Retro Spins: Toni Basil - Toni Basil

Poor Toni Basil. She, among others, ushered in the 80's with her massive hit, Mickey. The song itself shaped and molded the things to become in the decade, and to look back in retrospect, one would be amiss to say it was anything short of iconic to the era.

Toni released two albums in the 80's. Her first, Word Of Mouth (1981), features the aforementioned track, Mickey, while her second self titled, and today's Retro Spin, didn't fair as well. From there, Basil wold seem to disappear into obscurity. Even when CD's and re-issuing became a hot commodity, her two albums remained only available on cassette and vinyl.

So what happened to her? How did she fade into obscurity seemingly overnight? 

To cut to the chase, she's still remains active in the music industry, and did so throughout the 80's. When she stepped out of the limelight, Basil focused on directing music videos, most notably for Talking Heads. Additionally, she choreographed shows for acts such as, David Bowie, Tina Turner and Bette Midler. While Toni has returned to the stage, her own concerts are relatively small.

After hearing 1983's self titled album, I can't help but think she made the right move in her career. I won't call her a dud, but in terms of her music, it just doesn't stick. Nothing really comes through as top ten material, or even relatively memorable. Then again, if I'm being truthful, Mickey isn't necessarily one of my favorites from the 80's either.

The first track, Over My Head, is probably the only thing which really stood out for me on the album, and even then, it's just okay.

Overall, I do still feel it's a massive shame both of her albums never got individual CD releases. Despite my personal feelings, Mickey was a massive hit and deserves a proper CD release, versus the many compilations it gets thrown on time and time again. If for nothing else, to preserve these two albums as a whole for the future.

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Retro Spins: Toni Basil - Word of Mouth

Toni Basil
Word of Mouth
1982

Remember Toni Basil? She had the hits, Mickey, Mickey and that other one....Mickey. Then disappeared into obscurity. Okay, okay, so she's a one hit wonder. No big deal. There are tons of them. Let's also be honest and fair - There are a lot of really, really and I mean really good one hit wonders songs out there. Mickey may not be the best of them, but its got it going on for itself in other categories. For starters, it's catchy. It's also memorable and an iconic play for the '80's. What more could you ask? Hey, if I could sing one song and retire to financial security I'd do it in a heartbeat.

Word of Mouth (April 1982) is one of only two albums Basil released before calling it quits. It of course featured the hit, Mickey, which debut on the charts in September of '82 and blasted off to the number one spot by December. It dropped to the number two spot where it stayed for two consecutive weeks before dropping off.

Shoppin' A to Z was the second single for Basil and while it did debut at number eighty-three in March of '82 it disappeared the follow week. This of course solidified Basil's status of a one hit wonder as her follow up self titled album failed to yield any commercial hits.

If there is one positive thing I could say of the album Word of Mouth, it's very 80's sounding. It fits in that era of 80's music which sometimes feels confused with itself. Hear me out. There are a lot of 80's tunes from 1980 - 1981 which are clearly trying to go for a new wave sound, but either the technology or true style had yet to be established resulting in the album sounding off.

I probably lost all of you in that explanation, so let's just move on.

Depending on the version of the album you buy will dictate what songs you're going to get. The US version features ten tracks, but omits Hangin' Around. The UK version, which was actually released in May of 1981, only has nine tracks. It also doesn't include the songs Rock On and Shoppin' from A to Z - Which you'll find on the US version.

Personally, I own the UK version because I actually really like the song Hangin' Around. It along with Nobody and Mickey are the only songs from the album which I actually have on my IPOD. Sadly, my full listen for Retro Spins didn't yield any other hits for me. While I've heard the versions of Rock on and Shoppin' A to Z, they're honestly not that good. As such, I'm not sure why they were inclusive of the US release and the album not simply released in the US as it originally was in the UK.

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