Cristina fan page
2004 Interview with Cristina
Review of Sleep It Off
Review of Sleep It Off on Feminist Music Geek
If you do a search on YouTube you can find most of her songs but I haven't been able to find any music videos or live performances.
Showing posts with label cristina. Show all posts
Showing posts with label cristina. Show all posts
Thursday, 13 May 2010
LYRICS. CRISTINA --- WHAT'S A GIRL TO DO.
WHAT'S A GIRL TO DO
My life is in a turmoil
My thighs are black and blue
My sheets are stained, so is my brain
What's a girl to do X 2
I've passed out with a novel
Or a needle in my hand
I've passed out with a ragdoll
And I've passed out with a man
I say my three Hail Marys
I daily paint my face
My friends decay around me
And I view them with distaste
My life is in a turmoil
My thighs are black and blue
My sheets are stained, so is my brain
What's a girl to do X 2
Well some girls have a mission
And some girls have their work
Some marry with precision
And some just dish the dirt
And once I had a lover
And once I had a profession
And once I laughed at nothing
And they called it a depression
I've tried dancing up and down
The wrong side of the track
And I've walked on the right side
Or just lain here on my back.
So I think I'll quit while I'm behind
Now that I'm twenty two
My sheets are stained, so is my brain
What's a girl to do X 2
My sheets are stained, so is my brain
What's a girl to do X 2
LYRICS BY CRISTINA FROM SLEEP IT OFF. PHOTO OF CRISTINA BY CHUCK SILLERY FROM SLEEP IT OFF CD BOOKLET.
My life is in a turmoil
My thighs are black and blue
My sheets are stained, so is my brain
What's a girl to do X 2
I've passed out with a novel
Or a needle in my hand
I've passed out with a ragdoll
And I've passed out with a man
I say my three Hail Marys
I daily paint my face
My friends decay around me
And I view them with distaste
My life is in a turmoil
My thighs are black and blue
My sheets are stained, so is my brain
What's a girl to do X 2
Well some girls have a mission
And some girls have their work
Some marry with precision
And some just dish the dirt
And once I had a lover
And once I had a profession
And once I laughed at nothing
And they called it a depression
I've tried dancing up and down
The wrong side of the track
And I've walked on the right side
Or just lain here on my back.
So I think I'll quit while I'm behind
Now that I'm twenty two
My sheets are stained, so is my brain
What's a girl to do X 2
My sheets are stained, so is my brain
What's a girl to do X 2
LYRICS BY CRISTINA FROM SLEEP IT OFF. PHOTO OF CRISTINA BY CHUCK SILLERY FROM SLEEP IT OFF CD BOOKLET.
LYRICS. CRISTINA --- HE DINES OUT ON DEATH.
HE DINES OUT ON DEATH.
How could he do it?
There's nothing to it
A fistful of pills in a foreign hotel
She left a note calling him
Heartless and ruthless
And wishing him well, wishing him well.
Now he dines out on death.
How could he do it?
Can I live through it?
In this week's chic restaurant
He touches the hand
Of a vapid-eyed girl who once put sweet lips to it
She says, "I understand, oh I understand ..."
Now he dines out on death.
How could she do it?
Let's help him live through it
Say the New York hostesses
He takes it so well
He lends such distinction to her self extinction
Let's throw him a party, he must be in hell.
Now he dines out on death.
LYRICS BY CRISTINA FROM SLEEP IT OFF. PHOTO OF CRISTINA BY CHUCK SILLERY FROM SLEEP IT OFF CD BOOKLET.
How could he do it?
There's nothing to it
A fistful of pills in a foreign hotel
She left a note calling him
Heartless and ruthless
And wishing him well, wishing him well.
Now he dines out on death.
How could he do it?
Can I live through it?
In this week's chic restaurant
He touches the hand
Of a vapid-eyed girl who once put sweet lips to it
She says, "I understand, oh I understand ..."
Now he dines out on death.
How could she do it?
Let's help him live through it
Say the New York hostesses
He takes it so well
He lends such distinction to her self extinction
Let's throw him a party, he must be in hell.
Now he dines out on death.
LYRICS BY CRISTINA FROM SLEEP IT OFF. PHOTO OF CRISTINA BY CHUCK SILLERY FROM SLEEP IT OFF CD BOOKLET.
REVIEW. CRISTINA --- SLEEP IT OFF.
Sleep It Off was Cristina's second and final album and it was produced by Don Was of Was (Not Was) who also co-wrote several of the songs. This reissue also features a couple of tracks from an earlier session with Robert Palmer as well as Cristina's contribution to the Ze Records Christmas compilation, Things Fall Apart. However, despite receiving glowing reviews from the likes of Rolling Stone and The Face, the record was a flop and Cristina retired from the music business.
This has to be one of the biggest injustices of the music business I've heard of. Sleep It Off is one of the most stunning albums I've heard in a long time --- genuinely innovative whilst seemingly deceptively simple. I know disco gets a bad press even with those who love dance music. Personally, my problem with it is that it simply doesn't reflect the eccentricity, decadence and biting wit of those immersed in the nightlife scene. But far out on the wilder shores of disco, you get artists like Klaus Nomi and Grace Jones who are every bit as challenging and experimental as anything indie or rock music could produce. And Cristina can rightly claim her place among those disco mavericks.
There is a strong sense of irony and a biting wit in her lyrics observing the bored rich socialites of New York's nightlife. Her jaded world-weary demeanour, however, is always swathed in glamour and spiced up with a dash of sass so that she harks back to traditional movie stars like Marlene Dietrich or Tallulah Bankhead. Her intelligent boredom and sophisticated despair also reminded me of Louise Brooks. The album showcases a good mixture of styles (from upbeat pop numbers like Ticket To the Tropics to laidback contemplations like Rage and Fascination) and moods (from the defiant, almost punk delivery of Don't Mutilate My Mink to the disjointed bleakness of Things Fall Apart). One of my favourite tracks is He Dines Out On Death, a stripped down acoustic ode to a gentleman who sees his lover's suicide as a social opportunity but really, there are so many gems on this album including a cover version of a Brecht and Weil song, Ballad of Immoral Earnings.
The Dresden Dolls have also cited Brecht as an influence and Cristina's stylish black humour does remind me of a disco version of Amanda Palmer crossed with the deadpan glamour of Grace Jones/Amanda Lear with the suicidal urges of Nico lurking in the background while the downright insanity of Klaus Nomi quietly laughs at us all. It's a rare talent to be able to pull together all these disparate (and sometimes contradictory) elements but Cristina managed it. The album also perfectly evokes that particular scene (the beautiful people of early 80s New York) but still feels timeless. It's an amazing album that has quickly become one of my all time favourites.
Cristina's songwriting partner and producer, Don Was said of her --- "We didn't have girls like her in Detroit. I went to dinner with her and I remember feeling intellectually dwarfed. --- Sleep It Off is an incredibly honest representation of what she was about. Twenty years later, I've learned that's what you want to do when you produce an album --- take a snapshot of somebody. I didn't fully realise it at the time but she achieved a certain artistic ideal."
ORIGINALLY PUBLISHED IN OCTOBER 2005.
This has to be one of the biggest injustices of the music business I've heard of. Sleep It Off is one of the most stunning albums I've heard in a long time --- genuinely innovative whilst seemingly deceptively simple. I know disco gets a bad press even with those who love dance music. Personally, my problem with it is that it simply doesn't reflect the eccentricity, decadence and biting wit of those immersed in the nightlife scene. But far out on the wilder shores of disco, you get artists like Klaus Nomi and Grace Jones who are every bit as challenging and experimental as anything indie or rock music could produce. And Cristina can rightly claim her place among those disco mavericks.
There is a strong sense of irony and a biting wit in her lyrics observing the bored rich socialites of New York's nightlife. Her jaded world-weary demeanour, however, is always swathed in glamour and spiced up with a dash of sass so that she harks back to traditional movie stars like Marlene Dietrich or Tallulah Bankhead. Her intelligent boredom and sophisticated despair also reminded me of Louise Brooks. The album showcases a good mixture of styles (from upbeat pop numbers like Ticket To the Tropics to laidback contemplations like Rage and Fascination) and moods (from the defiant, almost punk delivery of Don't Mutilate My Mink to the disjointed bleakness of Things Fall Apart). One of my favourite tracks is He Dines Out On Death, a stripped down acoustic ode to a gentleman who sees his lover's suicide as a social opportunity but really, there are so many gems on this album including a cover version of a Brecht and Weil song, Ballad of Immoral Earnings.
The Dresden Dolls have also cited Brecht as an influence and Cristina's stylish black humour does remind me of a disco version of Amanda Palmer crossed with the deadpan glamour of Grace Jones/Amanda Lear with the suicidal urges of Nico lurking in the background while the downright insanity of Klaus Nomi quietly laughs at us all. It's a rare talent to be able to pull together all these disparate (and sometimes contradictory) elements but Cristina managed it. The album also perfectly evokes that particular scene (the beautiful people of early 80s New York) but still feels timeless. It's an amazing album that has quickly become one of my all time favourites.
Cristina's songwriting partner and producer, Don Was said of her --- "We didn't have girls like her in Detroit. I went to dinner with her and I remember feeling intellectually dwarfed. --- Sleep It Off is an incredibly honest representation of what she was about. Twenty years later, I've learned that's what you want to do when you produce an album --- take a snapshot of somebody. I didn't fully realise it at the time but she achieved a certain artistic ideal."
ORIGINALLY PUBLISHED IN OCTOBER 2005.
Sunday, 2 May 2010
REVIEW. CRISTINA --- DOLL IN THE BOX.
Cristina Monet was a socialite who'd married the heir to the Mothercare fortune, Michael Zilkha, who'd gone on to found Ze Records in the hope of releasing records that mixed punk and disco. Although Cristina was stunningly beautiful and did some modelling for the likes of Louis Vuitton, she was no dumb bimbo (she was a prize-winning graduate from Harvard) as she was to prove with her clever lyrics. She released 2 albums and a couple of singles in the early 1980s but despite good reviews and celebrity fans such as Debbie Harry and Siouxsie Sioux, her career failed to take off. She retired from music and she and Michael divorced in 1990.
Now Ze Records have released both her albums. Each album features bonus tracks and a booklet detailing her career (each album's booklet has different photos in it). I'd only ever heard her version of "Is That All There Is?" so I'd dismissed her as a one-hit wonder albeit a brilliant one. But on the strength of a rave review in Attitude I bought both albums and I'm so glad I did.
This is a re-release of Cristina's first album, now retitled Doll in the Box. It also features bonus tracks of the singles she released at the time, Disco Clone and Is That All There Is? plus a previously unreleased cover version of Drive My Car. The album was produced by August Darnell (better known as Kid Creole of Kid Creole and the Coconuts) and he wrote most of the songs on it. They are all fairly classic disco tracks with a lush theatrical quality to them and odd hints of a tropical/Latin influence. Which would be more than enough to sound completely camp without Cristina cooing her way through the extremely funny and completely over-the-top Disco Clone in response to Kevin Kline's mock deadpan seriousness and songs like Don't Be Greedy (where Cristina tells a lover who wants an open relationship --- "Don't ask me to share you with another mate. I'm not that liberal and you're not that great.")
For the most part, it works extremely well although I'm guessing the songs sound at their best in a nightclub environment. Preferably doing the hustle with Liza and Andy one coke-fuelled night at Studio 54. I thought the light-hearted campness rather spoiled her version of Drive My Car but maybe that's just me. I'd always imagined someone like Lydia Lunch doing a cover of this and making it sound all sleazy and dark and fantastic. Funnily enough, that's exactly what Cristina managed to do on her infamous cover version of Is That All There Is? (the Leiber and Stoller song popularised by Peggy Lee). In fact, the songwriters were so appalled by the deadpan nihilism of her update that they threatened to sue and the record was withdrawn on its first day of release. Her version comes across as a Brechtian parody and was cited as one of the funniest records ever made by Peter Cook and Dudley Moore. Its rarity also made it one of the most requested songs on Radio 1 for a couple of years in the 1980s. It was this song which hinted at the greatness of Cristina's second album.
Tangents, the website that bills itself as the home of unpopular culture, has a two part article about the reissues and the author's experience of meeting Cristina recently.
Part One and Part Two
ORIGINALLY PUBLISHED IN OCTOBER 2005.
Now Ze Records have released both her albums. Each album features bonus tracks and a booklet detailing her career (each album's booklet has different photos in it). I'd only ever heard her version of "Is That All There Is?" so I'd dismissed her as a one-hit wonder albeit a brilliant one. But on the strength of a rave review in Attitude I bought both albums and I'm so glad I did.
This is a re-release of Cristina's first album, now retitled Doll in the Box. It also features bonus tracks of the singles she released at the time, Disco Clone and Is That All There Is? plus a previously unreleased cover version of Drive My Car. The album was produced by August Darnell (better known as Kid Creole of Kid Creole and the Coconuts) and he wrote most of the songs on it. They are all fairly classic disco tracks with a lush theatrical quality to them and odd hints of a tropical/Latin influence. Which would be more than enough to sound completely camp without Cristina cooing her way through the extremely funny and completely over-the-top Disco Clone in response to Kevin Kline's mock deadpan seriousness and songs like Don't Be Greedy (where Cristina tells a lover who wants an open relationship --- "Don't ask me to share you with another mate. I'm not that liberal and you're not that great.")
For the most part, it works extremely well although I'm guessing the songs sound at their best in a nightclub environment. Preferably doing the hustle with Liza and Andy one coke-fuelled night at Studio 54. I thought the light-hearted campness rather spoiled her version of Drive My Car but maybe that's just me. I'd always imagined someone like Lydia Lunch doing a cover of this and making it sound all sleazy and dark and fantastic. Funnily enough, that's exactly what Cristina managed to do on her infamous cover version of Is That All There Is? (the Leiber and Stoller song popularised by Peggy Lee). In fact, the songwriters were so appalled by the deadpan nihilism of her update that they threatened to sue and the record was withdrawn on its first day of release. Her version comes across as a Brechtian parody and was cited as one of the funniest records ever made by Peter Cook and Dudley Moore. Its rarity also made it one of the most requested songs on Radio 1 for a couple of years in the 1980s. It was this song which hinted at the greatness of Cristina's second album.
Tangents, the website that bills itself as the home of unpopular culture, has a two part article about the reissues and the author's experience of meeting Cristina recently.
Part One and Part Two
ORIGINALLY PUBLISHED IN OCTOBER 2005.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)