FEATURE:
Kate Bush’s The Kick Inside at Forty-Five
The U.K. Cover Design and a Worthy Alternative
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EVEN though I have written about…
IN THIS PHOTO: Kate Bush during a trip to Japan in 1978/PHOTO CREDIT: Koh Hasebe/Shinko Music/Getty Images
its cover before, I am doing a run of features to mark forty-five years since The Kick Inside was recorded. It is my favourite album and, as such, I love almost everything about it. One of the things that has always split me about the album is the cover. In different countries a different image was used. For the U.K. release, there is Kate Bush in the background mounted on a kite. The colour scheme and lettering give the album an Oriental vibe, whilst its star seems to be too far in the distance. Alongside Aerial and 50 Words for Snow, it is my least favourite cover. From her quick follow-up, 1978’s Lionheart, Kate was more at the centre with a concept that was more relevant and interesting. That is not to say that The Kick Inside’s U.K. cover is all bad or there were no alternatives at all. Before speaking about that, the Kate Bush Encyclopedia has interviews from Bush about The Kick Inside. The first interview snippet actually mentions the cover for her debut album:
“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)”.
I do like the fact that the cover for The Kick Inside is quite adventurous and not merely a very simple and unengaging portrait. It is hard to put a portrait of an artist on a debut album that conveys all the emotions and intentions within. Gered Mankowitz took a series of images of Bush intended for the cover of Wuthering Heights (Bush’s first single). Because of controversy around one photo where you could see her nipples, that idea was scrapped. One of the photos that has not been given wider attention and celebration adorns the cover of the Japanese version of The Kick Inside (above). I love that Mankowitz shot and I think, had Bush took a step back and considered both images, she would have come around to the fact that a single image of her is a lot more striking and better than a design which is quite misleading when it comes to The Kick Inside and its sound/themes. In any case, Kate Bush’s 1978 debut album is a remarkable and hugely important work. Across the thirteen tracks, she announced herself as a songwriter with no equals. Gaining criticism, sexism and misogyny for a lot of different sources, few back in 1978 could have predicted we would see Bush hitting number one nearly forty-five after The Kick Inside.
In future features, I am going to examine various songs and sides to The Kick Inside. It does turn forty-five next month in terms of the fact it finished recording in August 1977. In February, fans mark forty-five years since its release. Even if the U.K. cover is a little bit of a missed opportunity, it did at least signal Bush was a very original and unpredictable artist in terms of her vision. Consider the cover of The Kick Inside with other Pop artists of the day. Other countries use different images. If you look hard enough, you will find a cover that suits you. Not as stunning as the covers for Never for Ever (1980), The Dreaming (1978) or Hounds of Love (1985), The Kick Inside’s British cover neither put its star at the front clearly visible, nor did it create something that sticks in the mind. Even so, I have come to like the U.K. cover, as it from my favourite ever album. I do wonder what the reaction would have been if the Gered Mankowitz shot of Bush in a pink leotard with a hugely mature, beautiful, and multi-layered look on her face was used. I know some people who really love the cover for The Kick Inside. Clearly, at the time, there was a feeling that it was a good representation of Kate Bush as an artist. Whichever cover you prefer, there is no doubting that 1978’s The Kick Inside is…
A truly spectacular album.