Liverpool Sound and Vision Rating 9/10
To wander with interest through the life of an artist’s complete work is a privilege of time, but it can also be one filled with the melancholic sadness as the listener is reminded constantly of what might have been, how they might have been able to See That Girl or young lad who grew to be one of the most encompassing artists of the listener’s life pass on far before their time.
Perhaps what might have been has never been more acutely felt than that which the fan or appreciator of Kirsty MacColl will feel as they see the height of passion and the low of sadness as the abundance of music overwhelms and completes them as they take in the seismic recordings put together over eight impressive discs in the comprehensive box set, See That Girl.
That girl, the attitude, the pleasantry of heritage and the ability to raise a smile when so many others leave a hardened skin of disappointment, there was so much lost in 2000 when Kirsty MacColl was brutally taken from the world, not only her style of music, the keen sense of intelligence that would shine through in her absolute curiosity and love of genres that she had not been raised in, but from the soul of all who ever worked with her.
See That Girl is an unbelievable piece of work in itself, a release that matches some of the tremendous boxsets that have been released in the last few years that have endeavoured to convey the same sense of occasion and gratitude to the lost and the forever majestic, and as the time passes in the company of the thoughts of the artist, as the music and lyrics keep the attention and defying in a way Time’s intrusion and merciless distraction, so the progression of honour is to be savoured.
Rather than dealing in separate albums, the novel structure of the boxset sees it compartmentalised in a fruitful, even more logical way. As each cd supplied focuses on a different era, The Singles, 1979-1983, 1983-1989, 1989-1992, 1993-1996, 1999-2000, B.B.C Recording 1981-2000, and Other People’s Songs, so the ability to witness the growth, the sheer splendour that was always demonstrably apparent, is one that will have the listener falling in love as each song plays out.
Every song you could have wished to hear is available, every moment in the company of one of the most likable and endearing performers of her time, all contained into a boxset that truly does her justice.
A must have for the fan, for the devotee of popular music, for the ones who understand that progression is an art form in itself; Kirsty MacColl: See That Girl resonates with undisguised belief.
Ian D. Hall