Kate Bush's debut is rather remarkable - not only is it the first release by a woman who would prove to be a British sensation and one of the most talented and revered artists of all-time (in her native land, anyway), but she was 19 when it was released and she was even younger when she wrote and thought up all of these songs.
Later proving to constantly reinvent herself and be as unpredictable as possible, Kate cemented her position as a "smart" pop artist with this album by writing clever and inventive songs dealing with subject matters previously untapped into by female pop singers, such as abortion and even drawing from literary inspirations. Her idiosyncratic and sexy/sweet voice combined with the out-of-the-ordinary lyrics and the progressive-influenced music (with nearly the entire Alan Parsons Project acting as her backing band) solidified Kate Bush as one of the most talented babes in music.
Despite her reputation as a weirdo and something of an eccentric witch or whatever popular legend suggests,
The Kick Inside, for all of its quirks and oddities (like the song about abortion or the song supposedly about being a kite), is one of her most "normal" and easy-to-swallow efforts, and the outlandish ambition of her later records is not showing. On this album she is simply an incredibly talented songwriter and vocalist who's really good at piano and picking a backing band. These songs are adorable and sweet, and on the surface seem very simplistic, which isn't a problem.
Kate's voice is at its highest pitch it will ever be and ever was, and she sounds like the most ***able little girl on many of the tracks. Because of Kate's young age and high-pitched voice, all of the songs sound innocent, no matter what their subject matter is. Unlike many of Kate's later albums, there are no synthesizers, giving the album a less "artsy" and more stripped-down sound. There are no clear musical influences on these tracks, with the main influences being her own limited life experience and what she has been surrounded with her whole life, such as literature and different human topics. The lack of obvious musical influences and the fact that the music itself is not the main focus of the album make the album rather difficult to describe.
Kate's just so goddamned cute on this album. Even the "serious" songs make the listener go "awwww," because it's so cute to hear a beautiful teenage girl tackle "difficult" subject matter and turn them into really beautiful pop songs, and then of course the simpler tunes like "Kite" and "Oh To Be In Love" are just the sweetest songs you'll ever hear - you don't even wanna *** her, you wanna pet her and buy her a toy instead, or listen to her talk about shampoo on the phone. Despite how goddamn cute these tunes are, they also sound great and her voice is hauntingly and bone-chillingly pretty and sexy and it's not at all hard to take this album seriously, because anyone who can write songs these playful and clever and listenable is talented as hell.
This isn't thrash metal so it's rather hard for me to describe, but all I can say is if you dig good music check this out because Kate's got a song for everyone on this underappreciated gem.
