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...

As a sophomore this is amazing and as an album it is wonderful!
The music on this album is very quaint and tightly structured.
"Lionheart" is probably the most 'english' album of all time.
With bold refrences to mostly everything remotely english this album is possibly an ode to her home country.

With subjects ranging from murder,affairs and death this album is certainly not lacking in subject matter.
Although the main thing that attracts about this album is it's beauty and majesty.
Kate's voice as usual is phenomenal, an individual rarity you may say.

Highlights on this album include the wonderful "Coffee Homeground", the groovy "Hammer Horror" and the lusty "Don't Push Your Foot On The Heartbrake".

Spectacular imagery is also a treat here and you really feel what she is trying to get across. Overall, "Lionheart" is one of the most spectacular and superb albums ever and will appeal to a wide range of musical tastes.

Kate's second album is mellower than most of her work. Most of it is Kate's still-girlish vocals and her piano. The sole exception is the frantic guitar rocker "Don't Push Your Foot On The Heartbrake", which is inbetween two lovely songs--"Wow" and "Oh England, My Lionheart." "Heartbreak" contains a wonderful metaphor of spilling red beads to blood, and "Wow" is one of Kate's best singles.

"Symphony In Blue" is an interesting contrast between the calmer, sadder, and more tranquil blue modes and red modes, which are of love, jealousy, and sex. She sees God as tempering the beast from red to blue, and guiding her towards her symphony, for which she is needed.

"Oh England, My Lionheart" is a wonderful love song to the country of Shakespeare, Peter Pan, London Bridge, a country whose arms warmly embraces her and that she never wants to leave, even when she's ready to shuffle off that coil. For her, this is an England after the devastating effects of the Second World War, where clovers grow where air-raid shelters used to be.

"In The Warm Room" is an erotically beautiful song sensually sung from Kate's lips. "You'll fall into her like a pillow/Her thighs are soft as marshmallows/Say hello, to the soft musk of her hollows" Now that's just beautiful writing with wonderful similes.

The slightly bouncy "Coffee Homeground" with a witty chorus of arsenic in the tea, (a nod to Arsenic And Old Lace surely), and mentions of cyanide in chocolate, belladonna in coffee, depicts all the ways the lonely serial killer disposes of whoever comes to visit her. Anyone going to a house with "pictures of Crippen, lipstick-smeared" should do an about-face towards the front door.

"Hammer Horror" is her nod to the British companies that put out budgeted but effective Dracula and Frankenstein movies during the 1960's and 1970's.

From 1189 to 1199, England may have had a Coeur de Lion in King Richard I, but in 1978, they had another Coeur de Lion in Princess Katherine, Kate to her fans. Lovely album, your Highness.

Lionheart is an interesting case. Completed in relative haste after the success of Kate's debut "The Kick Inside" is has stimulated both love and loathing from those who have experienced it.

I for once think that it's darling. For one thing it's shorter (10 songs compared to TKI's 13) and benefits from a more uniformity of mood. The songs themselves also seem more focused and concentrated than those on her debut.

My personal favorites are: In Search of Peter Pan (which has a stunning chorus refrain and includes a dark version of "When You Wish Upon A Star"), Wow (a very memorable melody and chilling vocals, though knowing Kate that really isn't saying much ;p ), Coffee Homeground (a slightly insane number about serial murder through poisioning), and finally Hammer Horror (which features of of Kate's most driving choruses).

Overall I like Lionheart much better than either her debut or her two later albums The Sensual World and The Kick Inside. As I have discussed on a Kate related messageboard, it would make a great musical indeed!

We all know how high Kate Bush ranks in terms of iconic stature over here in England. Is there anyone above her in terms of respect? Hardly. Her music has become almost a genre unto itself over the years. After her smash hit debut album "The Kick Inside," Kate released "Lioneart." The album was actually released in the same year as her debut, which was obviously just a record company ploy to capitalise on Kate's new-found success. As a result, this album didn't do as well as her debut, and sold a mere 300,000 copies in the UK. It peaked at No.6 and didn't really spawn any massive hit singles. When stood next to Kate's masterpieces such as "Hounds Of Love" and "The Dreaming," this album doesn't really stand a chance. There are great moments on all of Bush's albums, but this album just so happens to feature the least amount. Or at least that's my opinion.

The album opens with "Symphony In Blue." This is a very classy mid-tempo song and has trademark vocals from Kate, very high and operatic. It's also quite a sexual song and has some rather racy lyrics for 1978! "In Search Of Peter Pan" is actually one of my least favourites on the album. No matter how many times I listen to it never seems to fully connect with me like most of Kate's music does. The end of the chorus is very beautiful though, and the piano is rather shrill and very harmonious. "Wow" is one of the best songs I think Kate has ever done. This song runs for four minutes and has one of the most fantastic intros I've ever heard. It's incredibly atmospheric and almost eerie. Kate's vocals are so beautiful and remind me of a starry night. The chorus is amazing as she bursts out singing, "Wow, wow, wow, wow, wow, wow! Unbelievable!" It ends just as beautifully as it started too.

"Don't Push Your Foot On The Heartbrake" is a fantastic song that has quite a subdued, quiet opening. However, things pick up in the section before the chorus, until Kate is screaming her head off in that chorus! I love it when the guitars kick in as she sings, "Come on! You've got to use your flow!" "Oh England My Lionheart" is a very sad song about the war, and is interesting in how this is the only song to feature hand-written lyrics in the inlay, while the rest are simply printed. The chorus is quite impressive as Kate's voice rises. "Fullhouse" is a rather weak offering, because I feel that the vocals are bit too eccentric on this song. "In The Warm Room" is a very sensual and erotic song. This worked very fell on Kate's debut album on songs such as "L'Amour Looks Something Like You" and "Feel It." This isn't as good, but it's still a great song. The lyrics become more sensuous as the song progresses, right down to, "You'll fall into her like a pillow, her thighs are soft as marshmellows, say hello, to the soft musk of her hollows." Kate's vocals rise and fall to the sweet tenderness of such a beautiful song.

"Kashka From Baghdad" is one of Kate's most famous songs, in which she sings about a gay couple, shunned by their friends and family because of their homosexuality. However, they don't seem to care, as their landlady observes every night as she can hear them laughing and getting along just like any ordinary couple. You can feel the longing for them as a couple in Kate's voice, which was quite risky back in 1978. "Coffee Homeground" is a song about murder, yet it's supposed to be set in the 19th Century. To achieve this, the song sounds very spacious and cold, like an eerie cellar haunted by ghosts. It's a very British song, and is perfect for expressing Kate's dynamic voice. The album closes with "Hammer Horror," another song about murder. In this song, Kate takes on the role of an understudy who plots to kill off the main star in a play so that she can have the part. It's a rather unusual song, very diverse for its time, and ultimately very rewarding.

OVERALL GRADE: 8/10

This is probably my least favourite Kate Bush album, but that's only because after this she went on to release some real masterpieces. Infact, the three albums that came after this are all stunning and 10 times better than this album. Lionheart is probably more famous for the album artwork than the actual songs, which is quite a shame, but some people saw this as a poor rehash of her more successful debut album. The best song on here for me is Wow and probably always will be. However, this is still an essential addition to any Kate Bush fan's collection.