An all-female vocal selection for this Sunday, featuring several highlights from this year, sprinkled with choice songs from the depths of my collection.
The selection starts with the song that triggered the idea for this post, dusted off when I was sorting through some CD singles in the attic. Sweetest Child was a one-off single that reached #45 in the UK in August 1992. The song was a collaboration between Youth (DJ, producer & Killing Joke) and Maria McKee (Lone Justice and Top Gun movie chanteuse). The Official Chart Company lists the song as a solo McKee but in fact the sleeve states "featuring Maria McKee" and doesn't actually name the act as Sweetest Child. I've gone with the latter eponymous title for simplicity's sake. I've gone for the effects-adorned accapella here, but I'll showcase one of the other mixes one day, featuring some guitar shredding from the much-missed Robert 'Throb' Young of Primal Scream.
There are a clutch of superlative remixes: Lee 'Scratch' Perry's final creative work for Dot Allison is a winner; Märtini Brös lend an indie edge to fellow Germans Toktok vs. Soffy O.; Kate Simko's beats and strings washes Bishi Bhattacharya's sweet vocals; Scotland is the last stop on the musical tour, White Label remixing a highlight from Jan Burnett's collaborative project, The Grand Gestures, featuring the wonderful voice of Emma Pollock, formerly of The Delgados.
A couple of cover versions are featured: Hayley Richman hails from Montreal, Canada and delivers a striking cover of Talk Talk's Life's What You Make It. Catherine Anne Davies, a Welsh artist who records as The Anchoress, similarly has a bold attempt at The Cure's Friday I'm In Love, and I love it.
The selection is mostly downtempo, but includes a few more upbeat numbers. Katy J Pearson hails from my birthplace Bristol, is on the Heavenly label and drops her second album (three, if you count her lockdown mini-album of field recordings) in July. I've pre-ordered on the strength of the three singles released so far, including today's selection Alligator.
Jez from A History Of Dubious Taste recommended Ibibio Sound Machine's latest album, Electricity, and he's right, it's an absolute corker. Eno Williams is a compelling voice and frontperson and with Hot Chip on production duties, it's a winner from start to finish.
I've enthused previously about Yuksek's album, Nosso Ritmo, and this is a standout track featuring Queen Rose. Parental warning: you can probably decipher the song title/acronym G.F.Y. and the F-bomb is dropped liberally throughout.
I had to include a few of my other favourite female artists. Martina Topley-Bird returned last year with a fantastic album, Forever I Wait; for this selection, I've dipped back into her back catalogue for a more obscure B-side from 2003, but no less beautiful.
Lisa Germano first came to my attention via the Inconsiderate Bitch EP on 4AD and Puppet was a standout song. The version featured here is from the earlier US album before Ivo & John Fryer signed up Germano and remixed several songs for the release of Happiness in the UK.
Last, but by no means least, is Billie Ray Martin with a song from the sublime 4 Ambient Tales EP, produced by The Grid. It was one of her first releases after the demise of Electribe 101 and what's proved to be a substantive and fascinating solo career.
Today's manipulated cover image is a photo of "American left-wing political essayist, journalist, activist, feminist, and pop music critic" Ellen Willis, which I've been wanting to use for a while and seemed spot on as a accompaniment for this selection.
1) Accapella Sweetest Child (Remix By Youth): Sweetest Child ft. Maria McKee (1992)
2) Love Died In Our Arms (Lee 'Scratch' Perry Remix): Dot Allison (2022)
3) Modern Woman: Erin Rae (2021)
4) Missy Queen's Gonna Die (Märtini Brös) (Remix By Clemens Kahlcke & Michael Pagliosa): Toktok vs. Soffy O. (2002)
5) Alligator: Katy J Pearson (2022)
6) G.F.Y. (Album Version): Yuksek ft. Queen Rose (2019)
7) 17 18 19: Ibibio Sound Machine (2022)
8) Reflektions (Reworking III) (Remix By Kate Simko): Bishi (2022)
9) Life's What You Make It (Cover of Talk Talk): Hayley Richman (2015)
10) Skyscraper: Martina Topley-Bird (2003)
11) Puppet (Original US Album Version): Lisa Germano (1993)
12) This Road: Denise Sherwood (2022)
13) Friday I'm In Love (Cover of The Cure): The Anchoress (2022)
14) Hearts (Single Version By The Grid aka Dave Ball & Richard Norris): Billie Ray Martin (1993)
15) A Certain Compulsion (Remixed By White Label aka Steve Aungle, Anth Brown & Tom Doyle): The Grand Gestures ft. Emma Pollock (2016)
1992: Sweetest Child EP: 1
1993: 4 Ambient Tales EP: 14
1993: Happiness (USA): 11
2002: Missy Queen's Gonna Die EP: 4
2003: Anything EP: 10
2015: Life's What You Make It EP: 9
2016: The Grand Gestures Remixed: 15
2019: Nosso Ritmo: 6
2021: Lighten Up: 3
2022: Electricity: 7
2022: Friday I'm In Love EP: 13
2022: Pay It All Back Vol. 8: 12
2022: Reflektions EP: 8
2022: Sound Of The Morning: 5
2022: The Entangled Remix EP: 2
In researching this post, I ended up revisiting (or in some cases, discovering) the official videos for several songs on YouTube. They're far too good to keep to myself so, following the track list sequencing, here are Sweetest Child ft. Maria McKee, Erin Rae, Toktok vs. Soffy O., Katy J Pearson, Yuksek ft. Queen Rose, Bishi, Hayley Richman and a very unsettling promo for Lisa Germano's Puppet.
If you only have time to watch a couple, then the videos for Erin Rae and Katy J Pearson are recommended.