fri 29/03/2024

CD: Kim Wilde - Here Come the Aliens | reviews, news & interviews

CD: Kim Wilde - Here Come the Aliens

CD: Kim Wilde - Here Come the Aliens

The Eighties star blasts back to planet pop on a space capsule of polished frothiness

An understated comeback

It’s difficult to dislike Kim Wilde, whatever you think of her music. Even more so after her pissed Christmas sing-along on a tube train a few years back became a massive YouTube hit. Or how about her appearance at Download Festival in 2016 with thrash metallers Lawnmower Death? There’s something boisterous and everyday about Kim Wilde. She has that early Spice Girls thing, whether she’s acting raunchy or silly, of being a human woman you might really meet, and who’d be fun, rather than a plastic, photo-shopped, faux-sexy lollipop-head. Her new album, despite its faults, makes her seem even more likeable.

Wilde has retained star status in mainland Europe, especially Germany, but Here Come the Aliens is her first proper crack at the UK market in a couple of decades. It was recorded at RAK studios, where she recorded many of enormous Eighties hits, and alongside her is long-term right-hand man and brother Ricky Wilde at the controls. The result is an ebullient outing, exploding with sugary kicks from the off. The opening cut “1969” is a belting electro-rocker which posits that extra-terrestrials may be our only chance to escape ecological cataclysm ("Maybe they’ll save us from the apocalypse when it comes/A revelation that will really blow our minds”) and things only grow more epic from there.

There are monster pop songs on board, notably the Ritalin rush of “Pop Don’t Stop”, the Duran-alike “Yours Til the End” and the bubblegum heavy rock of “Addicted to You” and “Birthday”. Thump-the-air stadium slowies are also present, notably "Solstice" about a real-life teenage suicide pact, and a preposterously portentous song about online trolling called “Cyber Nation War”. The latter showcases the album's lyrical heavy-handedness. The production falls somewhere between Def Leppard’s Hysteria, Pat Benatar and Wilde’s own early Eighties back catalogue. This power ballad sheen isn’t to my taste but beneath it the quantity of glittery, catchy unabashed pop songs is remarkably high (at least for the first two thirds of the album, after which it rapidly drops off). Kim Wilde is on tour shortly and this lot will make a zippy addition to her performance armoury.

Overleaf: Watch the video for "Pop Don't Stop" by Kim Wilde

It’s difficult to dislike Kim Wilde, whatever you think of her music. Even more so after her pissed Christmas sing-along on a tube train a few years back became a massive YouTube hit. Or how about her appearance at Download Festival in 2016 with thrash metallers Lawnmower Death? There’s something boisterous and everyday about Kim Wilde. She has that early Spice Girls thing, whether she’s acting raunchy or silly, of being a human woman you might really meet, and who’d be fun, rather than a plastic, photo-shopped, faux-sexy lollipop-head. Her new album, despite its faults, makes her seem even more likeable.

Wilde has retained star status in mainland Europe, especially Germany, but Here Come the Aliens is her first proper crack at the UK market in a couple of decades. It was recorded at RAK studios, where she recorded many of enormous Eighties hits, and alongside her is long-term right-hand man and brother Ricky Wilde at the controls. The result is an ebullient outing, exploding with sugary kicks from the off. The opening cut “1969” is a belting electro-rocker which posits that extra-terrestrials may be our only chance to escape ecological cataclysm ("Maybe they’ll save us from the apocalypse when it comes/A revelation that will really blow our minds”) and things only grow more epic from there.

There are monster pop songs on board, notably the Ritalin rush of “Pop Don’t Stop”, the Duran-alike “Yours Til the End” and the bubblegum heavy rock of “Addicted to You” and “Birthday”. Thump-the-air stadium slowies are also present, notably "Solstice" about a real-life teenage suicide pact, and a preposterously portentous song about online trolling called “Cyber Nation War”. The latter showcases the album's lyrical heavy-handedness. The production falls somewhere between Def Leppard’s Hysteria, Pat Benatar and Wilde’s own early Eighties back catalogue. This power ballad sheen isn’t to my taste but beneath it the quantity of glittery, catchy unabashed pop songs is remarkably high (at least for the first two thirds of the album, after which it rapidly drops off). Kim Wilde is on tour shortly and this lot will make a zippy addition to her performance armoury.

Overleaf: Watch the video for "Pop Don't Stop" by Kim Wilde

The production is somewhere between Def Leppard’s Hysteria, Pat Benatar and Wilde’s own early Eighties back catalogue

rating

Editor Rating: 
3
Average: 3 (1 vote)

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Comments

What is wrong with you, Green/ Minogue, Madonna, Tina Turner, Depeche Mode, U2, Michael Jackson, Madness, The Cure, Eurythmics plus any of the rubbish that's all about now can come out with any middling to bland, pompous to pathetic, clunky to insipid garbage and you'd still act like a tiny cog of the biggest journo water wheel where the dividing line keeps the ridiculously revered away from the 'lower types'-Kim Wilde clearly is one then according to you. 'Wilde has always mixed straightforward (but intelligent and memorable and cleverly written pop) alongside tunes with deeper messages, abstract meanings and intriguing and always diverse musical approaches. Do you have ANY idea of just how stunning her back catalogue is, including the stuff that never makes albums? Clearly not. 'Cyber.Nation.War' is killer-when I think of that guff that people try to write now-from Kings Of Leon howling "You sex on fire" Really?! DID he just say that?! And the guff Lily Allen comes out with, Nicki Minaz, Oasis, Boyzone, Take That, all these X Factor male and female bimbos, Sam Smith and so on!? 'Cyber.Nation.War is clever, and it was high time she went back to the heavy stuff, wiith canny observations? Woman not allowed to that hey? Or is it just her? And 'Addicted To You' already saw the light of day 7 years ago and sounded way better than on this-it was more synth-driven and there's nothing bubblegum about it-we leave that to Minogue., Madonna, Annie Lennox, Tina Turner and all the silly tramps of today. Kim Wilde is NEVER silly, she leaves that to Madness, Depeche Mode, Madonna, Wham!, Kylie, Michael Jackson and those types taken so seriously it's ridiculous! The cool song she did for the 'Eddie The Eagle' soundtrack would be far better served on here than that the horribly reworked 'Addicted To You'.. Only thing that does border on a bit dodgy regarding the simple-minded approach is 'Rock The Paradiso'. Otherwise it's a totally solid. The two ballads are sublime, and 'the song you insult is NOT a ballad. Call yourself a reviewer. What's wrong? The long wait for the latest Madonna record for you to fawn over too much. For God' sake, her little sister Kylie will have the same one record she always does next month, so just wait patiently. Dare you to give them a subjective review...

Lol, absolutely spot on. WTF has this album been. Have listened to it about 10 times now and it blows the socks of any music I have heard for years of this type with fantastic power rock and pop songs. Shows that you can plant a few seeds, design a few gardens but not lose the ability to create fantastic music that sounds that it is from the 80s but with a new feel.

I agree with Kyach here. It's a brilliant album. the more I listen to it, the more I like it. It drops off a little towards the end, and I think it should finish on a high, rather than the duet ballad [just swapping the last 2 tracks maybe]. Solstice is so beautifully written and current. In my opinion, the best track is cyber. nation. war. Again, very timely describing internet trolling and social media. There are some really good tracks on this album, the more commercial singles [pop don't stop and kandy krush], rocky anthems [stereo shot, yours 'till the end, rock the paradiso] and the more kylie-esque stuff [addicted to you and birthday] which are actually much better than any Kylie song. All catchy stuff you can't get out of your head. I went to see Kim live in Bournemouth. Absolutely brilliant. She's so nice and down to earth. We need more human pop stars like her. I can't wait for the next album. 10/10 for this one!

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