Saturday, February 25, 2023

CD Odyssey Disc 1622: Josie Cotton

I’m sick, and it sucks. Not COVID at least, but also not fun. This delayed my review by several hours this morning, which I spent lying on the couch watching stand up comedy. Comfort view.

I’m now feeling sufficiently human to tackle the next review. After this I might even tackle a shower and put on pants, but let’s not get ahead of ourselves.

Disc 1622 is…Invasion of the B Girls

Artist: Josie Cotton

Year of Release: 2007

What’s up with the Cover?  It’s a B movie poster! Scenes from various B movies populate the background. We’ve got aliens, go-go dancers, muscle cars and even Godzilla himself. In the foreground we have Nurse Cotton, and she’s ready to give you your medicine.

How I Came To Know It: This was me digging through Josie Cotton’s back catalogue after I’d discovered her through the Valley Girl soundtrack. This record is much later. I could only find it digitally on Bandcamp but that’s OK, I’ve joined the digital world.

How It Stacks Up: I have three Josie Cotton albums and originally I had preserved second spot for “Invasion of the B Girls”. However, on balance I think “From the Hip” is slightly better, so I’ll put “Invasion” in last. Still good, mind you.

  1. Convertible Music: 3 stars (reviewed at Disc 1612)
  2. From The Hip: 3 stars (reviewed at Disc 1546)
  3. Invasion of the B Girls: 3 stars (reviewed right here)

Rating: 3 stars

Josie Cotton has spent most of her unheralded career doing whatever the fuck she wants. Nowhere is this clearer than on her 2007 album “Invasion of the B Girls” where she covers ten songs from the golden age of B movies.

I enjoyed a full week of listening to this album, which is a kitschy celebratory retrospective of old sixties and seventies movies that essentially invented the concept of “so bad its good”. We’ve got John Waters, Russ Meyer and a host of lesser lesser-lights who have their films theme songs “Cottonized”.

Cottonizing isn’t a major shift of approach for these songs. Josie is already naturally cinematic in the way she sings (she would have done a fine Bond film theme if she’d been given the chance). She adds an element of New Wave to the experience, but her love of sixties go-go tunes is already infused in most of these tunes. She does dress up the songs with a bit more oomph than the originals, however, and the New Wave element adds a pop to the beat in a way most of the originals lacked.

A lot of these original tunes - like the movies they’re featured in - have terrible production. I checked out the originals before writing this review and for the most part Cotton improves them, without losing any of the camp that makes them so much fun.

The album opens with “Get Off the Road” the theme song to the 1968 movie “She Devils on Wheels”. This movie looks atrocious, but holy crap is it a great song. Motorcycle growl effects in the background, and a driving guitar that makes you imagine leaning your bike into a corner a little too fast.

Female Trouble” goes instead with a big horn section, and a lascivious sway that does the original justice, but with much better vocals.

It is not all fun. While “Valley of the Dolls” may be a B-movie classic, the theme song is not. The original version by the Sandpipers is a saccharine crap-fest and Cotton’s version is equally bad. Cotton’s adds some plot voiceover which does not help.

Overall I enjoyed discovering these songs separate from the films they’re attached to, it made me want to watch the movies as well (I settled for the trailers this time around, but I’ll be keeping my eye out).

Even though this record is only 35 minutes long, it is still a lot of cheese in one sitting and you have to be in the mood for that. Cotton infuses what import she can, but there isn’t a lot of gravitas in these tunes. They are fun compositions written for carefree films that did not take themselves too seriously. Approach the album from this perspective and you will have a fine time.

Best tracks: Get Off the Road, Female Trouble, Faster Pussycat, Goodbye Godzilla

No comments: