The Kick Inside (2018 Remaster)

Personnel: Kate Bush (vocals); David Paton (acoustic guitar, bass, background vocals); Ian Bairnson (guitar, background vocals, bottles); Paul Keogh, Alan Parker (guitar); Paddy Bush (mandolin, background vocals); Alan Skidmore (saxophone); Andrew Powell (keyboards, bass, celeste, bottles); Duncan Mackay (electric piano, organ, clavinet); Bruce Lynch (bass); Stuart Elliott (drums, percussion); Barry De Souza (drums); Morris Pert (percussion). Recorded at AIR London Studios in June 1975, and July and August 1977. In the-mid '70s a friend of Kate Bush's brother brought her talents to the attention of Pink Floyd guitarist David Gilmour. He arranged some demos for her and she was soon signed to EMI Records. Though Bush was only a teenager at the time, EMI decided to give her an advance and sent her off to write songs, and take dance and mime lessons. When she was 16, her handlers decided the time was right, and Bush's first single, "Wuthering Heights," was released. The song was a smash hit (it went to Number One on the UK charts), not only because of her less-than-innocent appearance on the back of London buses, and unlike anything the British market had ever heard. Forced by her sudden success to release an album, THE KICK INSIDE was recorded and released, featuring songs she had written over the previous few years. THE KICK INSIDE is a remarkable debut. Though it's obvious that Kate was a teenager at the time, there is a frightening amount of talent packed into these 13 songs and evidence of a knowing well beyond the singer's years.