano chord progressions, saying "their delayed sustain, their unexpected trapdoor modulations, the very fingers which were playing them ... couldn’t be ascribed to any realistic precedent; for one very important thing, they sounded so unambiguously feminine." [28]

Singer-songwriter Beth Orton named The Kick Inside as one of her favourite albums. [29] Fiona Apple said, "I used to sing and play a bunch of her songs from The Kick Inside at my piano when I was a kid: 'Feel It' and 'Moving' and 'The Kick Inside' and 'Wuthering Heights'." [30] Sarah McLachlan said she "loved" the album and was "really attracted to her voice and songs". [31]

Track listing

All tracks are written by Kate Bush

Side one
No.TitleLength
1."Moving"3:01
2."The Saxophone Song"3:51
3."Strange Phenomena"2:57
4."Kite"2:56
5."The Man with the Child in His Eyes"2:39
6."Wuthering Heights"4:28
Side two
No.TitleLength
7."James and the Cold Gun"3:34
8."Feel It"3:02
9."Oh to Be in Love"3:18
10."L'Amour Looks Something Like You"2:27
11."Them Heavy People"3:04
12."Room for the Life"4:03
13."The Kick Inside"3:30
Total length:43:13

Personnel

Credits are adapted from The Kick Inside liner notes. [32]

Musicians

Production

Charts

Certifications and sales

Certifications and sales for The Kick Inside
RegionCertification Certified units/sales
Australia (ARIA) [55] Platinum50,000^
Canada (Music Canada) [56] Platinum100,000^
Germany—150,000 [57]
Japan—25,000 [41]
Netherlands (NVPI) [58] Platinum100,000^
New Zealand (RMNZ) [59] Platinum15,000^
United Kingdom (BPI) [60] Platinum1,000,000 [61] [62]
United States—74,000 [63]

^ Shipments figures based on certification alone.

See also

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References

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  2. ↑ Carr, Daphne (19 January 2019). "Kate Bush: The Dreaming". Pitchfork . Retrieved 19 January 2019.
  3. ↑ "Hopper, Ricky". www.katebushencyclopedia.com. Retrieved 1 May 2019.
  4. ↑ "BBC Four - The Kate Bush Story: Running Up That Hill". BBC. Retrieved 1 May 2019.
  5. ↑ "Gaffaweb - Kate Bush - PHOENIX - The History of the Cathy Demos - compiled by Wieland Willker". gaffa.org. Retrieved 1 May 2019.
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