i5-i5 (2000)

ORIGINAL POSTING DATE: February 22, 2012

While my friend 'Wolfsmagik The Wizard' has been twirling his magic wand around to share his music surprises with me, I've been weaving a little magic myself. It was someone within Wolf's own circle of friends who had requested the self-titled debut album by the now-disbanded girl group known as INTERNATIONAL 5, or simply i5 for short. If it hadn't been for the sudden collapse of their record label (as I had read in the group's biography on Last.fm while making this post), i5 might've taken off and become the next pop supergroup of their time. Consequently, their debut would be their last, but it obviously hasn't been forgotten during these 10+ years of silence. I was determined to find it once I had laid my eyes on the prize for a couple of good reasons—one, because I knew it would sound great, having become familiarized with Wolf's exquisite music tastes prior to the request; and two, because it had the words 'ultra rare' written all over it, and I like to specialize in collecting these rare pop jewels that have been left for dead. I had to depend on some assistance from the U.K. this time in order to bring it to "The Music Spectrum". Determination—it certainly pays dividends once you get what you've been seeking. And taking that determination idea even further, I was going to listen to this album and feature it here tonight—one way or the other. It starts to kill me after a while knowing that I have something great to share, and it's sitting either on my external hard drive or in my personal CD collection. Listening to i5 was like listening to all of those teen girl pop sensations and any one of those other all-star girl groups from the 90's: Britney Spears, THE SPICE GIRLS, Christina Aguilera, Mandy Moore, SOLID HARMONIE, ETERNAL, B*WITCHED..... The list of names can go on and on. A little bit of sassiness, a little bit of sweetness, but a very big heart and an even bigger sound! Highly entertaining are the songs here, with the fun kicking off with the bubblegummy nonsense tune "Ladidi Ladida", then being catapulted by the similarly-produced "Distracted", "Cinderella" and "The Recipe" (I guarantee you can visualize an teenage Britney singing all of those), then skyrocketing with the Latin salsa explosion that is the energetic party smash, "Scream Shout" (you have to get up shake something to the rhythm for this one!), the Eurodisco jam, "Best Friend", then the awesome remix to "Distracted" that I added on as a special bonus (dance music lovers will eat both of these up, too!). Remarkably, i5's strongest performances occur when the beats slow down and the grooves step in. "The Last Thing I Need" and "(They Say) That's What Love Will Do" sound so good when the girls are harmonizing together, yet it's Track #5's "If I Ever See Heaven Again", which does indeed feel like heaven while you're listening to it, that trumps them both:

1. Ladidi Ladida
2. Distracted
3. Cinderella
4. First Kiss
5. If I Ever See Heaven Again
6. Scream Shout
7. The Recipe
8. Can I Get A Witness?
9. The Last Thing I Need
10. Sweet 'N' Sassy
11. Best Friend
12. (They Say) That's What Love Will Do

*****BONUS TRACK*****

13. Distracted [Hex Hector & Dezrok Radio Edit]