Kiki Dee - Cage The Songbird (2008) {Rec. 1975-1976}

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Kiki Dee - Cage The Songbird (2008) {Rec. 1975-1976}

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Kiki Dee - Cage The Songbird (2008) {Rec. 1975-1976}

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Making its first ever appearance some three decades after being recorded, Kiki Dee's "Cage The Songbird" album was made during the period of Kiki's recording career when she was enjoying phenomenal pop chart success around the world, via her duet with Elton John of “Don't Go Breaking My Heart” and shortly after the break up of the Kiki Dee Band. The "Cage The Songbird" album, unreleased for so many years, serves as an intriguing bridge between Kiki's 1973-1975 recording output for Rocket Records, and her subsequent solo recordings. Sessions for “Cage The Songbird” started in Los Angeles early in 1975, under the watchful eye of top American producer Robert Appere. It was also around the time that Kiki was once again beginning to work as a solo performer and during this period she was continuing to diversify in her singing activities, even returning to her great love for doing backing vocals, via several recordings sessions for Elton John's "Rock Of The Westies" album including the hit single, “Island Girl”. Although languishing in the archives until now, the tapes for the “Cage The Songbird” album are an intriguing insight into Kiki Dee's voice and music at this crucial point in her career, and their release has been long overdue. The title track “Cage The Songbird” was penned by Elton John, Bernie Taupin and Kiki's guitarist (and personal partner at the time) Davey Johnstone and featured originally on Elton's 'Blue Moves' album. The late soul legend Sam Cooke's highly respected song “A Change Is Gonna Come” is in safe hands here when performed by Kiki, a singer whose own musical roots back in the sixties were very much entrenched in the soul sounds of Detroit and Memphis. Dennis Lambert and Brian Potter's song “Once A Fool” (released as a single in the summer of 1975) is also given the inimitable Kiki Dee treatment, and The Box Tops' 1968 hit “Cry Like A Baby” also sounds great in her more than capable style. The sands of time have obscured the origins of several of the songs featured in this collection, but they still sound fresh and alive today, three decades later. Two songs are of particular note here, in that they later re-appeared on Kiki's third album for Rocket Records, the eponymous-titled Kiki Dee in 1977. “Chicago” obviously made an impression on Kiki, and her second attempt at the song saw Kiki take it into the UK Top 30 in May 1977. Similarly Bias Boshell's “First Thing In The Morning” makes an early appearance here, before being re-recorded by Kiki some two years later, and reaching number 32 in the UK charts when released by Rocket in early 1977. The reasons as to why Kiki Dee's “Cage The Songbird” album has never been released until now have never been made clear…perhaps there was some feeling of dissatisfaction at the time of the sessions, or perhaps Kiki herself was unclear as to where her future musical direction lay without her regular musicians. Whatever, Kiki's many fans now have the opportunity to listen to the album for the very first time, and all will welcome its long overdue first-time appearance.

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Kiki Dee - Cage The Songbird (2008) {Rec. 1975-1976}

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For one reason or another, these songs have remained locked away in the vaults for more than 30 years and have never been previously released, so it's quite something that they are finally available for the first time, thanks to EMI Records. The album was recorded in Los Angeles early in 1975 soon after The Kiki Dee Band had split up and I was once again a solo artist. My producer Robert Appere was chosen because he had worked with other Rocket artists before including a solo album for Elton's drummer, Nigel Olsson and several projects with the one and only Neil Sedaka. I remember that it was great fun to make and of the eleven tracks, only one got released - "Once A Fool" was a single in the summer of 1975. It's interesting that two other songs on this album, 'First Thing In The Morning' and 'Chicago' both went on to become hits for me when I re-recorded them a couple of years later for the 'Kiki Dee' album, again produced by Elton and Clive Franks. Two songs that stand out for me in hindsight are the title track "Cage the Songbird" again written by Elton John and Bernie Taupin and the amazing "A Change Is Gonna Come" by the late Sam Cooke. I know that I put my heart into these performances and after all these years, I hope that still comes across.

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Kiki Dee - Cage The Songbird (2008) {Rec. 1975-1976}

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Kiki Dee - Cage The Songbird (2008) {Rec. 1975-1976}

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