Here we have one of my fave albums of all time. Pure cheese-pop delight!! I picked up this album solely because of the title. I had no idea what to expect, and I was more than pleasantly surprised. For years I knew nothing about Goddess other than this brilliant masterpiece. Obsessed with knowing more, I found out that Goddess is Elvira Valentine (awesome name!), a Dutch singer who used to do back-up for Falco, among others. Then to my delight I discovered that she became part of a pop duo called Say When!, along with Ingrid Simons, who later became known as
B.B. Queen (her album will be up next!). They released a few fun pop singles in the late 1980s in Europe before they split, including "
Save Me", large portions of which would later be used in Corona's massive eurohouse hit "
Rhythm Of The Night". It was four years before Elvira would reemerge as Goddess with this, her only album as Goddess, unfortunately. The music here is best described as synth-rock. It's danceable, sexy and funny too. Goddess' voice has a sexy growl, and ranges from soft whisper to rocker wail. The album was produced by the Bolland brothers, Rob & Ferdi (who were successful as an act simply called
Bolland & Bolland in the Netherlands). The Bolland brothers also produced Samantha Fox's "
Love House", and this album is similar to that minus the house beat. Though to many it may sound dated, I cannot get tired of it! My goal is to remake the entire album one day! Not a dud in the bunch! "Sexual" made a dent in North America, reaching #74 on the Billboard Hot 100, but the even sexier follow up "In My Bed" fizzled, as did the ballad "Je T'aime". No other singles were released from the album, but I was delighted to discover that she released three more singles as Goddess after this in the Netherlands - "Get Loud (Racism Beat It)" in 1993 and the techno tracks "Tapdancer (I Wanna See You Mooove)" and "
Spirits In The Night" in 1994. After her time as Goddess, further study reveals that she was also part of another duo called Club Risque, who recorded a single called "
Beethoven Was Black" in 1996 on Mike Stock's Love This Records which was never properly released. And that is where her time in the pop spotlight seems to have ended. Which is a crying shame, as I would desperately love much more from this lady. Please come back, Ms. Valentine. I barely knew ye!
UPDATE: Sadly, Elvira passed away sometime in 2011, and though I'm not certain, I believe that she was battling cancer for some time. A truly sad loss and a talent I was looking so forward to hearing more from. R.I.P. :( (Go here to hear some other songs she recorded in the 1990s, "If You're Serious" and "Going Out".)
(For more Goddess, including non-album tracks and remixes, go to my sister site
HERE.)
Video for
Sexual
Download
The Sexual Album
| 1 |
| Sexual |
| 2 |
| Lingerie |
| 3 |
| X-Rated |
| 4 |
| Cleopatra |
| 5 |
| Erotic |
| 6 |
| In My Bed |
| 7 |
| Boyz |
| 8 |
| Je T'Aime |
| 9 |
| She's Wild |
| 10 |
| Sexual (Practice Safe Sex Version) |
Surely everyone knows Ya Kid K (aka Manuela Kamosi), lead vocalist for eurohouse innovators Technotronic. And surely everyone knows that after their first album, she left the group to pursue a solo career. Her first solo track was "Awesome (You Are My Hero)" from the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles soundtrack in 1991, and it became a minor hit in the UK. A year later Technotronic's "Move This" was used for a Revlon commercial in North America and brought the group back to the top of the charts. Even though Ya Kid K was no longer a member, she got a "featuring" credit and appeared prominently in the video (unlike Technotronic's first hit, "Pump Up The Jam", where her vocals were credited to model Felly, who also appeared in the video in her place). This success led to an album deal with SBK Records. "Move This" was featured on the album, but this inclusion did little to garner interest in it. Which is too bad, because had people picked it up, they would have discovered an album with much to offer, with pop, house, techno and hip hop songs aplenty. Backed by a bunch of popular producers, including Technotronic's Jo Bogaert, Gail "Sky" King, Dan Hartman, Biz Markie and the lady herself, the album is a fun, danceable mix of singing and rapping. "Let This Housebeat Drop" (featuring a hot vocal by Lonnie Gordon) and "That Man" were released as singles but failed to make much of an impact and she was dropped from the label. A couple years later she rejoined Technotronic (along with previous postee Daisy Dee) for their album Recall, and was the featured vocalist on their first single from the album, "Move It To The Rhythm". The album was nowhere near the success of their debut, unfortunately, and this new version of the group disbanded. Ya Kid K released a couple more singles over the years, and popped up on occasional Technotronic singles, but she has yet to return to the spotlight she deserves. She still occasionally performs with her sister Karoline, however, who has achieved great success as a pop-rap solo artist in Europe under the moniker Leki. Check her out, she's amazing!
Here we have one of my fave albums of all time. Pure cheese-pop delight!! I picked up this album solely because of the title. I had no idea what to expect, and I was more than pleasantly surprised. For years I knew nothing about Goddess other than this brilliant masterpiece. Obsessed with knowing more, I found out that Goddess is Elvira Valentine (awesome name!), a Dutch singer who used to do back-up for Falco, among others. Then to my delight I discovered that she became part of a pop duo called Say When!, along with Ingrid Simons, who later became known as B.B. Queen (her album will be up next!). They released a few fun pop singles in the late 1980s in Europe before they split, including "Save Me", large portions of which would later be used in Corona's massive eurohouse hit "Rhythm Of The Night". It was four years before Elvira would reemerge as Goddess with this, her only album as Goddess, unfortunately. The music here is best described as synth-rock. It's danceable, sexy and funny too. Goddess' voice has a sexy growl, and ranges from soft whisper to rocker wail. The album was produced by the Bolland brothers, Rob & Ferdi (who were successful as an act simply called Bolland & Bolland in the Netherlands). The Bolland brothers also produced Samantha Fox's "Love House", and this album is similar to that minus the house beat. Though to many it may sound dated, I cannot get tired of it! My goal is to remake the entire album one day! Not a dud in the bunch! "Sexual" made a dent in North America, reaching #74 on the Billboard Hot 100, but the even sexier follow up "In My Bed" fizzled, as did the ballad "Je T'aime". No other singles were released from the album, but I was delighted to discover that she released three more singles as Goddess after this in the Netherlands - "Get Loud (Racism Beat It)" in 1993 and the techno tracks "Tapdancer (I Wanna See You Mooove)" and "Spirits In The Night" in 1994. After her time as Goddess, further study reveals that she was also part of another duo called Club Risque, who recorded a single called "Beethoven Was Black" in 1996 on Mike Stock's Love This Records which was never properly released. And that is where her time in the pop spotlight seems to have ended. Which is a crying shame, as I would desperately love much more from this lady. Please come back, Ms. Valentine. I barely knew ye!
