Kim Wilde - Wilde Winter Songbook (Deluxe Edition tracks)

47 DAYS UNTIL CHRISTMAS!!

Buy the Deluxe Edition of Wilde Winter Songbook here (Amazon UK)
Read my review of the original album release here

Nearly two years ago, the original L'il Kim (Kim Wilde) released her first full seasonal selection box of songs. The Wilde Winter Songbook was a delightful cornucopia that encapsulated the joy and happiness the time of year brings alongside the reflective melancholy that inevitably occurs. It was a delicate blend that was pulled off with a glorious panache. In my opinion, every Christmas-themed album should be given the chance to shine year after year so I'm delighted that Kim is back with a deluxe edition that not only adds some new tracks but a whole visual extravaganza too. There are four brand new tracks, plus two remixes - making this is an essential companion piece to the already much beloved original.

The new tracks start with a cover of Freiheit's Keeping The Dream Alive. It is one of those songs that isn't necessarily a Christmas track but that lends itself so wonderfully to your seasonal soundtrack (see also Living In A Box's Room In Your Heart, East 17's Stay Another Day and any of the Spice Girls festive chart toppers). It's swathed in elegant and celestial strings that fade away to let her textured vocal shine, just as in the original. Kim's voice is fueled by a sense of hope and aspiration that matches the message of the song beautifully. She's managed to breathe new life into one of the most underrated songs from the 80s and hopefully introduce it in her own evocative way to a whole new audience. I could listen to this interpretation all the live long day and not get tired of it. Just lovely. Equally stunning is her acoustic take on Wham's Last Christmas. Elegiac guitar and a gently shuffling beat that surely is the percussive equivalent of holding back the tears underscore the singing with a mesmerising melancholy. There's a delicate piano that dances alongside the music and, just as in Keeping The Dream Alive, Kim's vocal is saturated in the emotion of the song. When the layered harmonies come in during the chorus it makes it all the more devastating - a choir of heartbroken lovers all seeking some sort of solace and understanding at a time of year that seems made for couples. These two covers are worth the price of admission alone - it's clear Kim has immersed herself in the lyrics and meaning of the music and recreated to match the ethos of her already charming album.

Two original songs are also added. Isobel's Dream is an organic creation that feels like it was conjured up from the power of Mother Earth herself. Intoxicating instruments swirl and sway like trees in the breeze, crafting the perfect score to a song that has haunting story-book lyrics. It's this narrative that is both resonant in pathos and loss but also dreams and possibilities. At times it's a bewildering and challenging musical piece but it's meant to be. It's designed to leave you wondering and to continue you the story in your own mind. It brings out a deeply guttural and personal vocal from Kim that stops you in your tracks as the world fades away and the music is the only thing left (even if just for a few moments). Finally, we have a re-imagining of Deck The Halls (Angels Sing) which keeps the well known and much loved melody from the original whilst adding a new element of story that fits seamlessly alongside the music. The song seems to grow and crescendo of it's own will as it seizes the theme of hope and the backing choir takes the message to exhilarating new heights. Joyful and triumphant in every sense of the word. The final moments are celestial glory at their finest. An utterly beautiful piece of work that truly belongs on an equally magical album.

**Ghosts of Christmas Past**

• 8th November 2014 ~ Home Free, Full of Cheer
• 8th November 2013 ~ Lily Allen, Somewhere Only We Know
• 8th November 2012 ~ Backstreet Boys, Christmastime Again