FEATURE:
Vinyl Corner
Kirsty MacColl - Kite
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IT is sad to think that…
IN THIS PHOTO: Kirsty MacColl in 1989/PHOTO CREDIT: Honey Salvadori/National Portrait Gallery, London
the final album from Kirsty MacColl arrived twenty years ago. Tragically, MacColl died in December 2000 in an accident in Mexico. Her final album, Tropical Brainstorm, was released in March 2000 and it is a phenomenal record. It is a happier and much more uplifting album than Titanic Days of 1993. That album is incredible, but it has quite an unhappy heart. Tropical Brainstorm sounds much more enlivened and revitalised – as MacColl said she would only record another album when she was in a better place -, so it makes it all that more bittersweet that the album release and MacColl’s death were so close together. I want to look back at her second studio album, Kite. Following the patchy-if-promising debut, Desperate Character of 1981, it did take a while for that second album to arrive. I am not sure what influenced the gap, but Kite is a stronger and more effecting listen than the debut; MacColl’s voice is stronger and her songwriting stepped up a gear – even though it was pretty good on Desperate Character! Produced by her then-husband Steve Lillywhite, it was her first album for Virgin Records. One big reason for selecting this album was that there is a nice mix of covers and originals. Go and buy Kite on vinyl, as you can pick it up for not a lot and it makes for a wonderful listen!
One of my favourite cover versions ever is MacColl’s version of The Kinks’ Days. Her voice adds something emotional and stunningly beautiful to a track that, whilst great in its original state, is elevated to new heights by MacColl! Match this against originals like Innocence, and Free World, and Kite is a splendid album where MacColl really shines. I like the two tracks she wrote with Johnny Marr, The End of a Perfect Day, and You and Me Baby – these tracks end the album in superb fashion! MacColl’s beautiful harmonies are all over the album, and her voice has so much character and so many different sides. I want to wrap up with a few reviews of Kite, just to show the affection that is out there for a simply staggering album. The BBC tackled Kite in 2005:
“MacColl, the maverick performer much loved by the Brit rock illuminati, has been described as 'a great British artist' by Bono, a 'genius' by Holly Johnson, and the forthcoming release From Croydon To Cuba...An Anthology has been described as a 'work of art' by art-rockers Talking Heads. Praise indeed and utterly deserved.
Here we have Kite, first released fifteen years ago. Kite is full of the honest purity and humour that was synonymous with MacColl, and is packed with hits, bonus tracks and remixes. That's before you even get to the mammoth box set From Croydon To Cuba or the eclectic explosion that is Electric Landlady, also released imminently (featuring the work of Billy Bragg and Johnny Marr). Make no mistake, this special lady left a mighty legacy”.
“Kite features her hit single, "Days", brimming with beautiful simplicity, and all the more poignant since her tragic death in 2000. Age has not withered this sweet song, it retains every ounce of uncynical magic that made it a hit in the first place.
"Free World" is a high octane track dominated by a distinctly U2-esque rhythm guitar. You can hear bands like The Cranberries have clearly taken note of every strata of her style in tracks such as this.
"No Victims", an unsugary ode to love gone wrong bursts with blatant truth but without bitterness. A similar feel is conjured by the trad jazz-infused stomp "Fifteen Minutes", where Kirstyplainly speaks out against hypocrisy and 'bozos'. But there is never a sting in the tail, just eyes-wide-open honesty and integrity: a quality particular to the likes of MacColl and punk poet Billy Bragg.
MacColl's trademark harmonies are wrapped around "The End Of A Perfect Day", a vibrant, complex song that I defy you not to bounce up and down to. This is followed by the shimmering ballad "You And Me Baby", sure to calm you down if all that bouncing gets a bit much...
A thing of simple beauty from a much missed troubadour”.
I have been listening to Kite a lot more over the last few weeks, as I am finding comfort in the songs and MacColl’s voice. Although she would go on to make other brilliant albums, I think Kite is up there with Tropical Brainstorm in terms of her very best work.
In their review of 1990, Rolling Stone noted that, whilst MacColl has not released much music in the past decade, what she delivered on Kite was amazing:
“Kirsty Maccoll does not suffer fools gladly: "It's a bozo's world and you're a bozo's child" is just one of a quiverful of arrows she slings at both men who are self-centered manipulators and women who put up with them. "I'm no victim to pity and cry for/And you're not someone I'd lay down and die for" is another. The effect, at least lyrically, is a sort of distaff Elvis Costello: sharp-tongued, literate and – in its own distinctive way – charming.
The charm is derived in no small part from MacColl's songwriting skill. (Remember Tracey Ullman's 1984 hit "They Don't Know"? MacColl wrote it.) She is, after all, the daughter of the late Scottish folk singer Ewan MacColl, whose "Dirty Old Town" was recorded by the Pogues and many other artists. She's also the wife of producer Steve Lillywhite, and with help from him and the likes of guitarist Johnny Marr, MacColl has created a sparkling, modern folk-rock sound that at turns bounces, forces and eases her scoldings on, with her plain but attractive voice layered throughout.
"Free World" slams home a warning of women's frustration in the world with U2-like frenzy; "Fifteen Minutes" is a tart kiss-off to a fair-weather lover; "What Do Pretty Girls Do?" makes a case that it's the plain Janes that learn the best lessons from life; and rounding out the package are two lovely, bittersweet tracks: an eye-watering version of the Kinks' "Days" and the closer, "You and Me Baby." The real bittersweet fact about Kite, though, is that it's only MacColl's second recording and her first in almost ten years. It's unfair for someone with this much to say and this much skill at saying it to be so stingy. (RS 579)”.
I will round up soon but, if you have not encountered Kirsty MacColl or are unsure where to start, I would say that Kite is a great introduction to her enormous power and unique voice. In their review, AllMusic had this to offer:
“Only Kirsty MacColl's second solo album in the tenth year of her career (she took several years off to have children after marrying producer Steve Lillywhite), 1989's Kite is the pinnacle of her achievement. By far her best-sustained work, this lengthy 15-track album features some of the singer/songwriter's best work on both sides of the hyphen. Her always-terrific vocals -- MacColl was quite likely the best female singer of her generation -- are overdubbed several times on most tracks to create thick, lush harmonies, most notably on the gorgeous cover of the Kinks' "Days." Her songwriting is excellent as well, with some of her sharpest and cleverest words and most memorable melodies found here. The piercing "Innocence" and "Free World" are two of MacColl's most combative songs, while "What Do Pretty Girls Do?" and "Fifteen Minutes," for all their tart lines, are MacColl at her most sympathetic. Besides the excellent originals, another pair of terrific covers -- the Smiths' "You Just Haven't Earned It Yet, Baby" and Kate and Anna McGarrigle's "Complainte pour Ste. Catherine" (given a rather Cuban rearrangement that foreshadows her later experiments in Latin music) -- show both MacColl's widely varied influences and her immense interpretive powers. [In 2005 EMI reissued Kite with the bonus tracks "Happy," "Am I Right?," "El Paso," "Le Foret de Mimosas," "Complainte Pour Ste Catherine," as well as alternate mixes of "Freeworld," "Innocence," "No Victims [Guitar Heroes Mix]" and "End of a Perfect Day."]”.
Make sure you go and get a remarkable album from one of the music world’s greatest voices. It is sad we mark twenty years since Kirsty MacColl’s death in December, but we will always remember her talent and the beautiful music she gave to her. I think Kite is a magnificent album where MacColl is seen…
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