Kirsty MacColl - Kirsty MacColl: Kite [2CD]

Format: 2 x CD
Catalogue No.: EDSL0241
Barcode: 740155744137
Release Date: 02 May 2025
Genre: Pop

Kite flew out in the world in the spring of 1989, a whole decade after Kirsty MacColl had released her first single. It also came seven years after her last album, her debut, Desperate Character. In the interim, she had a top ten hit with her harmony and jangle-drenched version of Billy Bragg’s A New England in 1985, an evergreen Christmas hit, 1987’s Fairytale of New York, with The Pogues and two sons, Jamie and Louis, with her producer husband Steve Lillywhite.

Kite arrived like a bold, glossy statement of intent, full of songs she had written herself and with dear friends like Pete Glenister and Johnny Marr, plus one glistening Kinks cover, which felt like an appropriate choice. In finger-clicking country, Smithsy pop, ballads and modern protest songs, Kirsty was Ray Davies’ natural successor in song writing, observing fame, love and modern life with a sparkling, sensitive eye.

Kite also contains flourishes of what was to come later for Kirsty. Dancing in Limbo hints towards her later work’s Latin flavours. Finale You And Me Baby prefigures the glorious soundworld of 1993’s Titanic Days. Throughout the album, there is a confidence that
bristles and burns, the sound of a woman finally seizing the day and having her time.

Double CD deluxe edition, featuring a bonus disc of alternate mixes, B-sides and singles, housed in deluxe 7” gatefold card packaging with booklet containing lyrics, photography and a liner essay from Jude Rogers.

DISC ONE
1) Innocence
2) Free World
3) Mother’s Ruin
4) Days
5) No victims
6) Fifteen Minutes
7) Don’t Come The Cowboy With Me Sonny Jim
8) Tread Lightly
9) What Do Pretty Girls Do?
10) Dancing In Limbo
11) The End Of A Perfect Day
12) You And Me Baby
DISC TWO
1) Closer To God?
2) The End Of A Perfect Day (Original Demo Version)
3) You Just Haven’t Earned It Yet, Baby
4) La Foret De Mimosas
5) Happy
6) El Paso
7) Still Life
8) Please Help Me, I’m Falling
9) Innocence (Single Remix)
10) Clubland
11) Don’t Run Away From Me Now
12) Innocence
13) No Victims (Guitar Heroes Mix)
14) Other People’s Hearts
15) Complainte Pour Ste Catherine
16) Am I Right?
17) You Just Haven’t Earned It Yet, Baby (She’s Having A Baby Soundtrack Version)