Although Lionheart - recorded over 10 weeks in the autumn of 1978 and released that December - indicated a progression in the career of Kate Bush, it was undoubtedly recorded too quickly after the mammoth The Kick Inside to offer clear indications of any musical development. After Lionheart, ... Read review
Advantages: Some good tracks Disadvantages: Not as good as Kick Inside
Although Lionheart - recorded over 10 weeks in the autumn of 1978 and released that December - indicated a progression in the career of Kate Bush, it was undoubtedly recorded too quickly after the mammoth The Kick Inside to offer clear indications of any musical development. After Lionheart, EMI allowed Kate almost total control over her pace of work and the release of new material.
Nonetheless, the album consolidated her right to ... ...and it included a number of fine tracks like Symphony In Blue, Don’t Push Your Foot On The Heartbrake and Oh England My Lionheart, the latter a beautifully crafted tribute to the mother country complete with mandolin from brother Paddy. The song encapsulated Kate’s Englishness and went some way to explaining why, by the mid Eighties, she had yet to break big in the US.
The album also included Wow, written as a reaction to the impression ... more
Although Lionheart - recorded over 10 weeks in the autumn of 1978 and released that December - indicated a progression in the career of Kate Bush, it was undoubtedly recorded too quickly after the mammoth The Kick Inside to offer clear indications of any musical development. After Lionheart, EMI allowed Kate almost total control over her pace of work and the release of new material.
Nonetheless, the album consolidated her right to the top newcomer, female singer and songwriter awards for 1978, and it included a number of fine tracks like Symphony In Blue, Don’t Push Your Foot On The Heartbrake and Oh England My Lionheart, the latter a beautifully crafted tribute to the mother country complete with mandolin from brother Paddy. The song encapsulated Kate’s Englishness and went some way to explaining why, by the mid Eighties, she had yet to break big in the US.
The album also included Wow, written as a reaction to the impression the music press was giving about her and her use of words like groovy, amazing and wow.
It’s not up to The Kick Inside, but it is a valuable piece of work.
Advantages: Fierce,delicate,enchantin g.All that Kate Bush is loved and admired for encapsulated in this album Disadvantages: You stare at the cover hating youself for not looking as sexy as she does!
Lionheart (1978) is really a beautiful addition the Kate Bush collection. The sexy album cover and lyrics like 'the more that I think of sex the better it gets' hints at the real bravery buried in this album. It's no suprise with songs like "Oh England My Lionheart", that this album did really well in England and not so well in the US. Kate Bush's vocals really do leap and dance around the music in this enchanting album. But dont be fooled by her ... ...a woman who throws out lyrics heavy with ferocity like 'he's too busy hitting the vaseline' in the brilliant song WOW! This album really is amazing to listen to as its so intricate and detailed with surprises and points of interest lurking in every crevice of itself. You could really keep listening to it over and over without tiring of its complexities. In fact the only bad point about Kate's music is that you sound like a right idiot if you try ...
SpookyMoon 29.05.2009
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Ciao members have rated this review on average: helpful Review of Lionheart - Kate Bush
Advantages: Brilliant CD Disadvantages: It ends too soon
I was a small child when this album was released, but I was always fascinated by the album cover: Kate Bush dressed as a lion in some remote attic somewhere. Having always loved Wuthering Heights as a track, I'd always been happy with my copy of Kate's 'The Whole Story' as it contained this track and most of the well-known pieces I'd remembered from my childhood.
However, I'd always wanted a copy of this album (I thought mainly because of my love ... ...Dad to part with his LP, resigned myself to not having a copy. That is of course, until I found that this was available on CD - and I snapped it up.
While containing some probably lesser known songs, it's got to be my favourite album of all time. 'Wuthering Heights', which I still love, has been relegated into second place, with 'In Search of Peter Pan' becoming my favourite song. In actual fact though, there are some big similarities in the beginning ...
sally.jenkins 13.04.2006
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Ciao members have rated this review on average: helpful Review of Lionheart - Kate Bush
Originality
Lyrics
Quality and consistency...
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Advantages: Pure Kate Bush- worth the money. Disadvantages: Some will find it too quirky.
This is my first ever review, so I chose a subject close to my heart - KateBush's music.
Having spent my melancholy teen years accompanied by a KateBush soundtrack, I had been disappointed with "The Red Shoes", and longed for the glory days of "Never Forever", "Lionheart" and "The Kick Inside" - those are listed in my order of preference !
From the haunting first track on "Aerial", the upbeat "King of the Mountain", the "King" being Elvis, the album takes on a more mature tone than her earlier works, and my favourite track on CD1, "Mrs. Bartolozzi", is the quirky Kate which people find amazingly innovative or totally bonkers! It is a song seemingly about housework, yet magically soulful when you hear the lilting voice, the music and the underlying sadness in relationships.
Her multi-octave range is evident throughout ...
Advantages: Recaptures some of the magic of earlier albums Disadvantages: Perhaps a little quiet for some, after the extremity of earlier work
Having been utterly converted to KateBush back in 1978, I've followed her progress ever since; from the beautiful sparse ballads of The Kick Inside and Lionheart, through the gentle musical experiments of Never For Ever, exhuberant madness of The Dreaming, stunning crescendo that is Hounds of Love, eerily toned down Sensual World and the funky and spunky Red Shoes.
Each album has yielded something fresh and original, and Kate has never been afraid to go against the grain, dabbling in the exotic and kooky. For some KateBush purists, however, 1993's Red Shoes was a musical bridge too far, with its lashings of funk and pop: too far removed from the transcendental otherworldly ballads of old. I personally enjoyed that fresh new direction, but with some reservations too that Kate had compromised a bit far. With this in mind, I had ...
Personnel: Kate Bush (vocals, piano); Ian Bairnson, Brian Bath (guitar); Paddy Bush (slide guitar, mandolin, strumento da porco, mandocello, panpipes, background vocals); Richard Harvey (recorder); Duncan Mackay (fender rhodes, synthesizer); Francis Monkman (harpsichord, Hammond organ); David Paton, Del Palmer (bass); Stuart Elliott (drums, percussion); Charles Morgan (drums); Andrew Powell (joanna strumentum). Recorded at Superbear Studios. When EMI signed the teenage prodigy Kate Bush, the label claimed that in order to nurture her talent, it wouldn't release her first album until she had a few years to grow up. As a result, her debut, THE KICK INSIDE, didn't see daylight for three years. On the other hand, her second album, LIONHEART, was rush-released only nine months after the success of its predecessor. Fortunately, Kate still had some leftover songs from the debut session, helping make her sophomore effort an equally strong offering. With the wisdom of someone much older, Kate looks at sex, spirituality, and death in "Symphony in Blue"; at childhood in "Peter Pan"; and the trauma of relationships in "Fullhouse" and "Don't Push Your Foot on the Heartbreak." Her handwritten lyrics for the beautiful "Oh England My Lionheart" give her away--the handwriting is that of the 16-year-old she was at the time. As Kate often said in those days, "wow."
Titles on disc 1
1.
Symphony In Blue
2.
When You Wish Upon A Star/In Search Of Peter Pan
3.
Wow
4.
Don't Push Your Foot On The Heartbrake
5.
Oh England My Lionheart
6.
Full House
7.
In The Warm Room
8.
Kashka From Baghdad
9.
Coffee Homeground
10.
Hammer Horror
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