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Friday, March 2, 2012

Oui 3 - Oui Love You (1993)

Oui 3 was a multicultural trio comprised of American singer/songwriter Blair Booth, Swiss programmer Philipp Erb and British rapper Trevor Miles. Booth and Erb hooked up in the early 1990s after taking part in other projects, she primarily in retro-pop trio Terry, Blair & Anouchka and he primarily with controversial industrial/EBM band Psychic TV. The two decided that they wanted to create something new by taking the 1960s Buffalo Springfield protest song "For What It's Worth" and using it in a modern day protest song with a hip hop bent. To complete the song they enlisted Miles to provide a distinctly British rap. On the strength of the song they were signed to MCA Records. The song itself reached #28 on the British charts in early 1993 and, according to Booth's website, would have went higher if there wasn't a mix-up with the CD single's formatting. Whatever the case, it's success led to a second single, "Arms Of Solitude", which reached only #58. A third single followed, "Break From The Old Routine", and it became what would be their biggest hit, reaching #17. It helped their debut album, released soon after, reach #39 on the album charts. The album, which featured Miles' raps and Booth's soulful vocals equally, followed the same sound as their debut single, trippy hip-hop with a 60s pop aesthetic, and was often labeled Acid Jazz or Trip Hop, though the band didn't agree with those classifications. They toured extensively supporting acts as diverse as Jamiroquai and Body Count. They released a remix of "For What It's Worth" and it reached two spots higher on the chart than the first time, and their fourth single, "Fact Of Life", reached #38 in early 1994. They began recording their follow-up album Threedom the same year, wanting to diversify their sound and lose the Acid Jazz tag. They released the single "Crazy", but it failed to chart. The follow-up, "Joy Of Living", did manage to reach #55, but the band was soon dropped by MCA, equally due to dwindling sales, management issues, and label indifference. As a result, their second album was shelved and the band broke up. Since then, while Erb and Miles have maintained a very low profile, Booth has created her own music production company, Blair Booth Music, which operates out of the UK. In 2005 Break From The Old Routine: The Collection was released in the UK, a compilation of hits that also features some of their unreleased work.

Video for For What It's Worth

Video for Arms Of Solitude

Video for Break From The Old Routine

Video for Fact Of Life

Download Oui Love You

1
For What It's Worth
2
Schemer Supreme
3
Arms Of Solitude
4
Fact Of Life
5
Great Expectations
6
Reason To Believe
7
Break From The Old Routine
8
Accessory After The Fact
9
Persona Non Grata
10
Arms Of Solitude (Orange Hill Indica Mix)
11
Oui Love You

6 comments:

  1. I've seen this album at the Salvos a few times and it's always caught my attention, but I've never picked it up, so thanks a lot for uploading it.

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  2. one of the first people who listened to this album, proudly.

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  3. First Album I ever bought as a kid. Now 34y0 and still love those lyrics.
    thank you for the up ++

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  4. It's a awesome album. Don't know why they never took off with the drivvle that comes out now

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  5. Please could you re-upload this one. Love your work. Thanks

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