It was over a year, since the release of her Diana Ross cover version of The Boss, that we were waiting patiently for her brand new album to be released and finally, after two orders, one delayed, a cancellation and some more time to fly it from US to France, Kristine W(Weitz)'s new CD The Power of Music has arrived in my post.
It's a beautiful digipack independantly released on her label Fly again Music with booklet but I wish we could have had full lyrics over lines and lines of endless thank you's... But over a digital download, we've got the credits and after i put it in my CD player and took a look at it, I saw it'd be heaven on earth : top remixers/producers Hex Hector and Love To Infinity produced half of it !
First surprise, the CD starts with a rock guitar riff on the new single Be alright, a not that dance -rather rock- mid-tempo and one of the three Hex Hector productions in a row. He co-produced the threes with Sean Ensign's producer Pete Masitti and I don't recognize their solo touches. Miss Weitz's influence must have led them somewhere else than their usual sound. The power of music follows, still with too much guitars for my tastes, an intro rap by Big Daddy Kane, and an overall rock R&B feeling... I'm starting to fear for what's more to come. Thankfully the third one, Into U get it all started with some disco-pop production and, even if I don't find it sounding like a Hex Hector production, I like how it sounds, with some nice overdubs à la Stock Aitken Waterman by bits. It will need more punch if released as a single but Kristine W always commission LOADS of remixes for her single releases so I wish Into U will get some.
Time then for some Love To Infinity taster with previous single Never, starting all disco-dance with usual LTI keyboards before roaring diva vocal and pumping rhythm like the Lee brothers are known and called for. This time, they've stayed true to themselves and Never is a pure hands-in-the-air joyful anthem, which is my guilty pleasure. I can never get enough of these kind of tracks. I'd have been in 7th heaven if all of her CD have sounded like that ! There is more UK cheese to come but first 3 other producers share the three following tracks.
An accappella intro starts Not so merry go round, which is co-written and produced by Tony Coluccio and I waited until first chorus for some additional rhythm and beats to be added to the ballad ...but none came. We're all here into fairy music that could have been featured in some Broadway musical : nice and sweet, with good vocal performance and delicate piano but odd just after Never's clubbin' sounds, as if Kristine wanted to blow hot and cold into our ears. Fade's slow intro lets us know that this time there's gonna be a dance development and Chico Di Cicco's production doesn't disappoint : It's an uplifting anthem with some acoustic guitar giving a latin vibe to it though. Kristine's 2007 collaboration with Tony Moran follows but re-recorded with DJ Escape & Tony Coluccio. Walk away sound smore organic than the original version but doesn't lose a single drop of energy.
Same applies for following re-working of one the diva's old classics, Feel what you want, first of four new Love To Infinity productions in a row. Next are previous singles The boss and Love is the look. The Diana Ross anthem is magnified with beautiful vocals and pumping rhythm, and fully deserved its success in the club. Love is the look itself could easily become a new classic. Penned alone by Miss Weitz, all hands-in-the-air musical joy & pure energy, it stands like another milestone in her career made of club hits around the world. The UK series ends with new song Window to your world and the magic lasts one track more : I'm deep in Club heaven with these 6 songs one after the other.
The fall is hard ! Strings gets us back on earth with a raw solo violin before the song turns into a slow mid-tempo, all acoustic although produced by usual dance remixer Mr. Mig. Once again penned by Kristine alone (shall I say nearly all songs here are co-written by her too), we're this time led to some intemporal musical place that builds up little by little into an uplifting calm anthem where her voices shows off and shines. Not that bad after all... Didn't we need a little rest after all these dancings? Do you really want me gets a phat beat back for a very rythmic and again electro-rock/R&B fusion. Kristine even raps a little in the break and it's OK, though not a song I'd like to see become a single from here.
The groove's inside gets the good ol' disco-dance/house vibes back in with a production by the Virgo Brothers and I feel this one has all it takes to become part of this beautiful singles' remix collection of her. To me, this one has the most memorable and appealing chorus of all the non-single tracks here so I hope it'll become one soon. Happiness follows still with breezy organic instrumentation but good club rhythms and a nice "you are my happiness" chorus line. I don't click though with it as a single potential. It's a nice album track though. The CD's last track (#16!) is produced by DJ Escape & Tony Collucio again and Meet again brings on the perfect message for us all fans : with albums like that, surely we will meet Kristine W again, in our CD player, in our club, in our Youtube favourites, etc.
So what to say? Yes, there are a couple of tracks that are not full-on club anthems... but that's Kristine's world too, to put the path down a little and get romantic or inspirational. There may be a little too much rock-sounding guitars on some tracks too (like the ones that finish Meet again) but that makes a change from other usual dance productions. The only BIG let-down that I find in this album is ...that the two bonus tracks are digital-only !
I will never understand why the extra tracks are not given to those who still purchase the music physically ? It would have been a nice present to have them both on CD instead of not having them here and being induced to download them online to complete this album's tracklisting on PC & iPod ...for both of them are absolute must-haves!
I'm coming out is another Diana Ross cover version (you would have bet!) and this song sounds like a special dedication from Kristine W to all her hardcore fans and gay audience. It would have pleased me more if it have featured Love To Infinity production like The Boss because it doesn't sound like them (if somebody out there knows who produced these two bonus tracks, tell me!).
Then comes All in and this one surely samples C+C Music Factory : everyone with recognize the trademark riff Clivillés & Cole used on their first album. Kristine shares the lead with a rapper that makes it sound even more like a tribute to C+C that featured divas on chorus vocals and Freedom Williams on rap. The result is appealing and I can't get enough of it!
This time, the album (her fourth or fifth if you count an obscure one at the start of her career) is over. All we need now is further singles from it, with their usual package of remixes, full lenghths as well as radio edits (THANKS!!!).
It's a beautiful digipack independantly released on her label Fly again Music with booklet but I wish we could have had full lyrics over lines and lines of endless thank you's... But over a digital download, we've got the credits and after i put it in my CD player and took a look at it, I saw it'd be heaven on earth : top remixers/producers Hex Hector and Love To Infinity produced half of it !
First surprise, the CD starts with a rock guitar riff on the new single Be alright, a not that dance -rather rock- mid-tempo and one of the three Hex Hector productions in a row. He co-produced the threes with Sean Ensign's producer Pete Masitti and I don't recognize their solo touches. Miss Weitz's influence must have led them somewhere else than their usual sound. The power of music follows, still with too much guitars for my tastes, an intro rap by Big Daddy Kane, and an overall rock R&B feeling... I'm starting to fear for what's more to come. Thankfully the third one, Into U get it all started with some disco-pop production and, even if I don't find it sounding like a Hex Hector production, I like how it sounds, with some nice overdubs à la Stock Aitken Waterman by bits. It will need more punch if released as a single but Kristine W always commission LOADS of remixes for her single releases so I wish Into U will get some.
Time then for some Love To Infinity taster with previous single Never, starting all disco-dance with usual LTI keyboards before roaring diva vocal and pumping rhythm like the Lee brothers are known and called for. This time, they've stayed true to themselves and Never is a pure hands-in-the-air joyful anthem, which is my guilty pleasure. I can never get enough of these kind of tracks. I'd have been in 7th heaven if all of her CD have sounded like that ! There is more UK cheese to come but first 3 other producers share the three following tracks.
An accappella intro starts Not so merry go round, which is co-written and produced by Tony Coluccio and I waited until first chorus for some additional rhythm and beats to be added to the ballad ...but none came. We're all here into fairy music that could have been featured in some Broadway musical : nice and sweet, with good vocal performance and delicate piano but odd just after Never's clubbin' sounds, as if Kristine wanted to blow hot and cold into our ears. Fade's slow intro lets us know that this time there's gonna be a dance development and Chico Di Cicco's production doesn't disappoint : It's an uplifting anthem with some acoustic guitar giving a latin vibe to it though. Kristine's 2007 collaboration with Tony Moran follows but re-recorded with DJ Escape & Tony Coluccio. Walk away sound smore organic than the original version but doesn't lose a single drop of energy.
Same applies for following re-working of one the diva's old classics, Feel what you want, first of four new Love To Infinity productions in a row. Next are previous singles The boss and Love is the look. The Diana Ross anthem is magnified with beautiful vocals and pumping rhythm, and fully deserved its success in the club. Love is the look itself could easily become a new classic. Penned alone by Miss Weitz, all hands-in-the-air musical joy & pure energy, it stands like another milestone in her career made of club hits around the world. The UK series ends with new song Window to your world and the magic lasts one track more : I'm deep in Club heaven with these 6 songs one after the other.
The fall is hard ! Strings gets us back on earth with a raw solo violin before the song turns into a slow mid-tempo, all acoustic although produced by usual dance remixer Mr. Mig. Once again penned by Kristine alone (shall I say nearly all songs here are co-written by her too), we're this time led to some intemporal musical place that builds up little by little into an uplifting calm anthem where her voices shows off and shines. Not that bad after all... Didn't we need a little rest after all these dancings? Do you really want me gets a phat beat back for a very rythmic and again electro-rock/R&B fusion. Kristine even raps a little in the break and it's OK, though not a song I'd like to see become a single from here.
The groove's inside gets the good ol' disco-dance/house vibes back in with a production by the Virgo Brothers and I feel this one has all it takes to become part of this beautiful singles' remix collection of her. To me, this one has the most memorable and appealing chorus of all the non-single tracks here so I hope it'll become one soon. Happiness follows still with breezy organic instrumentation but good club rhythms and a nice "you are my happiness" chorus line. I don't click though with it as a single potential. It's a nice album track though. The CD's last track (#16!) is produced by DJ Escape & Tony Collucio again and Meet again brings on the perfect message for us all fans : with albums like that, surely we will meet Kristine W again, in our CD player, in our club, in our Youtube favourites, etc.
So what to say? Yes, there are a couple of tracks that are not full-on club anthems... but that's Kristine's world too, to put the path down a little and get romantic or inspirational. There may be a little too much rock-sounding guitars on some tracks too (like the ones that finish Meet again) but that makes a change from other usual dance productions. The only BIG let-down that I find in this album is ...that the two bonus tracks are digital-only !
I will never understand why the extra tracks are not given to those who still purchase the music physically ? It would have been a nice present to have them both on CD instead of not having them here and being induced to download them online to complete this album's tracklisting on PC & iPod ...for both of them are absolute must-haves!
I'm coming out is another Diana Ross cover version (you would have bet!) and this song sounds like a special dedication from Kristine W to all her hardcore fans and gay audience. It would have pleased me more if it have featured Love To Infinity production like The Boss because it doesn't sound like them (if somebody out there knows who produced these two bonus tracks, tell me!).
Then comes All in and this one surely samples C+C Music Factory : everyone with recognize the trademark riff Clivillés & Cole used on their first album. Kristine shares the lead with a rapper that makes it sound even more like a tribute to C+C that featured divas on chorus vocals and Freedom Williams on rap. The result is appealing and I can't get enough of it!
This time, the album (her fourth or fifth if you count an obscure one at the start of her career) is over. All we need now is further singles from it, with their usual package of remixes, full lenghths as well as radio edits (THANKS!!!).
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