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The Kirsty MacColl web site
INTERVIEW
This is a review of Tropical Brainstorm
To call Kirsty MacColl the greatest singer you've never heard is a fallacy, since the honey-hued (and often multitracked) harmonies of this U.K. artist graced dozens of notable records, by artists including The Rolling Stones, Simple Minds, Robert Plant, and Talking Heads. Yet while her solo recordings occasionally cracked the charts overseas and won praise from critics on both sides of the pond, in the States she was better-known for playing Shane MacGowan's foil on The Pogues' Christmas classic Fairy Tale of New York than for her sublime compositions and razor-sharp wit.
Released in Europe shortly before her accidental death last December at the age of 41, Tropical Brainstorm marries MacColl's incisive lyrics and spirited delivery to Latin arrangements and melodies born from travels throughout Cuba and Brazil during the last years of her life. South American attitudes toward sex and romance certainly permeate the risqué In These Shoes (later recorded by Bette Midler) and Here Comes That Man Again, a libidinous look at Internet romance, complete with a sly Primal Scream quote ("get your rocks off, baby") for its coda.
Yet not all of MacColl's sentiments are garlanded with barbed wire; there's nary a sly aside in earshot on the album's catchiest number, Nao Esperando, which segues into Alegria, a joyous, percussive cut reminiscent of Paul Simon's Afro-Latin fusions on 1990's Rhythm of the Saints. That said, the most straightforward tale of love gone awry (on an album dominated by them), Wrong Again, is also the disc's weakest number.
The U.S. edition of Tropical Brainstorm appends a trio of bonus tracks to the English version's original 13. Golden Heart is a bittersweet trifle better suited to Astrud Gilberto, while Things Happen is a wistful, bare-bones ballad that could've been penned by Irving Berlin, and Good for Me features unusual chord changes that suggest MacColl was not unfamiliar with the Burt Bacharach catalog. All three are fine; none are essential.
In an era where any idiot that rhymes "skills" with "bills" can call him- or herself a songwriter, MacColl was a rare craftsman who had more in common with enduring greats like Noel Coward, Cole Porter, and Rodgers and Hart than the airbrushed androids clogging up the charts. And while she may never cast a shadow as long as those musical theater legends, Tropical Brainstorm is a lasting reminder of a unique talent eclipsed far too soon.
Kurt B. Reighley
Kurt B. Reighley is the author of Looking for the Perfect Beat: The Art & Culture of the DJ and a Seattle Weekly columnist.
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