Lionheart

Produced by Andrew Powell, with Bush as assistant producer, it was released on 10 November 1978 and reached number six in the UK, her only album not to make the top five. It spent 36 weeks on the chart and went platinum. EMI wanted a follow-up quickly, and most of the songs were older compositions that she reworked. Only Symphony in Blue, Fullhouse and Coffee Homeground were newly written. All ten tracks are credited to Bush.

It was recorded entirely at Super Bear Studios in Berre-les-Alpes, her only album made outside the UK. She felt too inexperienced to produce it herself, and in 1989 she remarked that considering how quickly it was made it was a good album, but that she was not really happy with it. She has mentioned satisfaction with Wow. The title comes from Oh England My Lionheart, and the cover, photographed by Gered Mankowitz, shows her in a lion outfit in an attic. The album introduced Del Palmer, who played bass on it and then played bass or engineered on every album up to 50 Words for Snow.

Hammer Horror, the lead single, reached only number 44 in the UK. Wow followed in March 1979 and reached number 14. The songs lean on stories: In Search of Peter Pan quotes a line from When You Wish Upon a Star, Kashka from Baghdad was inspired by American detective series, and Wow is about the music business. The album was not released in the US until 1984, after The Dreaming charted. NME's Ian Penman disliked the voice, Trouser Press rated the album well, and in a Guardian poll of her best albums it took 2 percent of the vote.