Kim Thui

Love Is is the eighth studio album by Kim Wilde, released in spring 1992. Kim Wilde found herself working with Rick Nowels on this album, the same songwriter who had written for Belinda Carlisle and later for Madonna amongst others. Three of the eleven tracks were produced by him while the remaining eight were produced by Ricky Wilde. The majority of the tracks on this album were co-written by Kim. She'd taken a long hard look at herself, resulting in the song "Who Do You Think You Are?", in which she reflects on how she had behaved through the years in her career. There were more love songs on this album; titles such as "Touched By Your Magic" and "Heart Over Mind" are an indication of the themes of the lyrics.

Kim Wilde needs no introduction, having registered a staggering 30 hits on the UK charts since 1981, and selling over 30 million records globally. Now, for the first time, her stellar career is celebrated with the release of a truly comprehensive Kim Wilde hits collection…

No matter the title of this Ruf Records outing, Kim Simmonds, founder, guitarist, and eternal frontman for Savoy Brown, is going straight for its Chicago mojo to deliver this set of scorching electric blues. Aided and abetted by his now longstanding road band – comprising bassist Pat DeSalvo and drummer Garnet Grimm – Simmonds' Savoy Brown comes full circle from its 1965 roots as a British band won over to the loud, gritty sounds coming across the ocean from Chess Records. Opener "Laura Lee," is in the classic Windy City tradition, as inspired by Hound Dog Taylor's house rockin' style as they are Muddy Waters', while "Just a Dream" recalls the moody, slow burning attack of Son Seals.

The first two works are for viola and a battery of percussion instruments. Pourtinade, in nine sections with highly descriptive titles whose order is decided by the performers, elicits every possible sound and color effect from the viola, and an extraordinary range of blending and contrasting textural timbres from the instrumental combinations. "Redwood," inspired by Japanese woodcuts, uses the percussion as melody instruments; often it seems incredible that a single player can produce such a wealth of sounds. Opening softly and mysteriously, it becomes quite active, and then a beautiful viola solo fades away. The Shostakovich Sonata, written in the shadow of death, is heartbreakingly moving in its lamentatious mournfulness and turbulently desperate outbursts. The piano texture is pared down to skeletal spareness; the viola mourns in the dark low register and soars radiantly up high. The Scherzo is defiantly sardonic; the Finale, full of quotes from Beethoven, ends in resignation. The playing is beautiful and projects the changing moods with a riveting, inwardly experienced expressiveness.

Acclaimed American composer Mark Abel’s sixth album for Delos extends his growing command of chamber writing while also delivering three major new vocal works. Celebrated sopranos Isabel Bayrakdarian (four times a Juno Award winner) and Hila Plitmann (a pair of Grammys and a longtime Abel collaborator) are joined by mezzo Kindra Scharich in presenting the song cycles Trois Femmes du Cinema and 1966, and debuting Two Scenes from “The Book of Esther,” a provocative excerpt from an opera in development. The album’s impressive array of instrumentalists includes pianist Carol Rosenberger (making the final recording of her epic career); fellow pianists Dominic Cheli, Sean Kennard and Jeffrey LaDeur; Alexander String Quartet violist David Samuel; Pacific Symphony concertmaster Dennis Kim and young cello star Jonah Kim.

Close is the sixth studio album by Kim Wilde, released in 1988. Produced by Ricky Wilde and Tony Swain, Close was the final album on which Marty Wilde had co-writer credits. The album is widely perceived by fans and critics (and Kim herself) as Wilde's most well-balanced, with many kinds of pop represented: dance, ballad, rock and midtempo. The album's lead single was "Hey Mister Heartache", featuring backing vocals from Junior Giscombe — but its success was dwarfed by the follow-up single, You Came, which hit the Top 10 in many countries and just missed the U.S. Top 40. "Never Trust a Stranger" and "Four Letter Word" also reached the UK Top 10, although a fifth single "Love in the Natural Way" was less successful.

View from the House is the eleventh studio album by American singer-songwriter Kim Carnes. It was released on July 25, 1988 by MCA Records. The album marked a return to her early country music roots. Carnes recorded the album in Nashville, Tennessee, and co-produced the album with Jimmy Bowen. View from the House received positive reviews, with music critics praising Carnes's cover songs. The album reached number 39 on the Billboard Top Country Albums chart, and contained two hit singles. "Crazy in Love" and "Speed of the Sound of Loneliness" both charted on the Billboard Hot Country Singles & Tracks at number 68 and number 70 respectively. "Crazy in Love" also reached number 13 on the Adult Contemporary chart.

These soulful Spanish and Argentinean songs arranged by violist Kim Kashkashian and pianist Robert Levin are well suited to their expressive and expansive playing. Most of the songs, ranging from works by Granados, de Falla, and Montsalvatge to early Ginastera, are written in a late romantic to early modern idiom, and many incorporate a strong folk element. The selections include rowdy, rhythmically charged dance-like songs, tender lullabies, and many flavors of love songs, from the exultant to the despairing. In addition to the better-known composers, Argentineans Carlos Guastavino and Carlos López-Buchardo make extraordinarily fine contributions. The choices of repertoire are excellent; each one of these songs is a jewel, and the ordering of the selections artful, including the surprisingly effective repetition of two songs at different points in the program. The transcriptions are inventive and imaginative, with the vocal lines idiomatically adapted for the viola's expressive capabilities.