Saturday, June 9

KIRSTY MacCOLL - DESPERATE CHARACTER (1981)


















1981 saw Kirsty's first album released on Polydor. In style it was poppy with early evidence of the Kirsty "wall of sound". Back of sleeveChip Shop is the strongest track but teenage angst prevails throughout. Getting out of "this place" and boy songs set the lyrical tone of the album. The Kirsty penned Teenager in love, See that girl and Clock goes round are all decent enough pop songs which give a clue that there was a real talent emerging here. This is the best collection of the early MacColl in action.
Produced by Nick Lowe with ace sidemen Billy Bremner, Philip Rambow, Lew Lewis and Gavin Povey who helped her whip up a lively rock-country-pop stew that could be a female-led Rockpile. Never released on CD, some tracks later recycled on compilations. kirstymaccoll.com

Songs
Clock Goes Round / See That Girl / There's A Guy Works Down The Chip Shop Swears He's Elvis / Teenager In Love / Mexican Sofa / Until The Night / Falling For Faces / Just One Look / The Real Ripper / Hard To Believe / He Thinks I Still Care / There's A Guy Works Down The Chip Shop Swears He's Elvis (country version)

13 comments:

angelo said...

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Anonymous said...

super, super, super album. Lucky enough to see Kirsty in Chicago before her untimely demise.

Anonymous said...

I have been a shameless anonymous leech for too long! I've been stuck at home the last week recuperating from 2nd degree burns on my arm, and your blog + vicodin have made me very very happy! Thank you so much for your efforts. I've been looking for some of these lps for ages. I promise to comment more often. Thanks, again!

chris said...

Thanks so much for this.
I have a well-worn cassette copy of this, but nothing to play it on!

Anonymous said...

I've been looking for this in used record shops for years--YEARS I tell you.

May blessings rain upon your head. A downpour of them. You've made my DECADE!

Anonymous said...

Great artist, great album, great post!!

Anonymous said...

When this album came out, I immediately fell in love with Kirsty. It's very dear to me. Thanks again! I still miss her.

Anonymous said...

I've only ever been able to listen to one side of this album (Desperate Character) ... side two of my vinyl copy was scratched beyond being playable, never mind listenable, and since it was an import, the record store wouldn't take it back, and wouldn't order another copy. So thank you for making my introduction to Kirsty MacColl finally complete.

swivek said...

I don't imagine you still have this up somewhere do you? I just discovered your blog and I'm dying to find this album forever...

monke said...

swivek,
Click around a little more closely.

Richard said...

The link is still alive even this far down the road. :-)

Thanks for a great share

R

daveryte said...

Thanks so much, have an old cassette of this, but now I can put it on my iPod. Wish this would come out on CD. R.I.P. Kirsty...

Anonymous said...

Thanks a million. I've got the CD somewhere, but was able to find it quickly on your wonderful blog to get my Kirsty fix! :)