Kim Wilde - Wilde At Heart (1983)

By 1986 Kim Wilde was writing more of her own material, with her fifth album 'Another Step' featuring mostly songs that she wrote herself or co-wrote, and although the album's lead single 'Schoolgirl' flopped in Europe and Australia, her Hi-NRG remake of The Supremes' classic 'You Keep Me Hangin' On' was a huge success, topping the charts in Australia and Canada, and peaking at number two in the UK. It also belatedly hit number one on the US Billboard chart in 1987, and with that hit she became the fifth UK female solo artist ever to top the US Hot 100, following Petula Clark, Lulu, Sheena Easton, and Bonnie Tyler. Her popularity, especially in her native UK, was revitalised and she scored further Top 10 hits in 1987 with 'Another Step (Closer to You)' and the Comic Relief charity single 'Rockin' Around The Christmas Tree, recorded with comedian Mel Smith as Mel & Kim. In 1988 she released her biggest selling album to date, with 'Close' returning her to the UK top 10, spending almost eight months on the UK album chart. It produced four major European hits in 'Hey Mister Heartache', 'You Came', 'Never Trust A Stranger' and 'Four Letter Word', and she toured the album throughout Europe as the opening act for Michael Jackson's Bad World Tour. In 1990 she released her next album 'Love Moves', but she found that the public can be very fickle, with the record barely making the UK Top 40, and only spawning two minor hit single. A collaboration with Rick Nowels, who had produced hits for Stevie Nicks and Belinda Carlisle, resulted in the guitar-driven pop of the single 'Love Is Holy', and the 1992 album 'Love Is', but once again the album's success was limited to a small number of countries, though the single was another Top 20 hit in the UK. In 1994 Wilde embarked on a huge "Greatest Hits" concert tour throughout Europe, Australia and Japan, but her next album 'Now & Forever' was a commercial failure worldwide, and after a couple more relatively unsuccessful singles she took a year off from February 1986 to February 1987 to appear in the West End production of the musical 'Tommy'. Since 2001, Wilde has resumed her singing career, releasing records and touring, while at the same time reviving an old interest in gardening and appearing on TV gardening programmes 'Better Gardens' and 'Garden Invaders', as well as writing two books on the subject. This second collection of non-album singles and b-sides takes us up to that Greatest Hits tour in 1994, and includes a number of fine self-penned songs from the most-charted British female solo act of the 1980's.  

Track listing

01 Loving You (b-side of 'You Keep Me Hangin' On' 1986)
02 Songs About Love (b-side of 'Schoolgirl' 1986)
03 Hold Back (b-side of 'Another Step (Closer To You)' 1987)
04 Tell Me Where You Are (b-side of 'Hey Mr. Heartache' 1988)
05 Wotcha Gonna Do (b-side of 'Never Trust A Stranger' 1988)
06 Virtual World (b-side of 'It's Here' 1990)
07 Birthday Song (b-side of 'Love Is Holy' 1992)
08 I've Found A Reason (b-side of 'Heart Over Mind' 1992)
09 If I Can't Have You (single 1993)
10 Never Felt So Alive (b-side of 'If I Can't Have You' 1993) 
11 In My Life (single 1993)

Kim Wilde - Call Of The Wilde (1985)

Kim Wilde was born Kim Smith on 18 November 1960, and is the eldest child of 50's rock 'n' roller Marty Wilde and Joyce Baker, who had been a member of the singing and dancing group the Vernons Girls. When Kim was nine, the family moved to Hertfordshire, and after leaving Presdales School, she took a foundation course at St Albans College of Art & Design, completing it when she was 20. After leaving college she wanted so become a session backing singer, but RAK Records owner Mickey Most had other ideas, and signed her to his label as a solo artist under the name of Kim Wilde. Virtually all of her material in the early to mid-80's was written by her father Marty and her brother Ricky, and key influences included Orchestral Manoeuvres in the Dark (OMD), Ultravox, John Foxx, Gary Numan, Skids, Sex Pistols, the Clash, Kraftwerk and the Stranglers, blending punk, new wave and synth-pop from the late 70's. Her debut single was released in January 1981, and 'Kids In America' was an instant success, reaching number two in the UK Singles Chart and scaling the Top 5 in other countries such as Germany, France and Australia. Although it achieved only moderate success in the US, peaking at number 25 when released in 1982, it is often regarded today as her signature song, and her debut album 'Kim Wilde' repeated the success of the single, spawning two further hits in 'Chequered Love' and the UK-only single 'Water On Glass'. 'Select' followed in 1982, led by the hit singles 'View From A Bridge' and 'Cambodia', with the latter sparking some controversy over the lyrics referencing the Operation Menu bombing during the Vietnam war, but despite that it sold a million copies in France alone. Unusually for someone with two hit albums under their belt, Wilde was reluctant to do a live tour, and so her first concerts took place in September 1982 in Denmark, before embarking on a UK-wide tour in October. Wilde's third album 'Catch As Catch Can' appeared in 1983, but failed to equal the success of the previous two, although the first single from the album 'Love Blonde' was another success in France and Scandinavia, although it didn't really perform well in other countries. The relative failure of the album led to her leaving RAK and signing with MCA Records in the summer of 1984, and her first album for the label was 'Teases & Dares', which was once again overlooked in her home country, faring much better in Germany, France and Scandinavia. As well as scoring another German Top 10 single with 'The Second Time', the third single from the album, the rockabilly 'Rage To Love', finally returned her to the UK top 20 in 1985. It was on 'Teases & Dares' that Wilde made her first songwriting contributions, penning 'Fit In' and 'Shangri-La', and 1983 saw the start of four years of constant touring, completing three European concert tours in 1983, 1985 and 1986. On nearly all of her early singles, the b-sides were not taken from the current album, and Japanese fans were even treated to a bonus track on their edition of the 'Select' album, so this collection includes all those songs, alongside a couple of out-takes, plus her contribution to the soundtrack of the hit 1985 film 'Weird Science'.  

Track listing

01 Shane (b-side of 'Chequered Love' 1981)
02 Boys (b-side of 'Water On Glass' 1981)
03 Watching For Shapes (b-side of 'Cambodia' 1981)
04 Child Come Away (single 1982)
05 Just Another Guy (b-side of 'Child Come Away')
06 He Will Be There (out-take 1982)
07 Bitter Is Better (bonus track on Japanese edition of 'Select' 1982)
08 Back Street Driver (b-side of 'Dancing In The Dark' 1983)             
09 Rain On (out-take 1983)
10 Lovers On A Beach (b-side of 'The Second Time' 1984)
11 Putty In Your Hands (b-side of 'Rage To Love' 1985)
12 Turn It On (from the soundtrack of the film 'Weird Science' 1985)