Lindy Layton - Pressure (1991) & No Other Star (1996) DOUBLE POST!!

Thanks to a wishlist fulfillment from Konstantin, I can now share both albums by British singer Lindy (aka Belinda) Layton.  I became aware of Lindy way back in 1990, when her group Beats International, which also included Norman Cook, aka Fatboy Slim, had a huge pop-reggae #1 UK and #1 Billboard Dance Chart hit with "Dub Be Good To Me", a remake of SOS Band's R&B hit "Just Be Good To Me". I knew that she had a solo career after that, but only managed to get my hands on her first solo album a few years ago, Now, thanks to Konstantin, I have both! And luckily Wikipedia has an entry on her solo work, which makes my job here easy. After having another UK top 10 hit with "Won't Talk About It", Beats International's subsequent singles and album did not fare near as well.  Before Beats started working on their second album, Lindy was snatched up by Arista for a solo career.  Her first single was a remake of Janet Kay's 1979 reggae UK #2 hit "Silly Games".  Lindy's version reached #22 on the UK chart. Her album soon followed, as did the #42 hit "Echo My Heart".  The album had many tracks similar to the reggae pop of Beats International, but it also moved into house music as well.  It also included a remake of Prince's "Do Me Baby".  After the next two singles "Wait For Love" and "Without You" failed to take off, Lindy was dropped from Arista.  She released the house single "I'll Be A Freak For You" the following year on a smaller label, and was soon signed to PWL.  On PWL she released two poppier singles, "We Got The Love" and "Show Me", which reached #38 and #47, respectively, on the UK pop chart. She was then dropped from PWL as well.  It would take her three years to release more music, which she passed mainly DJing. The album No Other Star was only released in Japan on the Cutting Edge label, and the only single release from it was "Who Do You Think You Are?", which failed to chart.  She had returned to her pop reggae roots, which was clearly out of vogue by the mid-nineties. She then teamed up with DJ Steve Proctor to form the breakbeat duo Hardknox in 1997. They released their first single "Coz I Can" on the Skint label, and two years later released their self-titled album on Jive Electro. It was not a great commercial success, but was favoured by the underground scene. Nothing much was heard from Lindy until 2009, when she appeared on tracks on albums by both the Dub Pistols and the Groove Diggerz, such as "I'm In Love" and "Body Flow", as well as a remake of "Just Be Good To Me".  She featured on two other Dub Pistols albums on the tracks "Rock Steady" in 2012, and "Our Life" in 2015.  She also had a daytime radio show in 2013 called The Mrs.  She now focuses on songwriting and DJing, but hopefully she will return to making music some time soon.

Video for Silly Games

Video for Without You

Download Pressure

1 Wait For Love
2 Echo My Heart
3 Do Me Baby
4 Without You
5 Keep It Up
6 Silly Games
7 Drop The Pressure
8 Lines
9 Cruel (To Be Kind)
10 This Isn't Fair
11 Best Thing
12 Let Me Keep You Here

Download No Other Star

1 Who Do You Think You Are?
2 Feeling Groovy (A.K.A. West Side)
3 Miracle
4 No Other Star
5 Running Away
6 Bedtime
7 It Must Be Love
8 Like We're Human
9 Truly
10 Can't Get My Eyes Off You
11 Why
12 High Time
13 Love The One You're With
14 Stay With Me Till Dawn

Mishka And The Urban Groove - Legalize Love (1998)

Here is another little known Canadian artist for your listening pleasure. And another artist whom I know virtually nothing about. I can tell you that lead singer, Mishka Meunier, is French Canadian and apparently still lives in Quebec. And the Urban Groove consisted of fellow Canadian musicians Andy Stewart, Dan Godro, Eric Brass, and Harry B.. Their sound was very diverse, with some tracks having a strong reggae vibe - like their only single, a remake of James Brown's "Try Me" - while some veer into folk, and others are very funky soul. Altogether it is a great earthy sound, with powerful, soulful vocals from Mishka. The whole album is reminiscent of the work of fellow Canadians The Parachute Club, IMO.  The album was released locally and independently and didn't get much attention.  It also didn't help that soon after the album's release, singer Heather Nova's brother released his own folk and reggae-inflected music under the name Mishka, which could only add to the confusion.  Should you dig this album and wish to connect with Mishka, she has her own Facebook page, and perhaps she can fill you in on the full story of Mishka And The Urban Groove, and what she's been up to since.

Video for Try Me

Download Legalize Love

1	Legal Love
2	Love War
3	Your Touch
4	Save The Children
5	Try Me
6	Could It Be
7	Happiness Runaway
8	Feel The Change
9	What If?
10	Too Young

David Morales & The Bad Yard Club - The Program (1993)

After I posted the Arthur Baker & The Backbeat Disciples post, I was reminded of another album from around the same era that was fronted by a legendary producer and featured several vocalists.  It was David Morales & The Bad Yard Club, but I only had it on cassette and hadn't listened to it in decades.  I immediately found the CD online, and here it is! David Morales was born and bred in a rough section of Brooklyn and frequented the New York club scene as a teen, becoming a DJ in the late 70s, most notably at Paradise Garage. His success as a DJ led to his being asked to remix several singles, his first being married synth-pop duo The Zummos' "An Obsession (Over You)" in 1985.  From there he was in demand as a remixer, remixing an endless stream of pop and R&B singles (including remixes for several Isle postees like Pam Russo, Sequel, Adventures Of Stevie V, Nerissa, Nayobe, Alison Limerick, Jamie J. Morgan, Slam Slam, Ana, Blue Pearl, Temper Temper, Ya Kid K, Malaika, Eve Gallagher, India, and, yes, even Arthur Baker & The Backbeat Disciples), with his first remix for a major artist being Whitney Houston's "Love Will Save The Day" in 1988. In 1987 he also began making his own music, joining up with other future remix and production legends Chep Nunez, Robert Clivilles and David Cole to form 2 Puerto Ricans, A Black Man And A Dominican, whose single "Do It Properly" was a huge underground club hit. But it wasn't until 1993 that he decided to use his own name to release original music.  Like Arthur Baker, he chose to add a group name after his name, branding his supporting players, producers and vocalists The Bad Yard Club. He signed to Mercury and released the single "Gimme Luv (Eenie Meenie Miny Mo)" featuring Jamaican ragga vocalist Papa San.  The song became a huge club hit, eventually hitting #1 on the Billboard Dance chart.  The album soon followed, and it maintained the ragga house sound introduced in the first single.  The title track, also featuring Papa San, was released next and hit the #1 spot on the Billboard Dance chart as well.  While the next single, "Sunshine", failed to chart, its follow-up, "In De Ghetto", hit #3 on the Billboard Dance chart in 1994 and is probably the best remembered single from the album.  (It was re-released in 1996 featuring the original vocalist, Delta Bennett, as well as house diva Crystal Waters.) It would be the last single from the album and from David Morales & The Bad Yard Club.  (Of particular interest to pop fans, the track "Forever Luv" is the first song to feature the vocals of future pop superstar (in Europe, at least) Anastacia.) Morales went on to even huger, superstar success in the following years as a producer, remixer and artist.  He was nominated for Grammys three years in a row - as a producer on Mariah Carey's Daydream in 1996, and for Remixer Of The Year in 1997 and 1998, the latter year for which he won.  This was helped by the success that same year of "Needin' U", a mostly instrumental house track that he released as David Morales Presents The Face, which hit #1 on the Billboard Dance chart and #8 on the UK Pop chart. He released it again in 2001, as "Needin' U II", this time featuring vocals by Isle postee Juliet Roberts, and it again hit #1 on the Billboard Dance chart and #11 on the UK Pop chart.  He has since released many successful singles using his own name and as part of various groups, the biggest being "Higher" by Moca in 2000, and also released two albums using just his own name, 2 Worlds Collide in 2004 and Changes in 2012.  He has produced, remixed and released a lot less since then, as he dedicates most of his time touring the world as a highly sought after DJ, thus returning to his first love.

Video for Gimme Luv (Eenie Meenie Miny Mo)

Download The Program

1	The Program (Reprise)
2	The Program (Featuring Papa San)
3	Sunshine (Featuring Stanryck)
4	In De Ghetto (Featuring Delta)
5	Games (Featuring Ce Ce Rogers)
6	Jazzy Mo
7	Gimme Luv (Eenie Meenie Miny Mo) (Featuring Papa San)
8	Beautiful Thing (Featuring Stanryck)
9	Forever Luv (Featuring Anastacia)
10	Work That Body (Featuring Natural E)
11	Gimme Luv (Eenie Meenie Miny Mo) (The Jackie 60 LP Experience) (Featuring Papa San)

The Coconuts - Don't Take My Coconuts (1983) & Killer Bees (1991)

So it only makes sense to do a post on the two albums released by the Coconuts, after last week's Boomerang post.  And thanks to Isle visitor Vance, I can!  He had and kindly shared the very rare second album Killer Bees, and for that I'm eternally grateful! :) There isn't really much to add in terms of info on the group, as I pretty much covered their history in the Boomerang post.  The original Coconuts from Kid Creole & The Coconuts were Adriana Kaegi, Cheryl Poirier and Taryn Hagey. (Note: While Kid Creole's entire band was also supposed to be considered part of 'The Coconuts', the ladies themselves were most commonly believed to be the sole owners of the moniker.)  With the group's success, the ladies were encouraged by Kid Creole aka August Darnell to record an album of their own, and they were quickly signed by EMI.  Darnell took over writing and producing duties, and included one of his previous singles, "Don't Take My Coconuts", on the album to help boost it, even though the ladies don't appear on the track.  As a result, the album wasn't much of a departure from Kid Creole & The Coconuts music other than that the ladies' vocals were featured more prominently.  Their first single was "Did You Have To Love Me Like You Did", and it managed to reach #60 in the UK charts.  The two follow-up singles, "Ticket To The Tropics" and "If I Only Had A Brain" (which was a take on the Scarecrow's song from The Wizard Of Oz), failed to chart and the ladies returned to back-up duties for Kid Creole.  Then, when the ladies wanted to pursue an independent career as Boomerang in 1985, Taryn Hagey decided not to be a part of it and left Kid Creole And The Coconuts as well.  After Boomerang failed to make any impact, Adriana and Cheryl returned to Kid Creole & The Coconuts, and Taryn was replaced by Swede Janique Svedberg.  The three ladies continued with the group until 1991, when their second Coconuts album was released - but on Darnell's indie Creole label, and only in Japan.  The album was executive produced by Darnell, but the sound was less tropical and much poppier (if still quite eclectic).  By then Kid Creole & The Coconuts' popularity was fading, however, and Killer Bees went unnoticed. Soon after, Adriana and Janique left Kid Creole & The Coconuts for good, and Cheryl didn't last too much longer.  Darnell enlisted other ladies to take their place and they still record and tour as Kid Creole & The Coconuts.  While Adriana's time with the group was mostly positive and resulted in a varied entertainment career, including the making of a documentary on her time with the group, Janique ended up with a severe drug addiction.  After overcoming it, she studied extensively about addiction and has become a very successful interventionist and life coach.  She has also starred in the reality show Swedish Housewives Of New York, a Swedish version of the popular Bravo Real Housewives franchise.

Video for Did You Have To Love Me Like You Did

Performance of Did You Have To Love Me Like You Did

Download Don't Take My Coconuts

1		Don't Take My Coconuts
2		Naughty Boy
3		Maladie D'Amour
4		Ticket To The Tropics
5		Indiscreet
6		Kriminal-Tango
7		Did You Have ToLove Me Like You Did
8		If I Only Had A Brain
9		The Glory That Was Eden

 Download Killer Bees

1		Double On Back
2		My Hero
3		How Long Can You Live Alone?
4		Happiness
5		Standing Tall
6		Killer Bees
7		Dacquiri, Dacquira
8		The Men I Meet!
9		You're Great When You're Straight
10		Fashion

Hall Of Fame - Roxy Roller (1994)

From what little I can piece together, Hall Of Fame began in the Philippines as a cover band fronted by a trio of teenage sisters: Luisa, Tota and Ajie Mendez. After they moved to the west coast of Canada with their parents , Luisa and Tota somehow managed to hook up with vocalist/keyboardist Peter James, guitarist Herb Classens and drummer Steve Marshall. Together with producer James Bowers, the group concocted a pop album that covered all of the genres that were hot at the moment. The title track was a remake of the only hit by Canadian glam-rock band Sweeney Todd (whom Bryan Adams would later become the lead singer of and thus begin his lengthy career). That song was the sole reason that I picked up this album, as it was a childhood favourite. Their version isn't too different than the original, except with a dancier backbeat and a female vocal. They managed to release one single from the album, "Irie", which is a reggae-pop song, not unlike something by Ace Of Base or Aswad. The vocals on the album are shared between the ladies and Peter James. The rest of the independently released album includes a few more reggae-pop tracks, a few ballads, and three great euro-house tracks: "In Love With You", "Feel The Magic" and "You Turn Me On". Those three songs alone make this album worth the price, which was a bit more then I'd planned on paying, but I only had this album on cassette and figured you all would love it, so I got it off eBay and it arrived yesterday, and voila! ;) Anyway, they had absolutely no profile in Canada, never mind the rest of the world, and they came and went with barely a whimper. But fear not, as I discovered that Luisa is now one of Canada's premiere Tina Turner impersonators! In addition to Tina, she impersonates the likes of Donna Summer, Amy Winehouse and Lady GaGa! And she also fronts the Big Night Out Band, a cover band whose members also support her tribute acts and includes her sister Tota and Hall Of Fame's drummer Steve Marshall, whom apparently she is now married to. Go to her websites HERE and HERE for more!

Download Roxy Roller

1		Roxy Roller
2		Irie
3		Grab Dat Butt
4		What Could Be Better
5		It Must Be Love
6		Takin' Our Time
7		In Love With You
8		Down By The River
9		Feel The Magic
10		You Turn Me On
11		Falling In Love Again

Midi, Maxi & Efti - Midi, Maxi & Efti (1992)

Midi, Maxi & Efti were a very curious and very brief pop act from the early 1990s. It consisted of three 16 year old African girls, twin sisters Midi & Maxi Berhanu from Ethiopia and Freweyni "Efti" Teclehaimanot from Eritrea. Separately the twins and Efti moved to Sweden with their parents, and they lived and met in the same Stockholm suburb. Somehow they were discovered by Alexander Bard, then best known as the mastermind behind bizarre pop group Army Of Lovers. He and his partner in crime Anders Wollbeck (they would eventually form the group Vacuum together) decided to write and produce an album for the girls, even though they displayed no vocal talent whatsoever. LOL But with fellow Swede act Dr. Alban having success with his ragga-pop and Ace Of Base, also Swedes, getting ready to release their equally catchy (and soon to be popular) reggae-pop, the climate seemed right for just such an act, and the girls were cute to boot! The single "Bad Bad Boys" was released to limited success in Sweden. But that success was apparently enough to get the attention of Columbia Records in the US, who signed them immediately, as unlikely as that would seem. The track got some attention in North America thanks to it's inclusion on the Beavis & Butthead television show and the soundtrack for the movie Untamed Heart. Another single, "Masenko", was featured on the soundtrack for the Michael J. Fox film For Love Or Money. They released a third single, "Ragga Steady", but it, like their other singles and album, remained a novelty, and the girls soon broke up after a quick tour. All I can find of their whereabouts now is that Midi & Maxi live in England, and Efti is still in Sweden, getting ready to release a solo album! We can only hope!

Video for Bad Bad Boys (Version1)

Video for Bad Bad Boys (Version 2)

Video for Ragga Steady

Download Midi, Maxi & Efti

1		Ragga Steady
2		Poppadink Tribe
3		Masenko
4		Basement Boyfriend
5		I Got Riddim
6		Go Girlie Go
7		Culture Of Youth
8		Bad Bad Boys
9		Jamma On Da Savannah
10		You Can Make It
11		Sisterhood Of Africa
12		Ragga Steady Dub

The Underdog Project - It Doesn't Matter (2001)

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.

Video for Summer Jam

Video for I Can't Handle It

Download It Doesn't Matter

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)

Los Umbrellos - Flamenco Funk (1998)

Here is an act that I actually saw in person during their heyday - not performing, but signing the wall at Toronto's most celebrated record store, Sam The Record Man. Two gargantuan girls in brightly coloured knee-high boots and cowboy hats were kind of hard to miss. I didn't really know who they were, but I grabbed this CD for $1 years later and soon found out. The album was produced by a crew that were primarily known for making euro-house music. That's what I expected from this album. Instead, it sticks pretty closely to what the album title suggests. A man (African Al Agami) rhymes verses in a fake Jamaican accent while two ladies (Danes Mai Britt Grondahl & Grith Höifeldt) sing the choruses in often fake Spanish accents, while the music incorporates pop, latin, funk, ragga, hip hop, R&B and a host of other styles. The mix resulted in their first single, "No Tengo Dinero" (unfortunately not a cover of the Righeira italo disco classic), almost making it into the Billboard Top 40 and becoming a hit worldwide. Alas, a sound so unique and, yes, so cheesy would not leave much hope for a follow-up, and their subsequent singles "Gigolo", "Easy Come Easy Go" and a remake of The Cars' "Drive" (!?) did not fare near as well. But it was fun while it lasted!

Video for No Tengo Dinero

Download Flamenco Funk

1		Sweep
2		Easy Come, Easy Go
3		No Tengo Dinero
4		Flamenco Funk
5		Drive
6		Road To Carlos
7		Running
8		Gigolo
9		Obsession
10		Little Locolito

DaYeene - United Soul Power (1990) & Prime Time (1992) DOUBLE POST!!

DaYeene are Swedish sisters Diane and Jeanette Söderholm, muses of super-producer StoneBridge. He produced this delightful album early in his career, and it is surprisingly their only album so far (at least the only one released in North America), despite the fact that they have worked with him and recorded successful singles for years since. The music is a mix of pop, soul, funk, reggae and house. It's a lot of fun, and made all the better by the sisters' vocals, which are very reminiscent, in my opinion, of pop goddesses Mel & Kim. A few singles were released off of this album - the reggae-lite "Big Bad World" and "Dizzy Morning", the hip-housey "We're On This Case" and a fun interpretation of the Beatles' "Drive My Car". All achieved some success in the Netherlands, but next to none anywhere else. In 1992 they released a second album, Prime Time, in Sweden only. It had a much housier vibe than their first, which indicated the direction StoneBridge was to go with his own music, and is equally as good. They released several singles, including "Alright", Good Thing", "Around The World" and "Your Love", and all achieved local success. In the following years they released many other tracks, again with the assistance of StoneBridge and his cohorts. All are fantastic. They were also featured with Titiyo on the brilliant track "Viva La Vogue" by Army Of Lovers, and on a couple tracks off of StoneBridge's fab album Can't Get Enough. Jeanette also kept busy over the years as a background singer for the likes of Ace Of Base, Robyn and Britney Spears. In 2010 they resurfaced with StoneBridge on the dance hit "The Morning After" and appeared on other tracks on the album of the same name. Perhaps this means that they'll get another chance to impress the world with an album of pop perfection! They have the talent and support, so what's taking so long?

Download United Soul Power

1		Believe
2		Big Bad World
3		I Found You
4		D.D.D. (Dead Drearie Dearie) (Second Version)
5		Dizzy Morning
6		Drive My Car
7		Go To Work
8		Solution
9		The B-Side
10		United Soul Power
11		Karma Is The Sign
12		We're On This Case
13		I'm Coming
14		United Soul Power (Clean Mix)
15		D.D.D. (Dead Drearie Dearie) (Original Version)
16		I Found You (Dance Hall Git Down Edit)

Download Prime Time

1		Prime Time (The K Mix)
2		Alright
3		Good Thing
4		Freedom
5		Your Love
6		Love The Reggae Bad
7		To Be Yourself
8		Around The World
9		Who's Gonna Take You Back
10		Danger Lovin'
11		Love The Reggae Bad (Yellow Cab Mix)
12		D'Yall's Gonna Rock The Place (Moronic Dub Edit)
13		Prime Time (The Original Big Bass Dub)