Kite flew out in the world in the spring of 1989, a whole decade after Kirsty MacColl had released her first single.
It also came seven years after her last album, her debut, Desperate Character.
In the interim, she had a top ten hit with her harmony and jangledrenched version of Billy Braggs A New England in 1985, an evergreen Christmas hit, 1987s Fairytale of New York, with The Pogues and two sons, Jamie and Louis, with her producer husband Steve Lillywhite.Kite arrived like a bold, glossy statement of intent, full of songs she had written herself and with dear friends like Pete Glenister and Johnny Marr, plus one glistening Kinks cover, which felt like an appropriate choice.
In fingerclicking country, Smithsy pop, ballads and modern protest songs, Kirsty was Ray Davies natural successor in song writing, observing fame, love and modern life with a sparkling, sensitive eye.Kite also contains flourishes of what was to come later for Kirsty.
Dancing in Limbo hints towards her later works Latin flavours.
Finale You And Me Baby prefigures the glorious soundworld of 1993s Titanic Days.
Throughout the album, there is a confidence that bristles and burns, the sound of a woman finally seizing the day and having her time.Double CD deluxe edition, featuring a bonus disc of alternate mixes, Bsides and singles, housed in deluxe 7 gatefold card packaging with booklet containing lyrics, photography and a liner essay from Jude Rogers.Wit, liveliness and crackling musical ideas, jumping between global genres with relish Kirsty MacColls third album, Electric Landlady, has all of them.
It also has quite the title, as her friend and occasional songwriting partner Johnny Marr writes over email.
We spent a lot of time together then hanging out, listening to records late at night and then making our own records during marathon recording sessions.
I lived in her flat in Shepherds Bush which is how we came up with Electric Landlady.Travelling the world with her husband, producer Steve Lillywhite, had given her exposure to big bands like the Rolling Stones and Talking Heads, with whom she gladly sang backing vocals.
But her friends and voracious appetite for new music is what drove her creativity.
Electric Landlady also saw the love of Cuban and Latin American rhythms in her life, which had been fired in her childhood by her brother039s record collection.
Worldrenowned artists like percussionist Jos Mangual Jr, trumpeter Angel Hernandez, timbalero Mark Quinones and bassist Sal Cuevas joined her band, enhancing and enriching her glorious songs with a tropical, sunshine register.Many collaborations light up this LP.
The defiant country swing of All I Ever Wanted was a result of a writing partnership by post, exchanging tapes with American musician Marshall Crenshaw.
He Never Mentioned Love, written with The Pogues Jem Finer, is a more mature, wry take on Kirstys earlier girl groupflavoured pop.
The Hardest Word, written with her older brother Hamish, is also about their late father, the renowned folk singer Ewan, with whom she had a tough relationship.Double CD deluxe edition, featuring a bonus disc of alternate mixes, Bsides and singles, housed in deluxe 7 gatefold card packaging with booklet containing lyrics, photography and a liner essay from Jude Rogers.
It also came seven years after her last album, her debut, Desperate Character.
In the interim, she had a top ten hit with her harmony and jangledrenched version of Billy Braggs A New England in 1985, an evergreen Christmas hit, 1987s Fairytale of New York, with The Pogues and two sons, Jamie and Louis, with her producer husband Steve Lillywhite.Kite arrived like a bold, glossy statement of intent, full of songs she had written herself and with dear friends like Pete Glenister and Johnny Marr, plus one glistening Kinks cover, which felt like an appropriate choice.
In fingerclicking country, Smithsy pop, ballads and modern protest songs, Kirsty was Ray Davies natural successor in song writing, observing fame, love and modern life with a sparkling, sensitive eye.Kite also contains flourishes of what was to come later for Kirsty.
Dancing in Limbo hints towards her later works Latin flavours.
Finale You And Me Baby prefigures the glorious soundworld of 1993s Titanic Days.
Throughout the album, there is a confidence that bristles and burns, the sound of a woman finally seizing the day and having her time.Double CD deluxe edition, featuring a bonus disc of alternate mixes, Bsides and singles, housed in deluxe 7 gatefold card packaging with booklet containing lyrics, photography and a liner essay from Jude Rogers.Wit, liveliness and crackling musical ideas, jumping between global genres with relish Kirsty MacColls third album, Electric Landlady, has all of them.
It also has quite the title, as her friend and occasional songwriting partner Johnny Marr writes over email.
We spent a lot of time together then hanging out, listening to records late at night and then making our own records during marathon recording sessions.
I lived in her flat in Shepherds Bush which is how we came up with Electric Landlady.Travelling the world with her husband, producer Steve Lillywhite, had given her exposure to big bands like the Rolling Stones and Talking Heads, with whom she gladly sang backing vocals.
But her friends and voracious appetite for new music is what drove her creativity.
Electric Landlady also saw the love of Cuban and Latin American rhythms in her life, which had been fired in her childhood by her brother039s record collection.
Worldrenowned artists like percussionist Jos Mangual Jr, trumpeter Angel Hernandez, timbalero Mark Quinones and bassist Sal Cuevas joined her band, enhancing and enriching her glorious songs with a tropical, sunshine register.Many collaborations light up this LP.
The defiant country swing of All I Ever Wanted was a result of a writing partnership by post, exchanging tapes with American musician Marshall Crenshaw.
He Never Mentioned Love, written with The Pogues Jem Finer, is a more mature, wry take on Kirstys earlier girl groupflavoured pop.
The Hardest Word, written with her older brother Hamish, is also about their late father, the renowned folk singer Ewan, with whom she had a tough relationship.Double CD deluxe edition, featuring a bonus disc of alternate mixes, Bsides and singles, housed in deluxe 7 gatefold card packaging with booklet containing lyrics, photography and a liner essay from Jude Rogers.






