Ooh, yeah, you're amazing - we think you're incredible

Continuing my trip back through the 1979 album charts.

06/05/79 : Lionheart - Kate Bush

Our third visit with Kate (who is another artist who'll be in the running to have a best-of album included) and I seem to recall I've listened to this one and it's, well, a bit weird (hard to imagine such things of 70s Kate, I know).

Well, it is (of course) weird, but not overly so which makes me think I must still have some full on Kate-based weirdness to come. "Wow" was the only track I recognised (it's the only track from the album to make it on to The Whole Story) but I liked most of the tracks, with "Oh England My Lionheart" also jumping at me because it's good and "Coffee Homeground" standing out for its oddness. There are also obviously talented musicians on here - particularly some of the piano work. I'm really not convinced by the album cover though.

We're at #13 in the charts this week on her 25th week of a very decent 35 week run with it having peaked at #2 in its second week. The top five this week were Leo Sayer (wow!), Thin Lizzy, Supertramp, Bee Gees and a compilation album called Country Life (which for some reason never occurred to me would be country music) and the highest new entry was Sister Sledge (#16) which spent THIRTY NINE weeks in the chart, but for some weird reason the only time we might get to see it is in '84.

Wikipedia tells us its her second album and generally viewed as not one of her best, with Kate herself thinking it was rushed. Mostly because it was rushed - EMI basically said "Got any old songs? Anything will do - just make sure you can chuck it out tomorrow". It probably won't surprise you to hear that the inspiration for the lyrics is somewhat wide ranging, including Peter Pan, Arsenic And Old Lace, Hammer Horror and The Sweeney. It was the first album to feature Del Palmer who has featured in some way on all her albums since and was in a relationship with her for the 80s - Francis Monkman also pops up, who we met recently on the Sky album. Critically, there was an awful lot of "well, it's not as good as her debut" and retrospective reviews haven't improved matters but commercially it did OK, getting to the top thirty in various European countries.

discogs.com tells us you can pick up a decent copy for three quid but the embossed gatefold sleeve version is going to set you back £100 - I think I'm fine as I am. Having come to this expecting some Kate weirdness, I actually feel a bit let down by the relative normality of a lot of it - it was fine but nothing particularly exceptional. However, like Dire Straits, Kate looks to be one of those artists we're going to visit all their albums (and her best-of as well, if I decide to bend the rules for it) so there will be plenty of opportunity to experience some proper oddness across her canon of work.

29/04/79 - More than the sum of its parts
13/05/79 - An impressive debut

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