nsiders say that something is happening with Kim Wilde. She has gone into the studio again to record a new album, due in spring. The single, Cambodia, was a taster of things to come. ME tries to find out how the other Kim Wilde is going to sound…
Getting to hear the new Kim Wilde album is out of the question. Not that it’s forbidden, but because Kim hasn’t sung a note yet. She only did ‘Cambodia’ because there was a hurry. The voice recordings of the rest of the album still have to begin.
Of course, Kim has already heard all the new songs. “From the first note that was thought up”, she says. That’s a matter of course, because Kims song writers are still in the family. Father and son Wilde write all the material for the new album. According to Kim it’s a golden team and although she would have liked to write lyrics herself, it hasn’t happened, because “I don’t want to come between them. They are doing well together and because they are my father and brother, it’s no problem for me not to impose.”
The material of the new album, it is said, will be nothing like the debut album. What’s the matter with that? KIm: “That’s right. We have thought of the audience. It seems I don’t have a youth following, but also older people like to listen to my music. And I’d like to minimise the difference in taste of older and younger people. I believe there’s not a lot of age-restricted music around anymore. I love country music myself. Now it will appear on my new album.”
Her brother Rick, who composes the songs and also produces the record, says the following: “I believe in all-round artists. You see that more artists want to ditch the stamp on them because they don’t want to be restricted to one type of music. Elvis Costello, for example. His country album is a masterpiece. Also, the ‘Jumpin’ Jive’ album by Joe Jackson is great. Those boys have been courageous by doing something like that, while they already had a strong following. We’d like to do that with Kim now. Many things at once, because we like different types of music. A man like Alvin Stardust is high in the chart with a song from thirty years ago. Diana Ross ditto. I don’t believe in modern and old-fashioned anymore. Everything is possible. We’d like to take Kim in different directions. She can do it, and she’s all for it!”