A blonde bombshell in her own right but owner of a really good set of vocal pipes, in the mid-Eighies singer MARILYN MARTIN was ready to be the next American rock&pop star.
After doing backing vocals for many big names including Stevie Nicks, Don Henley, Tom Petty and Kenny Loggins, Marilyn got the chance to record the song ‘Sorcerer’ for the ’84 Streets Of Fire movie soundtrack. Next, she did a duet with Phil Collins on ‘Separate Lives’, the love theme for another film, ‘White Nights’. The single was #1 in the USA and Marilyn Martin got a record contract with Atlantic Records.
“Marilyn Martin“, her self-titled debut is a glossy, big major label production with many renowned names in this matter involved, including Phil Ramone (Richard Marx), Arif Mardin (Queen), Jon Astley (Eric Clapton) behing the desk, and even John Parr producing one track.
Despite the slick, at times high-tech sonic approach, this album has a ‘rocking’ background with strong arrangements and superb session musicians participating. Although none is mentioned in the credits, a young Reb Beach and Dann Huff among other talented cats recorded here. So expect excellent musicianship.
Alongside the commercial tunes with a synth-pop direction, you have really great songs like the AORish ‘Beauty And The Beast’ (the John Parr produced track), midtempo ‘Too Much Too Soon’, ‘Wildest Dreams’ or the pumping ‘Night Moves’, which entered in the Billboard Top 40.
Despite the record good sales – as her second, appeared in 1988 – Marilyn Martin’s success turned out to be short-lived, being dropped by Atlantic.
“Marilyn Martin” only was released on CD in Japan. There is a Wounded Bird Records reissue from some years ago, but only features the original LP 10 tracks. This Japanese Edition expands with 2 bonus tracks, including the 1985 duet ‘Separate Lives’ – and the sound quality is excellent.
Additionally, we added two extras; the really cool Streets Of Fire OST song ‘Sorcerer’, and a quite rare track recorded by Marilyn Martin for one of Tatsuro Yamashita’s projects, a disc only released in Japan.
A true ’80s sounding album.
01 – Body and the Beat
02 – Night Moves
03 – Too Much Too Soon
04 – Turn It On
05 – Thank You (Japan Bonus Track)
06 – One Step Closer
07 – Beauty or the Beast
08 – Move Closer
09 – The Dream Is Always the Same
10 – Here Is the News
11 – Wildest Dreams
12 – Separate Lives (White Nights OST) (Japan Bonus Track)
MARILYN MARTIN – Marilyn Martin [Japan release +2 bonus] (1986) , MP3+FLAC
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