JENS GAD & RUTH-ANN BOYLE
Ruth-Ann (formerly lead singer of the UK trip-hop band, Olive) has had a long delayed solo album in the works. Back in January, it was said to be released sometime this year. Now, sadly, it seems we’ll have to wait until ‘06 to hear what her and Michael Cretu (of Enigma fame) have dreamed up. I loved Olive. 1997’s EXTRA VIRGIN is a seminal album for me; I consider it one of the finest CDs of its genre. Olive’s second album, TRICKLE, was a bit of a downer but it had a few stunners on it, namely the gorgeous Love Affair. Ruth-Ann has done several guest vocal stints on Enigma albums, including Boum-Boum and Following the Sun (off VOYAGEUR) and Gravity of Love and Silence Must Be Heard (off THE SCREEN BEHIND THE MIRROR). She’s also guested on tracks for the French house group, Kojak. Yes, I have it bad for the sound of her voice.
Funny that I should mention Enigma, as another producer who worked with her and Cretu by the name of Jens Gad has 4 tracks he’s recorded with Ruth-Ann… but they are just sitting unreleased for some unknown reason (well, unknown to me!). I tried contacting him but got a very generic response. Seeing as how the four songs are only short samples and I can’t make them available for download, I’ve strung them together and posted them in the sidebar music player. Hopefully, you’ll hear what I hear: a fantastic and refined sound. They don’t seem unfinished really, do they? The four tracks (in order) are: “Daydreaming”, “Lightspeed”, “Sign of Love” and “The Calling”. [You can find these snippets under listen > pop projects at gadmusic.com.]
I can’t tell you have many times during the course of this year I’ve listen to this 2:20 compilation pretending it was one whole track. I really, really like what I hear on all four songs. It’s maddening to think that they’re just languishing somewhere on a disc in his studio. So here’s where we see if we, the people, have any true power: Let’s deluge Jens with email requests to release these tracks either digitally or on CD. Use the contact form at gadmusic.com to tell him you like what you hear and ask him when can we hear the rest of these tracks!
5 comments October 20th, 2005