Ze
For her 1984 follow-up, Cristina enlisted the production genius of DonWas, who brings to Cristina's vocals a musical backdrop every bit asbizarre and infectious as his own Ze Records project Was (Not Was).Forgoing the extended disco excursions of her debut, Cristina and Wasinstead created ten radio-ready pop songs, trying to outdo Madonna ather own game, perhaps. Along with originals penned by the singerherself in conjunction with Was, Doug Fieger (of The Kinks) and RobertPalmer (!), Cristina also performs distinctive covers of songs by VanMorrison, Prince and obscure country singer John Conlee. The albumfeatures excellent guest contributions from contorted punk saxophonistJames Chance and jazz legend Marcus Belgrave. With all this star power,I partially expected Sleep It Offto sound like smooth, competent 1980s new wave pop. Well, it doesn'tsound like that at all, but what it does sound like is harder to naildown. Producer Was adds stacks of keyboards and synthesizers, wackyloops and sound effects, creating a densely populated architecture ofsound that at times threatens to steal the show from Cristina's vocals.Perhaps in order to cement the Brecht comparison, Cristina andcollaborator Ben Brierly perform a gothic-y cover of Bertolt Brecht andKurt Weil's classic ode to purchased love "Ballad of Immoral Earnings."With some of the tracks recalling the sophisticated disco of her earlysingles, and some taking utterly bizarre tangents into electro-Country("She Can't Say That Anymore") and cheesy 1980s pop balladry ("The Lieof Love"), the overall effect of Sleep It Off is pureeclecticism. As such, it never becomes boring, although it does lack acertain focus, which probably explains the public's indifference to thealbum at the time of its release. The lack of any obvious single normalenough for radio airplay probably also contributed. "Don't Mutilate MyMink" gleefully rips off the Sex Pistols' "Anarchy in the UK," for oneof the album's funniest, most confrontational tracks. Bonus tracksinclude horrible session outtakes, a bizarre Christmas song, and areally nifty cover of Prince's classic "When You Were Mine." Sleep It Offis an interesting mess, one I don't think I'll be returning to any timesoon, but that I am nonetheless glad has received the deluxe reissuetreatment from Ze.
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