The daughter of folk singer Ewan MacColl, and wife of producer Steve Lillywhite, Kirsty MacColl started performing and recording in the late 70’s before landing a hit single with ‘There’s a Guy Works Down the Chip Shop Swears He’s Elvis’ in 1981. Throughout the 80’s and 90’s MacColl seemed to pop up everywhere, when she wasn’t making her own music she was singing backing vocals on Smiths singles, covering Billy Bragg’s ‘New England’, duetting with The Pogues on ‘Fairytale of New York’, singing on Talking Heads albums or appearing on French and Saunders TV show.
But it wasn’t until 1989 that she released her second album, Kite, an uplifting record full of songs she had written herself, or with friends including Johnny Marr, plus her gorgeous cover of The Kinks ‘Days’. The album proved MacColl able to write not only jangly pop songs but ballads and modern-day protest songs, all underpinned by lush harmonies.
Kite launches with ‘Innocence’, an upbeat jangly country-flavoured pop song before launching into the single ‘Free World’ which saw MacColl rage against Thatcher’s deconstruction of Britain with lines like “I thought of you when they closed down the school / And the hospital too…”. MacColl felt so strongly about the song, and subject matter, that she insisted it become the lead single from the album, though sadly it just failed to break the top forty.
‘Fifteen Minutes’ saw her savagely pull apart the growing desire across the entertainment business for fame. But it was her cover of ‘Days’ that provided the album with a much-needed hit-single and launched MacColl onto countless late 80’s TV shows to promote it.
This re-issues comes in 7” gatefold with an additional disc of bonus material. Often bonus material is barely worth the listen but on Kite there are many hidden gems, notably her cover of The Smiths ‘You Just Haven’t Earned It Yet Baby’ and ‘El Paso’ which offered a hint of her later work’s Latin influence – hopefully these re-issues will be followed by further re-issues including the majestic Tropical Brainstorm album which perhaps still ranks as her most accomplished album.
Accompanying the re-issue of Kite is MacColl’s third, and commercially most successful, album, 1991’s Electric Landlady. This saw, again, a change of style for MacColl who adopted a more dance-orientated sound and brought in multiple guest musicians including friends from, amongst others, Simple Minds, Smiths, Pink Floyd and The Pogues. Clearly MacColl was well thought of as it seems everyone wanted to work with her but some of the album tracks sound like they’ve got too many people and ideas squeezed into a track.
The album opens with ‘Walking Down Madison’, which became a top five Billboard hit and her most successful single, an exploration of big-city poverty and neglect “from the sharks in the penthouse to the rats in the basement, it’s not that far”. Lyrically, the album continued in the vein of Kite with its sharp humour, wry observations and social commentary. Where the album differs from Kite was its overuse of early-90’s; dance influence and crossing multiple genres, which had a habit of hiding the melody in some of the album’s songs.
‘All I ever wanted’, the albums second, and non-charting single, brought a twang and bluegrass feel to it whilst ‘Children of the Revolution’, another co-write with Johnny Marr, explored the horrors of war and proved one of the albums stand-out tracks whilst ‘The Hardest Word’, written with her brother Hamish, explored her tough relationship with her late father. But whilst the album hung together well-enough, it never really stood up next to Kite or her final Tropical Brainstorm album. It was a good album but suffered a little from too many genres squeezed in across its tracks.
The second disc on this re-issue is probably for completists only, featuring six mixes of ‘Walking Down Madison’ and four mixes of ‘My Affair’, most of which sound quite dated, alongside a few other tracks, none of which are essential listening. But, as with Kite, the 7” 2CD packaging is a great addition to a collection.
Sadly, MacColl’s untimely death in 2000 brought an end to a career which seemed to be finding new directions to explore but she left behind a rich catalogue well-worth exploring. These re-issues will hopefully allow a new generation to enjoy an amazing voice with sharp lyrics.
