Sequal - Sequal (1988)

By popular demand, here is the one and only album by Sequal. As mentioned in the earlier post for Maria Christensen's solo album, Sequal was a freestyle duo comprised of Maria and Angie Vollaro. The ladies were brought together by producer Lewis Martineé. They were named Sequal as they were considered the sequel to Martineé's first female group Exposé (actually, more the sequel to that group's first line-up, when they were known as X-Posed). The ladies were given the best freestyle and pop producers of the day to work with on their album including Martineé, Mantronik, Justin Strauss and even Stock, Aitken and Waterman (on the brilliant "Tell Him I Called"). The album is exciting from beginning to end (and the song "Let It Go", a hit for Luba in Canada, is only available on the CD. Also of note is "Why Can't We Be Lovers", which Joy Winter remade on her album, also posted on this site, with the ladies doing back-up). They released many singles that all became huge in the dance clubs, but none ever hit the higher reaches of the pop charts. They broke up and the rest of the story can be found on my Maria Christensen and 3rd Party posts. But thanks to Consolecharlie aka Dream101, I discovered that they have a fresh new myspace page, and further exploration reveals a recent one-hour internet radio interview with the ladies that covers their entire career from the beginning to now. It is fascinating, especially for this blog, to hear the history of a group on the fringes of popularity. They discuss their formation, their break-up and artists they have known and worked with. And best of all, they reveal that they're back together! The trash pop world makes a collective cheer of joy!

Here is the recent radio interview with Culture Klash.

Video for I'm Over You

Download Sequal

1		Tell Him I Called
2		Tell The Truth
3		I'm Over You
4		Could've Had My Love
5		Why Can't We Be Lovers
6		Let It Go
7		Took Another Chance
8		Brand New Love
9		Out Of Sight Out Of Mind
10		She Don't Want You
11		It's Not Too Late

3rd Party - Alive (1997)

As mentioned in the Maria Christensen post, several years after she released her solo album, Maria resurfaced as the lead vocalist of female trio 3rd Party. What exactly the other two girls contribute to the album remains to be seen, but it was likely thought that Maria would find greater success as part of a hot girl group (as she did in the freestyle world as part of Sequal). The group wasn't really a a hit, however. The album came out near the end of the euro-house craze, and thus missed cashing in on the success of acts like Culture Beat and La Bouche. But what people missed out on is a very well-produced, danceable album, that includes electroish tracks as well as house. Maria's vocals are in top form, and the album is a lot of fun from beginning to end. Their first single, "Can U Feel It," was a minor dance hit. Their second, "Love Is Alive," was a remake of the oft covered Gary Wright soul classic, a song which Maria also released as a solo single several years before. But the album's biggest claim to fame is that it contains the original, and far superior IMO, version of Jennifer Lopez's hit "Waiting For Tonight". Thanks to J Lo's remake, Maria didn't need to mourn the demise of 3rd Party for too long, as she co-wrote the song and no doubt made some nice coin as a result...

Video for Love Is Alive

Download Alive

1		Can U Feel It
2		Love Is Alive
3		Round & Round
4		Waiting For Tonight
5		Second Nature
6		So Inspired
7		One Night
8		Step By Step
9		Love And Emotion
10		If My Heart Could Talk
11		Listening To The Rain
12		Can U Feel It (LCD Galactica Mix)

Maria Christensen - Maria Christensen (1993)

Though you may not know her name, you likely know her music. Maria Christensen has had a long run in the pop world. She began as half of the successful freestyle duo (and Isle postees) Sequal (who did back-up on the Joy Winter album also posted here), whose album was produced by super-producers like Stock-Aitken-Waterman, Lewis Martinee and Mantronik. After Sequal split, Maria released her self-titled solo album. Gone was the freestyle and synthpop sound, in was a pure pop sound, very similar to Taylor Dayne or Celine Dion (who actually remade the track, and Maria's first single, "Just A Little Bit Of Love" on her Let's Talk About Love album, with Maria on back up vocals). Of course, it's no surprise that the album was reminiscent of those ladies, as it was produced by Ric Wake, who produced all three. It was also familiar sounding due to the fact that several of the tracks were recorded by other artists (e.g. "By Heart" by Brenda K. Starr, "Don't Let Me Fall Alone" by fellow Isle postees Fan Club). It's a nice enough album, not groundbreaking by any means, but Maria has great pipes. Sadly, they weren't enough for this album to be a success. Maria later resurfaced as the lead of female euro-house trio 3rd Party (their album is up next) and recently released another, independent solo album. She continues to work successfully in the music world as a respected song-writer and back-up singer, and has since reformed Sequal with fellow member Angie.

Video for I've Got To Find A Way

Download Maria Christensen

1		It's My Life
2		Deeper
3		I've Got To Find A Way
4		Perfect World
5		Just A Little Bit Of Love
6		At Last
7		Don't Let Me Fall Alone
8		By Heart
9		If I'm Only Dreamin'
10		If My Heart Could Talk