London-Warsaw-New York (Cherry Pop CRPOPD161)<\/b><\/p>\n
Cherry Pop have released a lavish CD reissue of Basia\u2019s 1990 LP, which repeated the million selling success of her solo debut, \u2018Time and Tide\u2019. Fondly remembered by gentlemen of a certain age as a member of light pop band Matt Bianco, Basia\u2019s solo career took off in 1986 with the aforementioned release, but it\u2019s her second LP we\u2019re here to consider afresh.<\/p>\n
\u2018Cruising for Bruising\u2019s gentle shuffling beat opens the album, immediately setting the standard for what follows; slinky jazz-lite with Basia\u2019s reedy voice gently washing over it all.<\/p>\n
\u2018Best Friends\u2019 introduces a funkier beat, and has a nice, high vocal in the chorus, but strangely doesn\u2019t capitalise on the atmosphere.<\/p>\n
\u2018Brave New Hope\u2019s torch song start promises much, but soon becomes a slow, routine workout, with a weaving melody, high, piping synths, soft-impact drums and fails to find itself over its four minute-plus run.<\/p>\n
\u2018Baby You\u2019re Mine\u2019s North African feel provokes interest, but is basically a wistful love song that lacks any real substance.<\/p>\n
\u2018Ordinary People\u2019 has more going for it, with a good guitar, rhythm and drums in a samba style beat, an early standout,<\/p>\n
\u2018Reward\u2019s late night piano intro takes us into a heartfelt song about love and failure, and is easily the best track so far, suggesting the full range of emotions, and ending on tense, unsettling notes.<\/p>\n
\u2018Until You Come Back To Me\u2018 has Basia in full-on pop mode, with a memorable, perky tune, rangy voice and appealing lyrics, and is clearly the strongest material for a single here.<\/p>\n
\u2018Copernicus\u2019 opens urgently, Basia\u2019s voice good and lively, and the sax takes over to fine effect in a simple love song that might have benefitted from a more
\ndirect title.<\/p>\n
\u2018Not An Angel\u2019 is another high spot, another sax-aided effort. Basia\u2019s high notes are her strength, and the private, pleading lyric, loaded with suggestion, makes it arguably the best so far.<\/p>\n
\u2018Take Him Back Rachel\u2019s shuffle gives Basia room to use her much vaunted rangy voice, which shows far more depth here, than on the rest of this collection. Basia gets away with an unlikely plea to her lover\u2019s former lover through the lyric\u2019s sheer bravado.<\/p>\n
\u2018Come to Heaven\u2019 is the first of our bonus tracks, and an altogether sexier, swinging rhythm delivers enough support to justify the assured swell of Basia\u2019s voice toward the end.<\/p>\n
\u2018Masquerade\u2019 is a slow, routine smooch, but benefits from a nice chorus and guitar, with \u2013 dare I say it? \u2013 a male vocal verse dropped in.<\/p>\n
The single reworking of \u2018Until You Come Back To Me\u2019 has a more mellifluous voice than the LP track, and is clearly the more suitable choice of the two for 7 inch release.<\/p>\n
The extended \u2018Cruising For Bruising\u2019 improves on the LP track well, a shuffling instrumental until the slinky vocal kicks in.<\/p>\n
Our second CD is packed with alternate remixes and instrumental bonuses that are strictly for the diehards.<\/p>\n
I\u2019ll admit that \u2018adult contemporary\u2019 is not my first choice for listening pleasure, and maybe that\u2019s because my formative years\u2019 soundtrack was more basement-level punk than supper club jazz. Basia has sold more records than most of my idols could hope to, still less achieve, but that shouldn\u2019t blind us to what\u2019s on offer here; a light, escapist musical background wash that, on more careful listening, reveals a world of troubling emotions. The lightness of touch on many of these productions and the highly sophisticated vocal\/instrument interplay belie the often tortured, heart wrenching lyrics embedded in these songs. So what, if they require a little of the listener\u2019s patience? BUY HERE!<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Cherry Pop have released a lavish CD reissue of Basia\u2019s 1990 LP, which repeated the million selling success of her solo debut, \u2018Time and Tide\u2019. Fondly remembered by gentlemen of a certain age as a member of light pop band Matt Bianco, Basia\u2019s solo career took off in 1986 with the aforementioned release, but it\u2019s her second LP we\u2019re here to consider afresh.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":6,"featured_media":6841,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"ngg_post_thumbnail":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[128,71,74],"tags":[1087,1086,750,305],"series":[],"class_list":["post-6839","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-hot-plugs","category-music","category-reviews","tag-basia","tag-cherry-pop","tag-cherry-red-records","tag-scenester"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.eyeplug.net\/magazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6839","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.eyeplug.net\/magazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.eyeplug.net\/magazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.eyeplug.net\/magazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/6"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.eyeplug.net\/magazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=6839"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/www.eyeplug.net\/magazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6839\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":6843,"href":"https:\/\/www.eyeplug.net\/magazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6839\/revisions\/6843"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.eyeplug.net\/magazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/6841"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.eyeplug.net\/magazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=6839"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.eyeplug.net\/magazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=6839"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.eyeplug.net\/magazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=6839"},{"taxonomy":"series","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.eyeplug.net\/magazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/series?post=6839"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}