Record Collector, October, 2003
TWIGGY: MIDNIGHT BLUE (Eureka EURCD703)
A chunky collection from our Twiggs, 20 tracks recorded over several
sessions, from 1982 to 1990, that never saw the light of day. Sort of a
best-of-that-never-was. Despite being largely remembered as a model,
Twiggy proved herself as a singer with the film The Boy Friend, and
a couple of halfway decent albums in the 70s.
Times change though, and the style here is 80s through and through - sub
disco beat, full on production and more synthesisers than a Moog factory.
It's what early Kylie might have sounded like if she had been guided by
Howard Jones. Most of the numbers are easy covers. But while Twiggy's
delicate voice works well on 'Ruby Tuesday' and 'The First Cut Is The
Deepest', versions of 'Sweet Talkin' Guy' and 'Be My Baby' pale against
the originals, largely due to the sweet sound. A couple 'Stay' and the
plaintive 'I Can't Talk To You' are more effective, written and produced
by guitarists Hal Lindes (sometime Dire Straits) and Frank Carillo (Peter
Frampton, Carly Simon etc.) with a laid back Straitsky, rocky feel.
You can't argue with the girl's vocals, but the overall effect is safety
rather than style. One can only wonder what might have happened if she'd
been led, Marianne Faithfull-style, into something a little more daring..
