The Kick Inside by Kate Bush

The Kick Inside, Kate Bush's debut album, came out on EMI on 17 February 1978, and it announces a talent like no one else on the radio: a 19-year-old from England who had been writing songs since she was 11, singing in a voice that swoops from a whisper to an unearthly shriek and back in a single line. David Gilmour of Pink Floyd had helped pay for the demo tape that got her signed, and he's among the players on the record.

Andrew Powell produced it and surrounded her with seasoned progressive rock players, Duncan Mackay, Ian Bairnson, David Paton and Stuart Elliott among them. They give the songs a lush, art-rock sheen, but the strangeness is all hers: odd angles, theatrical turns and melodies that go where pop songs aren't supposed to go.

"Wuthering Heights", her debut single, went to the top, holding number one in the UK for four weeks and making her the first female artist to reach number one there with a song she wrote entirely herself. "The Man with the Child in His Eyes" followed it into the top 10. The album peaked at number three on the UK Albums Chart and was certified platinum by the BPI.

Written with AI assistance from RockLists chart data, MusicBrainz and Wikipedia.