Kite (Kirsty MacColl album)

In a 1991 interview with Melody Maker, MacColl commented, "With Kite, I felt I had to prove that I wasn't this bimbo girl-next-door I'd been portrayed as. That had been hanging around my neck like a fucking albatross for so long, and I wanted to make the point that, yes, I can write a fucking song, pal! I didn't feel that I had to prove myself this time."[7]

Professional ratings

Review scores
Source	Rating
AllMusic	[8]
Entertainment Weekly	B+[9]
Hi-Fi News & Record Review	A:1[10]
New Musical Express	7/10[11]
Record Mirror	[12]
Rolling Stone	[13]
The Rolling Stone Album Guide	[14]
Sounds	[15]

On its release, Dave Jennings of Melody Maker described the album as a "thoughtful, mature, yet sometimes exhilarating LP" and "cerebral but instantly likeable; never wild or abandoned, but always intriguing". Aside from some "tender moments", he considered most of Kite to show MacColl "on the attack", with her "carefully-layered, deadpan vocals" suiting the "anger" in her lyrics.[16] Simon Williams of New Musical Express considered it "an old-fashioned album" with "proper songs [and] resolutely orthodox instruments". He concluded, "Kite is charming rather than classy. Everything is pleasantly down-to-earth, sweet and sour stories from a woman's point of view which always avoid being emotionally extreme."[11] Peter Kane of Sounds noted it "boasts some fine tunes about life, love, and the whole damned thing" which is "done in a peculiarly colloquial, very English style" and with "not a hint of pretension". He described the album as "one to be proud of" and one which "deserves to be heard".[15]

In a retrospective review, AllMusic called Kite "the pinnacle of [MacColl's] achievement" and her "best-sustained work". They felt that MacColl's songwriting was "excellent", with some of her "sharpest and cleverest words and most memorable melodies."[8] Trouser Press wrote of the album: "This sturdy, provocative collection mixes full-bodied pop styles with some country, adding a film noir story sung in French, a pair of wonderful covers and pointed lyrical assaults on both Margaret Thatcher and shallow pop stars."[17] The Rolling Stone Album Guide described the album as having a "skillfull, introspective elegance".[14]

Kite was re-released in 2005 with ten bonus tracks, including B-sides and alternate mixes.[18] A 2012 expanded edition released by Salvo Records features a bonus disc with seventeen bonus tracks, also with B-sides and alternate mixes.[19] Both re-issues were remastered. Demon Records re-issued the original twelve-track album in 2018 on 180g vinyl.[20]

Adapted from the album's liner notes.[19][21]

• 1-9, 11, 13-15 recorded at The Town House
• 6, 10, 12 recorded at Ealing Studios.
• 1, 6, 7, 12, 15 recorded at RAK Studios
• David Gilmour recorded at Olympic Studios
• 1, 5, 10, 11, 13, 14 mixed at Ealing Studios.
• 2-4, 6-9, 12, 15 mixed at Olympic Studios.

[21]

• Kite at Kirsty MacColl.com