Kirsty MacColl: All I Ever Wanted – The Anthology out this April

Overcoming agonising stage fright, long periods of writer’s block and depression, she created a hugely successful solo career and collaborated with a legion of people from the Rolling Stones, The Pogues and Johnny Marr to Jools Holland and Happy Mondays.

Born in Croydon, South London in 1959, flamed-haired Kirsty MacColl was the daughter of folk singer Ewan MacColl. Her own musical career began singing in a band called the Addix, who would eventually sign with the legendary Stiff Records. Her first single, ‘They Don’t Know,’ was released in 1979 and would later become a major hit for Tracey Ullman.

Her big break came in 1981 with the single, ‘There’s A Guy Works Down The Chip Shop Swears He’s Elvis’ which reached the UK Top 20 and throughout the 1980s, more hits would follow including the Top Ten smash ‘A New England’ and the number 2 Christmas hit of 1987 ‘Fairytale Of New York’, recorded with the Pogues.

With a 2 year period away from the music industry, it was not until 1989 that she released her first major album. ‘Kite’ released on Virgin Records, included Kirsty’s hit cover of The Kinks’ ‘Days’, and ‘Free World’ and would pave the way for ‘Electric Landlady’, which reached the Top 20 on its release in 1991. Kirsty was joined by Johnny Marr of The Smiths as co-writer and had another hit in the form of ‘Walking Down Madison’, a track which took Kirsty into urban dance. Another notable track was ‘My Affair’, a Latin flavoured feel-good number, which enjoyed a brief stint on the UK charts.

Leaving Virgin Records, Kirsty joined ZTT and released ‘Titanic Days’ in 1994. Although not as commercially successful as its predecessors, the album was critically acclaimed and displayed an even more pensive and gentle side to Kirsty’s writing skills. Tracks such as ‘Angel’ and ‘Soho Square” and the title track proved irresistible pop.

Her greatest hits compilation ‘Galore’, a year later, proved to be Kirsty’s biggest selling album, debuting in the UK Top 10, and quickly gaining platinum status. After the success of ‘Galore’, Kirsty decided to take time out to continue her travels in Latin American. She had become deeply interested in Cuban and Brazilian music, even teaching herself fluent Spanish and absorbing expert information on the history of this music.

Her final album released in 2000 on V2 entitled, ‘Tropical Brainstorm’, was inspired by her Latin American travels. With songs such as ‘Mambo De La Luna’ and ‘In These Shoes?’ as highlights, the album immediately entered the UK Top 40 and was heralded as her greatest work.

As well as Kirsty’s most well-known hits which all feature here, also included is the 12” version of ‘Terry’, the album version of ‘All I Ever Wanted’ and the rarely heard BBC sessions including ‘A New England’ recorded with Billy Bragg, making this the perfect introduction to Kirsty MacColl for both new and old fans alike.

CD1

1 Us Amazonians
2 Days
3 Free World
4 Children of the Revolution
5 Walking down Madison
6 My Affair
7 In These Shoes? .
8 They Don’t Know
9 Terry (12″ version)
10 Over You
11 Keep Your Hands Off My Baby
12 Caroline
13 Touch Me
14 Soho Square
15 All I Ever Wanted (album version)
16 England 2 Colombia 0
17 Wrong Again
18 Don’t Come the Cowboy With Me, Sonny Jim!
19 Last Day Of Summer
20 Golden Heart
21 Bad