Today I'm returning to yet another one of those common stories in my album collecting history. It's the classic tale of one day getting a bug up my butt, and needing to have an entire 80's discography from an artist who I knew, but didn't necessarily know beyond the hits. Such is the case with Laura Branigan, an adventure that was quite pricy, and so far hasn't paid off. I initially listened to her debut in 2019, and being a bit disappointed beyond the smash Gloria, I went on to listen to Self Control in 2022. It fared better.
Then I took a long hiatus from her, which if you're putting the pieces together, is where I pick up today, finally getting around to her 1983 Branigan 2. I admittedly didn't have many expectations.
Everything starts off fine with Solitaire, which is the tune I bought the album for. However, from there, it goes into an absolutely horrible rendition of Der Kommisar, and I use "rendition" lightly. Branigan's team has taken the music, changed all the words, and crafted an absolutely ridiculous song out of it. It's awful!
A couple songs later, we come to yet another awful cover of Squeeze Box. Branigan's taken a classic Who track, and put a country twang to it. This not only doesn't work for the track, but feels out of place in the otherwise pop record.
Branigan then tries her hand at the Michael Bolton and Doug James penned, How Am I Supposed To Live Without You. To her credit, she was the first to record it, and it's serviceable. However, in retrospect, Bolton's 1989 version is far superior.
Herein lies my biggest problem with the performer. She doesn't have anything noteworthy in her catalog that isn't someone else's material. She literally wrote nothing, and just served as a mouthpiece, either having music written directly for her, or taking someone else's songs, and producing cover versions. It's kind of lazy.
With that said, there were a couple songs which stood out on the whole thing. I'm Not The Only One was a somewhat funky disco hit. Again, out of place for a pop album, but at least this time, okay. Mama was also a pretty good cut. The final track, Don't Show Your Love was okay, but kind of only in a better than the worst way.
Overall, Laura Branigan is kind of a take it or leave it artist for me, and I use the term artist with hesitance in light of the fact that she doesn't actually do anything other than sing other people's material. Maybe I'm being harsh, overly critical, and just a jerk, but I don't feel like she really earned or deserved her fame.
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THIS WEEK ON THE CHARTS
November 5, 1983 |
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