Sleep It Off
Encyclopedia
Sleep It Off is the second album from No Wave
pop singer Cristina
.
. The songs were written by Cristina (all lyrics, except for the covers) collaborating with Was and her backing musicians, Barry Reynolds and Ben Brierly (from Marianne Faithful's band), and Doug Frieder (from The Knack
). The music is beat-laden, sophisticated synth-pop, setting Was's detailed production against Cristina's expressive but sometimes less-than-perfect, cynical No Wave vocal style. At times the music is reminiscent of Blondie
, or Madonna
, and it does not forget the decadent disco of Crstina's eponymous debut. Chris Connelly describes a record that is a "grimly hilarious gavotte through the upscale decadence of the] titled apocalypso" with an effect "somewhere between Marianne Faithful and the Flying Lizards [but with] music more enjoyable than either".
The three cover songs on the record span a wide range: the R&B of Van Morrison's "Blue Money", Brecht and Weill's "Ballad of Immoral Earnings" from the Threepenny Opera, and John Conlee's
country hit "She Can't Say that Anymore". (The bonus tracks on the CD release also include covers of Prince
and Was (Not Was)
.)
, who later used a similar idea for Grace Jones's
Slave to the Rhythm
.
The album has been consistently lauded by critics. On its release in 1984, Rolling Stone said that
The Face
placed Sleep It Off in its Top 20 records of 1984. When the album was re-issued on CD in 2004, Pitchfork awarded it a grade of 8.5, remarking that Cristina's music gives
Pitchfork also particularly praises the bonus tracks on the re-release.
Ladytron
included "What's a Girl To Do" on their Softcore Jukebox
.
Unfortunately, the record was a commercial flop and Cristina consequently retired.
Side A
Side B
No Wave
No Wave was a short-lived but influential underground music, film, performance art, video, and contemporary art scene that had its beginnings during the mid-1970s in New York City. The term No Wave is in part satirical word play rejecting the commercial elements of the then-popular New Wave genre...
pop singer Cristina
Cristina (singer)
-Studio albums:* Cristina * Sleep It Off * Doll in the Box - Expanded re-issue of Cristina* Sleep It Off - Expanded re-issue-Singles:* "Disco Clone"...
.
Music
Sleep It Off was produced by Don WasDon Was
Don Was is an American musician, bassist and record producer.-Life and career:Was was born in Detroit, Michigan. He graduated from Oak Park High School in the Detroit suburb of Oak Park, then attended the University of Michigan at Ann Arbor but dropped out after the first year...
. The songs were written by Cristina (all lyrics, except for the covers) collaborating with Was and her backing musicians, Barry Reynolds and Ben Brierly (from Marianne Faithful's band), and Doug Frieder (from The Knack
The Knack
The Knack was an American New Wave rock quartet based in Los Angeles that rose to fame with their first single, "My Sharona", an international number one hit in 1979.-Founding :...
). The music is beat-laden, sophisticated synth-pop, setting Was's detailed production against Cristina's expressive but sometimes less-than-perfect, cynical No Wave vocal style. At times the music is reminiscent of Blondie
Blondie (band)
Blondie is an American rock band, founded by singer Deborah Harry and guitarist Chris Stein. The band was a pioneer in the early American New Wave and punk scenes of the mid-1970s...
, or Madonna
Madonna (entertainer)
Madonna is an American singer-songwriter, actress and entrepreneur. Born in Bay City, Michigan, she moved to New York City in 1977 to pursue a career in modern dance. After performing in the music groups Breakfast Club and Emmy, she released her debut album in 1983...
, and it does not forget the decadent disco of Crstina's eponymous debut. Chris Connelly describes a record that is a "grimly hilarious gavotte through the upscale decadence of the] titled apocalypso" with an effect "somewhere between Marianne Faithful and the Flying Lizards [but with] music more enjoyable than either".
The three cover songs on the record span a wide range: the R&B of Van Morrison's "Blue Money", Brecht and Weill's "Ballad of Immoral Earnings" from the Threepenny Opera, and John Conlee's
John Conlee
John Conlee is an American country music singer. Between 1978 and 2004, Conlee charted a total of thirty-two singles on the Billboard Hot Country Songs charts and recorded eleven studio albums...
country hit "She Can't Say that Anymore". (The bonus tracks on the CD release also include covers of Prince
Prince
Prince is a general term for a ruler, monarch or member of a monarch's or former monarch's family, and is a hereditary title in the nobility of some European states. The feminine equivalent is a princess...
and Was (Not Was)
Was (Not Was)
-Studio albums:-Compilation albums:-Singles:-Contributions:* A Christmas Record - "Christmas Time In The Motor City"* That's The Way I Feel Now: A Tribute to Thelonious Monk - "Ba-Lue-Bolivar-Ba-Lues-Are"...
.)
Sleeve
The sleeve design is by Jean-Paul GoudeJean-Paul Goude
Jean-Paul Goude is a French graphic designer, illustrator, photographer and advertising film director. He created several well-known campaigns for brands such as Perrier, Citroën and Chanel....
, who later used a similar idea for Grace Jones's
Grace Jones
Grace Jones is a Jamaican-American singer, model and actress.Jones secured a record deal with Island Records in 1977, which resulted in a string of dance-club hits. In the late 1970s, she adapted the emerging electronic music style and adopted a severe, androgynous look with square-cut hair and...
Slave to the Rhythm
Slave to the Rhythm
Slave to the Rhythm is the seventh album by Grace Jones. It was produced by Trevor Horn and released in 1985. The album was written by Bruce Woolley, Simon Darlow, Stephen Lipson and Trevor Horn...
.
Themes and Reception
Although featuring shorter, more hook-laden songs than her previous album, Cristina, Sleep It Off is a dark album. Cristina describes it as an album about "coping with sex and money and power plays in the 1980's",- In the sixties people survived on political idealism. In the seventies there was this obsession with 'lifestyle' - women's lib or a new religion, sex and drugs and rock 'n' roll, or a macrobiotic diet. Something was always THE ANSWER. In the eighties people are into power and money and narcissism because they don't know what else to believe in. I don't think the album has a cynical take on this. I guess I just believe that whatever's going on, trying to exist is a pretty trying business. Life knocks you down, all you can do is get back up, brush yourself off, cry a little, laugh a little and keep going.
The album has been consistently lauded by critics. On its release in 1984, Rolling Stone said that
- Sleep It Off is not for the MTV crowd, but so what? 'My life is in a turmoil/My thighs are black and blue/My sheets are stained, so is my brain/What's a girl to do?' Buy this record, I'd advise. Class is in session.
The Face
The Face (magazine)
The Face was a British music, fashion and culture monthly magazine started in May 1980 by Nick Logan.-1980s:Logan had previously created the teen pop magazine Smash Hits, and had been an editor at the New Musical Express in the 1970s before launching The Face in 1980.The magazine was influential in...
placed Sleep It Off in its Top 20 records of 1984. When the album was re-issued on CD in 2004, Pitchfork awarded it a grade of 8.5, remarking that Cristina's music gives
- a glimpse of how complex and fun popular culture could've been if Harvard girl Cristina's intelligent kitsch had lodged itself in the popular conscious instead of the new-age pabulum of a desperately seeking diva with a goddess complex.
Pitchfork also particularly praises the bonus tracks on the re-release.
Ladytron
Ladytron
Ladytron are an English electronic band formed in 1999 in Liverpool, Merseyside. The group consists of Helen Marnie , Mira Aroyo , Daniel Hunt and Reuben Wu .Their sound blends electropop with New Wave and shoegazing elements. Ladytron described their sound as "electronic pop"...
included "What's a Girl To Do" on their Softcore Jukebox
Softcore Jukebox
Softcore Jukebox, released on 7 October 2003, is a compilation put together by the members of Ladytron and showcases many different genres, from rock to hip-hop. It also includes two songs performed by Ladytron - the single remix of "Blue Jeans" renamed "Blue Jeans 2.0" and a cover of Tweet's...
.
Unfortunately, the record was a commercial flop and Cristina consequently retired.
Original Release (1984)
The original album release of Sleep It Off featured ten tracks.Side A
- "Don't Mutilate My Mink" (Written by Cristina Monet-PalaciCristina (singer)-Studio albums:* Cristina * Sleep It Off * Doll in the Box - Expanded re-issue of Cristina* Sleep It Off - Expanded re-issue-Singles:* "Disco Clone"...
, Don WasDon WasDon Was is an American musician, bassist and record producer.-Life and career:Was was born in Detroit, Michigan. He graduated from Oak Park High School in the Detroit suburb of Oak Park, then attended the University of Michigan at Ann Arbor but dropped out after the first year...
) - "Ticket to the Tropics" (Monet-Palaci, Doug Fieger)
- "She Can't Say That AnymoreShe Can't Say That Anymore"She Can't Say That Anymore" is a single by American country music artist John Conlee. Released in 1980, it was the second single from the album Friday Night Blues. The song reached #2 on the Billboard Hot Country Singles & Tracks chart....
" (Sonny ThrockmortonSonny ThrockmortonJames Fron "Sonny" Throckmorton is an American country music singer and songwriter. Known primarily for his songwriting, Throckmorton has had more than 1,000 of his songs recorded by various country singers...
) - "Quicksand Lovers" (Monet-Palaci, Don Was, Bruce NazarianBruce NazarianBruce Nazarian is a funk and rock musician, recording artist and music producer from Detroit, currently residing in the Western USA. He is also an Apple Certified Trainer and Certified Pro on various professional application, including DVD Studio Pro and Logic Pro...
) - "Rage and Fascination"(Monet-Palaci, Ben Brierly, Joe Mavety)
Side B
- "Ballad of Immoral EarningsThe Threepenny OperaThe Threepenny Opera is a musical by German dramatist Bertolt Brecht and composer Kurt Weill, in collaboration with translator Elisabeth Hauptmann and set designer Caspar Neher. It was adapted from an 18th-century English ballad opera, John Gay's The Beggar's Opera, and offers a Marxist critique...
" ("Zuhälter Ballade", also translated as "Tango Ballad" or "Pimp's Ballad"; Bertolt BrechtBertolt BrechtBertolt Brecht was a German poet, playwright, and theatre director.An influential theatre practitioner of the 20th century, Brecht made equally significant contributions to dramaturgy and theatrical production, the latter particularly through the seismic impact of the tours undertaken by the...
, Kurt WeillKurt WeillKurt Julian Weill was a German-Jewish composer, active from the 1920s, and in his later years in the United States. He was a leading composer for the stage who was best known for his fruitful collaborations with Bertolt Brecht...
) - "What's a Girl To Do" (Monet-Palaci, Don Was, Barry Reynolds)
- "The Lie of Love" (Monet-Palaci, Reynolds)
- "Blue MoneyBlue Money"Blue Money" is a song written by Northern Irish singer-songwriter Van Morrison. It was the second of two Top Forty hits from his 1970 album, His Band and the Street Choir , reaching #23 on the U.S. charts. The U.S. single featured "Sweet Thing", from the album Astral Weeks, as the B-side. It was...
" (Van MorrisonVan MorrisonVan Morrison, OBE is a Northern Irish singer-songwriter and musician. His live performances at their best are regarded as transcendental and inspired; while some of his recordings, such as the studio albums Astral Weeks and Moondance, and the live album It's Too Late to Stop Now, are widely...
) - "He Dines Out on Death" (Monet-Palaci, Brierly)
- All lyrics by Cristina except A3 and B1.
- Produced by Don Was.
CD Release (2004)
The CD release of Sleep It Off reordered the original ten tracks and added six bonus tracks.- "What's a Girl to Do"
- "Ticket to the Tropics"
- "The Lie of Love"
- "Quicksand Lovers"
- "Rage & Fascination"
- "Ballad of Immoral Earnings"
- "She Can't Say that Anymore"
- "Blue Money"
- "Don't Mutilate My Mink"
- "He Dines Out on Death"
- "SmileBorn to Laugh at TornadoesBorn To Laugh At Tornadoes is a 1983 album by the progressive pop band Was . Rolling Stone declared it "conceptually, the best album of the year" shortly after its release...
" (Don Was, David WasDavid WasDavid Was is, with his stage-brother Don Was, the founder of the 1980s pop group, Was .Was was born in Detroit, Michigan...
) (bonus track) - "Deb Behind Bars" (Monet-Palaci, Brierly) (bonus)
- "Things Fall Apart" (Monet-Palaci, Don Was, David Was) (bonus)
- "When U Were MineWhen You Were Mine"When You Were Mine" is a song written and released by Prince on his 1980 album, Dirty Mind. Though not released as a single, the song received a promotional 12" release...
" (PrincePrince (musician)Prince Rogers Nelson , often known simply as Prince, is an American singer, songwriter, musician, and actor. Prince has produced ten platinum albums and thirty Top 40 singles during his career. Prince founded his own recording studio and label; writing, self-producing and playing most, or all, of...
) (bonus) - "Deb Behind Bars [alternate version]" (Monet-Palaci, Brierly) (bonus)
- "You Rented a Space" (Monet-Palaci, Robert PalmerRobert PalmerRobert Palmer may refer to:*Robert Palmer , English singer-songwriter; known for "Bad Case of Loving You ", "Addicted to Love" and "Simply Irresistible"...
) (bonus)
- "'Things Fall Apart' is dedicated to the late Lizzy Mercier DesclouxLizzy Mercier DesclouxLizzy Mercier Descloux was a French singer and musician, a pioneer in the worldbeat genre, as well as a writer and painter....
, ma chère copine in adversity ... In loving memory of her talent, her courage, and her kindness. Cristina" (Dedication in 2004 CD notes; Descloux had died that year.) - Tracks 11-12 and 15 are from the Sleep It Off album sessions.
- Track 13 was originally released 1981 with Material'sMaterial (band)For the rock band of the same name, see The MaterialMaterial is a musical group formed in 1979 and led by bass guitarist Bill Laswell.-1978-82: The band:...
(with Nona HendryxNona HendryxNona Hendryx is an American vocalist, producer, songwriter, musician, author, and actress.Hendryx is known for her work as a solo artist as well as for being one-third of the trio Labelle, who had a hit with "Lady Marmalade." Her music has ranged from soul, funk, dance, and R&B to hard rock, art...
) song "It's a Holiday" on a split 12" taken from the ZE album A Christmas RecordA Christmas Record-Revised 1982 "Special Edition" LP:For the revised 1982 version of the album, released as Island ILPS 7022, the tracks by Alan Vega and Charlélie Couture were replaced by tracks by The Three Courgettes – a British band featuring singer Barb Jungr, who recorded the song in London – and...
. - Tracks 14, 16: are from demo sessions with Robert Palmer at the Compass Point Studios.
- Production by Don Was, except tracks 14 and 16: produced by Robert Palmer.