Kate Bush - "The Kick Inside" (1979)

Rating: 9

Best Song – “Wuthering Heights”

How to describe the music of Kate Bush? Better yet, how to describe why, at her best, she has taken such a hold of my heart? Well, she’s not for everyone (at least not her early albums), which I’ve found out the hard way. 60 seconds of the opening track of “Moving” will likely be a strong indicator of whether you can acclimate yourself to the charms of Ms. Bush. Once you hear her piercing pixie squeal, admittedly a bit reminiscent of Yoko Ono (as my wife handily pointed out), the gauntlet is thrown down. And as much as I’d like to encourage you, my hypothetical averse listener, to be more open-minded, I’ve also learned from hard experience from rabid Dylan worship, that many people will never hear some singers the same way I do, no matter how exuberantly I extol their virtues.

So with that warning out of the way, let me get to the part where I exuberantly extol Kate Bush’s virtues. Admittedly, I have a penchant for eccentric, novel singing voices, but I loved this album on very first listen and really, The Kick Inside is way more accessible than say, The Dreaming (which I also loved on very first listen, but that’s a different story). Kate does sound a little bit like Yoko but is way more charming. She doesn’t have to sing like she does on this album (as proved by her later work), but she chose to. It fits rather well with both the musical and lyrical themes of the album, and the fact that most of these songs were written by Bush as a teenager. 

It’s really an impressively consistent record, with nearly every song seemingly following the same basic structure (a piano-led ballad with a complex, yet catchy vocal melody over a jazzy chord progression), yet all with their own special charms. The highlight is the aforementioned “Wuthering Heights,” which is probably the most exaggerated version of the typical Kick Inside track, and is all the better for it. It’s like this supernova of teenage histrionics and angst filtered by way of Emily Bronte and Joni Mitchell. And much to my surprise, it was actually a hit too (at least in Britain). The music video of Bush dancing around in a garish red dress in a meadow captures the feeling pretty well. This is ecstatic, idealistic music that will totally woo you over, if you’re willing to meet Kate halfway.

Overall, The Kick Inside ranks among the most impressive debut albums I’ve ever heard and I can’t really imagine Bush making a better record in the same style. The worst complaint I could think of is that all the songs somewhat sound the same, but when you have zero weak cuts out of thirteen, that’s a minor complaint. She would go on to top this album, but it would take her a few tries and a major expansion of her style in order to be able to do it.