CD Odyssey Disc 1719: Josie Cotton

I gave this next record a full week’s worth of listening, which is much more exposure than a record often achieves on the CD Odyssey. Part of this was how busy I was, but there was also an element of just wanting to dive a little deeper. This is always a good sign.

Disc 1719 is…Day of the Gun

Artist: Josie Cotton

Year of Release: 2023

What’s up with the Cover?  Josie in splashes of vibrant colour and a funky hat festooned with feathers. This is so delightf...wait a minute! What the fuck is that blue thing on her lap?

A creepy plastic blue baby has invaded this whimsical scene. The shadow they cast looks perfectly organic, hiding the baby’s true nature. Maybe that’s the idea here, but for me the shadow and the reality are equally creepy.

How I Came To Know It: This was me digging through Josie Cotton’s back catalogue on Bandcamp. I don’t buy everything Cotton releases but I like her well enough to give everything a chance.

How It Stacks Up: I’ve bought two more Josie Cotton albums over the past year and now have five total. Of those five, “Day of the Gun” comes in at #2 and is in a statistical tie for #1 with “Convertible Music”. Previous expressions of love for “From the Hip” are still true, but I must drop that record down to #3.

Rating: 3 stars but almost 4

Last time I reviewed a Josie Cotton album I ended up giving it a whole week’s worth of listening and on “Day of the Gun” this happened again. Despite the lighthearted beat of her music, and the youthful enthusiasm of her vocals Cotton’s stuff demands a deeper dive.

Even as she edges toward 70 years old Cotton has lost none of her talent. If anything, she is more creative than she’s ever been. Early records like “Convertible Music” and “From the Hip” are beautiful, but they are largely about the obvious rock and roll topics of restless love. Cotton has let her interests broaden across a variety of topics. You can tell that underneath the pop sensibilities of her music she is well-read, intellectually curious and just generally smart as hell.

On “Day of the Gun” she explores multiple literary and cinematic topics. At times I could pick up the references, and at others she was either making it up herself, or just out-referencing me on the song’s original inspiration.

On “Overturning” Cotton turns her mind to culture in decline, while at the same time celebrating western literary and mythological traditions. In slightly over three minutes she pays homage to Yeats’ “the Second Coming”, Shelley’s “Ozymandias”, the legend of Theseus and the minotaur, before rounding it off with reference to the music of the spheres. If you don’t know even some of those references, go look them up. As Cotton wistfully notes, “there was beauty/there was madness”. There still is, Josie.

She also turns her mind to cinema, with “Painting in Blood” an homage to the Giallo horror films of the seventies. Mangling, blood, murder by gloved assailants. You name the Giallo theme, she’s got it in this murderous little love letter.

“The Fathomless Tale of Silky and Sam” is indeed fathomless. Could be from a book, could be from a movie, or could just be from Cotton’s exceptional imagination, it tells of an interdimensional spider creature bonding with a person in a parasitic (or symbiotic) way. I think a bit of both. It’s confusing, but in a delightful way.

Stylistically, the album is a mix of New Wave and Rockabilly (the latter being given much love in “The Ballad of Elvis Presley”). Cotton was never a powerhouse vocalist, but she’s lost nothing in her delivery, and she writes songs that suit her style and range such that you never notice.

As a fellow lover of multiple genre fictions (spies, horror, science fiction) it is great to hear a pop artist also embrace these themes, and to do it so well. Cotton is a thoughtful songwriter who won’t limit herself to yet another ballad of unrequited love. This later career fearlessness is never better than on “Day of the Gun”, which is her best work in years and which vies for her best work ever. I’d encourage her to never stop doing what she does, but it is clear she doesn’t need my advice on this front.

Best tracks: Day of the Gun, Overturning, The Ballad of Elvis Presley, Painting in Blood, Cold War Spy

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

CD Odyssey Disc 1612: Josie Cotton

I am still doggedly working on my “Best of 2022” Top 10 (I am down to a shortlist of 19). However, while I buy a lot of new music every year, I also buy a fair bit of “new to me” music. Those albums are not counted as they were released in prior years, but I don’t love discovering them any less. This next review is an example of that, having “discovered” this artist 40 years late.

Disc 1612 is…Convertible Music

Artist: Josie Cotton

Year of Release: 1982

What’s up with the Cover?  This cover is the nexus of classy lady and classic car. With apologies to Billy Ocean, get out of my dreams and er…I’ll get into your car. My car is faster than this one, but this one has the advantage of Josie Cotton in a minidress, so I will happily forego the horsepower.

How I Came To Know It: I was looking for the Valley Girl soundtrack as a gift for Sheila (for that story, see Disc 1558). It was hard to get and so I started looking for the artists from the soundtrack, thinking maybe I’d recreate it myself as a grand romantic gesture of some sort. Like Lloyd Dobler in Say Anything, for people who don’t own a ghetto blaster, or “Beautiful Maria of My Soul” in the Mambo Kings, but for people who can’t write their own music.

Anyway, I digress. The important thing is that I stumbled on Josie Cotton’s Bandcamp site, downloaded two digital albums, and bought a third on CD hard copy. That last one is “Convertible Music.”

How It Stacks Up: I have three Josie Cotton albums and competition is close, but I’ll put “Convertible Music” in at #1.

“Convertible Music” sits at the intersection of fifties rockabilly and New Wave, top down, revving its engine and daring you to have some summer fun. The vehicle is a bit dated and of its time, but just like the car on the cover, that is part of its charm.

On later records, Cotton shows a propensity for trying on different musical styles, and even her sophomore record, “From the Hip” has more influences and nuance. On “Convertible Music” you get an artist clearly in love with sixties pop, refreshed with modern eighties energy. The best example of this is the opener. “He Could Be The One” was also featured on the Valley Girl Soundtrack. It is infectious and hearkens to a simpler time, when people danced in their socks and boys and girls shot demure looks from the bleachers at one another.

While the influences are clear, so is Cotton’s enthusiasm. Her vocals won’t make your spine tingle or raise any neck hair, but she has a natural knack for phrasing and can sit down in the front of the beat’s pocket in a way that energizes the songs.

It is worth mentioning that this record has some Grade A handclap action. Everyone knows a song is always improved with some well-placed handclaps, and on “Convertible Music” we get handclaps at the height of their power in multiple songs. I am a sucker for the single clap, then the triple clap-clap-clap approach, but any handclaps will do.

I prefer Cotton as she experiments on later albums, but there is something special about “Convertible Music” that draws you in. The innocence of a bygone era, with lyrics that hint that that era was never innocent after all. She reminded me favourably of the Shangri-Las, but less biker and leather and more hot rod and poodle skirt. In the end the sunny vibe of this record fully won me over.

The album has a distant sound that was frustrating. This could be bad eighties production, or just the inevitable loss of fidelity taking tunes recorded for analog and putting them on digital. Also, don’t expect any grand philosophical explorations, as the emotional content of the songs subsist on simple topics like, “I’m in love”, “I’m jealous” and “Let’s party!” However, there is a time and a place for this kind of music as well, particularly when it is done with honest intentions and a hint of edge.

Overall, I had fun listening to this record, and it ultimately led me into even more Josie Cotton records. I’m not quite swooning with fanboy praise, but I’m happy I got in the car.

Best tracks: He Could Be The One, Rockin’ Love, Johnny Are you Queer, Another Girl, Bye Bye Baby

CD Odyssey Disc 1558: Valley Girl Soundtrack

Tonight there is a lunar eclipse but given the current cloud cover there may no viewing it. While we wait to find out let’s have another album review, shall we?

Disc 1558 is…. Valley Girl Soundtrack

Artist: Various Artists

Year of Release: 1983 (although technically this is a 1994 compilation)

What’s up with the Cover? That eighties thing where you wore short frilly socks and high heel pumps. I think this look has aged well and is due for a comeback!

How I Came To Know It: My wife Sheila introduced me to the movie last year. It is a fun film, but Sheila also loves all the New Wave style music featured. Unfortunately, that soundtrack is very hard to get. There were copyright issues back in 1983 which prevented it ever being released, and while there are a few illegal copies of the original floating around, forget about finding one.

Enter Rhino records, who in 1994 secured the rights to most of those songs and released this 15 track edition. Even this record is very hard to find, but I was determined and when I finally saw a copy I bought it as an anniversary present. It cost me $75 US but I regret nothing! I did it for love!

How It Stacks Up: I have a LOT of soundtracks. 37 in total. Valley Girl holds up well in that crowded field. I’m going to rank it at #13, just behind “Xanadu” and just ahead of “Into the Wild”

Ratings: While soundtracks are technically compilations, I rate them anyway. Valley Girl gets three stars.

Soundtracks are best when the music has a unifying sound to it. “Saturday Night Fever” introduced the mainstream world to disco; “The Harder They Come” has Caribbean soul/reggae pulling it together. Or you can just have Queen do the whole thing (“Highlander”, “Flash Gordon”).

Valley Girl’s vibe lands in the New Wave movement of the early eighties. Like other good soundtracks that cohesive approach to song choice puts you in a certain mood, rather than feeling like you’re being marketed a bunch of random hits. The minor miracle here is the film had to cut and overdub a whole bunch of songs after failing to secure the rights to them. By having to step slightly more toward obscure artists may have even improved the soundtrack. This Rhino compilation captures all the best and heavily featured tunes from the film, although devotees will no doubt recognize some are missing.

The album’s standout song is Modern English’s classic, “I Melt With You.” I don’t recall thinking much of this song when it came out, but wow has it ever held up well. This song will have you floating in a sea of love. It feels like they actually could “stop the world and melt with you.” And while this fate may sound a bit grim taken literally, I give it bonus points for using a very old poetic device of “melting” which goes all the way back to John Donne’s “A Valediction: Forbidding Mourning” where he says to his lover:

“So let us melt, and make no noise,
No tear-floods, nor sigh-tempests move”

Because back in the day when you melted something like gold if it was sufficiently pure it was known to “make no noise” and Donne is saying his love is equally pure. It felt to me that Modern English was drawing a line back to this time-honoured expression of love, capturing purity, excellence and the loss of the individual into something greater. But I digress…

The best thing this record did was introduce me to Josie Cotton. Eighties movies about high schoolers often featured a real artist as “the band” at the graduation dance, and on Valley Girl this is Josie Cotton. Cotton is rewarded with three of the songs on the soundtrack, all of which are good. She has a pop pin-up girl/eighties punk crossover thing that works both for her music and her overall vibe. She’s been making music for years since she had that brief brush with fame, and she’s still great. I’ve bought three of her records so far, and I’m on the lookout for a fourth.

Other fun tunes include Flirts’ earworm “Jukebox (Don’t Put Another Dime)” and the spacy sounds of Gary Myrick’s “She Talks in Stereo.”

It isn’t all sun and roses, of course. I love the hook in the Payola’s “Eyes of a Stranger” but the saxophone solo in the middle is an abomination. Also, the Flirts’ tell you not to put another dime in the jukebox for about a minute and half longer than is necessary.

Overall this is a great record which is a fine selection of eighties pop and New Wave and will leave you with warm and melty feelings of love.

Best tracks: Johnny Are You Queer – Josie Cotton, He Could Be The One – Josie Cotton, Love My Way – Psychadelic Furs, Jukebox (Don’t Put Another Dime) – The Flirts, She Talks in Stereo – Gary Myrick and the Figures, I Melt With You – Modern English

CD Odyssey Disc 1546: Josie Cotton

What’s that a second review in three days? Amazing what I can accomplish with even a modicum of free time!

Disc 1546 is…. From the Hip

Artist: Josie Cotton

Year of Release: 1984

What’s up with the Cover? Josie flashes a smile that says, “Of course I know this haircut is fantastic.” Yes, it is, Josie, and so is the rest of you.

How I Came To Know It: Earlier this year Sheila introduced me to the 1983 movie “Valley Girl,” which features Josie Cotton both in the film (she performs at the high school prom) and on a couple of songs on the soundtrack. Sheila loved the soundtrack, but it is devilishly hard to find, so I was exploring options to build one myself. In doing so, I landed on Cotton’s Bandcamp site, and realized I liked a lot of her music.

And yes, I eventually found the Valley Girl soundtrack, but we’ll save that story for when I roll the review.

How It Stacks Up: I have three Josie Cotton albums in my collection. They’re all very different, making it hard to compare, but since I’ve created this category, I’ll dive in and say “From the Hip” is…third. It isn’t bad, but one of them had to be last.

Ratings: 3 stars

Josie Cotton’s “From the Hip” is a love letter to a wide gamut of eighties pop sounds, and while it lacks focus, all of those musical side quests still add up to an enjoyable musical ride.

Cotton can’t fully decide what she wants to be, but that’s part of her charm. She’s a little New Wave, a little rockabilly and even a little Madonna. It all works, and while the record lacks emotional gravitas, it makes up for it in good old fashioned energetic fun.

Things start with a cover of seventies band Looking Glass’ “Jimmy Loves Maryann”. The Looking Glass version of this song is all laid back hippy soul and horn flourishes, but Josie Cotton is having exactly none of that. She jumps the song out in front of the beat, infusing the song with frenetic energy. Even the horns get replaced with bright-sounding organ riffs. After listening to the Cotton version a few times, my first encounter with the original was soporific.

Cotton uses the organ to good effect throughout the record, capturing the futurist energy of  her New Wave sensibilities at every turn. Songs like “Licence to Dance” and “No Use Crying” sound like they fell out of a sixties sci fi movie. In fact, Cotton has a penchant for making things sound like a futuristic action adventure. It is no surprise that a couple decades later she would treat us to a bunch of movie theme covers on 2007’s “Invasion of the B-Girls”. Like Valley Girl, this will also be the subject of a future review.

Cotton is a natural with New Wave, but she also embraces rockabilly in a way that shows true and devoted affection. “Straight Talk” is a cross between a turbo-charged square dance and a beat that would be at home in a sixties spy caper. This is one of four songs Cotton writes, and she shows a great talent for a clever and well-timed turn of phrase, coupled with a bouncy beat.

The best song on the record is “Gina” which has that same rockabilly/sixties pop crossover that is Cotton’s sweet spot. It is written by Bobby and Larson Paine, who are also responsible for Cotton’s two hit songs from the Valley Girl soundtrack (“Johnny Are you Queer” and “He Could be the One”. “Gina” is just as solid, a song so timeless I spent half an hour trying to find the sixties original before realizing Cotton’s is the original.

While Cotton can also do the straight eighties pop thing, these are the album’s weaker songs. “Come With Me” in particular sounds like a bad Madonna song and while “Life After Love” has that Cotton swing to it – and even hand snaps – it lacks the element of whimsy that is present on the stronger tunes.

Every now and then the songs don’t feel like full compositions, either. Even “School Is In” which has a great pop hook and a sing-along chorus gets tired quickly, despite being only 2:33 in length.

However, overall the energy of this record alone will hold your attention, and there are plenty of gems. Apart from Valley Girl, Cotton never broke big, and lesser-known records like “From the Hip” underscores for me how wrong that is. I’m glad I found her, and even more glad I was able to purchase her music through Bandcamp, where the artist gets the lion’s share of the revenue. Thank you, Josie!

Best tracks: Jimmy Loves Maryann, Straight Talk, Gina, Way Out West