From the Mind of Lil Louis | ||||
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Studio album by | ||||
Released | 1989 | |||
Genre | Chicago house | |||
Label | Epic Records, FFRR Records | |||
Producer | Lil Louis | |||
Lil Louis chronology | ||||
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From the Mind of Lil Louis is the debut album by the American house musician Lil Louis, released in 1989. [1] [2]
The single "French Kiss" peaked at No. 50 on the Billboard Hot 100; it peaked at No. 2 on the UK Singles Chart. [3] [4]
The album's tracks were written and produced by Lil Louis; he also played most of the instruments. [5] The album sides are titled "Dance" and "Romance", with the song "Insecure" composed as a ballad. [6] Lil Louis's father, who had played as a sideman with Bobby Bland and B.B. King, sings and plays guitar on "Lil Tanya". [7] [8] Larry Heard aka Mr. Fingers contributed production work to the album.
Review scores | |
---|---|
Source | Rating |
AllMusic | [9] |
Calgary Herald | B+ [10] |
The Encyclopedia of Popular Music | [11] |
Ottawa Citizen | [12] |
The Rolling Stone Album Guide | [13] |
The New York Times thought that Lil Louis "has created a breakthrough album for house music by turning a genre usually heard amid the public revelry of the dance floor into a private, interior playground." [6] The Globe and Mail wrote that the album is "a wonderfully eclectic blend of street vocals, soulful riffs and top-rate instrumental work." [8] The St. Petersburg Times deemed the album "a bold debut," writing that "the sound is of spare, brooding jazz, uniquely subdued and shot through with Louis' smoldering sexuality ... The music's sensual appeal is awesome, as physically in tune with the times as Prince ever was." [14] The Calgary Herald declared that "when a new artist cops tricks from Prince, George Clinton and Laurie Anderson, you know he's on the right track." [10]
AllMusic called the album "a triumph," writing that "Larry Heard's input on tracks like 'Blackout', 'Tuch Me' and '6 A.M.' is stellar." [9] Listing From the Mind of Lil Louis as an "Essential" album of house music, Spin praised the "propulsive" and "pastoral" conceptual sides. [7] Mixmag included "French Kiss" on its list of "30 of the Best Chicago House Tracks," and wrote that "I Called U" and "Nyce & Slo" were also "unmissable." [15]
No. | Title | Length |
---|---|---|
1. | "I Called U" | 6:22 |
2. | "Blackout" | 6:05 |
3. | "Tuch Me" | 5:07 |
4. | "French Kiss" | 6:02 |
5. | "Wargames" | 3:04 |
6. | "6 A.M." | 3:47 |
7. | "Nyce & Slo" | 5:32 |
8. | "Insecure" | 6:23 |
9. | "The Luv U Wanted" | 4:36 |
10. | "Brittany" | 2:32 |
11. | "Lil Tanya" | 2:35 |
House is a music genre characterized by a repetitive four-on-the-floor beat and a typical tempo of 120 beats per minute. It was created by DJs and music producers from Chicago's underground club culture in the late 1970s, as DJs began altering disco songs to give them a more mechanical beat.
Ambient house is a subgenre of house music that first emerged in the late 1980s, combining elements of acid house and ambient music.
Lovegod is an album by the Soup Dragons, released in 1990. Four songs from the album were released as singles—"Backwards Dog", "Crotch Deep Trash", "Mother Universe" and "I'm Free". The latter, a cover of a Rolling Stones cut from their 1965 album Out of Our Heads, made the top 5 in the UK charts. First pressings did not include "I'm Free", but it was subsequently placed first on the re-release, which also dates to 1990.
Marvin Burns, known by his stage name Li'l Louis, is a Chicago-born house-music producer and DJ. He scored a number of hits on the Billboard Hot Dance Music/Club Play chart in the 1980s and 1990s, three of which hit #1.
Joi Cardwell is an American singer-songwriter, author, holistic health coach. Born and raised in New York City, she performed in various singing competitions as a child and rose to fame in the early 1990s as a guest vocalist for Lil Louis on the number 1 Dance singles "Club Lonely" and "Saved My Life". The release of Cardwell's debut album, The World Is Full of Trouble (1995), established her as a solo artist worldwide and featured the Billboard Dance top-five singles number-one singles "Jump for Joi" and "Love & Devotion". Her second album, Joi Cardwell (1997), spawned the top-charting singles "Soul to Bare", "Run to You", and "Found Love".
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"Not Over Yet" is a song by British dance act Grace. Originally released to clubs in 1993, under the band name State of Grace, it was re-released in 1995 as the first single from their only album, If I Could Fly (1996). It peaked at number six on the UK Singles Chart and reached number-one on the US Billboard Hot Dance Music/Club Play chart. Lead vocals and backing vocals were performed by singer Patti Low. In 1995, the lead vocals were replaced by new frontwoman and singer, Dominique Atkins for the album release, although Low's backing vocals remained in place. This Atkins/Low combination appeared on all subsequent re-releases and remixes of the track. The woman who appear in the accompanying music video is Low.
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"French Kiss" is a techno club hit by American DJ and record producer Lil Louis that became a European and American hit in 1989, despite being banned by the BBC. The song also was a hit in clubs around the world and it spent two weeks at number one on the US Billboard Dance Club Songs chart in October 1989. It became a crossover pop hit, peaking at number 50 on the Billboard Hot 100. It was also a mainstream pop hit in the United Kingdom, where it peaked at number two in August 1989.
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