Lizzy Mercier Descloux
>> Mambo Nassau

Sex with style***

EVERY now and then the heart beats faster. The band has been changed, the recording studio has been changed. And the music has changed its emphasis, although the delivery stays the same. It is a ragged, shattered, subtlety abrasive funk, with that squawky, squeaky but strangely smooth French accent of Lizzy Mercier Descloux. A voice that croons with urgency, a voice that seduces with sensuality, a voice that implies restlessness, a voice that gets noticed. Her first release, « Press Color », on the (now) fabulously hip Ze Records, had a sound that was richer and fuller. A sound typified by her (semi- legendary) cover of « Mission Impossible » - search it out and ignite ! It was an invitation to the new dance. At the time, though, few replied to the beguilingly rhythmic dance statement. « Mambo Nassau » retains the colour of « Color ». It still has the same frenetic vibrancy but it is a sound that has been stripped down to the bare essentials. This initial shock of a naked « Color » is soon superceded by the realisation of its dancefloor potential, and the acknowledgement of how many varying musical styles have been successfully incorporated into the Ip. The lack of dance-flaws on "Mambo Nassau" is stressed track after track after delicious track. It is a tumbling dance. A jittery-bug-eyed ...

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ZE records / Island / Phonogram / EMI Japan
Original release 1980
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