JANE CHILD - JANE CHILD

I discovered Jane Child through a late night music video program years ago.  I saw the video for 'Don't Wanna Fall In Love' and I was hooked.  I loved the song and I thought Jane was a strange, exotic creature I desperately wanted to know.  I loved the 80's.  People were so creative about the way they looked.  It was sometimes hard to find a look that one could claim as their own and Jane did it with her hair and nose to ear chain.  

I saved up some money and bought the cassette for this record and loved it.  I listened to this record almost non-stop for quite some time.  I remember alternating this one with Prince's "Graffiti Bridge".  The reason I mention this is because that was one of the selling points her record company used to promote her.  They called her the female Prince.  I didn't see the comparison.  True, Jane played all of her own instruments and wrote all of her own songs.  As far as I know she was also largely responsible for the recording of the album as well.  That does resemble Prince, but Jane wasn't the dancer, performer Prince was.  In her videos, she wasn't dancing intricately or displaying the same degree of showmanship.  Another difference is the type of music the two were creating.  Jane's music was mostly electronic whereas Prince recorded using live takes on everything rather than programmed motifs assembled in a computer program like cakewalk. 

But I digress.  Let me be perfectly clear, the differences between Child and Prince don't really matter because I didn't equate the two in my mind.  And I love this record.

Ultimately, Child is an eclectic combination of interesting lyrics, sensible pop melodies and operatic power vocals.  She screams, soars and drives up and down scales with the force of a hurricane.  To say she's a powerful and strong voice doesn't do her justice.

As I've grown older, song ideas have recirculated and I've heard some of her stuff appear again in other material, but for me at that age, I remember being completely blown away with 'You're My Religion Now'...  How a person could become the focus of your devotion and life to the same extent a religion could.  As an indoctrinated youth, my religion was present in virtually every aspect of my life.  Having a person become such a powerful focus for me seemed like a dream, a desire and also frightening.  The loss of control you actually have when you're life is consumed by something like religion...  It thinks for you, makes your decisions and runs your life.  Wow...  A complicated subject.

I genuinely like this record all the way through.  'Don't Wanna Fall In Love' is probably my favorite track.  It's the sound I find I look for when I listen to her material.  She wrote an amazing pop record here and I wish she'd followed it up with more of the same.  Her next album was equally as brilliant, but it ventured into a more esoteric space.  It wasn't as accessible as this record.  I still think she's an under-rated musician and song writer.  I'd love to hear more from her and I wonder all the time where she's gone.

My final words:  AN EPIC POP ALBUM FROM AN INTERESTING AND TALENTED ARTIST!

JANE CHILD - JANE CHILD
01. Welcome To The Real World
02. I Got News For You
03. Don't Let It Get To You
04. Don't Wanna Fall In Love
05. You're My Religion Now
06. Hey Mr. Jones
07. Biology
08. DS 21
09. World Lullabye
10. Thank You