Lionheart
| Kate Bush
Lionheart
Lionheart is the second studio album by the English singer-songwriter Kate Bush. It was released in November 1978, just nine months after Bush's successful debut album The Kick Inside. Lionheart reached no. 6 on the UK Albums Chart (her only album not to make the top 5) and has been certified Platinum by the BPI. -Wikipedia
Critic Reviews
Show All-
sputnik music
One of Kate Bush's lesser albums, it fails to hit the mark compared to what came before and what would come after.
-
AllMusic
Lionheart acts as a gauge more than a complete album, as Bush is trying to see how many different ways she can sound vocally colorful, even enigmatic, rather than focus on her material's content and fluidity. Hearing Lionheart after listening to Never for Ever or The Dreaming album, it's apparent how quickly Bush had progressed both vocally and in her writing in such a short time.
-
The Guardian
Lionheart gets it's fair share of criticism not just from fans, but also from Kate herself for following too hot on the heels of the first record. But listen to it - the rich production finally gelling (in these ears at least), the list of crazy colourful characters that pepper the grooves (Peter Pan, Dennis, Emma, Kashka, Crippin, et al), and not to mention original and bold tracks like Wow, Kashka From Baghdad, Coffee Homeground, and the beautful title track.
-
Fear of Albums
Due to the popularity of The Kick Inside, Bush’s record company (EMI) pressured her to quickly record another album. This ended up being Lionheart, which unfortunately never matches the heights of the previous work. In fact, this sounds like more of a debut album than The Kick Inside does! Can you really blame Kate Bush, though? Given the pressure and time constraints put on her, this is a serviceable, solid collection of songs (just not a great one).
-
Stereogum
Lionheart is simply whimsy overload. The progressive edge of Bush's debut was softened and smoothed, replaced by loads of grand piano and textural atmosphere. Stunning lead single "Wow" demonstrates that Bush hadn't lost her grip entirely, but Lionheart feels slight compared to the rest of her catalogue: Tracks like "In Search of Peter Pan" and "Kashka from Baghdad" are tiring and monochromatic, lacking the sonic and lyrical focus Bush would master soon enough.
-
NME
‘Lionheart’ isn’t a failure, but it’s got nothing with the character of ‘Wuthering Heights’ or ‘The Man With The Child In His Eyes’ – and that’s the creaking old syndrome. Bush poured everything she’d written in her first 19 years into ‘The Kick Inside’, but as she said in 1984, by the time the second one came around “time pressures prevented me from writing more fresh material”. Still, her voice is as bewitching and seductive as it was on her debut, luvvie satire ‘Wow’ has a big pop grandeur and ‘Oh England My Lionheart’ invents Tori Amos, whether you wanted it to or not.
-
Don Ignacio
Lionheart gets such a horrible rap from music critics (and even Kate Bush herself) that it's rather disconcerting only due to the fact that I love Lionheart to pieces. Sure, songs like "Kashka From Baghad" are relatively atrocious, but that's only on the standards Kate set for herself on her excellent debut album. "In Search of Peter Pan" is every bit as engaging as anything from her debut. Considering that she packs the instrumentation on here strongly, this habit of sounding engaging is accented further. Sure, these songs aren't as fantastically maniacal and bold as The Kick Inside, but many of them still have a distinct, unearthly aura, and, as I mentioned, these songs are as engaging as heck.
-
Adrian Denning
'Lionheart' for my money is actually a more instant album than 'The Kick Inside', although others may see it the other way round, confusingly enough. The advice stays the same, as for any Kate Bush album. Go into the record with an open mind and a heart full of intelligence. Peserverance rewards the dedicated.
-
The Muse Patrol
Lionheart is not a perfect album yet its still a staggering achievement. Had it been the opening missive in Kate’s discography, jaws would have still dropped just as far. This record is a potent example of the complexity of Kate Bush and her audacious voice, charisma and songs. Had it been her debut, it may not have conferred upon her the instant mantle of “Icon” (as ‘Kick’ did), but that might have been a good thing.
-
Aphoristic Album Reviews
Lionheart does give an indication of the more unique sides of Bush’s talent that apparent on The Kick Inside, and it’s a pointer to the direction her career would take. Despite being difficult, it will still interest established fans as it is hardly lacking in personality or creativity; just don’t start with it.
-
BBC America
It’s fairly commonly agreed, not least by Kate herself, that her second album suffers a little from being created under the shadow of the galloping success of her first. Both released in 1978, The Kick Inside took the full benefit of a) the shock of the new and b) a cherry pick of the best of the songs she’d been writing since her early teens. By comparison, “Lionheart” felt like more of the same. This may not necessarily be a bad thing, and in any case, any album that can boast songs as assured as “Wow” and “In Search of Peter Pan” can hardly considered a failure.
-
Verbal Diarrhoea
After a sluggish start, I really rather got into this album. It’s obviously not a big leap sonically but for some reason I warmed a lot to it. Partly it could be down to my listening to it on headphones in bed. I wonder if TKI would have benefitted from it.
-
Grinning Planet
Second albums are often disappointing, showing an artist's inability to crank out another album's worth of material quickly after a successful first album. But Kate Bush has no such problem here—true to its name, Lionheart is strong throughout.
Rate This Album and Leave Your Comments