Product Description

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 isthat of the 16-year-old she was at the time. As Kate often said in those days, "wow".

Track Listing

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

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #9400 in Music
• Released on: 1994-09-12
• Number of discs: 1

Customer Reviews

The hiding to nothing
Usually, an artist's second album represents an opportunity to learn from early mistakes while retaining some hunger. But Kate Bush's huge success with 'The Kick Inside' and that number one single left her in a similar position to Mike Oldfield when he debuted with 'Tubular bells'. How do you follow an album like that? Fortunately, Bush had class, dexterity and imagination in abundance from the start and 'Lionheart', while not as great, is a very impressive album. It doesn't possess the same diversity of style. So many of the tracks here are slow and reflective in nature. In particular, the songs, 'Fullhouse' and 'In The Warm Room' are good in their own right, but don't stand out after 'In Search Of Peter Pan' and 'Oh England My Lionheart'.
Nevertheless, there's plenty to get excited about. The vividly-expressed sexual and romantic themes of 'Symphony In Blue' and 'Don't Push Your Foot On The Heartbrake' are memorable and the music on both is distinctive and powerful. 'Coffee Homeground' represents her exotic side and eccentric potential. The singles 'Wow' and 'Hammer Horror' are compelling. A lionheart is supposed to be brave. Kate Bush always has been.

Camp humour + Teenage Romanticism x English charm = Lionheart
This is one of my favourite Kate Bush albums, better than The Kick Inside, save for a few songs., and full of early Kate's charm. The tracks are all wonderful, and despite it not being as deep as some of Kate's later work, is still very good. This is a perfect album to listen to on a rainy day.

Good but not as Good
This is very much a continuation of The Kick Inside and maybe made up of mostly songs that were left on the "cutting room floor". This must be Kates weakest album although there are a few highlights like the brillant Wow and Hammer Horror. Still essential to have in the Kate collection.