The must-have among her work is the Self Control album. In marked opposition to most pop albums of that time, there is a pronounced absence of filler, and the romantic synth-pop of the first two albums gets a little Teutonic ice injected into the machine thanks to programmer/engineer/arranger Harold Faltermeyer, whose work with Giorgio Moroder and Pete Bellotte on Donna Summer's 70s epics remains the zenith of orchestarted synthwork.
But as today's electroclash and 80s revival markets maintain, it's about the controversy, not the music, so it's fortunate that the video for the "Self Control" single (directed by Exorcist/Jade/Cruising auteur William Friedkin!) was considered so shockingly steamy that MTV required some edits before they could play it. What fascinates to this day, on viewing the video, is seeing how demure it seems next to much of today's videos. That, and how rare it is to see a video on any of the major music channels that addresses a woman's sexual thoughts. That's also a key to how Branigan fit into the world of music at that time. Her image was never girlish or adolescent, though she was conventionally attractive. She was simply marketed as a woman with complex emotions, and that seems unfathomable in today's marketplace.
There are two hits compilations in print currently, both of which feature most of the big hits ("Gloria," "Self Control," "Spanish Eddie," "The Lucky One," "Solitaire," "Ti Amo").
'The Essentials: Laura Branigan' gets a minor edge in comparison, mainly because it includes "I Found Someone," "Shattered Glass," and "Moonlight on Water (Sex on the Beach)." But 'The Best of Branigan' includes the wrenching "Over You" as well as two covers not available anywhere else- Maria McKee's "Show Me Heaven" and Donna Summer's "Dim All The Lights," both of which are worth experiencing. Sadly, her version of "Forever Young" remains unavailable.
There are some artists that you expect to die young, and there are some whom you expect will always be around, making music and performing simply because it's what they do. The potential of the 80s is what always resounds for me in the music of Laura Branigan, uptempo and gloriously mechanized, but with unease and uncertainty as the human element. Her voice rings out through formations of guitars or strings or banks of machines, and no one-line synopsis on a news crawl or dreadful cash-in remix on her past glroies will change that. I just wasn't ready for the 80s to feel so sad just yet.
But as today's electroclash and 80s revival markets maintain, it's about the controversy, not the music, so it's fortunate that the video for the "Self Control" single (directed by Exorcist/Jade/Cruising auteur William Friedkin!) was considered so shockingly steamy that MTV required some edits before they could play it. What fascinates to this day, on viewing the video, is seeing how demure it seems next to much of today's videos. That, and how rare it is to see a video on any of the major music channels that addresses a woman's sexual thoughts. That's also a key to how Branigan fit into the world of music at that time. Her image was never girlish or adolescent, though she was conventionally attractive. She was simply marketed as a woman with complex emotions, and that seems unfathomable in today's marketplace.
There are two hits compilations in print currently, both of which feature most of the big hits ("Gloria," "Self Control," "Spanish Eddie," "The Lucky One," "Solitaire," "Ti Amo").
'The Essentials: Laura Branigan' gets a minor edge in comparison, mainly because it includes "I Found Someone," "Shattered Glass," and "Moonlight on Water (Sex on the Beach)." But 'The Best of Branigan' includes the wrenching "Over You" as well as two covers not available anywhere else- Maria McKee's "Show Me Heaven" and Donna Summer's "Dim All The Lights," both of which are worth experiencing. Sadly, her version of "Forever Young" remains unavailable.
There are some artists that you expect to die young, and there are some whom you expect will always be around, making music and performing simply because it's what they do. The potential of the 80s is what always resounds for me in the music of Laura Branigan, uptempo and gloriously mechanized, but with unease and uncertainty as the human element. Her voice rings out through formations of guitars or strings or banks of machines, and no one-line synopsis on a news crawl or dreadful cash-in remix on her past glroies will change that. I just wasn't ready for the 80s to feel so sad just yet.
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