Pop music
A dedicated lot
Marcus Berkmann
You can tell that Alison Moyet is an altogether more cheerful and confident soul these days, and not just by listening to her new album. Hoodoo (Columbia) is indeed a more adventurous and energetic recording than we have come to expect from the Basildon songthrush, but what really gives it away is Miss Moyet's own sleeve-note, which can be found secreted under the usual lists of exotic studios and whoever played third rhythm bassoon on the fourth track of side one. 'This one's for you, Alison,' she writes, with obvious feel- ing. 'Kiss kiss kiss . . . mmmm thank you very much.'
It does of course make great sense to dedicate your record to the one person without whom it could not conceivably have been made. But most artists these days are less direct. Instead they prefer to thank 'everyone involved in making this record' — musicians, engineers, assistant engineers, attorneys, bodyguards, PR staff, parents, wives, ex-wives, offspring, man- agers' wives and families, old schoolfriends whom they haven't seen for a few years, recently deceased relatives (usually in larg- er type with a black border), aerobics teachers, chauffeurs, drug dealers, Alcoholics Anonymous and of course God. Some get carried away and thank entire countries.
Of course, sleeve-notes have been around for quite a while — about as long as sleeves, in fact. 'Tonight will not swing,' wrote Stan Cornyn for Frank Sinatra's
September Of My Years album, 'Tonight is for serious.' And over the years thousands of worthy scribes have sucked up to their favourite musicians by writing suitably po- faced notes for their latest recordings. Of losie' on Steely Dan's timeless Aja album Michael Phalen was unequivocal: 'This sociopathic jump tune is sure to become a classic zebra in the annals of punkadelia.' To this day, 14 years on, teams of scientists are still trying to work out what he was on about.
Nowadays, though, worthy scribes have been declared redundant, and sleeve-notes are written by the people who make the actual records. This certainly makes them more intelligible, but sadly does not usually make them more intelligent. Fortunately some performers, such as the distinguished croaker Rod Stewart, like to introduce a reflective note: 'Finally, to my wife, Rachel, who regrettably never met my father, but that's life.' Sting is perhaps the leading practitioner of this approach, writing lengthy explanations of his songs that range from the merely pretentious to the frankly bizarre. One tale, of the studious saver of rainforests being accosted one night by a staggering drunk on Highgate Hill and, in response, quoting a Shakespeare sonnet at him, has since entered rock legend.
Most pop stars, however, know their lim- itations and stick to a simple (if extensive) list of people to thank. This particular phe- nomenon appears to have started in soul music: Lionel Richie's early Eighties albums were notable trendsetters, first for the number of people thanked (74 by name on Can't Slow Down, as well as several fam- ilies and the entire staff of Motown Records) and also for their naked honesty (`To my business manager Leonard Freed- man: thanks for taking care of my money').
The advent of compact discs, with their 24-page booklets full of lyrics and retouched photos of the artist, has encour- aged this trend even further. The current album by Debbie Gibson, rosy-cheeked American teenage star, may break all records: 258 individuals are thanked, including Bros, the pool man and the peo- ple who deliver the doughnuts, over four and a half pages, consuming in the process an estimated 500 exclamation marks. Even Debbie's mother gets in on the act, with her own dedication to her beloved daugh- ter. 'As time goes on and you continue to grow, I can only say how proud I am. . . . ' No, I can't quote any more. Needless to say, it's a truly terrible record.
But if anyone has bettered Alison Moyet's contribution, it could only be Madonna. In Like A Prayer she exhorted everyone to practise safe sex (while doing amazingly rude things in the video with a religious icon that had come to life). And her recent compilation, The Immaculate Collection, she dedicated to none other than the Pope. It is as yet unknown whether His Holiness plans to return the compliment on his next album.
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