Jim’s Review
Jim reviews some of the latest musical offerings…
KIM WILDE ‘The RAK Reissues’
KIM WILDE was always going to be a pop star. Music was in her genes, both parents key figures from the early days of British rock’n’roll, Marty was one of the genre’s first stars, with his popularity showing no signs of waning 60+ years on, her mother, Joyce, a real life Vernons Girl, and when Marty and brother Ricky gave her the song ‘Kids In America’ with a bit of help from neighbours, The Enid, history was made.
Cherry Pop have released Kim’s first three albums, plus non-album material, which she recorded for RAK Records as 2CD+DVD sets in true Deluxe Packaging. The presentation of each title is identical, with excellent liner notes by Marcel Rijs.
‘Kids In America’ was the perfect pop song , not only for Kim but for the time, when pop music was about to embrace the MTV era. Her debut ‘KIM WILDE (1981)’ (PCRPT212) a Top 3 Chart Album, also featured two other hits ‘Chequered Love’ and ‘Water On Glass’ with the gem ‘2-6-5-8-0’ among the other slices of pop perfection.
Two bonus songs plus a pair of 7ins versions, including ‘Tuning In Tuning On’ the flipside of ‘Kids’ complete Disc one.
Disc two contains a dozen ’19-81 Remixes’ including six takes on ‘Kids’ while the DVD features ‘Top Of The Pops’ and other BBC appearances of a young girl living the dream and loving every minute.
In many ways, 1982’s follow up ‘SELECT’ (PCRPOPT213) is a stronger album with two of my favourites ‘View From The Bridge’ and the haunting ‘Cambodia’, non-album tracks and an out-take feature among the six bonus tracks, while the second disc features ‘Session Selections’ with ‘Rough’ and ‘Original’ mixes, plus ‘The 19-82 Mixes’ newly extended/remixed mixes of hits only issued on 7ins format back in the day, DVD features not only the ‘Top Of The Pops’ performance but also promo videos, and a ‘Nationwide’ special.
Kim’s final outing for RAK ‘CATCH AS CATCH CAN’ is one of those strange releases, her strongest, and in my belief, best from the trio.
But it sadly failed to resonate with the public as previous releases had, Kim was reaching for more of ‘the girls growing up’ sound which worked for me ‘Love Blonde’, ‘Dream Sequence’ and ‘Dancing In The Dark’ are as good a consecutive trio of songs as you’ll likely to hear.
The 7ins and Extended versions, including Nile Rodgers’s take on ‘Dancing In The Dark’ feature within the bonus tracks Session Out-takes and 19:83 Mixes complete the audio content of this set, with promo videos, various BBC performances, plus TV ad for 1984 ‘Very Best Of Kim Wilde’ album on the DVD.
When Cherry Red/Pop set their sights on delivering the definitive editions of albums, not only do they do it properly but they do it with style, ‘perfect pop; 80s style’ now for MCAs?
WAX ‘LIVE IN CONCERT 1987’ ESOTERIC RECORDINGS: ECLEC 32690 (2CD+DVD Set)
Take two singer-songwriters of note, one British, Graham Gouldman, the other American, Andrew Gold: mix and mould together, allow to set, and you get ‘WAX’, a short-lived but highly-successful duo who blended together perfectly.
They recorded just three albums in the 80s, with a reunion a decade later, and now a released gem has been discovered. Esoteric Recordings have found a full-length recording from the duo’s only UK tour ‘LIVE IN CONCERT 1987,’ laid untouched for 30-plus years, now given Cherry Red’s full attention and delivered as a 2CD+ DVD set in an edition that includes an extensive interview with Graham Gouldman, about Wax, plus his work and friendship with Andrew Gold, who has sadly passed away.
The complete concert is featured over two CDs, and in addition to the band’s work ‘Bridge To Your Heart’, ‘Ball And Chain’, and ‘American English’ they each include a couple of their own classics ‘Lonely Boy’, ‘Never Let Her Slip Away’, ‘Bus Stop’, ‘For You Love’ and ‘Dreadlock Holiday’.Recorded in Harrogate, the CDs offer 20 songs, and as good as the DVD is the visual content is, just six, but knowing exactly how archiving and presenting decades later can present problems. These are six works of art I never had before, so I am happy.
TOM WAITS by MATT MAHURIN ABRAMS ISBN: 9781419739095
Tom Waits is a singer-songwriter, with Grammy and Academy Awards for gritty songs delivered by his gravel-pitted voice.
He is also an actor of note. Matt Mahurin is a surrealistic illustrator and photographer whose work goes way beyond the expected boundaries creating many truly ‘out-there’ music videos alongside others that are simply beautiful for Waits, Sting, U2, Joni Mitchell and David Byrne.
The Waits-Mahurin collaboration goes back 30-plus years, and in both recognition and celebration of that time, Mahurin has dug into his archives for ‘TOM WAITS by MATT MAHURIN’ which pays tribute not only to the expressive and imaginative mind of Waits, his strange photogenic hypnotism that ensures he is never ignored, but also his own work directly about, with or inspired by Waits.
Presented in coffee table style, which is the one place you would never leave a work of beauty like this, each photo, painting, sketch or digital illustration has its own page allowing the viewer to fully absorb the message. Text is almost non-existent: the beauty requires you to write your own vision of each piece.
Words are inadequate when describing ‘Waits by Mahurin’. The best way to appreciate it would be to open at two or three random pages, soak in whatever you discover, and the book will be impossible to walk away from.
A work of beauty to treasure.