Date: 23 February 2007
Originally published in: Het Parool (Netherlands)
Written by: Peter van Brummelen
Most successful English singer from the old days sings false but fortunately realises that herself.
Is there life after the charts? There is for Kim Wilde. After she was the most successful English pop singer in the eighties, the blonde sex bomb started a whole new career in the nineties. In Holland we had to make do with gardener Rob, in England they had Kim Wilde for their plants and flowers. She didn’t only present programmes about gardening for the BBC, she also wrote books about it. Nothing give peace and calm as much as digging in the dirt, Kim Wilde felt. But when the German singer Nena, another star from the eighties, asked her for a duet in 2003, she immediately said yes. The result, ‘Anywhere, anyplace, anytime’ became a great hit. A comeback on her own strength was the logical next step for Kim Wilde. For the not so strong album ‘Never say never’ Wilde collaborated with Nena’s producer instead of her own brother Ricky. It led to the sort of music disdainly referred to in England as ‘Eurotrash’. In Paradiso brother Ricky was there, as guitarist. Kim Wilde’s younger sister Roxanne was also there as backing vocalist. Cosy, exactly. As of the first song it was obvious that the family Wilde wanted to give us a great night. It didn’t all go so smoothly. The first song hadn’t ended yet or the black leather clad Kimmy fell on stage. We all pretended like we didn’t see it. When she wanted to tell a joke about her collaboration with Nena, her brother Ricky came up to her to say that she was mistaken: ‘Anywhere, anyplace, anytime’ was on the setlist later. and unfortunately, there is no way around it: Kim Wilde, who still sounds like she has a cold, sounded false like a crow at times. Did she do it in the old days? Wilde, who doesn’t take herself too seriously, fortunately, says that no-one playbacked as well as she did in the eighties. When in Paradiso the amplifier started squealing she said it was proof that this time everything was really ‘live’. There were some hiccups last night but it sure was fun. Especially when Wilde played her biggest hits ‘Cambodia’ and ‘Kids in America’, songs that are still a perfect combination of bubblegum and new wave. The excitement the old work caused in the room concerned Kim. “I am going to sing something more quiet now, because I can see you’re getting way too excited”. Spoken like a true mother of two, which the 46 year old singer is now.
