Thursday, September 10, 2009

Yasmin - Yasmin (1991) & A Scent Of Flowers (1993) DOUBLE POST!!

Until recently I only had this album on cassette, but realized that I should get the CD so I could share it with you all, since it's perfect for the Isle. Yasmin Elvira Steenholdt hails from Denmark. In the late 1980's she hooked up with up-and-coming Danish production duo Soulshock & Cutfather, who had previously worked with Sybil and would later work with Queen Latifah and Ultra Nate, among others. The resulting album, entitled Slow, was one of the first on their SoulPower label, and was released in Denmark. The success in Denmark and other parts of Europe of the first single, "Wanna Dance", got the attention of Geffen Records in North America. They picked up the album and released it simply as 'Yasmin'. "Wanna Dance" was a minor hit, hitting the Billboard Top 50 (at least, according to rapper Lucas who also co-wrote and appeared on the track). It was a hit in clubs as well. It incorporated one of the popular sounds of the day, soul-pop that used elements of hip hop, house and jazz, not unlike one-album-wonder Tara Kemp. But the subsequent releases, "Sacrifice" and "Emotion (Turning Me Up)," fizzled, and she was dropped from Geffen (I'm sure it didn't help that there was no video for "Wanna Dance" and her face was obscured on the album cover, thus no one would recognize her). Soulshock & Cutfather stuck with her, however, and in 1993 she released the album A Scent Of Flowers, though in Denmark and the Netherlands only. Though she released two singles, "Let Me Take Over" and "Best Of My Love", the album did little business, so Yasmin continued in music in Denmark as primarily a backing vocalist, but also did television and theatre. After moving to the US, she also extensively studied "sound healing". She used some of what she learned in her endeavour with husband Asger Steenholdt as the duo Aphrodesia. They released an album in 2004 called Lavandou which is electronica that incorporates soul, reggae and jazz. For more on Aphrodesia, go HERE.

Download Yasmin

1
Wanna Dance (Remix)
2
Slow
3
I Need Time
4
Emotion (Turning Me Up)
5
Give Up
6
Stop This Scene
7
Sacrifice
8
Confusion
9
Stay
10
Remember You
11
Summertime
12
Late At Night
13
Wanna Dance (Original Version)

Download A Scent Of Flowers


1
Yasmin Theme
2
How Are You Doing
3
Let Me Take Over
4
She Don't Know The Way
5
Send A Letter
6
Maybe Someday
7
Best Of My Love
8
Never Ever
9
The Moon
10
Get It Right
11
Everybody Loves The Sunshine
12
Waiting
13
Yasmin Theme

5 comments:

  1. Guess who also owns this album? I found it for a $1 at a used cd store last year and bought it just for the hell of it.

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  2. This was an amazing cd. I have it somewhere, but I cannot find it, after moving a handful of times in the past ten years.

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  3. OMG!! I bought the album back in the day and didn't even have a record player, had to go by a friend's to record it on a cassette. Worth it!

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  4. Too bad. I had the Yasmin cassette, but someone stole it and the other cassettes in the car. I used to listen to it so much, I thought it'd wear out!

    Thanks!

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  5. When I found this cassette at the $1.98 Store, I used to listen to it non-stop. I love her voice, and it is unfortunate that she didn't make it big.
    Now, I love to sing her songs to myself, especially "Remember You."
    I'm wondering: Is any way to find the lyrics to her first album...?

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