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]

SECURE-Episode 1: The Time Is Now (2010)

ORIGINAL POSTING DATE: February 22, 2012

Speaking of Dutch r&b groups, I've just discovered this new up-and-rising foursome from The Netherlands called SECURE! So this now marks the fifth group (and counting) that I've heard whose members are of Dutch nationality. Had something else slated and ready to go immediately following my ROMÉO post, but when I was quickly able to get SECURE's debut three-track EP entitled "Episode 1: The Time Is Now", I thought I'd feature it first. These short EP albums are always such a big tease, which is why I usually prefer to wait until the complete album is completed. Although there are some artists who do like to release a series of stand-alone EP's—or LP's and singles, for that matter—then end up releasing an official album later on that features completely new songs altogether while all of the songs they recorded before the official album never actually make it onto any album, unless they're included on a "Greatest Hits" compilation farther down the road in the artist's career. So I feel 'safe and secure' knowing that I'm starting at the very beginning with these guys and will not have missed anything along the way before they reach worldwide stardom, which is what I expect after hearing the hot club hits, "In Tha Club" (seems like just about every boyband or male r&b group has at least one song with this exact title, doesn't it?) and "Secure (Get Up)". After the smoke from the fire has settled, cool off with "Ladies Holdin' It Down"—a lovely, beautifully-written song of dedication and appreciation that I adore very much and one that ladies everywhere will admire. It contrasts nicely to the more hard-edged sound and theme of the other two tracks. Too bad all the fun ends so abruptly here, but I'm sure there's more exciting things in store on the next episode:

1. In Tha Club
2. Ladies Holdin' It Down
3. Secure (Get Up)

ROMÉO-Roméo (1998)

ORIGINAL POSTING DATE: February 22, 2012

Magic is the reason that this latest music surprise has materialized onto "The Music Spectrum"! Wolf's Magic, that is, as in the moniker used by my American music friend who's been following all of my music blogs since the days of "The Music Nexus". I don't know what sort of magical incantations or other wizardry he weaved in order to obtain the self-titled debut album by the Dutch r&b group called ROMÉO, but it worked to perfection, and it's enabled me to cross off another item that had been on my personal music wishlist! If memory serves me right, ROMÉO is now the fourth artist I've encountered whose members are of Dutch nationality; my past encounters were the boybands LEXINGTON BRIDGE (I wonder what those guys are up to now?), CAUGHT IN THE ACT (just listened to their self-titled debut album again recently, for old time's sake) and MEN2B—all of whom have been featured here at "The Music Spectrum" previously. With the accent placed on the 'E', I assumed their name would be pronounced differently with stress being placed on that letter, but turns out that their name is said exactly as it's pronounced in the title of the popular Shakespearean play, "Romeo And Juliet" (the guy giving the introduction on the opening track even says so). The accent on the 'E', perhaps, was just to stylize their name and differentiate them from the oodles of other artists named 'Romeo' (I found a list of at least thirty of them on the Discogs database by itself!). Let's get down to the music! Instant good impressions were made upon me after the first playing of "Coming Home"—the remixed version. Great voices by the group's four members, and whoever this 'Jay' guy was, he sure did a superb job in creating a terrific beat for it. Went onto my 'Feelgood Mix' playlist right after it ended. The original version found on Track #12 sounds great as well, but once you've heard the remix, it'll almost be obsolete. "Secret Love" was the song that introduced me to ROMÉO, thanks to a video I came across on Youtube. It's not a cover of the classic Luther Vandross song, as I had expected, but it is one of the nicest songs on this album in terms of lyrics and melody. Can't remember if it was the original version or the remixed version, but just as with "Coming Home", I prefer the remixed version here as well. Track #3's "Got To Be" has 'got to be' the most thrilling song! Totally loving the electro-new jack swing beat, the funky groove and the computerized voice effects—a second instant addition to the 'Feelgood Mix'. I thought the beat sounded similar to Stevie Wonder's "Jungle Fever", a hit from both the 1991 movie and soundtrack by the same name. It's especially nice hearing their voices coming together on "Always Fall For Love", "When You Put Your Lips To Mine" and "Your Love", which easily offers up the best r&b groove on the entire album. The strongest performance overall—sound, vocals, and songwriting—could be represented by Track #8's "I Don't Wanna Talk About It", but then again, there isn't a weak link to be found anywhere among these songs. If there was a weak spot that needed mentioning, it would be that ROMÉO, at least to my knowledge, has only released this one album to date. So does that mean they qualify for that list of boybands and male vocal groups that did one album before disappearing from the music spotlight? Possibly. Though with the current resurgence of boybands happening all across the globe, we hopefully haven't heard the last of ROMÉO either:

1. Coming Home (Jay's Remix)
2. Secret Love (R'n'G Radio Mix)
3. Got To Be
4. Always Fall For Love
5. Your Love
6. The One For Me
7. When You Put Your Lips To Mine
8. I Don't Wanna Talk About It
9. Like Someone In Love
10. Trippin' On To You
11. Secret Love (Original)
12. Coming Home (Original)
13. Your Love (Live Remix)