| 1 | Intro | |
| 2 | Living On Video | |
| 3 | Passion | |
| 4 | Pulstar | |
| 5 | Happy Station | |
| 6 | Visitors | |
| 7 | Desire | |
| 8 | The Night | |
| 9 | Self Control | |
| 10 | Passion (Ragga Remix) | |
| 11 | Living On Video (Hyper Space Mix) | |
| 12 | Outro | |
| 13 | Toccata | |
| 14 | Let The Bass Control Your Mind | |
| 15 | Trigger Baby |
Darling Nikkie is just one of the many incarnations of Anita Dominika Cornelia van Lierop, a woman without whom my musical universe would be a lot less fabulous. A wild child, she was born in Germany but somehow ended up in Belgium. She linked up there with producer Chris Inger, who got her to sing lead vocals on the song "Rock To The Beat", released in 1988 under the name 101. It was one of the first and most popular songs to emerge from the New Beat movement, which was a sound that incorporated techno, acid house and underground house beats and often had a sexual under-or-overtone (the song was remade into a more pop friendly and popular version a year later by Lisa M). At the same time, Nikkie recorded the album Jade's Dream as Jade 4U, which was also New Beat, and had many club hits in Belgium and forged her close partnership with Praga Khan, a techno god. She would release three more albums over the next five years as Jade 4U, becoming known as the Queen Of New Beat (which was the name of her second album). This is around the time I became aware of her, as the American entertainment program A Current Affair did a feature on her, calling her the Belgian Madonna. Of course I was intrigued, but, alas, her music wasn't released here. I managed to get my hands on various singles and compilations over the years, however, and liked what I heard. She released music under many aliases over the years as well and was part of several groups like Milk Inc., Miss Lie and Digital Orgasm, becoming more entrenched in the rave music scene. But my next notable brush with her work was in the group Lords Of Acid. I was getting into the techno sound and became aware of their music and first album, the mostly instrumental Lust. But it was their next album, Voodoo-U, that really hooked me, as I was also getting into Industrial music. The album was a mix of techno and industrial and, best of all, featured her on production and backing vocals. I was in heaven. Their next album, Our Little Secret, was even better, as it featured her on lead vocals. The group quickly became one of my all-time faves, and I followed their work faithfully, even after she gave up doing lead vocals. She continued working with other artists, but it wasn't until she released this album as Darling Nikkie that she would take the spotlight for her own again. Alas, the album was only released in Europe and didn't generate much buzz, but it took some of the edge of her previous work and mellowed it out for her poppiest yet most soulful work ever. It's the only album she's released using the Darling Nikkie moniker, though she did release an album in 2005 as part of Goddess Of Destruction, which went back to her Industrial roots. Since then she's continued to do guest vocals under different aliases, and even appeared in a short documentary with CJ Bolland in 2009 which you can view HERE. But one thing is for sure, whatever she does in the future, I will be eagerly following her every move.| 1 | Sugarcane | ||
| 2 | So Easy | ||
| 3 | Still My Nr 1 | ||
| 4 | Waitin On U | ||
| 5 | Boom Boom Baby | ||
| 6 | Immortal | ||
| 7 | As The Water Flows | ||
| 8 | Teach Us | ||
| 9 | Cloud 9 | ||
| 10 | What To Do | ||
| 11 | Flowers | ||
| 12 | One More Time | ||
| 13 | Starstruck | ||
| 14 | Yehiyo / Sugarcane (Remix) |
The heart of the Underdog Project is euro production trio Triple S, euro producer Toni Cottura (the husband of featured Isle castaway Daisy Dee!) and Canadian singer Vick Krishna. After a jam session during Krishna's visit to Germany, they gelled and made some rough demos that got the attention of a label - in Germany. The album included many different styles, including freestyle, reggae, hip hop, trance and 2 step. While Krishna did the vocals on most tracks, many others stepped in to assist, and my faves are the songs featuring female singer Choice (not the rapper, unfortunately). The single "Summer Jam" became huge in Germany, and even made itself known in danceclubs across the world. Follow-up singles "I Can't Handle It" and "Tonight" also fared well in Europe, but didn't make much of an impact anywhere else. Though they used many elements, the songs tended to sound the same. Over the years they released other singles, including "Saturday Night", "Remember", "Winter Jam", "Miami" and "Girls Of Summer", but all the tracks seemed to reference their biggest hit "Summer Jam" and didn't make a huge splash. They released a remix of the song in 2003, and the album was rereleased in 2004 with remixes and some new tracks. It appears they may still be going, as they released a new single entitled "Unbelievable" in 2007.| 1 | Summer Jam | |
| 2 | Vibin' | |
| 3 | Saturday | |
| 4 | I Can't Handle It | |
| 5 | 4am | |
| 6 | Half A Woman | |
| 7 | Trippin' | |
| 8 | For The Ladies | |
| 9 | Tonight | |
| 10 | No More (Accapella Skid) | |
| 11 | Selecta | |
| 12 | All Night | |
| 13 | Summer Jam (Unplugged) |
German born Sabrina Johnston's "Peace" was one of the most successful tracks from the "happy house" movement. It came on the heels of Crystal Waters' "Gypsy Woman", and, like Simone's "My Family Depends On Me", coasted on that vibe of conscious, positive lyrics and fun, upbeat beats. It was a minor hit on the US dance charts and was even bigger in Europe. Her follow-ups, the equally upbeat "Friendship" and "I Wanna Sing", followed suit, though to lesser success. She finally managed to release a major label album on EastWest, produced by her hubby Ken, that followed the same formula, with some more soulful numbers thrown in to take full advantage of her powerhouse voice. With the rising popularity of hip hop in the early 1990's, artists like Sabrina soon found they had no place on the charts. Not that she stopped recording. She kept pumping out singles (including the gay anthem "Free Gay & Happy" in 1995), and released another album, the Japan-only Sabrina in 1996 (which she released in the US in 1998 as Yum Yum, with a slightly altered tracklisting and some remixing). She continues to record, with an occasional single or featured vocals here and there, and there is no doubt that this talented lady will rule the charts in the future. Her voice simply cannot be denied. (Special thanks to Iwannis Ch for sharing Sabrina and Yum Yum with us! :) )| 1 | Peace | |
| 2 | Friendship | |
| 3 | Don't Hide Your Love | |
| 4 | Yours That Kind Of Love | |
| 5 | Anniversary Lover | |
| 6 | I Wanna Sing | |
| 7 | Glory | |
| 8 | We Need Each Other | |
| 9 | Give It To Me | |
| 10 | Hyway 95 |
| 1 | Reasons | |
| 2 | Tonight | |
| 3 | Sorry | |
| 4 | Lay Me Down | |
| 5 | I Can Feel It Happen | |
| 6 | No I'm Not Gonna Be | |
| 7 | Yum Yum | |
| 8 | You Need Some Lovin' | |
| 9 | Ain't Nobody Gonna Stop Me | |
| 10 | My Loves Strong | |
| 11 | Throw Your Hands Up | |
| 12 | Madness |
| 1 | Reasons | |
| 2 | Tonight | |
| 3 | Yum Yum | |
| 4 | Ain't Nobody Gonna Stop Me | |
| 5 | No | |
| 6 | You In My Life | |
| 7 | Lay Me Down | |
| 8 | Sorry | |
| 9 | You Need Me Lovin' | |
| 10 | I Can Feel It Happen | |
| 11 | Tonight (Junior Vasquez Mix) | |
| 12 | Reasons (Mohammed's Club Mix) | |
Ah, here we are, back with an album by a one-named diva on whom little info is available. I picked up this CD at a Dollarama and simply had to buy it for the cover alone. I had no doubt that there was some poppy goodness to be had here. It is from Germany, and I believe that Juliette is also German. She had released a few euro-pop singles before this album as the featured singer with the group In-Mood. The songs were somewhat successful German hits, including a remake of the theme song to the animated movie The Last Unicorn. Obviously a woman of her beauty and vocal ability needed to break out as a solo star. So she managed to wrangle the creme de le creme of euro producers, including producers who also worked with Billie Piper, Steps, Dannii Minogue, Atomic Kitten and a couple artists featured here already, Stella Soleil and Innosense. So you know exactly what to expect - straight up euro-pop. Her first single was the title track, and it picked up some steam in Germany. But beyond this album, the only other sign of her was a single called "Imagine". Perhaps if we could find out her last name we'd know what else she has been up to since... hint hint... ;)| 1 | It's My Life | |
| 2 | Unstoppable | |
| 3 | Feel Me Out | |
| 4 | You Don't Love Me | |
| 5 | Back Into My Life | |
| 6 | Crazy 'Bout You | |
| 7 | It's Heavenly | |
| 8 | Whatever It Takes | |
| 9 | Play Pretend | |
| 10 | Can't You See | |
| 11 | Breaking The Border | |
| 12 | There's Nothing Better | |
| 13 | Liar |
| 1 | Don't Go Away | |
| 2 | He Loves Me | |
| 3 | Mama Papa | |
| 4 | Everything's Gonna Be Alright | |
| 5 | If I Can't Have You | |
| 6 | U Make My Love Come Down | |
| 7 | Never Never | |
| 8 | Get On Down | |
| 9 | Never Wanna Be Alone | |
| 10 | Sometimes | |
| 11 | I'll Die For You |
Armed with a girlish voice and Pamela Anderson looks, German chanteuse Rollergirl (real name Nicole Saft aka Nicci Juice) burst onto the dance charts with her euro-trance remake of Madonna's "Dear Jessie". She followed up this dance chart success with this album, her only full length album to date. It is produced by her husband, Alex Christensen, who was best known as eurohouse and techno act U96, and was also the producer of Marky Mark's failed dabblings in euro-house. The entire album follows the example of her debut release, upbeat euro-pop-trance. Her second single was also a remake, this time of Sunscreem's "Luv U More". It also found success on the German dance charts. But Rollergirl's appeal didn't seem to translate well to the world outside of Europe (the album wasn't even released in North America). She released more singles (like a cover of The Bangles' "Eternal Flame", which appeared on a rerelease of this album, "Superstar" and "Geisha Dreams") but none hit outside of her native land. Really, she was more admired for her body than her body of work. (And someone who has posed semi-nude and whose stage name is taken from Heather Graham's porn starlet character in the movie Boogie Nights likely expected as much.) She hasn't recorded anything recently as she has been living the life of a mom, but I wouldn't be surprised if she rolled back into the poplight in the future.
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| 1 | Tell Me Where It Hurts | |
| 2 | Keep On Running | |
| 3 | Ding Dong | |
| 4 | When I Die | |
| 5 | Body Slam | |
| 6 | Sexy Eyes | |
| 7 | In My Life | |
| 8 | The End Of Good Times | |
| 9 | Nice 'N Easy | |
| 10 | Who Do You Love |
