A Great Continuation of the Debut
Bradley Jacobson | 08/18/2009
(4 out of 5 stars)
"Kim's second album veers a little away from her debut as it incorporates a tad more synthesizers than the first album but that only adds to the sassy lyrics and cool beats. Opening with "Ego" - it's a great kick in the teeth to a self absorbed lover followed by "Words Fell Down" which is another tale of misbegotten love. By far the best cut on the album in the love gone bad vein is the single "View From A Bridge" - a sweltering little gem that puts you right in the ambience of Kim's world.
The 80's were big on strange little ditties that had this big sense of doom around them - perhaps due to that whole Cold War thing but Kim had some of the best ones - "Chaos At The Airport" is one of these little ditties, it seems Kim's on her way to pick up her guy but the radio is talking of all kinds of trouble. It's a strange listen in this post-9/11 world but it's still really frickin' catchy.
The single "Cambodia" has that aura going on as well. Only this time the hero of the song is a soldier who flies out to Cambodia on a secret mission, and as happens in these things, he doesn't come home.
Even the awesome "Wendy Sadd" has this strange European spy vibe going for it - thank goodness. It's an excellant song and one of my favs on Select.
The other highlights include "Take Me Tonight" and "Can I Come Over" both super fun and furious little ditties, particularly "Can I Come Over" which has a bit of a rock a billy thing going on.
Select isn't as tremendous as the debut album but it's a whole lot of great and a very worthy follow up to the classic album from the year before.
Cherry Pop added some bonus tracks - The album version of "Cambodia" breaks into the instrumental "Reprise" so it's a long drawn out spectacle of greatness, so here we have the single version of "Cambodia" and it's b-side "Watching For Shapes" which would have totally fit on to Select but was left off.
For some insane reason, Select was the last real hit to befall Kim in the UK until a few years later meaning the next single "Child Come Away" was somewhat of a bust. To this day, she says the song's unpopular chart placement showed her to be more selective in the songs they released but I don't get it, cause first of all it did actually chart (though it was nowhere near the top ten) and secondly, it's one of my all time favorite Kim Wilde tracks.
The strange story of a scarred girl being escorted around by the sheriff, who knows why, who cares why it's just a creepy fun song - perhaps the ambiguous storyline held it from being a big hit, but that's one part of its allure I think.
Also included is the b-side of "Child Come Away" - another jaunty little love gone bad sassy pants song called "Just Another Guy" which is another heaping helping of Kim Wilde greatness.
The next Kim single included is one of those great lost gems - "Bitter Is Better" was a fun little song made for a Japanese commercial and released in Japan (and Belgium I think). It's a great song and should've been released world wide if you want my opinion.
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Track Listings (15) - Disc #1