For those unaware, Kim Wilde has blazed a trail ever since she made her debut with the indelible ‘Kids in America’ back in 1981, becoming the most charted British female artist of the 80s with a string of smashes around the globe. A perennial pop icon, Kim will release her 15th studio album, Closer, in 2025.

By popular demand, Kim’s ninth studio album, 1995’s Now & Forever, is given a deluxe 3CD+DVD reissue on Cherry Pop, comprehensively expanded with bonus tracks, remixes, videos and BBC TV performances for the very first time.

Now & Forever includes the hits ‘Breakin’ Away’ and ‘This I Swear’ plus the club favorite ‘Heaven’. Finding Kim exploring a more soulful and vibey set of grooves in collaboration with brother Ricky and club mainstays CJ Mackintosh and Nomad, it was the last album released under Kim’s longtime contract with MCA.

This deluxe edition also features 1994’s reimagining of ‘Kids in America’ and Kim’s final standalone single on MCA, her 1996 cover of Evelyn Champagne King’s ‘Shame’.

Packaged in a stunning fold-out digifile with a 24-page booklet, this edition features new sleeve notes, discography, additional images from Kim’s personal collection and full lyrics.

Coinciding with corresponding packages for Kim’s preceding albums, Love Moves and Love Is, this is an essential purchase for her army of fans.

Disc One:
1. Breakin’ Away
2. High on You
3. This I Swear
4. C’mon Love Me
5. True to You
6. Hypnotise
7. Heaven
8. Sweet Inspiration
9. Where Do You Go from Here
10. Hold On
11. You’re All I Wanna Do
12. Life & Soul
13. Now & Forever
14. Back to Heaven
15. Staying with My Baby [Bonus Track]
16. Shame [Bonus Track]
17. Kids in America 1994 [Bonus Track]
18. This I Swear [Radio Mix] [Bonus Track]
19. Heaven [Matt Darey 7”]

If you have made eight good albums in a row you would be well within your rights to assume that your ninth album would follow the very same successful pathway that the previous ones did.

Sadly for Kim, her ninth album, Now & Forever, did not do any such thing and indeed furthermore proved to be the final nail in her at-that-time recording coffin (it would be 11 years later when she released a new album, 2006’s Never Say Never).

Not that it is bad, not at all, but with the turn of the 90’s heralding less and less people still being attune to the exciting 80’s pop star, previous albums Love Moves and Love Is also both suffered from not enough exposure, and a distinct lack of record shop sales, it has to be said.

Regardless, Now & Forever is still very much a solid musical album. Perhaps a little bit too euro-dance-pop, at times, but still containing so bonafide dancefloor cuts.

Chock full of sensual material, tracks such as the ONJ-esque You’re All I Wanna Do and the smouldering R&B beauty C’mon Love Me definitely stand out and show a growth within her voice and recording manner, along with the lead dance track single Breakin’ Away, of course.

So yes, after three albums featuring a consistent pop sound, she decided it was time for another change and chose to make an album with a decided soul/R&B feel to it. Ricky Wilde still produced, but joined forces with CJ Mackintosh for four of the album’s tracks and co-produced with the Serious Rope team for seven others.

Lyrically, the songs were either very happy (Sweet Inspiration, Heaven, High on You) or bordering on depression (the title cut Now & Forever, Hold On), but the second single release, This I Swear, was a definitive radio-friendly song (albeit that it only reached #46 in the UK charts in early 1996.

With this wondrous 3CD+DVD set from Cherry Red Records (UK) now containing a whole host of quite brilliant mixes and alternative versions of some of Kim’s biggest songs along with B-Sides and such - the stands out for me being the Kids in America 1994 [12” Version], the This I Swear [Wilde Remix], the Heaven [Original 12”], and both the Kids in America 1994 [X Club Dub] and the Breakin’ Away [T-Empo Dub] - this is as complete a package for this album, this time in Kim’s life as you will ever get to see.

Disc Two:
1. Kids in America 1994 [Cappella Mix] 2. Shame [Jupiter’s Radio Mix] 3. Breakin’ Away [Original Version] 4. This I Swear [Wilde Remix] 5. Heaven [Original 12”] 6. Kids in America 1994 [12” Version] 7. Breakin’ Away [Original 12” Mix] 8. Shame [Jupiter’s 12” Mix] 9. Heaven [Eddy Fingers Vocal Mix] 10. Kids in America 1994 [The Maranza Mix] 11. Breakin’ Away [Matt Darey Vocal Mix] 12. Heaven [Matt Darey 12”] 13. Shame [Matt Darey’s Vocal Mix] 14. Kids in America 1994 [Extension Mix]

Disc Three:
1. Kids in America 1994 [Jimix Remix] 2. Breakin’ Away [T-Empo Vocal Mix] 3. Shame [T-Empo’s Club Mix] 4. Kids in America 1994 [Maximum Development 12”] 5. Heaven [Eddy Fingers Dub] 6. Breakin’ Away [T-Empo Dub] 7. Shame [T-Empo’s Dub Mix] 8. Kids in America 1994 [X Club Dub] 9. Breakin’ Away [Matt Darey Dub] 10. Heaven [Matt Darey Dub] 11. Shame [Matt Darey Dub] 12. Kids in America 1994 [Plus Staples]

DVD:
Promo Videos
1. Kids in America 1994 2. Breakin’ Away 3. This I Swear 4. Shame 5. Kids in America 1994 [Original Version] Kim at the BBC 6. Breakin’ Away [On Fully Booked] 7. They Can’t Take That Away from Me [On Showstoppers] 8. This I Swear [On Pebble Mill] 9. I Believe My Own Eyes [On Pebble Mill]

Official Purchase Link