Kim Wilde – “Pop Don’t Stop – Greatest Hits”

Kim Wilde released her first greatest hits collection in 1984, but surprisingly it was not a huge success. Her 1993 update was, however, with a greater selection of songs covering her first twelve years in music. Save a few budget releases since then, this is the first major compilation of all her singles since that album, 28 years ago. A lot has happened since then with one studio release in 1995 and then her glorious comeback in 2018 with “Here Come The Aliens”, her first album chart hit since “Close“, thirty years earlier. Since the 1993 collection, Kim has had a number one in Austria with “Anyplace, Anywhere, Anytime”, with Nena in 2003, reworked one of her biggest hits, “You Came”, into a rock song in 2006 and at long last worked with that other early 80’s British star, Boy George. Their collaboration, “Shine On“, is included here along with two other new tracks, “Numinous” and “You’re My Karma”.

The album comes in a ‘standard’ double CD format but for the more adventurous fan, there is a 5 disc set and a DVD collection. CD1 features most of her biggest hits of the 80’s and early 90’s, so expect “The Second Time”, “Rage To Love”, “You Keep Me Hanging On“, “You Came”, and “Love Is Holy”. Disc two begins with “Kids In America” and then fast forwards thirty seven years to “Kandy Krush”. The “Here Come The Aliens” singles feature prominently on this section with “Pop Don’t Stop” and “Birthday” all included in amongst classic retro hits like “Cambodia” and “Chequered Love”. The three new tracks complete the album. I’m pretty sure there isn’t a hit or even a missed hit missing from this lot with a total of 41 songs crammed onto the two disc ‘standard’. Even the awesome “Time” from 1990 and “Breakin’ Away” from 1995 feature alongside more stronger performing classics like “Four Letter Word”, Kim’s cover of “If I Can’t Have You” from the aforementioned 1993 best of and the gorgeous and completely fantastic “Love In The Natural Way”.

If you’re a super Kim fan then disc three will add further minor hits such as “In My Life” (1993), a number of cover versions that featured on her 2011 album, “Snapshots”, two tracks from her 2006 album, “Never Say Never” and another song that should have been a huge hit, “It’s Here”, from 1990. CD4 brings all of Kim’s B sides together for the first time while CD5 is an album full of remixes of her best loved singles. So it is perhaps true to say that nothing has been left out. Forty years of songs are brought together for the very first time here. It will make you feel old, it may also make you feel like you were back in 1981 or 1991 or 2001 or 2011, depending on what era of Kim’s music you most associate with. For me, highlights are and will always be “You Came”, “Love In The Natural Way”, “It’s Here” and her Belinda Carlisle sounding “Love Is Holy”, courtesy of Rick Nowels and Ellen Shipley, of course!

The DVD release brings together all of her video hits, in chronological order, so you can age every three minutes from your childhood with “Kids” through to her latest with Boy George. There’s also an exclusive interview with Kim as she looks back on 40 years in the music industry and picks out some of her favourites. There are some Top Of The Pops performances in there too for an all rounded, bumper best of to beat them all. Which has just alerted me to the fact that this is NOT a complete best of after all. One song that is missing is her duet with the late comedian Mel Smith for the 1987 Comic Relief single, “Rockin’ Around The Christmas Tree“! It’s such a shame it could not have been included here, even if ‘Mel and Kim’ got what they wanted for Christmas. The question is, did Griff Rhys-Jones get his Bananarama for Christmas?(!) I’m going to take “Another Step” now and “Never Trust A Stranger” with my heart. “This I Swear”, even if he says, “Hey Mister Heartache” upon that “View From A Bridge”…I’ll get me coat(!)

You can order “Pop Don’t Stop – Greatest Hits” by clicking this link