Bradley's Buzz

BubbaTUNESday - bub132 Kim Wilde - Kim Wilde (Reissue)

This week's featured Bubbatune is actually a reissue of a reissue. Way back in 2004 I put out bub43 the reissue of one of my all time favorite albums ever - Kim Wilde's self titled debut. Full of new wave fun and of course that hit "Kids In America" it is to this day one of my all time favs. Well, Kim did three fairly new wavey albums when she was on RAK Records - the aforementioned debut, 1982's Select and 1983's Catch As Catch Can. Other than a long ago released CD release of the first two and a long ago boxed set which contained all three albums, there haven't been any reissues of these classic albums - that is until now. So when I was finally able to get to Select and Catch As Catch Can on CD, it only made sense I go back and redo the debut album. The original 2004 Bubbatune had bonus tracks consisting of all the singles Kim put out on RAK and with the new addition of the next albums, it didn't make sense. So now we have put together Bubbatunes for all three Kim CD's... but you'll have to wait for the next two. I'm taking this week by week you see.

But alas, with that long intro gone - here we are at this week's Bubbatune - the reissue of the reissue for Kim Wilde.

bub 132 Kim Wilde - KIM WILDE (December 16, 2008; 1981)

One more gem of a new wave masterpiece that is overlooked and so underappreciated, the debut album by Kim Wilde only caused a ripple here in America when the single "Kids In America" was released in 1982, but prior to that the single was released in the UK where it hit #3 and then when the album was finally released Kim found herself with a top ten album and two more hit singles - the chugging drama of "Chequered Love" and the rocking "Water On Glass."

For some reason Kim's new wave drama hiccupy hit didn't make a huge impression to most in the US, but to me it did. The album came out when I was quite young but how I loved "Kids In America" and I really didn't know that Kim had already been having hits in the UK for over a year, but I wanted this album and after much whining I got it.

Ever since that day Kim Wilde has rarely went two months without a spin on the cassette player and with this Bubbatune on the CD player. The album itself is pure 1981/82 poppy new wave full of pounding drum lines, synth and keyboards and lyrics about teen angst, hookers, strange radio frequencies and the ever present love gone wrong.

Set to a trancy energetic beat there isn't a song to be missed; of course like most UK/US releases of the time, the tracks were arranged differently, only this time it was only a few songs, the original UK version opens with "Water On Glass" a fast rocking little ditty that would be released as a single while in America the single "Kids In America" opened the album. Since the original release was in the UK I went with their track list so we go from "Water" to "Our Town", a tale of trying to break out but forced back into your small world before the reggae tinged "Everything We Know" and onto one of my all time fav songs "Young Heroes", a pumping little song about celebrating your differences, "We only wanna stay young/ we only wanna be free/ She doesn't want to be me/ he doesn't want to be you/ we're all young heroes/we only want to be free..."

Onto the big hit of the set with "Kids In America" which is such a great song I just can't get enough. You'll remember it made the top ten of my best song of the 80's, and Kim redid it on her latest album Never Say Never, a sort of throwback to this era of Kim songs. Starting with synth waves and breaking into moody pop, this is a song that though it has that 80's feel still seems to fit perfectly in 2006, a true test of what a great pop song can be. The album continues on in the same vein with the catchy and big UK hit "Chequered Love" followed by another reggae-ish tune only set to a much fuller and faster beat "26580", an ode to a prostitute and then the moody love song "You'll Never Be So Wrong", the power tranced rock of "Falling Out" a big kiss off song that is probably my favorite song on the whole album, "So now it's over and there's nothing more to say/ the flame that burned inside my heart now slowly fades away/ so don't you ever think of knocking at my door/ just turn the light, close your eyes and think of me no more/ and it's too late to say you're sorry/ you'll never change and there's nothing you can do about it/ faaaalllling ouuut/ cutting me up in pieces..." and ending with the spacey trance of "Tuning In, Tuning Out" which was a sort of inspiration for my vocal take on Swivek's "Intensity Is Recommended" - full of overdubbed spoken and sung vocals, it's a perfect way to end a new wavey masterpiece.

But thanks to the Bubbatunes world, this version of Kim Wilde is far from over, as we have collected more of the first incarnation of Kim's recording career; the b-side of the UK "Chequered Love" single is here - "Shane" is a little love song about some boy Kim fancied or doesn't fancy anymore and then my favorite - the B side to "Water On Glass" - a fast paced rocker "Boys" which would've fit perfectly on the album.

The original reissue of Kim Wilde then included the rest of her singles discography released on the UK label RAK before she secured a worldwide MCA contract and switched her sound from new wave rock/pop to dance pop but we end this version here so you can head onto the next new wave of Kim with Select - which we will talk about next week on BubbaTUNESday. See you then.

bub132 KIM WILDE - Kim Wilde
Track List:01. Water On Glass 02. Our Town 03. Everything We Know 04. Young Heroes 05. Kids In America 06. Chequered Love 07. 26580 08. You'll Never Be So Wrong 09. Falling Out 10. Tuning In, Tuning Out
Bonus Tracks: 11. Shane 12. Boys

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Labels: bub132, Bubbatunes, Kim Wilde

posted by swivek @ 8:09 AM