Known for her blue-eyed soul vocals, she was the first female singer from the UK to sign with Motown’s Tamla Records.
Elton John's most interesting discovery since he formed Rocket Records is Kiki Dee, a singer with the potential to do for British pop-rock what Olivia Newton-John has done for pop-country. With her second album, she has earned commercial success, but artistic success remains a matter of potential.
Kiki's principal strength is not her voice but her enthusiasm. She is so spirited that she sometimes reminds one of a post-adolescent Suzi Quatro. Like Suzi Q., whenever talent fails, Dee trusts that energy to get her through. Unlike Quatro, however, Kiki has some vocal talent to go with her lack of inhibition.
Kiki is really only a rocker by inclination. A certain pushiness characterizes everything she attempts. But most of the material on this album is closer, both in arrangement and composition, to the neo-MOR love songs of Newton-John, Anne Murray and even Helen Reddy. She is occasionally masterful at this sort of thing, as the success of the title cut (which is in the Top Ten as I write) proves. When she attempts something more adventurous -- such as her original "Water" and "Little Frozen One" -- she manages to sound vaguely like Joni Mitchell, but without Mitchell's incisive vision.
Rather than intelligent and sensitive lyrics as "Little frozen one, I know you could be fine/ But nobody told you you still got so much time" seem sententious and pretentious. In this, she is more reminiscent of Bernie Taupin, Elton's lyricist, than Mitchell.
She fares better with the songs of Bias Boshell, the band's keyboard player. Boshell wrote five of the album's nine tunes, but he tends to be long-winded. (Even "I've Got the Music in Me" clocks in at five minutes here.) Still, if his songs are in some sense overblown, they are lyrically and melodically simple and straightforward, which is a great advantage to Dee, who is at her best when she is crudest.
The group, which is fine onstage (perhaps having benefited from a long tour with Elton) is little more than competent here. On "I've Got the Music," however, they shine. Guitarist Jo Partridge, in particular, is shown to good effect.
If Kiki Dee were capable of restricting her attempts to reasonable lengths and topics without straying into the sentiment and bathos which prevail too often on this album, she would make an extraordinarily pleasant addition popular singing. Her inclination, I think, is to cut loose and rock. But it is unfortunate that that instinct is expressed so infrequently on I've Got the Music in Me.
This is Kiki Dee's second album on the Rocket Label and it fantastic. Kiki Dee can definitely rock and her voice is superb! The title track, "I've Got the Music in Me" was deservedly a hit and she also belts it out on the amazing songs, "You Need Help" and "Step By Step" which are also great rock songs.
Kiki Dee shows her diversity with some atmospheric songs such as "Water" which is beautifully haunting.
This excellent reissue includes singles which were released during the same time period and they fit perfectly on this album. "Simple Melody" is a gorgeous song and "How Glad I Am" is another excellent rock song. Kiki Dee never has received enough credit for her albums and it is marvelous that EMI has seen fit to remaster and reissue the majority of her work.
This is a classic 70s album that has aged extremely well. I cannot recommend it highly enough. Kiki Dee is a gifted artist and this is one of her superb albums.
Side A
A1. I’ve Got The Music In Me - 5:00
A2. Someone To Me - 3:49
A3. Step By Step - 4:29
A4. Water - 4:07
A5. Out Of My Head - 4:18
Side B
B1. Do It Right - 6:08
B2. Little Frozen One - 4:36
B3. Heart And Soul - 4:34
B4. You Need Help - 5:49
Credits
- Acoustic Guitar, Mellotron, Harmonium – Bias Boshell (tracks: B1)
- Backing Vocals – Barry St. John (tracks: B3, B4), Billy Lawrie (tracks: B4), Cissy Houston (tracks: A1), Clive Franks (tracks: A5), Gary Osborne (tracks: B4), Irene Chanter (tracks: B3, B4), Joshie Armstead (tracks: A1), Jo Partridge (tracks: A5), Kay Garner (tracks: B3, B4), Maretha Stewart (tracks: A1), Paul Vigrass (tracks: B4), Stuart Epps (tracks: A5)
- Bass Guitar – Phil Curtis
- Conductor – Del Newman (tracks: B2), John Barham (tracks: A5, B1, B3), Richard Hewson (tracks: A1)
- Congas – Barry Morgan (tracks: A3)
- Drums – Peter Clarke (tracks: A1), Roger Pope (tracks: A2, A3, A5 to B4)
- Engineer – Phil Dunne
- Glockenspiel – Jo Partridge (tracks: A5)
- Guitar – Jo Partridge
- Harpsichord – Bias Boshell (tracks: A3)
- Organ – Bias Boshell (tracks: A4, A5), Mike Deacon (tracks: A1)
- Percussion – Roger Pope (tracks: A1)
- Piano – Bias Boshell
- Producer – Gus Dudgeon
- Producer [Assistant] – Clive Franks
- Steel Guitar – B. F. Cole (tracks: B2)
- Synthesizer – Bias Boshell (tracks: A4, B3, B4)
- Tambourine – Gus Dudgeon (tracks: B3), Jeff Titmus (tracks: A3), Roger Pope (tracks: A5, B1)
- Vocals – Kiki Dee
Notes
Release: 1974
Format: LP
Genre: Pop
Label: The Rocket Record Company
Catalog# Roll 4
Vinyl: Very Good
Cover: Very Good
Prijs: €10,00
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