Diana Ross - Diana Ross (1976)

With a seemless persona often depriving her of a concentration on the music, Diana Ross was born to sing and with only 44 albums released if only she had worked a bit harder in her career. Unfalteringly glamourous, never less than mildly enjoyable, Diana Ross (1976) is one of her great ones. The lush, accentuated settings are what her warm timbre was made for. The exhaustion of love songs means some numbers seem blurred into the next, but her bright, direct intonation injects her uniquely gifted guile that intensifies their meaning. Her voice is a rich instrument that is precise and really does know where it's going to.

Recognizable for its syrupy opening refrain, Theme From Mahogany explores a tempo or marching drums, strings as lush as life itself and a spirited vocal that sounds like a bridge of sighs. Somber, sweet and sensual, I Thought It Took A Little Time is air-kiss soul at its sugary finest. Ross's languid crooning possesses a joyous restraint. Breathlessly inviting, the pouting excursion Love Hangover is an exacting and intoxicating showcase for the sultry abilities of Diana's exquisite characterization. A relay of disco speeds take the song from the bedroom to the dance-floor: and if already on the dance-floor, the acceleration into disco is most certainly bedroom-bound.  Suddenly taking a different swerve (saying nothing of her drunk driving), into her local piano bar no doubt, she finds a speedier groove to her repertoire on the arch Kiss Me Now.  On You're Good My Child, Ms. Ross eats up the rhythms with a vocal flight and agility that's her unique effortless style.  Airbrushing her ex husbands from memory, One Love In My Lifetime is an eloquent masterstroke.  Pledging slow-motion devotion, After You handles the conflicts thrown at her with romantic steel.  Never one to say no to a romantic ballad, Smile might be a touch too show biz for its own good, but I just can't say no. Country-tinged Sorry Doesn't Always Make It Right is another love vow.

With a voice that refuses to suffer, for the vivacious Diana Ross there ain't no high note high enough. Embellishing every sylable and making the words sparkle into sequins, she was hardly scaring Aretha into retirement with her range, but as a singer her timing is perfect. The proof is in her projection: she soaks up her accentuated settings; her lush vox framed to perfection.

Rating:

8/10

Saint Etienne - Hug My Soul (Motiv8 Remix)

With their new euphoric pop track Tonight coming soon, it got me to thinking about Saint Etienne's more glitzier dance outings. There's something so sultry about this one: the furtive and velvety verses are low key, making lusty observations, Cracknell playing some sort of romance novel drenched paranoid wreck with no appetite, or in a drowsy diet pill stupor, or something, then the dreamy chorus that wraps around and smothers you like candy floss. I know the Motiv8 remix tarts it up a bit to gaudily for some, and the original certainly is the most charming and swoon-inducing, but the facelessly uplifting Hi-NRG rhythm from Steve Roadway gets me everytime (it must be the Gina G connection). I just thought I'd write something stream-of-conscious to stylistically imitate how my imagination feels when listening to this little wondrous gem.

Twitter Review: Madonna - Erotica (1992)

Something I seem to do from time to time is pop an album on and post a tweet per track as a mini review (an activity I don't put much thought into, but enjoy an awful lot, just because it's simple and not like writing a conscious review at all). So whilst in terms of writing I don't have the time or focus to blog much, since I have a dissertation to do), I thought I would post some of my twitter mini reviews every so often, starting with Madonna's starkly intriguing masterpiece Erotica.  Please also take on board that tweets really do carry their own irreverent tone and not meant to offend.

Gordon_L_A G L A 

Languorous, drowsy Secret Garden could very well be Saint Etienne. Can't give a higher compliment if I tried. Not one stinker on the album

7 Jan 

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I remember using lyrics from the Erotica album in an English essay, aged 14. Madonna's love everyone agenda on this album really worked IMO

7 Jan 

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AIDS downer In This Life is incredibly haunting I'm proud of her for writing about it. Almost too sad to listen to, but has a waltzing aroma

7 Jan 

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"brothers, sisters" gets my neck snapping, privately. The whole thing is terrible embarrassing, yet inanely stylish. Delicious whingeing

7 Jan 

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The undulating Why's It So Hard gets a hard time from its critics, Madonna goes Ace of Base. Tongue-curling whatdowhahavedododoberespected

7 Jan 

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1 of the finest displays of her talents, Rain finally relents the tension. Characteristically expressive sleek stylish she surpasses herself

7 Jan 

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Morbidly obsessed, overwhelmingly fragile. Words: strong choked-up verses, middle-8 that leaves the ground, chorus plays 2nd-fiddle to both

7 Jan 

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It would be a divine treat for her to perform this on tour. My most wanted, absolutely. Campy, statuesque and aloof - the perfect M facade

7 Jan 

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Starkly vulnerable bruised & rouged Thief of Hearts was the original Vanity but has depth & genuine merits not least its ice-cold pathos

7 Jan 

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Locking into the groove, Waiting speaks under her breath. The rhythm experience is divine. Luscious Jackson with a boner

7 Jan 

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VERY different to the image I must have had in my head. She was wearing clothes, glamorous and alcoholic. Pining in an almost funky manner

7 Jan 

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The morning-after pill Bad Girl, my first concious and private witness of a Madonna video on the ITV Chart Show. I was impressed but it was

7 Jan 

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Translating innuendos into heartfelt grooves, giving her the wrong exposure. Convincing songwriting, strong delivery, engaging. Life Begins

7 Jan 

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The first of the drowsy after-hours jazz moments, Where Life Begins is years beyond the contemporary reaction to its lyrics.

7 Jan 

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Deeper can't surpass Vogue; indeed it submits to it, as if adding fuel, by ordering "go with the flow". Maybe she just had a heavy period

7 Jan 

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Deeper's sweeping disco, once again yearning for solutions regarding her mother and father. Throwing herself head first into love's excess

7 Jan 

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Such stylistic shifts gave us Bye Bye Baby, a nice original stroke with the phone-call kiss-off. Deee-Lite's Call Me did the concept better

7 Jan 

Gordon_L_A G L A 

Bittersweet, dance-inspired Fever moves elegantly, playfully, the voice is cool but melts like ice. It sort of just fits there, but rich

7 Jan 

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Gordon_L_A G L A 

Considered dated on it's arrival, Erotica's mumbles still breathe down my neck, I feel immobile to its commands.

7 Jan 

Rating: 9/10