Kirsty MacColl found her bliss with this hybrid of Latin rhythms with ambient trance for this sophisticated sardonic seduction. MacColl had shown her musical prowess with a series of diverse albums such as 'Desperate Character' on Polydor Records, 'Kite' and 'Electric Landlady' on Virgin Records, and 'Titanic Days' on IRS Records. Her marriage to producer Steve Lillywhite helped her find session work on a number of different records when she was without a label; but, when her marriage failed she took the opportunity to travel the world and learn about different styles of music.
MacColl would relate: “I was very unhappy when I did ‘Titanic Days“. I think it was a good record but you have to be reasonably strong to listen to it. I made a conscious decision after it not to do another album until I was feeling more happy about life. I did it (travelling) really for the experience, thinking, if we can’t use any of it when we get back then so be it, but I would at least have had a go ... I used to worry about writer’s block — after every album basically! But I think this time it was God’s way of saying, ‘You’ve got nothing to write about so SHUT UP!’ If only more people could hear that, instead of this kind of musical diarrhoea you get with a lot of bands. I think its quite healthy to have a little break. And I didn’t want to just rush out and make another melancholy record after we’d split up and just be that woman who does those sad songs. That would have been really grim. I started to do some of the things I’d wanted to do since forever ... My first visit to Cuba was in 92, though I’d already recorded with some Latin musicians in New York before that. After visiting Havana a few times I started travelling all over the country, getting increasingly immersed in the music. I went to Rio and Salvador and then a friend set me up in a studio in Recife. I wanted to do an acoustic thing – just a guitar and a couple of percussionists – but when I got there I realised that the guitarist wanted to be in Dire Straits. They’re very into rock in Brazil and I had to spend a lot of time bullying them into being more Brazilian. I was travelling alone for two or three weeks at a time, picking up the language as best I could, and just soaking up a whole new culture. There was so much to take in. The mambo is one particular rhythm that comes from Cuba but cha-cha, salsa and son all originate from there. For an island that small it’s produced an amazingly important amount of music.”
'Tropical Brainstorm' was produced by Kirsty MacColl with Pete Glenister and Dave Ruffy with some basic tracks recorded in Brazil; but most of the work done at Glenister's studio in Bermondsey and MacColl's home studio in Ealing. The sessions featured Kirsty MacColl on vocals, autoharp, and lap steel guitar; Roy Dodds and Bosco DeOliveira on percussion; Pete Glenister on guitar and programming; Chucho Merchan on bass and double bass; Dave Ruffy on drums and programming; Joseph de Jesus on trombone; Ernesto Estruch on piano, violin, and background vocals; Felix Gonzalez on background vocals and Cuban rap; Omar Püente on violin and background vocals; James Knight on saxophone; Ben Storey on trumpet; Lee Groves on additional programming; Mark Hinton Stewart on keyboards; Luiz de Almeida on surdo and nylon string guitar. MacColl would reveal: “I didn’t want to make a straight Latin album or even a record that sounded like David Byrne, much as I love what he does. Cuban and Brazilian music is very structured and disciplined and I didn’t want to have to follow any rules,“ she says. “So yes, it’s a hybrid. I wanted to make a record that would appeal to existing fans of my songwriting. I didn’t want to turn off people who’ve been with me for years by singing in Spanish or something. But maybe it can introduce some of them to this music and also attract a new audience that hasn’t necessarily been into my kind of songwriting before ... There was no way it was ever going to be an authentic record, because I’m not Brazilian and I’m not Cuban. It wasn’t going to be purist because I wanted to use elements of music from different countries — Brazil, Colombia and Cuba — and not be limited by the rules. The fact is, I deliberately recorded the album with two people who I’ve worked with a lot before and who have no history whatsoever of playing Latin music. If you don’t know what the rules are, then you don’t have to stick to them which is very liberating. If it sounded good we could do it ... There were 15 of us and you worked with two different people each day. During the course of that day you had to write a song and then perform it to everybody else in the evening. I was terrified because I’d had writer’s block for three years. But on the third day I wrote ‘Designer Life’ with Kenneth Crouch which ended up on the record. I also met Graham Gouldman down there and later we wrote ‘Treachery’ together for the album...Vitriol and misery have always been far easier to express in song, but a lot of people also think that humour implies you’re not serious about the music. Which is stupid. I don’t see the connection between being deadly serious and being good. There’s a lot of serious crap around and there’s a lot of people who want to be celebrities and take themselves far too seriously.”
'Tropical Brainstorm' reached number thirty-nine on the UK albums chart. It would be her last album as she was killed in a boating accident in Cozumel, Mexico on December 18, 2000. Her family is still seeking closure on the incident. http://www.kirstymaccoll.com/ https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=p1smVJ5VgCY VIDEO "Mambo De La Luna" https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3ippU2GcbhA VIDEO "England 2 Colombia 0" https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Q7vsoVR5NX4 VIDEO 'Tropical Brainstorm' https://myspace.com/kirstymaccollxxxx/music/album/tropical-brainstorm-12529132 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oGlxz5L9q-w&list=PLAE03B6D347635368 VIDEO "Mambo De La Luna" (Kirsty MacColl, Pete Glenister, Dave Ruffy) - 4:38 "In These Shoes?" (MacColl, Glenister) - 3:39 "Treachery" (MacColl, Graham Gouldman) - 3:51 "Here Comes That Man Again" (MacColl, Glenister) - 4:49 "Autumngirlsoup" (MacColl) - 3:54 "Celestine" (MacColl) - 3:35 "England 2 Colombia 0" (MacColl) - 3:45 "Não Esperando" (MacColl, Glenister) - 4:04 "Alegria" (MacColl, Ruffy) - 2:01 "Us Amazonians" (MacColl, Glenister) - 4:09 "Wrong Again" (MacColl) - 4:16 "Designer Life" (MacColl, Crouch) - 2:35 "Head" (MacColl) - 3:56 "Golden Heart" (MacColl, N. MacColl) - 3:24 "Things Happen" (MacColl, Gouldman) - 2:58 "Good For Me" (MacColl, James Knight) - 4:10 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QY8BU26dIuU VIDEO Who Killed Kirsty MacColl? (Full documentary)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TJAQmdS6SRA VIDEO
Kirsty MacColl came through motherhood and into her own with the humor and heart of this sharp and sensitive high flying triumph. Her father Ewan MacColl wrote the classic ballad 'The First Time Ever I Saw Your Face' , for folk singer Peggy Seeger, for whom he left Kirsty's mother Jean MacColl when Kirsty was very young. She caught the attention of execs at Stiff Records after releasing an EP with Drug Addix as backup vocalist Mandy Doubt . She had her first taste of success with 'They Don't Know' which ranked number two on the weekly airplay chart; but failed to make the singles chart due to a distributor's strike preventing copies from reaching shops. It became a major hit for Tracy Ullman four years later. Moving to Polydor Records, she hit number fourteen in the UK with "There's a Guy Works Down the Chip Shop Swears He's Elvis" from her debut album 'Desperate Character' . She went back to Stiff and had another hit with a cover of Billy Bragg's "A New England" . When Stiff Records folded, it left her solo career in limbo for several years; but she was still able to do session work. While doing background vocals for Simple Minds' 'Sparkle in the Rain' she met producer Steve Lillywhite who would become her husband and the impetus for a long string of guest sessions for major recording artists like U2, The Rolling Stones, The Smiths, Talking Heads, Alison Moyet, Shriekback, Big Country, Anni-Frid Lyngstad, The Wonder Stuff, Van Morrison, Robert Plant, and The Pogues. It was her duet with Shane MacGowan on the Christmas smash hit 'Fairytale of New York' that revived her solo career. She had bought herself out of her record deal with Stiff Records by this point and signed with Virgin.
Steve Lillywhite produced (and played bass on) the star-studded sessions for 'Kite' at their home studio in Ealing, West London which featured Kristy on vocals, guitar, acoustic bass, steel guitar, autoharp, and percussion; with Johnny Marr on guitar, harmonica, and composition; David Gilmour, Robbie McIntosh, Colin Stuart, and Pete Glenister on guitar; Yves N'Djock on guitar and vocals; Steve Turner on harmonica, guitar, and effects; Stuart Brooks and Guy Barker on trumpet; Malcolm Griffiths on trombone; Jamie Talbot on tenor saxophone; Philip Todd on clarinet; Fiachra Trench on string & brass arrangements; Mark Berrow, Ben Cruft, Wilfred Gibson, Roy Gillard, Dave Woodcock, and Gavyn Wright on violin; James Eller, Pino Palladino, and Guy Pratt on bass; Mel Gaynor on drums; David Palmer on drums and percussion; and Paul Crowder on percussion and tambourine. Kirsty would admit: "It's easy working together because [Steve] knows what I want and I know he knows and he knows I know he knows, although I must say when I do a session for him I always think I should be louder. But then, he's responsible for the overall sound and I'm just listening to me, me, me. Given the choice I'd always want him to produce my records because I think he's the best ... I didn't write anything for a couple of years when I was having the kids, and I started writing again mostly last year. It took a long time to start up again; I was getting worried, thinking that maybe I’d never write anything again, and the block was getting bigger and bigger. And the more you think about it, the less you do, because you’re scared that the first thing you do is going to be crap. I’d always rather not draw the first word on the paper than not have it perfect from the word go, and it tends to slow you down a bit - waiting for perfection ... Your life changes when you have kids. You're no longer just responsible for yourself. Things that worried me when I was 19 seem trivial now that I'm 29. That doesn't mean you're wrong when you're young -just young. My songs used to be 'Boy meets girl, girl gets pregnant, boy runs away'. I think I'm a bit more mature than that now, but I can't offer anyone any answers. I haven't got them. I just know that when things are wrong I can't sit there and pretend that they're right...Now in my songs, I try to put things succinctly and make them not too depressing. Wit is very important, If you couldn't lighten up at times, you'd end up topping yourself. What seems like the end of the world today might not be so tomorrow ... I did a tour in '81 which put me off ever wanting to do it again. I was terribly nervous and under-rehearsed - it just got worse and worse. But I did a lot of gigs with The Pogues after 'Fairytale Of New York', and that was a great way to learn that side of the craft- having to go out and do it every night, but with a great band. I'm still very nervous, but I think I've got to have a go otherwise I'll always wonder what it would've been like...There's an overall aggression to [ 'Kite' ] ... It's better than anything I've done before, It's bound to be more more mature, because so am I. Your life changes when you have kids. I feel more politically aware since I've had the children because you're more conscious of the effect everything has on the future. I'm not saying you should go away and become Mother Theresa but there are ways of bringing about change without burning down the House Of Commons...I see myself now as a songwriter first, a recording artist second and a backing vocalist third. And somewhere in there I'm a mother too, though you can't compare the feeling you get off your kids with your work - they're both important. Obviously the children come first but I think they're quite happy having a mother who's happy working. They think everybody's mummy makes records, they haven't quite sussed it out yet." http://www.kirstymaccoll.com/ "Innocence"
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7qZ2KFRaYtA "Free World"
"Free World is very direct and simple; hopefully it'll make people think a bit [about] Thatcherite Britain - you know, grab whatever you can and sod the little guy. That's a fashionable way of looking at things, and I don't agree with it." https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YfvVslecjwI "Days"
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lOKWqtocXWs "Fifteen Minutes"
“The first song I wrote for a long time was Fifteen Minutes. I did the first part at home with the engineer playing guitar, and Steve playing bass, then did the hit where the hand comes in at the Town House. Then we just edited the two hits together...I suppose it was a whole year’s frustration coming out -the tune and the words just came out at once. I just sat down with the auto harp (like a Zither but with chord buttons) and wrote it. It’s not always like that. Usually I write down a whole load of words and maybe get a chord pattern going later. Then I end up flicking through the hook and going ‘Oh, yeah, I remember writing that - there’s practically enough for a song there. I’d better write a tune for it. But to me I haven’t finished the lyrics until I've demoed it and sung it in front of the engineer, and if he doesn't burst out laughing and throw himself out of the window then I assume it’s all right ... I suppose it's a cynical song. I don't fully agree with Warhol's idea, but I can see why it's getting like that with TV and so on. People who are famous for being famous, exposes in the tabloids, tittle-tattle, anything for money. That's part of the reason I don't like interviews." https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MSQrH3JUQ2s "Don't Come the Cowboy With Me Sonny Jim!"
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=M4eD4X9kkXE "What Do Pretty Girls Do?"
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fkjmzy3Ce74 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Awa6Z8F0fD8 "Dancing in Limbo"
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8hCWaX4of1o bonus tracks
"You Just Haven't Earned It Yet, Baby"
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oo8xJ6cJeu0 "La Forêt de Mímosas"
http://www.last.fm/music/Kirsty+MacColl/_/La+For%C3%AAt+de+M%C3%ADmosas 'Kite' VIDEO All tracks composed by Kirsty MacColl; except where indicated.
"Innocence" 4:09 (MacColl, Pete Glenister)
"Free World" 2:38
"Mother's Ruin" 3:57
"Days" 3:00 (Ray Davies)
"No Victims" 3:50
"Fifteen Minutes" 3:12
"Don't Come the Cowboy With Me Sonny Jim!" 3:47
"Tread Lightly" 3:20
"What Do Pretty Girls Do?" 2:37
"Dancing in Limbo" 2:51
"The End of a Perfect Day" 3:23 (MacColl, Johnny Marr)
"You and Me Baby" 2:31 (MacColl, Marr)
bonus tracks:
"You Just Haven't Earned It Yet, Baby" 2:50 (Morrissey, Marr)
"La Forêt de Mímosas" 3:36
"Complainte Pour Ste Catherine" 3:33 (Anna McGarrigle, Philippe Tatartchef)
