![]() ![]() Songs on the album also include British violinist Vanessa-Mae, Canadian singer-songwriter Joni Mitchell and American rapper Q-Tip as featured artists. The record was co-written and co-produced by Jackson, her then-husband René Elizondo Jr., Jimmy Jam and Terry Lewis, with additional contributions by various songwriters. Its incorporation of social issues regarding sexual orientation and combating homophobia also established her reputation as a gay icon and received the GLAAD Media Award for Outstanding Music. Due to its sexually explicit content, the album reinforced Jackson's public image as a sex symbol and as one of the most erotic vocalists of the 1990s. It also encompasses themes of sexuality, including BDSM, sexual orientation and same-sex relationships. Its lyrics address subject matter such as depression, self-worth, social networking, and domestic violence. Its title is a metaphor for emotional boundaries, as well as an allusion to an individual's need to feel special. She in turn developed her new record as a concept album, using introspection as its theme. Upon experiencing an emotional breakdown, Jackson began facing a long-term case of depression. Prior to its release, she renegotiated her contract with Virgin for US$80 million, the largest recording contract in history at that time. The album was released on October 7, 1997, through Virgin Records. This is the fourth excellent recording from the Asheville, NC, based five piece band who described their own music as 'Appalachian honky tonk.' Give a listen to this or any of its predecessors and, like me, I'm sure you will agree that is an appropriate description, although as is usual with any brief phrase it sells short a band whose sound is much more expansive than the picture conjured up by honky tonk.The Velvet Rope is the sixth studio album by American singer Janet Jackson. I reviewed their previous album 'Me Oh My' in 2015 and made it one of my favourite albums of the year and reading back through that 'rave' review most of what I said then can be applied to this new recording. The songwriting alone, all of it from the pen of Amanda Anne Platt, stretches the scope of this recording beyond a standard honky tonk format. She is completely unafraid to tackle difficult aspects in and around love found and love lost with her incredibly descriptive writing style that opens up the emotions to the listener as if their own. Listening to the lyrics you can't help but hope most of the stories are fictitious and hopefully not from her own life, such is the depth of some of the sadness. Much of that recognition, at least in my opinion, is due to the beautifully feminine but also powerfully manipulative vocals of Amanda who seems able to handle any tempo or variety of emotions with a completely natural flair and lack of self consciousness.Īdd the four men who help give her songs a life of their own and you have a band that are so original many now recognize their unique sound. ![]() The lineup has remained the same, consisting of Amanda Anne Platt on lead vocals and acoustic guitar, Tal Taylor, mandolin, Matt Smith, pedal steel and resonator guitars, Rick Cooper on acoustic and electric bass and harmony vocals with Josh Milligan on drums, percussion and harmony vocals. The only real change in the lineup is that on their previous album 'Me Oh My' production credits went solely to Amanda whereas on this recording she joined forces with Tim Surrett, legendary bass player and much in demand bluegrass player who has worked with many other legends of the genre. ![]() Overall things have changed little but there is a powerful confidence and a completely natural openness to their sound, something I suspect Tim has encouraged, after all this is a band that needs no artifice thanks to their abundant talents.īlue besides opens with a chunky percussion intro that is soon joined by melodic guitar and the plaintive steel guitar with Amanda's wistful vocal eventually accompanied by the mandolin on a gorgeous song about the various shades of love. ![]()
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