For me recently on a 4am girls and guitars bender: Cyndi Lauper (the fizzy acceleration of Money Changes Everything that doesn't touch the ground or the sides); The Bangles's Going Down To Liverpool (blue-sky jangly pop par excellence, it really sets sail with their harmonies, but of course it is Debbie hear who makes it so irresistibly wistful and imaginative this time - the Susanah Hoffs spotlight was yet to be switched on); Patty Smyth (her 1987 debut album is basically Cyndi meets Springsteen - lots of hightlights, her collaborators are in actual fact Eric Brazilian, Rob Hyman, William Wittman, Rick Chertoff, Billy Steinberg and Tom Kelly, so this is no surprise); the enchanting Rooms On Fire from the bewitching Stevie Nicks, and Voice of The Beehive (the fleshed out expensive chorus of Scary Kisses never fails to set my adrenaline to a high setting). I'm also listening to the Divinyls, but it's the song Only Human On The Inside, and that was in the 90s - I always knew it as a Pretenders song (and that it was a cover), but Chrissy Amphlett's recogniseably expressive voice delivers the killer blow of the lyrics with more charm and radiance - and you need to wait for it's gentle fade out, at which point I wish it could go on for another 3 minutes itself. I do need to mention the Go Gos, and so Our Lips Are Sealed is their bubbliest moment, Jane almost over-took it with her own Rush Hour, and Belinda's girlier efforts were rendered iconic by her voice of steel alone - the Julia Roberts of the radio.
Miss Little Havana is half celebration of the music Gloria Estefan grew up around, half soundtrack to falling in love again with the one you fell in love with in the first place. Rhythm is everything and everywhere. Gloria's lyrical themes range as broad as the musical traditions she scoops from navigate are varied (Cuba, Miama, Mexico and South America to be exact).
Hair today, hair tomorrow.
Working in sync with Pharrel, and the match is magnetic, she injects so much fervor and zest that was missing from her last album. Gloria bumps up against her man in the club on the sweat-drenched sticatto of the title track. Punctuated by precise production flourishes, Gloria gets the game going with a smart and fun lyric. Evolving steadily but expertly, it sets the pulse of the album, is exuberant and yet initially feels mild on the surface - it requires the listener to dig deep into both her rueful considerations and the rewarding texture of Pharrel's ear for detail. It's a groove that finds its power in its control and structure. The crisp, undulating and humid rhythms are enhanced by the noticeably deepened, gritty and fully-committed vocals. The experience is sharply executed, driven by cocktails, sly dance-floor tactics and flirtatiously conceived moments of eye-brow raising humor. With the hair and the flair, Gloria's lyrical command, grace and sheer bite is the ultimate ignition. Once again intoxicating when the rhythm gets her.
Gloria has yet to sign on for the new franchise: Housewives of Havana.
Less is much more on the gentle romantic calm of I Can't Believe, which introduces jazzy and mellow piano riffs mixed with some understated Latin lounge aroma, which is formidable in its own right, and rendered so via Gloria's delivery of a gorgeous lyric about catching the same glimpse of another, and herself, all these years later. This is a truly heartwarming song, and its Cuban inflection helps create an unassuming appearance that only experience could pull off to such a high standard. A fine pick among the more emphatic contenders for album highlights. Estefan's soothing voice perfectly conveys the strain of being once mudled up in life's obstacles and now finding herself marvelling "isn't life really something?" This moments kills me. The tight rhythm section accompanying the quick step middle-eight is also really something.
The frenzied first single Wepa is a dizzying burst of sizzling attitude. Disrinct, disorientating and highly addictive, it sadly doesn't have a chance in hell of becoming a hit. The song does hit though - it hits you right in the face, if it was more in your face it would give you a rash. At once startling, the jarring jerks and rabid visceral observations are unexpected and worth getting used to.
Proving it pays to have junk in the trunk, the album keeps peeking in the far reaches of the second half. The album's zenith, Hotel Nacional is a hilarious standout, and Susan Lucci just won the highest accolade of her career. Gloria's wry depiction of getting down via flirtatious rhyming is laugh out loud stuff. It's impossible not perk up at such sleek, clubccentric salsa-induced neck-snapping when the alternative is Madonna's unasked-for crotch-thrusting from her own Pharrel-favoured Give It To Me. Hotel is one of the few songs unassisted by Pharrel, which is a testiment to how much Gloria is giving herself to the record (although the fact that it was recorded in 4 weeks is a little telling in that is has no obvious hit singles). The point of all the silliness is that you should be moving your body, and you will be. Whenever the intensity seems to reach a peak, the song retreats and gears up for another charge.
Hands off Gloria.
The modest salsa shuffles of Heat, Say Ay, SoGood, Right Away and Make Me Say are further consecutive hip-shakers. Gloria gets to relax a bit and enjoy the contemporary edge that never deviates from her tradition and warm capabilities. They have much the same flavour, but importantly have connection. Cutting to the bone, Time Is Ticking is Reach 15 years on. With more than a hint of velvet to her vocals, where her lyrics fall into well-versed ground it is the deluxe emotional depth I'm most grateful for.
Sweeter than the rest, Medicine is a tonic of sleek and sharp electronica that injects into the same vein as the best vintage Peter Rauhofer remixes. I am overdosing on it. The stoic momentum builds into a surreal unidentified pathos. Gloria's husky and thickly-textured timbre gets hot and cold, mischievous, rebellious and caring. The hot to trot Make My Heart Go implements a usurping blend of na na na na's with emphatic club accents, and feels slightly less authentic than Medicine, but it's equally pleasant nonetheless. Synthesizers galore make their presence known throughout the dancefloor dosages of Medicine, Make My Heart Go and Hotel Nacional. Most impressively of all, Gloria herself remains the focus: smart, vivid and in her exquisite comfort zone. Indeed the presence of the few songs, bonus or otherwise, that are not produced by Pharrel only thickens the plot.
Because of its ten year exposure, Gloria's belated recording of Let's Get Loud isn't winning many fans, which might be due to the fact that for many it might sound a little exhausted. It represents where she left off with Gloria! and therefore feels slightly out of place here. A signature song for J-Lo (co-written by Estefan, but left off her own album), it wasn't even a hit and yet has became a ubiquitous reference point for Latin cross-over pop. Estefan herself missed the so-called Latin pop heatwave of 1999, ironically led by J-Lo among others (even Geri Halliwell managed to be ready for it without knowing). Had it been included on Gloria! these doubts would not be considered, and it would have been a sure-fire signature anthem for her at a time when she really needed it. However, despite lacking the sheer spontaneity and flamboyant virtuosity it would have delivered back in 1998 it is a very welcome recording to finally own. Contrived as hell, it's a classic hand-bag anthem. 10 years on, Gloria's going to different clubs where you'd get thrown out for that kind of carry on.
Joyful sounds ablaze on a dynamic return to dance. This is a richly textured document of an original and important voice in modern music. Miss Little Havan re-captures the bravura that made her such a potent threat in the first place. More chic than extravagant, why bother trying to be anything less?
12
years after most would have remembered her, Joan Osborne re-connected, rather than re-visited, her Relish roster
of collaborators and re-kindles the bluesy, ballsy soft-rock that she made her
name with. I have always been long
intrigued by Osborne’s one-hit-wonder status, with her striking voice and
starkly beguiling follow-up single St Teresa being especially welcome on my
music players. After Joan hit the high heavens with her ubiquitous 1996 hit single One of Us, her career didn't stop but her radio stamina seemed to end without any clear indication as to why. For one thing, it took 5 years for her record label issues to iron themselves out for a follow-up, 2000's Ritcheous Love, to be released. After this point, Osborne has steadily released music in the form of 2002's covers set How Sweet It Is, 2006's country-tinged Pretty Little Stranger, 2007's Breakfast In Bed and finally came 2008's Little Wild One. Presumably it was the album her label wanted her to make 10 years previously as it reunites her with her Relish regulars of Eric Brazilian (One of Us, Billie Myers' Kiss The Rain), Rick Chertoff (Cyndi Lauper's She Bop, Sophie B. Hawkins' Right Beside You) and Rob Hyman (both Lauper's Time After Time and The Water's Edge). These guys have long fascinated me: they have written some incredible material for female artists over the years, most of which have had huge hits and then continued with a cult following). Boasting her enigmatic vocal authority, the record contains slightly jazzier pop-rock sounds, layered with subtle keyboards here and there, R&B-inflections, and sporadic orchestrations arriving like warm night-time breezes. Her voice is like a power-steering mechanism: her ease, energetic runs and sheer fluidity between the different forces whilst sounding modest and restrained is a thing of beauty.
Album opener Halleluja will immediately draw comparisons to One of Us, but is more of a restraint folk song than radio bait. Sweeter Than The Rest was the album's single and it sustains a haunting sense of romance that immediate rekindles the same flame as St. Teresa or perhaps even Planets of The Universe by Stevie Nicks. Haunting ballad built on a bridge of piano keys that slightly imitate Imagine, Cathedrals is the album's biggest surprise, radiant and deeply touching. Her bracing contralto is on fine balladeering form. The soft tempo of Meet You In The Middle is full of Joan’s
lilting, dulcet harmonies and even the harmonica is tuneful, even if it sounds
like the theme from Roseanne.
One of my favourite tracks from last year was a
gorgeous, lo-fi strummy ballad called Loser Dreamer by country
queen of stoic melancholy Shelby Lynne, and Osborne gives this song a run for
its money with her own haunting acoustic torch song To The One I
Love. Both tracks are pensively considering life as it passes by,
musing almost stream-of-concious world-weary lyrics. Adding
soul-drenching organs, To The One I Love flourishes in every way.
The soaring dirt-kicking Rodeo is her own Everyday Is A Winding Road, built on a series of seductive and frolicking high and low vocal journeys. Softer still, Daddy-O relies
on Joan's earthy wail to ignite its yearnfully plaintive seduction. More
organs add further chills. An isolated electric guitar riff is also
welcome here. Seeking an Indian influence
in her mesmerizingly off-key introduction notes, Can't Say No could
almost have been a Billie Myers song. Can't Say No has a stronger
momentum than most of the songs here and even almost has a chorus.
The
overall thrust of Osborne’s vocals is something very special.Its mystical quality, tempered with occasional steel , gives me tingles. Every song fits so well here, with songs
like To The One I Love softly working their magic, and highlighted by the more
purposeful Sweeter Than The Rest, cautious torch ballad Cathedrals, the sensual
Can’t Say No and energetic Rodeo. The conviction to her voice adds a legitimacy
to the songs that her lyrics never quite achieve on their own, but the sense of
renewed vigor makes this her best album to date.The arrangements do well to compliment her
rootsy qualities without making things too glossy at the expense of
sincerity.It can be heard that there is
not as much money being thrown at this record as Relish, but this overdue album
finally delivers a set of songs engaging from start to finish even if they will
never be as exposed to people in the same way her signature song was and
remains to this day.One criticism might
be that this album is echoing Relish too much, but that album was never this
melodic and cohesive.However, Little
Wild One does not merely play it safe, her haunting drawl is there, the tender
moments are the result of experience and the overall effect is one of skill,
assurance and a connection between the musicians writing this album alongside a
vastly underrated singer who just happens to have one of the very best voices
of an entire generation.
If you lived under a rock during the 90s let me tell you about the Hi-NRG Euro-disco legend of Corona: originally sung by Sandy Chambers who was
locked in a cupboard for 5 years whilst the gorgeous and charismatic Brazillian model Olga De Souza, with
the legs as tall as sky-crapers and the shit-gritting grin that stretched as
far as the equator, fronted the act, lip-synced for her life and had everyone's
eye out with her enviable dreadlocks whilst spinning round on stage in a
cackling frenzy (she's famous for laughing at pretty much everything, and has
actually been banned from funerals in her native Brazil and adopted home of
Italy). She has been dining out on the batch of hits taken from the landmark
debut album ever since (these are the slightly unknown minor worldwide hit
Rhythm of The Night, the more pugnacious Baby Baby, the open-to-offers anthem Try Me Out, and the disco-drunk funk of I Don't Want To Be A Star). High ranking
album tracks include the heavy demands of I Gotta Keep Dancing, When I Give My
Love, I Want Your Love and Don't Go Breaking My Heart.
On the much-delayed 1998 follow-up album Walking On Music,
the arrangement continued, as did their fast-forward attitude to sensitive love
issues on the singles: the strident groove of Walking On Music, the sumptuous glide of The Power of Love and the energetic mayhem of Magic Touch (they were not massive hits, but continued the same rampant and euphoric euro-dance formula
as before). The other track worth mentioning happens to be the best of the
bunch, I Belong To You (80s), which sounds like PWL circa 1990 - it almost has
the same scintillating elements as Donna Summer's This Time I Know It's For Real, only this time we knew for real she
really wasn't singing.
In 2000, Olga released an album called And Me U under the
alias of Corona X, but the material was slightly rock influenced and every bit
as appealing to fans of their vintage style as that sounds (Diva Incarnate scored it a reasonable 6 out of 10): hidden delights included the Donna Summer-esque I
Only Came To Dance, with its timeless marriage of disco yearning and plaintive exhiliration, and the single Good Love, which was accompanied by a slightly more accessible dance remix. Olga also sang all the songs herself and even sounds a bit like that faceless bird Sandy Chambers who
had fled for her life by this point.
Olga continued to sporadically release one-off
singles (going down a slightly Dannii Minogue-esque route if you will), with
the best to comment on being the Spanish-tongued hypnotico dance jam La Playa De Sol, but it was
not until last year that Corona came back with a selection of trance-identified
dance-pop songs as part of an actual album campaign. It was called Y Generation
and ignited the charts in Italy, reaching NUMBER ONE on the Italian itunes
dance album charts (you can just imagine the stiff competition - thank goodness
Lisa Scott-Lee wasn't releasing anything that week). I was a fan of this album,
it kept an obsessed Corona crusader like myself fairly happy, and the seething trance temperatures of the single Angel
even produced a True Blood inspired video (Olga's first promotional clip in 12
years), and was number 1 on the Diva Incarnate 'Best Singles of 2010' countdown. The 2nd single Saturday was delivered to itunes with a dollop of decadent remixes, and
the final release was called My Song. Once again, the most infectious creation was
left as an album track, this time a lust-fueled trance orgasm snappishly called
Gimme Love (not saying please is just plain rude if you ask me).A new song to launch a re-release of the album is on the
way...
Hi Olga, thanks for agreeing to interviewed.
Following the mostly pop-rock sounds of And Me U, Y
Generation was something of a return to dance music – although it also successfully
pursues new sounds, was it a conscious decision to go back to your roots as it
were?
Yes, because i love dance music, the dance with good
melodies and so I deciced to went back to my roots
The single Angel's video seemed to be inspired by
shows such as True Blood with its elements of folklore - what was the overall
meaning behind it?
[Olga did not answer this question]
You also sing a Capella different lyrics to the recorded version...
[Olga did not answer this question]
A lot of people didn't quite understand the product
placement for the hair product.
But in this case jean louis Italy just help to do my
hairstyle in the video, so we just put a fast show of their products.
It took more then 3 hours to do my hairstyle in the
video, so its was just a thank
The Corona project has endured many changes with
regards to the machinery behind it (different producers, record labels, etc):
did you ever consider giving up the name and releasing music under your own
name? Olga de Souza is an amazing name...
No, I LOVE Corona. . I like changing labels and producers, but
CORONA is always my name.
You have been using your own vocals for well over a
decade, starting with 2000's And Me U, and I must say I absolutely love hearing
it on the new album - it's so expressive and I love the cackles of laughter on
Angel. It seems to have improved - is this due to practicing?
Yes, i always study and improve
Will there ever be a chance of working with original
Corona songwriters and producers and songwriters ever again?
No, they are old now and i am
still young . .ahhh ahhh
Are there any plans to perform, release and promote in
the UK again? The UK record label
AATW seems like a good company to release Angel with.
We contated
my labels in UK , there was some interest but after . . nothing happen, but we
will keep pushing
What has been the success of the Y Generation album in
Italy, and what other countries has it been released in?
After ITALY where we had a # 1 on I TUNES DANCE ALBUM
IN ITALY , we did Germany, Austria and Swiss, Singapore, Malasya, Greece and we
exported some copies in France, Benelux and many other countries.
And Angel the single, with some new remixes, will be
released soon in France.
My knowledge of Italian pop is limited to the singers
Alexia (Uh La La La), Gala (Tough Love, Freed From Desire and Lose Yourself In Me) and Sabrina Salerno (A Flower's Broken)
- they seem to have a huge appetite for female
dance-driven music - what has been the key to Corona
finding its most enduring success there?
I think the
songs, ITALIAN DANCE means always good melodies, and the italian producers are
perfect for the good melodies
It's very hard for international fans to keep up to
date with the latest Corona news - will there be
plans to keep fans more up to date on your website?
All the updates will be there. There will be a good
news soon, with a collaboration with an important dj.
There were so many dance acts and female dance divas
in the 90s - do you ever keep in touch with any?
Yes, Alexia, ice mc, Spagna
are good friends
My favourite song from Y Generation is the euphoric
Hi-NRG trance temperatures of Gimme Love (the productions is ecstatic and very
fresh) - are there any plans to release it as a single? And will there be more
videos for the project?
I am not
sure Gimme Love can be a single. Thanks for your compliments.
What is your favourite song from the new album and
why?
Angel and
Saturday. I think we create a good groove ! and the new single ( not in the
album) is hot.
Does it ever feel strange when people mention songs
from the first two albums as being their favourites when you never actually
sung on them? For example, I love the song I Belong To You (80s) as it is so
glitzy and glossy, and also sounds like a Donna Summer song from her
PWL-produced Another Time album (1989), but sadly would never expect you to
perform it...
[Olga did not answer this question]
Speaking of Donna Summer, my favourite And Me U song
was I Only Came To Dance, which is VERY Donna Summer. Who exactly are your
musical influences, past and present?
My influence is all the 70’
disco and also the new wave of the ‘80s and of course the brasilian music.
Have you ever met Sandy Chambers, and how did the
agreement to be the face of Corona come
about, and what
were your overall feelings about the arrangement over time?
We were all a big team and big
friends
You have successfully fronted the Corona project for
almost 20 years - without naming names,
what is the most scandalous, jaw-dropping story about another celebrity you can
tell me?
Top secret.
Who is your most famous friend?
Top Secret about the most
famous. . my real friends are my fans
Angel was my blog's 'Best Single of 2010' and Y
Generation was an artistic triumph. What plans are next? Will you record a new
album soon?
The new single . .and a new edition of Y Generation . . stay tunes. . Thank
you everybody.
Gala's decision to embrace her dance legacy was clearly a close shave.
Owner of possibly the best sculpted cheekbones short of a 90 degrees angle, enigmatic musical hero of mine Gala has impressively sent shock-waves through my shivering body upon my first half a dozen listens of her very new spine-tingling single called, you might have guessed, Lose Yourself In Me, a dance-identified electronic, throbbing dance ballad.
Positively drenched in all her trademark Gala quirks, its melancholic splendor finds the Italian dance warrior on beguiling form (fans would expect nothing less). I simply cannot think when I am enjoying new music as much as this - what a fine treat for my ears to hear it, an unexpected return to unequivocal dance music from the creator of the 90s classics Freed From Desire, Let A Boy Cry, Come Into My Life, Everyone Has Inside and Suddenly (which were all Italian top 5 smashes). The song has already been embraced by a random German radion station and is #5 on this chart. Gala continues to reek havoc around the world whilst touring and rigorously sharpening her game. If we get a video, expect her signature androgynous posturing. Fed on a diet of visceral rhythms and philosophical lyrics, Lose Yourself In Me falls nothing short of mesmerizing.
At the moment I am not able to consistently update the blog: the quality control has been uneven in terms of tone and content. Initially, much of the writing consisted of subtly imposing an irreverent fiction onto the subjects of my album and song write-ups, and more recently the humor became less vulgar and less obvious. A recent 'return to form' post was my review of Sabrina Salerno's flop 1999 album Broken Flowers, but writing track-by-track articles can take a whole evening of listening to music, which is fine if I'm not tired or busy with other distractions. My plan is to post when I can, but try and post at least one album review per month and aim to share a few songs or news of various happenings with the artists that I like. My blog has never aimed to simply regurgitate news that is heard on other blogs (although I will always credit my source whenever this is the case, which is something I deleted another blog from my links section when they copied-and pasted material from my blog to theirs without even linking their source); and my blog has never been merely about building up readership by commenting on other sites simply to get my own web-page promoted. So basically, if you have enjoyed my blog then I appreciate that enormously, but I simply can't go back to posting 20-30 posts per month ever again. I am in my final year of studies but am keen to keep Diva Incarnate thriving one way or another. Feel free to follow me on twitter (the link should be at the top right of the page), and I would love to hear from people.
Above: Britney Spears may have turned down Reality TV, but Billie still managed to snatch her wig.
Billie Ray Martin is all set to release her long-awaited Opiates album called Hollywood Under The Knife. To say it has been hard work for her to get to this stage would be an understatement, the project clearly means a lot to her and Diva Incarnate cannot wait to hear it all. Personally, I have stayed away from hearing snippets as I want this to be a fresh experience. The song Reality TV (Lonely, Lonely Girl) has been a huge favourite for a few years now, and was first touted to Britney of all people back in 2007! The song is definately pop, but Billie has a voice that cannot be covered and I would never be satisfied hearing anyone else sing her song first. BRM also submitted a proper pop song to Dannii Minogue's older sister Kylie called Sattelite, so fingers crossed we get that on an eventual Billie Ray Martin solo album, which is promised. The album Hollywood Under The Knife is out 17.10.11 preceded by an EP 19.09.11. These can be pre-ordered on iTunes now.
Above: Dannii was 'floored' when she heard Healing On The Dancefloor.
Former sunlounger tyrant turned frumpy MILF Dannii Minogue must be scoring as high as her sisters right eyebrow right now as all her unreleased post Neon Nights recordings seem to be hitting the back of the net. Hard. Whilst we all anticipate how disappointing, lazy and half-assed her next bootleg single will be when it arrives in 2015, Team Minogue must have decided to get our juices flowing with an unexpected array of 'buzz' singles. Late to arrive, Healing On The Dancefloor comes just days after its sister tracks Fear of Flying and Karma Is A Bitch were exposed to mixed responses, in turns blown away, moderately pleased and lukewarm. Diva Incarnate is very much in favour of how sophisticated and artistic they are - take Fear of Flying for example where Dannii tells heartfelt tales about homophobia, office worker ennui and domestic violence before rejecting any responsibility herself by blurting out "answers? I don't know". Healing On The Dancefloor is a low key stunner, but no single. Who is to say whether any of these would have done well for her as singles? We must remember that Spend Your Love On Me sounded a tiny bit like that slightly successful #1 single Just A Little Bit by Liberty X, but in a distinctly Dannii way (ie. bitchy, aloof and tinged with drug-induced glamour). The only other track that has yet to leak, that I have long wanted to hear anyway, is a Kara DioGuardi co-write called Message In A Bottle. Maybe Nathansayz forgot to wash all the KY off his hands when he logged into gaydar to persuade guys to have sex with him and the whole thing just backfired - however we have got these tracks doesn't matter, it is a bittersweet time to be a Dannii Fannii yet again.
My own 'imaginary' Dannii 2004 album called Fear of Releasing Music goes ... something like this:
In an effort to create some 'buzz' for Dannii Minogue's stagnant pop career, two of her most highly-anticipated unreleased tracks have recently leaked. Both Karma Is A Bitch and the supposed lead single that never was Fear of Flying are 'out there'. Recorded for the follow-up to 2003's nice n' sleazy Neon Nights album, they were produced by Korpi and Blackcell along with another as-yet unreleased song called Healing On The Dancefloor. Karma is by far my favourite, silky, smooth and seductive, it simply glides into your ears and is good enough to make me believe Guy Sigsworth produced it! It also contains the bitchy lyric "is that baby on prescriptions just to get into a zone?" Fear of Flying is not as instant, but has even dirtier beats and contains a heartfelt plot about a gay guy coming out of the closet (done much better than a certain try-hard tranny I could mention), and the rippling middle-8 followed by a stream of piano keys are utterly divine. Both tracks ooze classic Dannii iciness and yet are luxurious and touching. What they both highlight is how lazy she became with her AATW mash-ups such as You Won't Buys This Either, Rejection and Douche Me Like That. If she had an album ready to go containing these two leaks, not to mention the 'odds and ends' Unleashed compilation album highlights Spend Your Love On Me and No Romeo, then she was a major nong for choosing the easy option of releasing disparate dance mash-ups with AATW every 6 months.
I am rather busy these days, but the return of Gala with a new EP has brought me back. The enigmatic Italian music creator is working on the project in New York, but has been busy on the road in Europe performing her classic 90s hits as well as her more recent Tough Love album material, including the bristling dance-rock hybrid Different Kind of Love and the passionate title track. From the same album, the pre-civil partnership dance-pop ballad You & Me remains one of my favourite songs of all time and I just cannot wait to hear what the singer has came up with next!
Here we are folks, the dream we've all dreamed of. Green-fingered goddess Kim Wilde has revealed the tracklisting for her covers album Snapshot and, as far as these stopgap projects go, it is not too shabby. You can be the judge:
01. It's Alright (East 17) 02. In Between Days (The Cure) 03. About You Now (Sugababes) 04. Sleeping Satellite (Tasmin Archer) 05. To France (Mike Oldfield) 06. A Little Respect (Erasure) 07. Remember Me (Diana Ross) 08. Anyone Who Had A Heart (Dionne/Dusty/Cilla) 09. Wonderful Life (Black) 10. They Don't Know About Us (Kirsty MacColl) 11. Beautiful Ones (Suede) 12. Just What I Needed (The Cars) 13. Ever Fallen In Love (With Someone) (Buzzcocks) 14. Kooks (David Bowie)
Originally released by the Triga-chic East 17, It's Alright reached #2 in Kim's main market Germany so I guess she is picking some clever songs. This version may be slightly tame, but it does the trick. Kim has recorded 2 other music videos: for Sleeping Satellite and To France.
If you can't wait for the album, try reading some of my previous in-depth, track by track Kim Wilde album reviews here.
Above: not even a flop could stop Eddie Gorniak (having one and one and one more plastic surgery after the other - looking good, girl).
I have long been obsessed with the 90s wintry dance-ballad hit One & One by the gorgeous Robert Miles and sung by English singer Maria Nayler (was her school nick-name "nail her"?), and so when I finally looked it up on wikipedia my jaw dropped lower than my trousers when I realised it was in a fact a cover. Written by the ever-reliable Billy Steinberg and Rick Nowels (one day you'll make it big guys), Polish Eurovision has-been and dance-pop surgery-addict Edyta Gorniak recorded it first, but was slow off the mark and didn't actually get around to releasing it herself until it was far too late. Her own version could only limp in at #79 in Germany (get that smash, girl). Major disappointment. Gorniak has a great set of pipes, and gives it some welly alright, but the fragile, almost Ladytron-like vocals of Nayler's more expressive and shivvery (although perhaps a tad mannered) outting remains the definitive recording for me. Now that I have discovered this song I can't wait for my copy of Gorniak's 2002 album to arrive through my box, which she recorded with the producers of the Spice Girls (although apparantly it sounds nothing like Wannabe and 2 Become 1). However, after all is said and done, Gorniak does have the better video, delivering beautiful male torsos, her own androgynous crew cut that would made Ellen leave Portia for, a jawline that could slice through timber and eyebrow movement Kylie would kill (her botox Dr) for.
As has been revealed on one of my very favourite blogs Black Melody, the long known about Come & Get It outtake (that's the 2005 album by Rachel Stevens) called Nothing In Common has finally been leaked. By none other than Mr Richard X himself (that's the song's producer who also gave us Some Girls and Finest Dreams featuring Kelis). The song is a plaintively detached ballad with a silky synth-washed tempo that is similar to the stoic melancholia of I Will Be There. Perhaps the song was too Chic and elegantly mature to be included on the album, which although houses some killer songs also has more than its fair share of duds (even a song I like a lot called So Good was faintly embarassing and dated at the time). Anyway, it's out there. Here in fact. The line "all dressed up to be let down" seems quite fitting here, and on a personal level articulates my frustration at being on holiday with someone who clearly felt differently towards me than they once did. Yes, I'm making this all about me... so did Rachel on another song she once sang. Her dutiful vocals are lovely, but just a bit more personality would be appreciated - she is every much the blow-up doll pop star, completely at the whim of whatever her producers pump through her.
Looking like Kate Ryan's younger sister, 41 year old Danish dance dealer Whigfield has premiered her new music video for the comeback single C'est Cool. Yes, I know she has never really went away, but it feels like ages since the Saturday Night legend has had a song this emphatic and naggingly catchy. The song is available to download now!
Unleashing her biggest developments since puberty, Flower's Broken was Sabrina's 1999 flop comeback album. If you're expecting a poppers o'clock dance album, this album might sound like some of its air has been leaked out as Sabrina favours different dance flavours for her mouth-wattering brand of dance-pop. Songs like I Love You are scintilating, mysterious and jubilent, but the overall impression is confident and unmistakably creative.
Aiming for the dancefloor, I Love You is the lusty first single that launched the ill-faited project via a surge of high profile promotional slots such as the 90s late night cult British TV show Eurotrash (she also memorably performed her signiture hit Boys Boys Boys, live I might add, on another episode alongside the Smurfs) . Tears fall down my cheeks like suicide victims off a bridge everytime I hear Sabrina pledge her love on the spledindly life-enriching chorus. Like a lost bewitching Bananarama song - I cannot recommend it's brilliance enough. Delivered with a creeping sense of anxiety, the singer's vocals are untouchably dreamlike and divalicious. Enough to finish anyone off.
Sounding dreamy and suitably flowery, Shallala is a near acoustic pop stream of conciousness with strummy guitars. Sabrina's off-kilter songwriting is gorgeously evident - this is not the straight-forward dance-pop I was expecting. Repeated listens are rewared indefinately, with spoken word erotica that would make Mylene Farmer faint with shock and embarassment.
Cleaner guitar sounds, synths and a upright chorus, Jimmy is Madonna's Cherish meets Jeniffer Paige's Crush meets a decent enough S.O.A.P album track. Hit potential for at least a few Eastern European markets. Another disco delivery, Diamond In The Sand is foreboding and up for unexpected body contact. Going for a slightly rockier vein to stream her disco prescription into, vocals get loud.
Scaring the shit out of Alanis Morissette, You Oughta Know is the definitive version the world had to wait 4 years to hear as the Italian singer unequivocally yells "are you thinking of me when you fuck her?". Forget Gaga flaunting stupid fashion statements, Flower's Broken is a lilting melodic prize in amongst a fuzzy eclipse of jangly guitar distortions, rippling electro and hard/fast surfaces.
Downplaying her dance, Love Is All There Is is powered by hip hop grooves and jazzy new jack soul to jack off to if those anonymous male vocals are anything to go by (I wish). The midtempo funk sounds decent and Sabrina accentuates the slinky atmosphere by groaning insistently. Whilst not instantly memorable, the slinky unnasuming vibes creep into your head if given the chance.
We've all wanted one for ourselves at some point (at least when it comes to watching their gymnasts), and Sabrina's own Russian Lover doesn't disappoint my expectations for a loud, busy and confusing dance track. Nailed it. An intoxicating, homoerotic chorus (it's chanted by a bunch of gays Sabrina picked up at her local sauna in Moscow) leads to an interesting climax.
Which brings us to the album's own happy ending, Never Too Late. Sad, slouchy and slowburning, we have a ballad on our hands as Sabrina clearly has a lot to get off her chest (you knew that line was coming at some point). Not as difficult to like as it might sound on paper, Sabrina gives good slow ones too. Luxuriant melancholia - even trash goddesses have feelings too.
The orgasm-fueled dance-pop brilliance of I Love You steals the show, but A Flower's Broken effortlessly grows in stature with repeated listening and 12 years later my fondness for it has only increased. One of the brighter dance-pop albums to emerge from the late 90s, Sabrina is the whole package, here, on an album that refuses to sag.
I was going to review Lady Gaga's disastrous Born This Way album, but every time I tried I simply typed in better examples into youtube, such as Nina Hagen and Leila K. Don't get me wrong, Vadge of Glory is a gorgeous MOR stadium ballad thickly lubricated with a Teutonic dance-pop gloss, but the legendary Nina Hagen sums it up best with her own brandy of kooky gutteral splattering, octave-tsunami anthems on her 90s classic So Bad, here given the Utah Saints remix treatment:
Furthermore, Nina Hagen did the whole 'club kids' gutter-glam New York trip thing with her best known hit single New York New York:
And even her 'down with the gays' moments are infinitely more fun (skip to 2:53):
Above: Now we know where Gina G stole her Next 2 U look from!
Sex tape superstar and Belgian dance pro Alana Dante's debut Breaking Out was no breakthrough, with its niche appeal and on thesurface emotional efficiency satisfying fans of the helium-euphuria of bubblegum dance, and those curious of whom are willing to experience nothing groundbreaking may well be impressed by the continuous momentum of melody, rampant eurobeats and reggae-lite dance incisions alike. Not as shocking as her sex tape shocker, but I guess she had to start somewhere.
Impanting emotions as big and fake as her tits: fixated on galloping dance beats, high-adrenaline and life-affirming simplicity, I'm Breaking Out unleashes a compellingly faceless charge of ecstatic eurodance cliches that do exactly what you want them to. Alana sings well, the euphoria is contrived as hell, and yet it's catchy as hell. By your second listen, there's no going back. Threatening a ballad, Back Where We Belong's slushy synths are comforatable territory for Dante to start spilling her heart out alongside chirpy faux-reggae arrangements Ace of Base might have used for more than a few of their demos. A woman after my own heart, we already know she's not camera shy, but Attention To Me's simple request exchanges mildy reggae midtempo dance fusions for your trouble. Dangerously close to sounding like a kids morning TV theme song, in the context here I'm willing to put up with it - but this is strictly turn-the-volume-down-if-someone-you-know-happens-to-be-near. Listen loudly, but with the windows clammed shut.
Feeling versatile (don't we all from time to time), The Promise gives in to domestic emotions and offers us a conventional ballad. There's a narrative about something serious, and "don't go promising cadillacs, she wants her daddy back" is the grimacing reality. Scaring the shit out of Celine Dion, Think Twice sounds like an oddly out of breath Ace of Base recording. We've had two ballads, but now "this is getting serious". Frankly I'm not into it, and Dante obviously had her sights set on the few Eastern European territories Dion didn't conquer with this mid-90s classic. Sounding like early Inna on the "I'm alive" chorus, They Say It's Gonna Rain temps me to look into whether Inna has actually sampled this. I love dance songs about rain - Alexia and Peter Luts spring to mind. It actually does have more in common with Alexia along the lines of Number One and Me & U, which can only be an amazing thing.
Usually I love them, but The Mirror is a cheesey speed-ballad Whigfield must have rejected, which of course makes it naggingly appealing. One of the album's more contrived choruses, which is saying something, melancholic bubblegum has always been a weakness of mine. If you like this, seek out Lynn's On The Run (my review of Lynn's bubblegum-pop classic Are You Online album can be found here). Going deeper, Groove Me takes a minimalist approach to its melody, giving emphasis to the ribbed bass sounds, this could have its own line dance routine and Tina Arena could record a more sophisticated version if she was up for the challenge. One Heart is an orcestrated ballad on a bigger scale than her other slow ones. Furlon and undoubtedly put-on, Dante can sing as well as most of them so it's hard to cancel this one out completely. Feeling OK Tonight is more familiar techno sensations. What I Do For Love keeps her confessions private, and is more familiar reggae-lite sensations. How Can I Win Your Love is a late entry for album highlight: slinky and hyperventelating over something worth dancing to, Dante is back to kids TV but the chorus is embarassingly beautiful. Her final adlibs are divine, a plaintive finale.
If it sounds dated, it's worth remembering this was released in 1997. Singing may not be her only talent, but the album's simplistic, consistent and robust production flourishes that aid the intensely assured emotional directness of the songs themselves, are the stuff bubblegum-dance (wet) dreams are made of.
For me recently on a 4am girls and guitars bender: Cyndi Lauper (the fizzy acceleration of Money Changes Everything that doesn't touch the ground or the sides); 
The Bangles's Going Down To Liverpool (blue-sky jangly pop par excellence, it really sets sail with their harmonies, but of course it is Debbie hear who makes it so irresistibly wistful and imaginative this time - the Susanah Hoffs spotlight was yet to be switched on); 
Patty Smyth (her 1987 debut album is basically Cyndi meets Springsteen - lots of hightlights, her collaborators are in actual fact Eric Brazilian, Rob Hyman, William Wittman, Rick Chertoff, Billy Steinberg and Tom Kelly, so this is no surprise); 
the enchanting Rooms On Fire from the bewitching Stevie Nicks, and Voice of The Beehive (the fleshed out expensive chorus of Scary Kisses never fails to set my adrenaline to a high setting). 
I'm also listening to the Divinyls, but it's the song Only Human On The Inside, and that was in the 90s - I always knew it as a Pretenders song (and that it was a cover), but Chrissy Amphlett's recogniseably expressive voice delivers the killer blow of the lyrics with more charm and radiance - and you need to wait for it's gentle fade out, at which point I wish it could go on for another 3 minutes itself. 
I do need to mention the Go Gos, and so Our Lips Are Sealed is their bubbliest moment, Jane almost over-took it with her own Rush Hour, and Belinda's girlier efforts were rendered iconic by her voice of steel alone - the Julia Roberts of the radio.
