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A
genre-bender
of the highest order, Laura Branigan
could tackle any song that came her way,
accomplishing it with class and a sense of history. Had she
been born
two
decades earlier, she could have been a Brill Building
superstar (her version of Carole King's "Will You Still Love Me
Tomorrow" is graceful and haunting). But as such, the 80s
gave her room
to
spread her wings and raise her voice.
Branigan
seems
out of place in the world of contemporary popular music, built on the
foundation of (or reaction against) explicitness. Her career was
never
tied to
any specific image or incarnation, instead focusing on the
songs. It's
hard to
imagine, given the destructive influence of Mariah Carey and other
balladivas
of that ilk who have dispatched melody altogether for ostentatiously
arpeggiated melisma, that there were times when pop ballads could
simply be
sung. The obvious demonstration for this is "How Am I
Supposed To Live
Without You," a huge hit from 1983's Branigan 2
album. Written by (and
the
first big break for) Michael Bolton (but even Bob Dylan has written
with
Bolton, so let's not hold it against the late Ms. B.), Branigan's
version is
passionate and nuanced, understanding the value of dynamics over vocal
pyrotechnics (an understanding completely absent from Bolton's
later recording of the song he wrote). A similar contrast is
made
between
Cher's "I Found Someone" (again written by Bolton)
and Branigan's own version,
recorded two years prior.
You will
find,
looking back over her body of work, an eye and ear for successful
collaboration, from future queen of MOR ballads Diane Warren and the
aforementioned Bolton to Afrika Bambaataa and the Soulsonic Force's
producer/mixer/collaborator
John Robie (on the delirious 12" version of "The Lucky One") and
British pop/Hi-NRG architects Stock Aitken Waterman (for "Shattered
Glass" and "Whatever I Do," both off 1987's Touch album).
Impeccable
choices for covers also proliferate in the grooves of her records, from
Alphaville's "Forever Young" (on the now out-of-print Hold Me album,
from 1985) and "How Can I Help You Say Goodbye" to her Latin-disco
freakout on "Turn The Beat Around" and her distinctive take on The
Who's "Squeeze Box."
The
ingenious
aspect of her biggest 80s successes involved taking international hits,
then
commissioning new English lyrics for them. Thus Italy's
hits became "Gloria" and "Self Control," France gave us
"Solitaire," and "Satisfaction" and "Deep In The
Dark" originated as German-language smashes. Because of the
global pop
marketplace, Laura's versions of these songs would often become hits in
their
land of origin again, in part thanks to her respectful and passionate
performance as well as the tight production from Jack White (no, not
that one,
the German one). Of all those previously mentioned, "Deep
in the
Dark" is the oddest, both because it is not as easy to track down as
the
others and because most people know After the Fire's english-language
version
of "Der Kommisar" as well as the also late, also great Falco's
original version.
There are two Laura Branigan
hits compilations in print currently, both of which feature most of the
big
hits ("Gloria," "Self Control," "Spanish Eddie,"
"The Lucky One," "Solitaire," "Ti Amo"). The
Essentials: Laura Branigan gets a minor edge in comparison,
mainly
because it
includes "I Found Someone," "Shattered Glass," and
"Moonlight on Water (Sex on the Beach)." But The Best of Branigan
includes the wrenching "Over You" as well as two covers not available
anywhere else: Maria McKee's "Show Me Heaven" and Donna Summer's
"Dim All The Lights," both of which are worth experiencing.
Sadly, Laura's version of
"Forever Young" remains unavailable.
There are
some
artists that you expect to die young, and there are some whom you
expect will
always be around, making music and performing simply because it's what
they do.
The potential of the 80s is what always resounds for me in the music of
Laura
Branigan, uptempo and gloriously mechanized, but with unease and
uncertainty as
the human element. Her voice rings out through formations
of guitars or
strings
or banks of machines, and no one-line synopsis on a news crawl or
dreadful
cash-in remix of her past glories will change that. I just
wasn't ready
for the
80s to feel so sad just yet.
source:
Jason Shawhan, www.dancemusic.about.com
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