Customer Reviews

Lionheart

5 star:		(17)
4 star:		(10)
3 star:		(4)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

I love this albums warmth, simplicity and intimacy. It doesn't challenge like later KB albums but that's ok, if you want to be challenged go listen to 'The Dreaming'. Me, I like this album for what it is and listen to it when I become melancholy, or to be reminded of dear old Blighty. Oh yes, there's plenty of romanticism here folks.....

I absolutely adore 'Symphony in Blue' but can't quite tell you why. 'Wow' everybody knows about, a biting and somewhat cynical critique of theatre life. It's the strength of this album that throughout you'll find songs that take you away from wherever you happen to be. Listen to 'In the Warm Room' and you'd have to be made of stone to not feel the temperature rise just a little, if you know what I mean!

It's worth noting here that this probably isn't the album KB wanted to release, but producer Andrew Powell was at that time all powerful, guiding/forcing her to give us another 'Kick Inside' type album. It makes sense when considering her follow up 'The Dreaming' with its sharp edges and challenging musical arrangements, and that she produced herself from then on.

The thing I have noticed the most especially from American fans of Kate Bush is that they don't get "Lionheart" as one reviewer succintly put it.
True,Kate Bush has always been the most English of all English singers.Her looks and her voice recall the windy wily moors of Northern England,the lush greenery of the English countryside,the dark eroticism of English manors,and nowhere is this more apparent than in the brilliant "Lionheart".
Hammer Horror is about a plot by an understudy to kill a play's main protagonist to steal the part from her or him for that matter.Hammer refers to the venerable Hammer Studios who produced all the Dracula and Vampire movies in Britian from the 50's to the 70's.

Coffee Homeground is another song about murder ,its 19th century atmosphere is amzingly produced and nowhere else is Kate Bush's voice more eerie.

Oh England My lionheart is a true classic in both lyrics and performance.You can actually feel the aching in Kate's voice as she vows her love for her country.In the hands of any other artist this song could have been a syrupy mishmash but with Kate Bush,it's a strong declaration of love without being aggressively patriotic.

Kashka from Baghdad is a sympathetic story of 2 gay men who even though shunned by their friends and families for being gay don't care because as the landlady can clearly see every night under the moonlight,they are deeply in love and obviously oblivious to what the world thinks of them.You can hear in Kate's voice her longing to join them.I find this to be typical of Kate's sensual persona.

And by the way ,Kate has always tackled taboo subjects long before it became fashionable to do so.How many of you know that the song "Moving" from The Kick Inside is about orgasm??

Lionheart is a curious album, displaying one step forwards then two steps back in terms of Kate Bush's progression as an artist. On the plus side she's more adventurous with her writing, reaching far more diverse and interesting topics. Her attempts to expand musically, however, are undermined due to the fact that this album was rushed far too quickly, leaving potential ideas sadly a little underbaked, leaving tracks that are weakly structured and thinly executed.
Best Tracks; Wow, Hammer Horror, Don't Put Your Foot On The Heartbrake

I think this album is a bit underrated since everybody is always so wild about Hounds Of Love. "Lionheart" is Kate Bush at her best.
This album is lush and sensual and in a way deliciously 70-ies with its weird cover photography and instrumentation.
A warm record to cherish and keep a secret and listen to in the darker and colder part of the year (for that specific reason the album's overall atmosphere strangely reminds me of Bjork's "Vespertine")
It doesn't suffer the somewhat hysterical overproduction of later work such as "The Dreaming", "The Sensual World" and "The Red Shoes" (although it loses one star because of "Coffee Homeground", which in its silliness should've been on "Never For Ever".)
On Lionheart the melodies and choruses are richly beautiful ("Fullhouse", "Symphony in Blue") and songs like "In Search Of Peter Pan and especially "Oh England My Lionheart" have that typical Romantic-Kate-Bush-Old-English-Roses-And-Nursery-Fairytale-Feel that is so unique (and pretty hard to describe..)

That Feel of secrets in the garden and whispers in your sleep.
The smell of coffee and dusty attics and female eroticism...

This is by far my favourite of all kate's albums. her voice is fresh and melodic some thing to be treasured. her best song i think on this album is "Symphony in Blue" I cant wait to hear more from kate the Red Shoes is the best musical ever for any one who likes a darker sound yet in a classical sense buy Lionheart or if you are a fan of kates already buy the box set "This Womans Work"

It really does matter which version of the album you have. I recently acquired an version found in her box set and I notice a marked increase in quality. But i've never thought that the sound of the American edition was that lacking. You just have to listen harder. ;)

This CD has the worst sound quality I have ever heard on a studio recording. The highs are really fuzzy. It sounds like an LP being played with lint on the needle. I have an early copy of the CD. No one else has complained about the sound quality, so maybe newer copies of the CD don't have this problem. I know that some of the early CD's did not have good sound quality. In the eighties, digital music magazines would rate both the music and the sound quality of new CD's. That is why some CD's advertise digitally remastered across the cover, to let you know that they are not the bad version from the eighties.

So, getting beyond the sound, how is the music? This is not the best of Kate Bush's albums. Some people say that it is better than the Kick Inside. The best song on Lionheart isn't as good as anything on the Kick Inside.

The lyrics on this CD are not very strong and the song structures are weak. On this CD, Bush really exercises her unique vocal stylings and vocal range, all in the space of a few seconds. After the powerful Kick Inside, this was a let down, especially considering its length at only 36 minutes. There just isn't much here.

Bush's vocals are very unique and a matter of taste. I happen to like them. But she can try your patience at times. I heard someone describe Tori Amos being just like Kate Bush but not as annoying. On this CD, there are parts with very effective interaction between piano and vocals, especially on the first few tracks. It creates a very distinctive mood. But, the sound quality is so poor, that you can't appreciate it.

If the CD had better sound quality, I would definitly increase my rating. And, it is very possible that the newer editions have had the sound problems fixed.

The follow-up to her stunning debut, "Lionheart" already shows Bush experimenting winningly with the basic template of bass, piano, drums and voice that informed all of her debut.

"Symphony in Blue" opens with a lushness of orchestration generally not found on her first album, though thematically (as yet another romantic expatiation on love) it's entirely familiar territory. Simple in its aspirations, the song is exceptionally dapper in sound and makes for a very promising opening to the album.

"In Search of Peter Pan", though, immediately whisks us off to another world in a way no Bush song ever has. Still just a piano and bass piece, the minor key of the vocals and accompaniment create a very striking atmosphere, while the chorus itself shows much more sophistication of orchestration and composition than previously. Quite splendid.

"Wow" opens with a mildly eerie wash of keyboards as Bush's vocals emerge like a face coming into footlights out of darkness. The particular combination of acoustic guitar and piano here is especially nice as a prelude to the big vocal burst of the chorus, the lyrics of which are simply "wow wow wow wow wow wow wow ... unbelievable," which amply sums up my reaction to the song as well.

"Don't Push your Foot on the Heart Brake" is a minor epic, packing quite a bit into its mere 3 minutes. It also happens to be Bush's most successful foray into a full rock orchestration so far, with its combination of articulated piano and acoustic guitar moodiness and driving guitars in the chorus.

"Oh England my Lionheart" is the album's showstopper. Basically an unaccompanied piano ballad (admittedly with backing vocals and a number of sonic flourishes), the melody is especially beautiful and sung with such soulfulness that it's almost enough to make anyone into an English patriot, even as Bush manages to slip every sentimental British cliche into the lyrics.

"Fullhouse", another impressively orchestrated piece much like "Don't Put your Foot on the Heart Brake", moves from acoustic to electric moods and back again. One of the abiding pleasures of the song, however, is the decidedly unusual bass line of the verse, which continuously thwarts the ear's expectations while still perfectly accompanying the melody.

"In the Warm Room" is a piano-only throwback to Bush's debut, standing in as Lionheart's "Man with a Child in his Eyes", though here there is more nearly cruel teasing than in the dreamily romantic "Man with a Child in his Eyes". Fine piano and lyrics sung as only Bush does, the song is wonderful, but still seems somehow out of place amongst the more innovative orchestrations of the other songs.

"Kashka from Baghdad", a gossipy tale about a woman carrying on a secret relationship, is yet another exploration of the basic template of drum, bass and piano. But where "Fullhouse" opened into full rock orchestration for its chorus, here Bush sets up an accompanying chorus of voices and percussion instead. The song then slowly blends into a sensuously moody section, with muttering voices and a beautiful-ominous oboe-like keyboard or guitar accompaniment.

"Coffee Homground" changes moods entirely, and is a whimsical examination of some German Fraulein who practices the fine art of poisoning. The kitschiness of the carnival accompaniment, as well as Bush's none-too-convincing German accent, are saved from being awful precisely for the sense of fun Bush brings to the song. Should anyone still have difficulty separating Bush's personality from the personae she portrays in her songs, this should put the issue to rest once and for all.

"Hammer Horror" has the feel of the album's other epic. A booming opening gives way to an achingly gorgeous vocal line that falls convincingly into another fine rock chorus. Anyone who wonders why Bush has such a devoted following needs only listen to the pure beauty of her voice in the verse here to understand at once. Hammer Horror, of course, is not a reference Maxwell's Silver Hammer or some carpentry psychopath, but rather to Britain's Hammer Studios, which was famous in its day for slick but also shlocky horror movies with more than whiff of naughtiness about them.

It frustrates me that artists like Kate Bush don't get talked about now or played on the radio. It's now all about dance routines and shallow songs written by office-habiting song writers.

This album show what is possible when a talented person makes music without be constrained by PR and marketing men. My favourites from this album include 'Wow', 'Oh England...' and 'Kashka from Baghdad'. Time just seems to fly when listening to this album. I recently listened to it on a train journey across Holland, and in my opinion it ideally suits that sort of setting: beautiful scenery, relaxing, and looking at this world we live in.

OK there are a couple of songs, which, for me didn't hit the right notes, which is why I didn't give it 5 stars. But I think if you appreciate talent and someone not taking the marketing/commercial option, but instead follwoing their creative instincts - Buy this album.

I agree that the whole mood this album creates is in the same vein as a Grimm's Fairy Tale. Weird chord progressions, not self-indulgent, brilliant (but you don't feel jealous and alienated by it), totally sincere, escapist, compassionate, and last but certaintly not least, pure. Now, I'm sure she feels like a hypocrite when she get's that one, but it's true! I'm a very cynical and disaffected person with a rapidly declining faith in people, but on this album, Kate has a way of tricking me into thinking that she is an adult who is completely uncorrupt and that fantasy can still exist when life has beaten you down. I can't emphasize enough how far away Kate on this album is from sentimental songwriters or hipsters. These songs are totally 1 of a kind. No confessionalism, no intelligent chip on her shoulder; literally, she seems like a maternal figure here for YOU not herself in order to help you escape from the monotony and disappointment of life. THANK YOU KATE!! This is the sort of album that makes me want to write to the artist to let her know that she hit a bullseye and not to change anything!!

Perhaps it was a blessing in disguise that this album was rushed. Otherwise there'd be more time to think and become self-conscious, tainting this poignancy.