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) |
