Song#: 3650
Date: 09/17/1988
Debut: 84
Peak: 41
Weeks: 10
Genre: Dance-Pop
Pop Bits: Nearly five years after she first reached the US Pop chart with 1982's "Kids in America" (#25), British singer Wilde grabbed her biggest hit with the #1 Supremes remake "You Keep Me Hanging On." The track was taken from her fifth album Another Step (#40). For her follow-up LP, Wilde entered the studio with her songwriter/producer brother Ricky along with producer Tony Swain (of the Jolley/Swain production team behind Bananaram's second album featuring "Cruel Summer"). The siblings would co-write most all of the songs on the new LP titled Close with their dad Marty joining in on a few of them. It was a more consistent effort than Another Step, which had featured several producers and songwriters, and in the long run it proved to be vastly more successful - at least in other countries. In the US, the album got kicked off with this first single. While it would do well on the Dance chart getting to #10, the song ended up stopping at the dreaded #41 spot on the Pop chart. Sadly, it would be Wilde's last Pop chart single in the US. With that lackluster result, the album peaked at #114 and became her last to reach the chart. Close may have been a bust in the US, but elsewhere it did very well and overall it would be the biggest selling solo album of her career worldwide hitting the Top 10 in many countries. At home in the UK it would get to #8, go platinum, and spawn three Top 10 hits including "You Came" (#3).
ReduxReview: It was such a shame that Close got so overlooked in the US. It was much better than the scattershot Another Step and was one of her most consistent efforts. This first single was a good choice to push out. It had been a big hit in the UK and its pseudo Stock Aitken Waterman sound was just right for the time. It may not have been a slam dunk for a Top 10, but it should have at least make the Top 20. The bigger mystery is why the first single in the UK, "Hey Mister Heartache," only got to #31 there, which then prevented it from being released first in the US. That tune had even better hit potential and I think it would have done well in the US. It's a terrific, funky lost gem. The LP also had some other solid tracks like "Four Letter Word" (#6 UK) and the urgent "Never Trust a Stranger" (#7 UK). Each of those should have spent some time in the US Top 40. It was her best selling album in many countries except the US, which was highly disappointing.
ReduxRating: 7/10
Trivia: Double Shot! 1) While Wilde's career in the US pretty much halted with Close, she continued to have some success in the UK and other countries. Her next two albums sold far less, but still managed to generate a few charting singles. Her last major hit came in 1993 when her remake of Yvonne Elliman's 1977 #1 "If I Can't Have You" got to #12 in the UK. It became a platinum #3 hit in Australia. It was a new track included on Wilde's compilation LP The Singles Collection: 1981-1993. The song would also become Wilde's final single to hit a US chart; it got to #14 at Dance. Wilde would continue to record albums over the years and in 2018 she got her first UK Top 30 album in twenty-six year when Here Come the Aliens reached #21. As she did with many of her albums, Wilde worked closely with her brother Ricky. He would produce the LP while the pair would co-write most of the songs. 2) Wilde had long held an interest in gardening, but in 1997 while taking a break from music and pregnant with her first child, she took it more seriously and attended horticultural classes. With her expertise in creating gardens along with her celebrity status, it wasn't long before TV stations came calling and after appearing on five episodes of Channel 4's Better Gardens show, the BBC hired her on for a two-season stint on the game show/garden renovation series Garden Invaders. Wilde would then go on to compete in several garden/flower shows around England and would win awards for her work. She would also author two books on gardening.
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