Maria Vidal - Maria Vidal (1987)

I recently bought the vinyl of this for $1 and was going to rip it, but luckily I managed to find a copy of the Venezuelan CD release, so the quality is that much better. Born in 1960, Maria Vidal's first taste of the musical limelight was in 1973, when she joined prolific producer and songwriter Desmond Child's girl group Rouge in Miami (though she would have only been 13...). The group moved to New York soon after and released two well-received albums as Desmond Child & Rouge in the late 1970's. Their sound was a blend of rock and disco, and they had a disco hit with "Our Love Is Insane". After the group broke up, Maria kept herself busy doing backing vocals for other artists and dabbling in songwriting. Luckily, in 1984, she was tapped to record the theme song to the Lorenzo Lamas movie Body Rock. Though the movie was a bomb, the song was an instant hit, reaching the top ten of the Billboard dance charts and almost making it into the Billboard Top 40. The song is considered a dance classic. However, the album she began working on with Jellybean was shelved, so Maria went back to session work and songwriting, contributing to songs by Stevie Nicks and John Waite, among others. Then, in 1987, A&M Records decided to sign her on for an album deal. Her self-titled album remained in the vein of her work with Desmond Child & Rouge, mixing rock and dance music to create a pop sound. Child even produced the album's first single, "Do Me Right". The song wasn't a hit, and a second promo single was released, "House Of Love". It too did not hit, and her deal with A&M was over. But she retained close ties with Child and her other producers, Robbie Seidman and Rick Nowels (who she later married). With their help, Maria once again went back to session singing with even greater success, appearing on albums by acts as diverse as Cher, Bette Midler, Celine Dion, The Smithereens, Seal, Clay Aiken, Kiss and Real McCoy. She also continued to write songs, and was responsible for Belinda Carlisle's hit "Summer Rain" and Ace Of Base's "Everytime It Rains". Thankfully Maria recently headed back to the studio to record music of her own again, and in 2009 she released the album Living In Radical Radiance, which is available through her website. But her 1987 debut also remains a pleasure. I had never heard it in full until recently, and it just keeps growing on me. And there were two surprises for me on it. First, the song "House Of Love", which was originally recorded by Blue Yonder the same year, was also covered by two acts in 1989 - Animotion and French-Canadian singer and Isle postee Véronique Béliveau. It was Veronique's first English single, and has always remained a fave of mine. I had no idea Maria did a version of it first. And even better, the song "Angel", which was co-written by Maria, was also remade, this time by Exposé on their final album in 1992. It has always been my favourite Exposé song, and I had no idea it was a cover either. This album is worth it just for these two songs alone! And luckily the Venezuelan version of the CD includes Body Rock and it's dance mix, which were not on the original release! Enjoy!

Video for Do Me Right

Video for Body Rock

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1		Angel
2		Soul Love
3		Sleep Won't Come
4		Make Believe
5		Life On The Train
6		Bridges Of Innocence
7		The Real Feel
8		Do Me Right
9		I Am A Girl In Spain
10		House Of Love
11		Body Rock (Version Radio Edit)
12		Body Rock (Version Disco)