Branigan --- Laura Branigan --- 1982 (Atlantic)
Seldom has any artiste, least of all female, straddled the pop/rock divide so successfully and comprehensively as Laura Branigan. True, her output stalled a little in the final years, but her first four albums were all pretty close to being classics. This one is even more impressive, being her debut and yet yiedling her her biggest ever hit single and the song always associated with her now, although it wasn't her own song. Laura combined just the right amounts of sexy diva with chanteuse and serious recording artiste to allow her to easily jump from one genre to another, comfortable whether she was singing pop, disco, rock or even salsa, somewhat like her contemporary, Gloria Estefan, though the latter mostly made her career on ballads and love songs. Laura's music, in the main, was usually more concentrated on uptempo songs.
That being said, it's perhaps ironic that the album opens on a ballad, with soft digital piano and deep bass, though in fairness it picks up strength and tempo fairly quickly and becomes a more intense love song, with some great backing vocals. It is however rather typical of the glut of ballads that bombarded us through the early years of the eighties, though a lot better than most. It's strange in that ballads are and were usually reserved for further down the running order, often near the end as the album wound down, but the tempo is quickly kicked up to ten with her smash hit "Gloria". A rearrangement and re-recording of an Italian love song, Laura changed it totally, pumping it up and giving it teeth, and with a huge descending synth opening and then stabbing synth chords that run through the melody, with pounding drumbeat, it's been described as disco or eurodisco, but I see it far more as a rock song. It has the disco feel, sure, but the power and passion and the punch it delivers to me is far more deserving of being called a rock song. Probably everyone knows the song by now, and it's a great workout for Laura's voice, as she hits the most powerful registers with ease.
Again, for a debut album from a then-unknown singer, there are some famous faces on this album, including guitar gods Steve Lukather and Michael Landau, not to mention Carlos Vega on the drumseat. A big deep synth and piano opening takes us into "Lovin' you baby", with Laura's impassioned, husky vocal delivering a lyric which sounds almost Steinmanesque; powerful, dramatic, passionate, big and bold, the sort of thing that really to be fair screams for a full orchestra and massive backing vocals. And yet, though there are backing vocalists, Laura handles the song mostly herself, her voice dripping with emotion and desperation. Definitely the standout after the rather obvious "Gloria". It's followed by "Livin' a lie", which actually sounds almost exactly like Bon Jovi's "Burning for love" --- and I mean
exactly --- from their debut, released --- oh dear! Two years later! Oh, boys! I never realised this before. I mean, it IS the same song, almost note for note and chord for chord. A great rocking track, with stabbing synths and a fine solo from Lukather, and keeps the tempo well up.
Another possible indicator of the high hopes held for Laura is when you see that the mighty Diane Warren contributes a song to her debut album, and as ever with Diane, it's a winner. A soft, piano-driven ballad, sung with all the heartbreaking regret that Laura can squeeze into her voice, and that's a lot. In the bridge there's a beautiful, flowing synth run that just pulls in the chorus with drama and emotion, and takes it to another level entirely. There's nothing to say really --- Warren doesn't do bad songs. The woman seems to write hits as easily as she draws breath, and there's many an artiste owes her for much of their success. Things kick right back up then for "Please stay, go away", with a running, almost progressive rock piano line, thundering drums from Vega and crunching guitar from Landau and Lukather: the basic melody does borrow a lot from "Gloria" however.
There's another ballad up next, and in fact "I wish we could be alone" is Laura's first attempt at songwriting, which she handles completely on her own. It's an impressive first try, with a semi-country feel to the music driven on piano with great backing vocals, some of which almost duet with her, male ones which really complement her own voice. Reminds me a lot of Nanci Griffith's early work, particularly "If wishes were changes" from the "Storms" album. Winding up then for a big finish, "Down like a rock" pulls out all the stops in a big fast rocker, with jangly guitar and funky bass, the rhythm almost Wham!-ish (bear with me) and a kind of fifties feel to the music, Laura's voice kind of echoing alongside what I assume must be synthesised brass and some swirly organ, not to mention another fine soaraway guitar solo. Nice! Everything wraps up nicely then with another ballad, which kind of bookends the album with the opener. "Maybe I love you" is a tender love song again driven on soft piano but soon taken by Landau's sharp hard guitar lines, developing into a stronger song, again like the opener, with Laura's clear, pristine vocal above everything, a fine solo to bring things to a close and scrap forever any idea that Laura Branigan was a disco or even pop artiste --- this album has rock gem written large all over it.
TRACKLISTING
1. All night with me
2. Gloria
3. Loving you baby
4. Livin' a lie
5. If you loved me
6. Please stay, go away
7. I wish we could be alone
8. Down like a rock
9. Maybe I love you
Over a period of ten years Laura Branigan released seven albums, but she will always be known for the second track on this, her debut. Some people will also know "Self control", the title of her third album, and perhaps "The lucky one" from the same record. I haven't heard her last two albums but I didn't care for "Touch", her fifth, released in 1987, which is a pity as up to then she had put out pretty consistently good albums. Sadly 1993's "Over my heart" was her last ever recording, and eleven years later she passed away from a previously undiagnosed brain aneurysm. She died peacefully in her sleep, and the world of music lost a wonderful voice and a true star who should have been much more famous and regarded than she was.