Parting shots

Thirty years have passed since she released Kids In America and Kim Wilde has been celebrating by releasing a new album, Snapshots. In a career that's had more ups and downs than your average Bolliger & Mabillard roller coaster, it's a real treat that we're still getting new Kim Wilde albums after so long and, as I've spoken about on this blog before, it's a wonder that she can even be bothered recording them any more. Good for her, and all that stuff, eh?

Anyway, the Snapshots project is one that, on the surface, sounds like it might be shit. I remember once reading an interview with Kim in which she admitted to struggling with recording cover versions because it was difficult to find good songs that suited her voice.

The thing is, Kim's well aware of her vocal limitations. In a recent interview she even admitted to her voice being "a bit thin sometimes" but that her talent was in conveying emotions through her voice and her lyrics. I agree with the conveying emotions part completely, although I defy anyone to listen to the likes of Never Trust A Stranger and call *that* voice thin.

Anyway, if the concept behind Snapshots has you spooked, how does the finished product rate in reality? Well, if you ask me, it still might not be everyone's cup of tea but if truth be told, it is at least forty seven and a half times better than shit.

The first single from the album is a cover of Tasmin Archer's Sleeping Satellite and it is immense. The video is also amazing, in which a natural - but still very beautiful - looking 50 year old Kim is surrounded by snapshots of herself from throughout the three decades of her career. At one point, that single photograph which exists of her and Michael Jackson flashes on to the screen. For anyone who's followed Kim's career over the years, it's a poignant emotional moment and the whole video is really very memorable.

But how does the rest of the album fare? Well, if I'm being perfectly honest, it's an odd dichotomy of the sublime and the ridiculous. The songs she's chosen to cover are ecclectic to say the least. (East 17's It's Alright vs. Suede's Beautiful Ones anyone?) For every one where she makes the song her own by putting her little Kim Wilde stamp on it, there's another where she ruins it completely. Erasure's A Little Respect, for example, is admittedly godwaful, whereas her cover of Mike Oldfield's To France is nothing short of stupendous - mostly because it sounds exactly like something she would have recorded in 1984. [Seriously, it wouldn't sound out of place on the track listing to Teases & Dares, arguably her best LP of all time.]

Elsewhere, the cover of the Diana Ross classic Remember Me benefits greatly by replacing Ross's loungey soundtrack with Kim's triple-backed vocals and pumped up disco synths. On the other hand, Kim's version of It's Alright opts for a much more minimilast production than East 17's original, meaning it comes across as a bit wishy-washy.

Unsurprisingly then, the best tracks on the album are those where she doesn't have to venture too far from her own territory. Her cover of Kirsty MacColl's They Don't Know About Us suits her to a tee - as does her version of Ever Fallen In Love by the Buzzcocks. Even her duet with her husband Hal on the David Bowie song Kooks is all rather apt and sweet.

All in all, whilst Snapshots might not be as memorable as last year's triumphant return to Kim's rock-chick roots, i.e. Come Out And Play, I'm still rather pleased she's added it to her discography. Now, how about the hat-trick, and another new album for 2012 please?

6.5 out of 10.