Kim Wilde's third album is a key transition point in her career.
Catch as Catch Can is probably
Wilde's most experimental album, a continuation of the dark-hued synth rock feel of Select with hints of the more commercial dance-pop sound that would characterize the rest of her career. Certainly the first single, the gimmicky, campily strutting big band-meets-rockabilly "Love Blonde," is the oddest single of
Wilde's early career. Elsewhere, the genuinely beautiful ballad "Can You Hear It" (probably the prettiest song
Wilde recorded to this point), "Sparks," and the cold as ice ballad "Dream Sequence" have an atmospheric tinge, thanks to hazy backing vocals and diffused, dreamy synths. Other songs like the opening "House of Salome" and the stuttering "Back Street Joe" point toward the purely electronic Hi-NRG disco sound that would characterize 1984's
Teases & Dares, and indeed pretty much every
Kim Wilde release thereafter. The juxtaposition of styles makes for an uneven listen that's hard to latch on to entirely. The energy of her debut album is sorely missed, though the maturity and richness of the arrangements nearly makes up for it and when she goes purely pop, like on the lovely "Sing It Out for Love," it hard not to wish she had swung in that direction instead of towards the dancefloor. ~ Stewart Mason