Basia - The Sweetest Illusion (1994)

A typical Basia poppy-jazzy-adult contemporary album - if you're in the mood, it's spot-on and if you're not, it can be annoying as hell. (For the record, today I'm in the mood and I'm quite enjoying it.) I'd reckon this album is stronger than London Warsaw New York but not quite up to Basia's debut, Time And Tide. Very easy to digest and there's some good writing here. My only complaint is that the duo tries to take us on a world tour of musical styles - each song a derivation of some groove you've heard before - with mixed results. It's best when they lose the accordion and scatting and stay in their usual, comfy, pseudo-Latin lane.

Also, as noted in a 1994 LA Times feature:

[Basia's] voice is a little deeper. “That’s because I took vocal lessons, which brought out that side of my voice,” she says. “But it’s also because of the influence of Anita Baker. I love the deep side of her voice and I listen to her CDs constantly.

Listen to a lot of Anita Baker CDs, huh? Join the club. Entertainment Weekly gave The Sweetest Illusion a grade of C+ while Billboard spotlighted the album and gave it a positive outlook for sales.

For what it's worth, I'd be game for a Danny White instrumental album. The Sweetest Illusion has since been released on a 3 CD deluxe set and the second CD of that set is mostly instrumental versions of these tracks. Hmmm...

Album chart peaks:

• US Billboard 200: #27
• CashBox: #20

Tracks: This is one of those front-loaded albums - the first 3⅔ songs are fantastic, then things get hit-or-miss. The lead track, Drunk On Love, hit the top spot on the Billboard dance chart on October 29, 1994, Basia's only appearance on that particular chart. The better tracks from the middle to the end of the album are the title track (which is the most '90s-sounding thing here) and More Fire Than Flame.

Personal Memory Associated with this CD: None

Previously revisited for the blog:
The Best of Matt Bianco (1990)
London Warsaw New York (1989)
Time and Tide (1987)

Basia - London Warsaw New York (1989)

GEOGRAPHY WEEK (JANUARY 8-14, 2012)

In the late '80s, I enjoyed listening to Basia. Now? Not so much. I couldn't tell you the last time I heard this CD, although I listened to it so much when it was released, the songs are immediately identifiable. With my love for '80s music, I'm surprised that my tastes have changed regarding this album. Looking back after 20+ years, it seems that Top 40 pop music was quite the wasteland in the late '80s (Paula Abdul, Milli Vanilli, Will To Power, Boy Meets Girl, Roxette, New Kids On the Block, etc.). On this album, the pop songwriting is solid, but the dated arrangements and production aren't. Ah, well, I guess it is just a product of its time. For example, the ballad Brave New Hope is a decent song, but the heavy-handed production overshadows the melody. It doesn't help that Basia yells as much as she sings - just because you can hit high notes doesn't mean you should. Also, scat-singing should never ever have overdubbed harmonies. Still, despite all this, I can't get these melodies out of my head. Basia released her next album in 1994, but I had long moved on to other things by then.

Press of the time:

• Los Angeles Times (★★★½): "the best pop-Brazilian album in years"
• CashBox: "consistent, both thematically and melodically"
• Record Mirror (★★): "a feeble collection of 10 positively limp songs"
• Billboard: "an irresistibly catchy set of soul and jazz-inflected tunes"
• Stereo Review: "popular music doesn't get much better than this"

Album chart peaks:

• US Billboard 200: #20 (Mar 31, 1990)
• Billboard CD: #8
• Billboard Contemporary Jazz: #1
• CashBox Contemporary Jazz: #1

Tracks: The stand out track is the cover of Stevie Wonder's Until You Come Back To Me. The material is so strong even the synth bass can't drive me away. I still like the bossa-flavored Baby You're Mine and the cheesy filler track Not An Angel as well.

For more information on the brief life of the CD longbox,
go visit The Legend of the Longbox.

Personal Memory Associated with this CD: None

Previously revisited for the blog:
Time and Tide (1987)

Basia - Time and Tide (1987)

I loved the song Time and Tide from the first time I heard it on MTV, so I went out and bought the CD - no small investment for a broke college student back in 1988. The writing is decent fluff jazz/pop; critic William Ruhlmann from Allmusic writes, "So what if there's no musical substance to speak of, no emotional connection to the singing? That's like saying whipped cream has no nutritional content. Right, but who doesn't like it?" Agreed, but two things bother me now about this CD that didn't bother me much in the late '80s. First, Basia's voice, while certainly exotic, is incredibly annoying in the mid to upper register. It's like she's yelling at you through her nose. Her lower voice is quite smooth and controlled, unfortunately, she and her musical partner Danny White don't seem to hear this. Second, the synth bass, which was commonplace in the late '80s, is now distracting to my ear, particularly because it is so close in the mix. But like I said, I didn't notice these things at the time, so this got a lot of playing time in my car in the fall of '88. I was enough of a fan to buy the follow-up, 1989's London Warsaw New York, before moving on to other things.

Album chart peaks:

• US Billboard 200: #36 (Nov 26, 1988)
• Billboard Pop CD: #18
• Rolling Stone: #21

Tracks: The title track remains the best song on the disc. It also sounds like nothing else on the disc. However, the songs Promises, From Now On, New Day For You are all good, too. I remember grooving to the psuedo-Latin beat of Freeze Thaw (think Miami Sound Machine), but now that I'm more familiar with actual Afro-Cuban music, it just upsets me to listen to something so derivative. Perfect for your Jazzercise class, though. You can skip that one along with Prime Time TV and How Dare You.

For more information on the brief life of the CD longbox,
go visit The Legend of the Longbox.

Personal Memory Associated with this CD: In the fall of '88, I was student teaching in the Dallas area. I had about an 45 minute commute along Campbell Rd from North Dallas to Richardson. This was one of the CDs that kept me company on that drive. I had one of those early portable CD players with a cassette player adapter (Sony D-160, below). What a pain that was. My roommate at the time (a former teacher of mine, but that's another story for another time), came home one day when I had this CD playing and thought it was so irritating that she insisted that I turn it off. I was irked at the time, but it turns out she had a good ear after all.