Review – Close

Kim Wilde has a very pleasing voice, and this album, filled with melodic dance songs, is quite good from beginning to end. Nothing is really extraordinary but eerything clicks together, making this, at the very least, an enjoyable record that can be heard many times without hurting your ears. Side A is very strong, containing “Hey Mister Heartache”, a dance club tune that is powerful, not just loud, which contrasts nicely with the softer “Four Letter Word” and “Love’s a No”. “You Came” is also on side A and, on first listen, sounds like a typical boy-girl love song, but, on repeated hearings, turns out to be about the way a woman feels after having a baby. At least that’s the impression I got. In either case, “You came” is a definite highlight of the album. It has clappable music and well-written words, Kim co-wrote it, as well as most of the songs on this, her sixth album. The hard-hitting “Never Trust A Stranger”, “Stone” and “European Soul”, with its nice instrumentation, are also some fine cuts on the LP. An interesting note is that mos tof the songs deal with the negative aspects of love. Kim explores what can go wrong in relationships from the point of view of someone who’s been burnt. Even on the few positive songs, such as “Love In The Natural Way” and “You Came” the words of love are sung by someone who knows what it’s like to lose it.