HEAD OVER HEELS ISN'T QUITE...

Head Over Heels by Paula Abdul

In reviewing Paula Abdul's career, one might be tempted to say that she burst on the scene in 1988 with the smash album Forever Your Girl. Indeed, that album and its extremely sensuous videos catapulted Abdul's career like no new artist could ever hope to expect. By the time the singles were done spinning onto radio stations and in dance clubs, Abdul charted four number one singles and a number three single. That is off the debut album, folks.

We are talking Michael Jackson and Beatles chart territory.

But Paula Abdul had been seemingly born for stardom after first being a Los Angeles Lakers cheerleader and then a leading choreographer for the Tracey Ullman Show and Janet Jackson's Control video among others. When the music industry learned that the pretty dancer could sing, they fell all over themselves creating an album event. The songwriting was top-notch; the production was solid, artists like Babyface, Pebbles and studio musician extraordinaire Glenn Ballard all contributed. With that support, Forever Your Girl was destined for greatness.

Her follow-up album yielded another five hit singles, including two number ones, and the young diva-wannabe's career seemed assured. Blessed with good looks, an incredible talent for choreography and dancing and the ability to put over a pop-laden dance tune, the then thirty-year-old Abdul married actor Emilio Estevez in 1992 and took several years off from making records. The time was right for a vacation. In the preceding three and a half years, Abdul had scored a total of eight top 20 singles and spent a total of 15 weeks out of a possible 175 weeks in the number one singles position.

In a series of plot twists worthy of VH-1's Behind The Music, Abdul found her life crumbling. A well publicized lawsuit alleged that Abdul had not cut the majority of vocals on her first breakthrough album. She divorced Estevez after only two years and announced that she suffered from an eating disorder. Fresh from winning her lawsuit, she entered the studio to cut her third studio album, Head Over Heels.

Overall, this album features a much more robust sound than her earlier albums. Abdul will never be considered a world-class vocalist, but she knows how to put a song over. Unfortunately, while the production values on this album are lusher than her previous efforts, the songwriting is not as rich and the hook-laden hits were nowhere to be found. Critics initially found the updated Abdul sound more pleasing, but the album suffered from lack of a serious hit (only My Love Is For Real broke out as a hit and it settled at #26) and audiences didn't buy the album in the record in the millions that they had purchased her previous efforts.

That was five years ago and another album has not been forthcoming even though Abdul is still a very young 38. A new one may never come, however, so let's take a listen cut-by-cut to this most mature of the Abdul albums:

Crazy Cool - This was a song destined for radio from the first beats. Unfortunately, program directors and radio services didn't quite see it that way. A pleasant guitar riff akin to a toned-down Superstition leads into the dance cut. The guitar is courtesy of Oliver Leiber and no review of Abdul's work can exclude him. Leiber was the genius behind much of Forever Your Girl and now works with The Corrs. He has that beautiful Clapton-esque ability to play a powerful melodic lead that doesn't overwhelm the song unless it is meant to. The vocals are adequate, but as they are throughout the album, somewhat uninspired. Think of a laid-back Madonna vocal track and you have the bead on Abdul's work on Head Over Heels. Her vocal dynamics were innocent on the first album, sultry on the second, but pedestrian here.

My Love Is For Real - The bona-fide hit on the album opens with a Middle Eastern tinge before erupting into world dance music. Despite her name, Abdul is not Arabic, but an American born of Brazilian and Canadian parents. The Middle Eastern sound here comes courtesy of Ofra Haza, who was Israel's leading pop singer at the time. Haza went on to cut several solo albums with folks like Don Was and sang with groups like Sisters of Mercy. The sitar that twangs against the synthesized drums compete with Hafa, and Abdul's vocals to make a beautiful song; without a doubt the best on the album. Sadly, Hafa died earlier this year from AIDS-related complications.

Ain't Never Gonna Give You Up - Unlike Cher, Abdul was not able to update a doo-wop sound over a dance cut. She tries valiantly here, but there are Motown, doo-wop, and 80s dance elements all battling for supremacy. They end up canceling each other out and the listener is left with a "nice" song that is uninspiring.

Love Don't Come Easy - And this song doesn't end fast enough. There is really not a lot here. Think of Gloria Estefan lite. Abdul does not have as much vocal power, the background vocals are more subdued and the synths and horns are very understated. What passes for a hook is in the double tracking of the vocals in the chorus and several staccato notes. This song is thoroughly mediocre.

If I Were Your Girl - I like this cut a lot although I really can't tell you much in the way of recommendation. We all have favorite songs that aren't very special but hit us exactly right. Friends and family wonder at your choice when you enthusiastically burble, "Isn't that great?" The kinder ones will allow that the song is pleasant enough; others will simply say, "You know, you're really weird". This is a ballad with a percussion track that is mixed far too high. The song's redeeming quality is in Abdul's vocal, which is one of her strongest ever - at least in terms of dynamics. She's never going to sing opera or even match Whitney Houston note for note, but she puts this song over well. And darn it, I like it a lot. If you are nice, you'll say it's pleasant enough.

Sexy Thoughts - One could argue that the title is redundant because Paula Abdul is quite capable of inspiring lurid thoughts on her own. What the song really does is try to recapture the naughtiness of the first album's Cold Hearted, which spent four months on the charts and topped out at #1. This song misses copying that hit's success on virtually every front. For some reason, the producer mixed in a single rap counterpoint and let the male backing vocals chant the word "sexy" under the tinny keyboards. Yuck.

The Choice Is Yours - Think of a really bad DeBarge album cut here to capture the flavor. The drums still thump with a nice dance beat, but the vocals are weak and the chanted chorus is the laziest hook on the album. Having Abdul groan and moan over the chorus is not only lame counterpoint, but actually becomes more annoying on repeated listening.

Ho-Down - This song features some of the terrific production I mentioned before. What starts out as a scratchy jazz recording segues into a girl group chorus and then into a light rap that almost qualifies as scat. Of the songs on Head Over Heels, this cut comes closest to approaching the sounds on Forever Your Girl. The rap is of the lightweight variety that launched Will Smith's career and this song was released in 1995, not 1985, so the public didn't exactly embrace the song, particularly when the trumpet, trombones and other horns interrupt the dance for a jazz bridge. I've always been a fan of abrupt style changes, however, so I like this cut a lot.

Under The Influence - We have another forgettable dance cut on the horizon. I would advise you to hit the fast forward button on your listening device of choice, but there's a terrific rock undercurrent here that redeems the song. Thank Oliver Leiber again. He not only arranges wah-wah guitars, but an electric sitar that perfectly blends into the mix.

I Never Knew It - Out of this album, one of the things you don't expect to hear is late 1960s-early 1970s pop a la Burt Bacharach. I am a sucker for old pop so I also like this song, but it is so out of place here that most listeners will be jarred. Red-hot producer Darryl Simmons wrote the song. Yes, he is the same one who produced Dru Hill's Enter The Dru, TLC's Fanmail and a bunch others. He is one of the best record producers working today and this is a pleasant up-tempo ballad. An album of these would have been pretty. Mixed in with the dance cuts, however, the effect is harsh.

Get Your Groove On - You were waiting for me to say it; so here we go. FAST FORWARD. There's not a lot here to listen to. This is the album's forgettable cut with absolutely nothing to distinguish it or deserve more than a cursory listen.

Missing You - This is another pretty ballad, but with an updated enough sound to avoid following on the heels of I Never Knew It. Bernadette Cooper, who as a songwriter was one of Klymaxx's mainstays and has worked with Teena Marie, penned this very sweet song. The sound is identical to the one that Klymaxx used to have regular chart hits with, down to an overproduced string track that mercifully is not overdubbed. This song could have been a hit, even in 1995, and I'm still surprised that it was unreleased.

It's All About Feeling Good - Or it is all about recycling sounds from the first two albums. Again, weak lyrics and a pedestrian vocal arrangement mar this song. Earth, Wind & Fire was making this sound (complete with disco swirls) 20 years before Abdul began recording this song.

Cry For Me - This is another song that should have been released as a single. Next to My Love Is For Real, this cut is the strongest on the album. Abdul's vocals are strong, the lyrics are pretty and even the luxuriant strings don't seem overdone on this song. Bassist Tim Miner, who has written for Al Green, Dionne Warwick and Ce Ce Peniston brings his feel good contemporary gospel/R&B sound to Abdul and she shines in this number. The song is a lavish one with which to end the album and causes one to wonder if dance was really the right direction on which to focus Abdul's efforts.

The Bottom Line, Skips and All

So we are left with a decidedly mixed bag of songs. You should buy this album because there are several terrific songs you will never hear if you don't. Clearly, if you're loo king for the Paula Abdul dance hits, you will want to buy Forever Your Girl. The ballads are on the second album, Spellbound. What this album offers is a mix of both without excelling in either. Throughout the album, the listener is tantalized with hints and flashes of someone who could once again be a substantial mainstream Top 40 artist. There is a greatest hits package out now that will satisfy most fans.

Others will take Abdul's advice and see if they can fall head over heels themselves.