Kiki Dee - lead vocals; Freddy Mandel - keyboards; Davey Johnstone - lead guitar, vocals; Dennis Conway - drums; Rob Moitoza - bass; Bias Boshell - guitar; Wendy Haas and Bree Howard - backing vocals
The third of four shows taped for the King Biscuit Flower Hour, this is probably the best of all the Bottom Line 1978 shows that were recorded. It was the final night of her US tour and she was full of energy.
Dee had first burst onto the music scene in 1974 with the help of Elton John, and although she had a massive hit on her own ("I Got The Music In Me"), she is best known as the duet partner with Elton for his hit, "Don't Go Breaking My Heart." Here, Dee seems unable to decide if she wants to be a soul singer or a cabaret performer. She goes back and forth between funky, R&B-driven pop songs and bubblegum material. The show comes alive in the last four tracks, with a passionate read of the 1958 Chantay's hit, "Stay With Me, Baby" (also a hit for Janis Joplin), her own rockin' smash, "I've Got The Music In Me," and two great vocal performances on the last two songs, "Into Eternity" and "Super Cool."
Kiki Dee was a small figure on the British blue-eyed soul scene during the late-1960s and early-1970s, and even though she was one of the few white acts signed to Motown in Europe, she remained virtually unknown until 1974, when Elton John decided to sign her to his Rocket Records label and produce her.
The result was the electrifying single, "I've Got The Music In Me," which shot straight up the charts on both sides of the Atlantic. Eighteen months later, John would sing a duet with Kiki Dee which he wrote called, "Don't Go Breaking My Heart." That one shot straight up to the #1 position globally, and remains one of John's biggest hits today.
All that withstanding, Dee still had a hard time breaking out as a big star on her own. She always made good records, but the fact that she used a myriad of different writers, producers, and session musicians over a series of five albums before a distinct identity had been forged with public would hurt her in the end.