FEATURE:
Lost in Transition…
IN THIS PHOTO: Kate Bush at the Lionheart launch party in 1978. Lionheart has its international launch at the 14th-century Ammersoyen Castel, two hours' drive from Amsterdam. After dinner, in the grounds of the castle, Leo Bouderwijas (the President of the Association of Dutch Phonographical Industries) presents Bush with the prestigious Edison Award for the best single of 1978 (Wuthering Heights). Bush is also presented with a platinum disc for sales of The Kick Inside in Holland
The French Dissolution: Kate Bush’s Lionheart at Forty-Four
__________
I have another Lionheart feature…
coming ahead of the album’s forty-fourth anniversary on 13th November. Some might wonder why I am putting out quite a few features for an album that was rushed, and Kate Bush was disappointed by. Even though it is a paler (if more ambitious and wide-reaching) version of her debut, The Kick Inside, then there is a lot to love about it. This feature, actually, is more a look at some of the problems and reasons why Lionheart did not gel and was a little unusual. I am going to end with some positives regarding the album. Before I get to the feature and explain why I am notching up my Kate Bush features in terms of regularity, it is worth thanking Tom Doyle! I have been inspired to write this feature because his amazing Kate Bush biography/book, Running Up That Hill: 50 Visions of Kate Bush, is out - and it has scooped some positive reviews and loads of love through social media. I would not usually recommend people buy a book on Amazon rather than via bookstores and other sites but, in this case, you can get Doyle’s book for £10 at Amazon. Even if I am a bit conflicted – as he will get less money if the book retails less than on other sites? -, then I hope the lower price does provoke Kate Bush fans and those unfamiliar with her work to invest and grab this excellent tome! Such an original and multifaceted approach to her incredible career and unique creative genius, I have read what he wrote about Lionheart.
Actually, because I am immersed in Running Up That Hill: 50 Visions of Kate Bush, so many feature ideas have come to mind. I am going to sprinkle them between other Bush pieces, as I still have a few anniversary bits concerning albums like The Whole Story (the 1986 greatest hits album) and 50 Words for Snow (her most recent studio album released in 2011). I am also gearing up to do some Christmas bits around Kate Bush, a round-up of an eventful and hugely successful 2022, plus a couple of anniversaries that happen early in 2023 – including the forty-fifth anniversary of Bush’s debut single, Wuthering Heights, in January; the album it is from, The Kick Inside, is forty-five the following month. It is amazing that less than nine months after her debut album came out, Bush released her second album! That would never happen today! I am not sure she had much say or desire when it came to that decision. EMI, doubtless capitalising on the momentum and huge success of The Kick Inside and Wuthering Heights’ unstoppable brilliance – but, as I will write in a future feature, the song received plenty of mockery and bad reviews – put Bush back into the studio. Rather than returning her to AIR in London, Bush and band were dispatched to Super Bear Studios, Berre-les-Alpes, France between July and September 1978. The studio was sadly destroyed in 1986, yet the owner, Damon Metrebian, had fond memories of Kate Bush recording there. I think those dates are right, because Bush was still promoting The Kick Inside heavily in July 1978! How did she get her head around the fact that she was promoting her debut whilst working on her second album?!
I think this is the main reason why Lionheart seems rushed. It was! As I have said many times, even though she only had opportunity to write three new songs – including the remarkable opening track, Symphony in Blue and the anxious and slightly mad Coffee Homeground -, she could not have salvaged and controlled the direction of Lionheart. Assisting production with Andrew Powell (who produced The Kick Inside), her second album was a pivotal moment. It made Bush aware of the fact she did not want to produce with anyone else/Powell (I will explain why soon), and she also needed to do things her way. Maybe going to France was designed to provide Bush with a break and a different climate to help cope with the huge demand and rush. It sort of backfired. I feel Lionheart would have been a bit more stable and better if she was in London and working back at AIR. Tom Doyle documented Lionheart and its problems. Chapter 13 of Running Up That Hill: 50 Visions of Kate Bush is entitled ‘Lost in France’. It sort of says everything about the L.P. As Bush said – and Doyle wrote – “No offence to the musicians on the second record, but there was conflict between myself and Andrew Powell in the way that we saw it”. Whilst Bush wanted her band (including Del Palmer and Brian Bath (who is seventy on 30th November) to play on the debut, Andrew Powell favoured more experienced musicians.
IN THIS PHOTO: Kate Bush in an outake from the cover shoot for Lionheart/PHOTO CREDIT: Gered Mankowitz
Having worked with Palmer and Bath as part of the KT Bush Band in 1977, she knew they’d gel. But maybe they needed more time on the stage and studio. She had hoped, I think, the success of The Kick Inside would earn her a little more sway when it came to personnel. I don’t think Andrew Powell was quite the domineering and misguided controller of Lionheart some paint him as. If the location was different, the band and working methods seemed relatively unchanged after The Kick Inside. The sort of if it ain’t broke then why fix it approach. Bush wanted to change. If not change, then perhaps a realisation that she had from the start: to work on an album with musicians of her choosing. Not to piss people off; she would be more comfortable around them and be able to communicate her ideas to them more effectively. She held no ill feelings towards those who are on Lionheart – including David Paton and Ian Bairnson -, but she felt distant. A cog in the machine rather than the thrust and architect (as Graeme Thomson noted in his excellent Kate Bush biography, Under the Ivy: The Life & Music of Kate Bush). Moved from the Eat Wickham Farm her family resided in to the similarly-named 44 Wickham Road, Bush lived with her brothers Paddy and John. They each took a floor of the house, whilst Kate was on the top floor. It is a cute and familial scene where you had the siblings all under one roof! Brian Bath was asked to the Brockley flat to work on songs for Lionheart (I am paraphrasing and getting this detail from Doyle’s Running Up That Hill: 50 Visions of Kate Bush).
The Kick Inside suggested birth and new life: an artist beginning her ‘journey’ and creating (audio) life. Lionheart’s title points at a determined and emboldened woman ready to take a leap. Only twenty when Lionheart came out, Bush’s intention was very much to assert more say and start to craft music in a more independent fashion. Perhaps a little tired of others moulding her sound and vision, early designs were geared around a new band and a fresh start. That wasn’t to bear much fruit. Bush’s father, Dr. Robert Bush (Beatles earworm alert!), helped construct a demo studio at East Wickham Farm where songs could be worked on. About five years later, Bush would return again to the family home and, perhaps with new skills learned and independence desires at their peak, constructed a bigger and more ambitious recording barn for Hounds of Love (1985). Who knows what Lionheart could have been if her plans had actually worked out?! Songs – including Lionheart’s first (if unsuccessful) first single, Hammer Horror – were worked on. Bush was being encouraged by her family and Brian Bath. Tips and suggestions were given and, by all accounts, the working set-up and earlier days (around June at the so-called Summerhouse Studios) were promising! I will not directly quote too much from Doyle’s book, but it is interesting what he says about France. A chosen recording destination/tax haven for artists including Elton John and David Bowie (two heroes of hers that did not have a great relationship themselves…more on the John/Bowie beef in another feature!), it seemed like a weird setting for Kate Bush’s music and trajectory. Having promoted The Kick Inside around the world through 1978 – the same month test recordings were happening for Lionheart; Bush was also promoting The Kick Inside in Japan! -, she needed some focus and routine. Traveling to France was probably the last thing she needed in a year where her air miles were insane! If the climate, romance and landscape seemed conducive to fresh creative life and relaxation, the summer holiday was about to turn sour. A potential French revolution became a fresh dissolution.
There had been a loose agreement between Andrew Powell and Kate Bush for her to use her musicians, including Paddy Bush (who appeared on The Kick Inside (he is seventy next month) and all post-Lionheart albums excluding 50 Words for Snow). Del Palmer was to be there, as was Brian Bath. Almost a KT Bush Band reunion, the demo sessions back in the U.K. meant there was some drive, sheen, conviction and solidity to the early recordings. Promising seeds being planted and, as Doyle points out, perhaps this was a reward for the way the KT Bush Band had developed their act prior to steeping into AIR to record The Kick Inside, thus, giving her some invaluable experience and training that would feed into those sessions. There did seem to be distractions. With a pool and sun at their disposal feet away – often, Bush would be sunbathing topless, which must have been eye-opening for those not expecting such a ‘relaxed’ compatriot! At one point, Bush attempted to break a wine glass by singing as high as possible (she was fortunately talked down from that potential ledge and avoided having glass explode in her face!). There were fun and cool vibes at times for certain! The heat and lack of air conditioning and necessary ventilation impacted on the musicians’ concentration and playing. Unusual requests and working demands were new to the inexperienced band, and there were some frank words (no pun intended) and cracks showing. Lionheart is unique in the sense that two different band line-ups played on it. Bush’s guys were packed home when an EMI representative travelled to the studios in France and realised things were not working out. Musicians who played on The Kick Inside were drafted in. Awkward moments where the two bands were with one another and had to be civil whilst there was obvious tension and disappointment.
One need only look at what Bush was doing in 1979 to realise what a breaking and turning point Lionheart was. Embarking on The Tour of Life – a spectacle that Bush was very much involved in from the ground up and had a say in everything -, the idea of recording in sweaty studios with musicians not her first choice for a producer who was on a different page held little long-term appeal and practicality. Not that Bush was a perfectionist, but Powell noticed how the guide vocal for Wow (the remarkable second single from Lionheart) was very musical. Maybe digging her heels in and trying to be more of a producer, Bush did so many vocal takes to make the sound more dramatic, nuanced, complex and of her liking. Maybe it was a purely musical decision, but I feel some of her frustration towards Andrew Powell meant she spent a lot longer on the song than she would have otherwise done. If she was keen to push on with new material and break from her debut, the fact that she had a Prince-sized safe and archive full of unreleased and unrecorded song ready to go seemed to make more sense to Powell. Bush did say in an interview how Oh England My Lionheart – one of the older songs written long before the album was recorded – was her favourite on the record. She soon distanced herself from it, perhaps feeling it was jarring, juvenile and not what she wanted for her second album. If new songs like Coffee Homeground and Full House point at paranoia, something darker and more complex than what came before (Symphony in Blue a more mature and almost philosophical update of the songs on The Kick Inside), then tracks like Oh England My Lionheart were almost twee by comparison. I love the song a lot - but one can see where Bush was coming from!
If Andrew Powell wanted a The Kick Inside 2 or Bush to record old songs not considered for her debut, Bush resolutely was looking to evolve and move on. Perhaps also trying to prove to critics who mocked her high vocals and hippy image that she was not so easy to define and pin, Lionheart didn’t help in that sense! As Tom Doyle notes, there was a sense of deflation and disappointment. Having finished recording in France in August 1978, mixing took place in London in September. Bush, wanting to remain normal and fetch sandwiches and walk the street, was now so famous she was being advised to stay inside. Perhaps another reason why she was determined to do The Tour of Life the year later and very much get out there and not be confined and directed! If the singles were not as successful as those from The Kick Inside (Wuthering Heights was a number one; Moving was a number one in Japan), the album did get to a not-too-shabby six in the U.K. If it was a failure compared to her supernova debut, looking back now, I think it is truly remarkable Bush made an album so wonderful given constraints and such incredible time limitations! She did say “I was thinking, y’know, I don’t want to be produced by someone who sees it differently to me”. She recognised how integral producing was regarding the sound and shape of a song. It seemed illogical to write these unique-sounding songs only for someone else to craft them in their image and distil them (not her sentiment, but that is the shape of things!). Even if Lionheart’s recording and reception was far from ideal and overly pleasurable, the aspiring and already-talented producer learned enough from two studio albums. 1980’s Never for Ever did see her co-produce with engineer Jon Kelly, but the experience was much more pleasurable this time around. Perhaps because they were the same sort of age, rather than there being this generation and age gap between her and Andrew Powell.
Chapter 13 of Tom Doyle’s magnificent Running Up That Hill: 50 Visions of Kate Bush discusses Lionheart as a classic ‘difficult second album’. I know Bush and her musicians had some good moments, and there would have been some terrific revelations in the studio. Despite the hot weather and mountain air, it was clear that London – the smog and stress of it all – was where Bush needed to position herself for album number three. Lionheart is forty-four on 13th November (some sites erroneously list 10th November). Bush’s memories of the album must be dim now. I wonder whether she has any fond recollections from that summer in France. The fact she was simultaneously still promoting her debut album and was pulled and pushed all around the place, coupled with disputes and conflicts involving the choice of musicians for Lionheart, surely must have soured some of her memories. Whilst not my favourite Kate Bush album, it is one of her L.P.s that I love more and more each time I visit it! The reason the header photo for this article is Kate Bush at the at the Dutch release party for Lionheart is because she said the album was stronger than her debut, and the atmosphere was more what she was looking for (check the video below where she talks about it). As I have said before loudly: Lionheart is so underrated and excellent!
At least several of the tracks here equal some of the best from The Kick Inside (including Symphony in Blue and Wow). Tere are really interesting songs that show Bush was a songwriter impossible to pigeonhole or predict! The cover (shot by Gered Mankowitz, who photographed Bush in from 1978-1979) is one of her best. At ten tracks, it is a lean album. I think the sequencing is not excellent. Rearranging a few songs would make Lionheart stronger and more consistent (why end the album with Hammer Horror, when it should have been a song like Full House?!). Bush’s vocals are more confident and varied compared to The Kick Inside and, given more time and control, she could easily have topped that remarkable debut. There are what-ifs and questions. Rather than chase ghosts or predict alternative scenarios and realities where Lionheart would have been this wonderful and well-received smash, I actually wanted to urge people to detach and delete other people’s views and the story behind the album. Instead, as it is forty-four on 13th November, go and stream or buy the album! Whether you are a diehard Kate Bush fan or are brand-new and need guidance regarding which albums to get, you will see that there is plenty of promise and quality. Andrew Powell’s production is not terrific, but I think there is more than enough to recommend when it comes to Lionheart! A gorgeous album with some exceptional songwriting, the unfairly maligned and ignored Lionheart does deserve new love and contextualisation. Neither an album that constantly makes you go ‘wow’ or one that is a horror, Kate Bush’s Lionheart…
IS far from a disappointment.