FEATURE:
In Her Own Words
Kate Bush’s Remarkable Debut Album, The Kick Inside, at Forty-Four
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MANY is the time…
PHOTO CREDIT: Gered Mankowitz
I have said that Kate Bush’s 1978 debut album, The Kick Inside, is my all-time favourite. Apologies if I repeat myself! As it is forty-four on 17th February, I wanted to put out a few features around the album. Through the years, I have explored Bush’s debut from multiple angles. Today, I am going to look at some of the quotes and interviews around The Kick Inside. Today, I am not sure how much Bush remembers from recording her debut in 1977. She will remember the excitement but, when it comes to details and the specifics, maybe those recollections are somewhat murkier. I know that she sort of reappraised the album at various stages. When it was completed and she was promoting it, there would have been this pride and satisfaction. Soon after, her opinion shifted. I feel there is this sort of lingering dissatisfaction regarding the fact she did not have more of a say in the production and overall sound. Perhaps, were she to do it all over, there would be different decisions made. One can definitely not fault the album as a whole. In terms of the lyrics and the sort of things Bush was writing about…this was a fearless and remarkably frank album that explored sex, philosophy, birth, death and so many other subjects that many of her peers were not covering. Bush herself would say that The Kick Inside was not as experimental as subsequent albums.
When starting out, the natural instinct is not going to be the same as it when you are more established. As an artist, I think she needed to make an album that was true to her, but one that was also quite accessible. If she had turned up in 1978 with an album like The Dreaming (released in 1982), then she may not have gained a lot of approval. As it was, The Kick Inside reached number three in the U.K. The incredible debut single, Wuthering Heights, was a number one. Years later, we are still discussing The Kick Inside and how important it is. In previous features, I have selected reviews that outline its many strengths. In terms of Bush’s remarkable vocals and how she layers characters and these different voices, The Kick Inside is a staggering album. I am relying on the Kate Bush Encyclopaedia when it comes to Bush’s feedback and opinions about The Kick Inside. Rather than there being negative interview quotes where she distanced herself from the album and that time, there is a lot of positivity about the musicians she worked with. In terms of credit and what makes The Kick Inside so special, people do not talk about the input of musicians like Ian Bairnson, Duncan Mackay, David Paton, Stuart Elliott and Morris Pert:
“Hello everyone. This is Kate Bush and I'm here with my new album The Kick Inside and I hope you enjoy it. The album is something that has not just suddenly happened. It's been years of work because since I was a kid, I've always been writing songs and it was really just collecting together all the best songs that I had and putting them on the album, really years of preparation and inspiration that got it together. As a girl, really, I've always been into words as a form of communication. And even at school I was really into poetry and English and it just seemed to turn into music with the lyrics, that you can make poetry go with music so well. That it can actually become something more than just words; it can become something special. (Self Portrait, 1978)
There are thirteen tracks on this album. When we were getting it together, one of the most important things that was on all our mind was, that because there were so many, we wanted to try and get as much variation as we could. To a certain extent, the actual songs allowed this because of the tempo changes, but there were certain songs that had to have a funky rhythm and there were others that had to be very subtle. I was very greatly helped by my producer and arranger Andrew Powell, who really is quite incredible at tuning in to my songs. We made sure that there was one of the tracks, just me and the piano, to, again, give the variation. We've got a rock 'n' roll number in there, which again was important. And all the others there are just really the moods of the songs set with instruments, which for me is the most important thing, because you can so often get a beautiful song, but the arrangements can completely spoil it - they have to really work together. (Self Portrait, 1978)
I think it went a bit over the top [In being orientally influenced], actually. We had the kite, and as there is a song on the album by that name, and as the kite is traditionally Oriental, we painted the dragon on. But I think the lettering was just a bit too much. On the whole I was surprised at the amount of control I actually had with the album production. Though I didn't choose the musicians. I thought they were terrific.
I was lucky to be able to express myself as much as I did, especially with this being a debut album. Andrew was really into working together, rather than pushing everyone around. I basically chose which tracks went on, put harmonies where I wanted them...
I was there throughout the entire mix. I feel that's very important. Ideally, I would like to learn enough of the technical side of things to be able to produce my own stuff eventually. (The Blossoming Ms. Bush, 1978)
As far as I know, it was mainly Andrew Powell who chose the musicians, he'd worked with them before and they were all sort of tied in with Alan Parsons. There was Stuart Elliot on drums, Ian Bairnson on guitar, David Paton on bass, and Duncan Mackay on electric keyboards. And, on that first album, I had no say, so I was very lucky really to be given such good musicians to start with. And they were lovely, 'cause they were all very concerned about what I thought of the treatment of each of the songs. And if I was unhappy with anything, they were more than willing to re-do their parts. So they were very concerned about what I thought, which was very nice. And they were really nice guys, eager to know what the songs were about and all that sort of thing. I don't honestly see how anyone can play with feeling unless you know what the song is about. You know, you might be feeling this really positive vibe, yet the song might be something weird and heavy and sad. So I think that's always been very important for me, to sit down and tell the musicians what the song is about. (Musician, 1985)”.
In the coming months, I want to spend some time exploring The Kick Inside. I have been meaning to put together a podcast that looks at its creation and legacy. Although there have been a lot of positive reviews about The Kick Inside, it is an album that is not as lauded and celebrated as some of her others. Although Kate Bush herself (as you can see above) has some good memories of recording her debut album, she rarely talked about The Kick Inside as being one of her favourites. One of my greatest hopes it that, in a future interview, Kate Bush is asked about her debut album. I looked at interviews she conducted in 2011 to promote 50 Words for Snow. She said that, in some ways, she returned to her debut album in terms of her way of working. The simplicity and, essentially, her working through songs on the piano over and over. A mix of pride and some dissatisfaction, what would Bush make of The Kick Inside in 2022? She has always said how she never listens back to her music - though I would be interested to learn what Bush recalls and how she remembers that fascinating time when she recorded and released an album that introduced the world to one of the best-loved artists ever. Ahead of The Kick Inside’s forty-fourth anniversary, I wanted to bring in a few of Kate Bush’s archived words. Still underrated and, to a degree, misunderstood, The Kick Inside is a phenomenal album that is far stronger and more impressive…
THAN many give it credit for.