Date: 1 January 1996
Originally published in: Q (UK)
Written by: Nick Duerden
With six million albums and 11 million single sales tucked under her ever-svelte belt, the former Kim Smith remains, lest we forget, the most successful British female solo artist of all time. Now 35, however, her musical career appears to have hit a rocky patch. Her last LP, the insipid Now & Forever (1995), stiffed so quickly she turned her hand instead to acting, and is currently redeeming herself on a West End stage in Tommy.
But, back in the ’80s, Kim Wilde was powerpop personified and, thus, this compilation could have proved entertainingly racy stuff. However, featuring songs from only 1981 and 1982, this is clearly The Naive Years which, although boasting the flighty, fantastic Kids In America and Chequered Love, is liberally littered with nonsense. Elsewhere, she attempts both cod-reggae (Everything We Know) and some heartfelt songs of wronged love (Falling Out), with similarly disastrous results.
Rating: **