''Dewdrops in the Garden'' is the third and final studio album by American dance music band

Deee-Lite Deee-Lite was an American house and dance music group formed in New York City. The group's best-known single is "Groove Is in the Heart", which was released in 1990 from their debut studio album ''World Clique'' (1990), and was a top-ten hit in ...

, released in August 1994 via

Elektra Records Elektra Records (or Elektra Entertainment) is an American record label owned by Warner Music Group, founded in 1950 by Jac Holzman and Paul Rickolt. It played an important role in the development of contemporary folk and rock music between the 1 ...

. The album saw the group move away from the overtly political lyrical content of the previous album, shifting into themes of dance and intimacy with a heavier lean into

psychedelic music Psychedelic music (sometimes called psychedelia) is a wide range of popular music styles and genres influenced by 1960s psychedelia, a subculture of people who used psychedelic drugs such as LSD, psilocybin mushrooms, mescaline, and cannabis to ...

Background

At the time of the release of ''Dewdrops in the Garden'', Lady Kier had compared it to ''

Infinity Within ''Infinity Within'' is the second studio album by American house and club/dance group Deee-Lite. Released in 1992 on Elektra, the second album, through its lyrical content, instrumentation, and overall tone, showcases the band's political activi ...

'', saying: The album drew inspiration from Lady Kier's travels to the

Hopi The Hopi are a Native American ethnic group who primarily live on the Hopi Reservation in northeastern Arizona, United States. As of the 2010 census, there are 19,338 Hopi in the country. The Hopi Tribe is a sovereign nation within the Unite ...

ruins in the Painted Desert and pyramids in

Yucatán Yucatán (, also , , ; yua, Yúukatan ), officially the Free and Sovereign State of Yucatán,; yua, link=no, Xóot' Noj Lu'umil Yúukatan. is one of the 31 states which comprise the political divisions of Mexico, federal entities of Mexico. I ...

and Dmitry's travels to the

Grand Canyon The Grand Canyon (, yuf-x-yav, Wi:kaʼi:la, , Southern Paiute language: Paxa’uipi, ) is a steep-sided canyon carved by the Colorado River in Arizona, United States. The Grand Canyon is long, up to wide and attains a depth of over a m ...

and

Joshua Tree ''Yucca brevifolia'' is a plant species belonging to the genus ''Yucca''. It is tree-like in habit, which is reflected in its common names: Joshua tree, yucca palm, tree yucca, and palm tree yucca. This monocotyledonous tree is native to the ar ...

. The inspiration was clear in Lady Kier's description of the track "Music Selector is the Soul Reflector": Most of the work on ''Dewdrops in the Garden'' was done by Super DJ Dmitry and Lady Miss Kier joined by Kansan producer Ani Schempf (DJ Ani, also known as DJ On-E and DJ Ani Quinn).

Towa Tei is a Japanese artist, record producer, and DJ. Born in Yokohama, Japan, Towa debuted as a member of Deee-Lite, from the US label Elektra Records in 1990 and shot to fame via their international hit single, "Groove Is In the Heart". He made his s ...

had left the band to do some work on Japanese pop star

Nokko Nokko (born November 4, 1963) is a Japanese singer-songwriter, producer, and actress. She was the lead singer of the popular band "Rebecca," which had a string of hits in Japan in the 1980s. Nokko was born in Urawa, Saitama, as . Under her stag ...

's album and his own debut solo album ''

Future Listening! ''Future Listening!'' is the debut studio album by Japanese music producer Towa Tei, released on October 21, 1994 by For Life Music. It is Tei's first release after his departure from Deee-Lite. The album was released in the United States on Apr ...

'', and he was said to be back for the band's fourth album, which was never made. Even through his absence, Tei contributed various production to the tracks "Call Me", "Party Happening People", "DMT (Dance Music Trance)", and the "Funky Chunky Bonus Beats" portion of "What is This Music?". Shortly after the album's release, a companion album titled ''Dewdrops in the Remix'' containing four remixes of "Picnic in the Summertime," four mixes of "Bring Me Your Love," and six mixes of "Call Me" was released in Japan. "Bring Me Your Love" and "Call Me" became their last two number-one hits on the

Hot Dance Music/Club Play Dance Club Songs is a chart published weekly by ''Billboard'' magazine in the United States. It is a national look over of club disc jockeys to determine the most popular songs being played in nightclubs across the country. It was launched as th ...

chart.

Track listing

All tracks written by Deee-Lite. *The song "What is This Music?" ends at minute 0:29. After exactly four minutes of silence begins an untitled spoken word sample as a brief

hidden track In the field of recorded music, a hidden track (sometimes called a ghost track, secret track or unlisted track) is a song or a piece of audio that has been placed on a CD, audio cassette, LP record, or other recorded medium, in such a way as t ...

, beginning at 4:29 and ending at 4:39. After approximately two minutes of silence begins another hidden track—an instrumental song known as "Party Happening People (Funky Chunky Bonus Beats)", previously only released on an obscure 12" vinyl test pressing of "Party Happening People"—beginning at 6:41 and ending at 10:03. After a further two minutes of silence, the final hidden track begins, "Bring Me Your Love (Johnny Vicious Cosmic Isness Remix 1)" from the 12" vinyl release of "Bring Me Your Love", beginning at 12:03 and ending at 17:50, closing off both the track and the album.

Chart performance

Personnel

Deee-Lite

* Kierin Kirby – vocals *Dmitry Brill – keyboards, bass, drum programming, guitar, piano *

– drum programming (8, 14, 16), bass (8, 15), keyboards (8) *Ani Schempf – keyboards, drum programming, scratching (1, 6, 11, 12, 16)

Additional Personnel

*Chillblast – beatbox (1, 5, 15) *Joe Ruddick – keyboards (2, 7, 12) *

Kenny "Dope" Gonzales Kenny "Dope" Gonzalez (born July 5, 1970), also sometimes known as K-Dope, is an American record producer and disc jockey. He is one half of the classic house music Masters at Work musical production team with Little Louie Vega; and also releas ...

– keyboards (3) * "Little" Louie Vega – keyboards (3) *Angelica Galvez – additional vocals (1, 5) *Zhana Saunders – backing vocals (3) *

Johnny Vicious Johnny Vicious (born John Coles) is an American house DJ, producer and remixer. He DJed in New York City clubs Mars and Paladium in the 1980s, and in the early 1990s started his own label, Vicious Muzik Records, with Jeffrey Rodman. Vicious b ...

– remix (16)

Production

*Deee-Lite - arranger, mixing, producer * Armand Van Helden – digital editing *Fernando Aponte - mixing, assistant engineer *Robert Rives - mixing, assistant engineer *Brian Miller - assistant engineer *Jimmie Lee - assistant engineer *Steve Barkan - assistant engineer *Carlos Soul Slinger - assistant engineer *Rob Vaughan Merrick - assistant engineer *Heather "Aquasonic" Sommerfield - art direction *

Kier Kirby Kierin Magenta Kirby (aka Lady Miss Kier) is an American singer, songwriter, DJ, designer, fashion icon, and activist. During her career, Lady Miss Kier has been the vocalist for the band Deee-Lite, a disc jockey, and solo songwriter. She support ...

- art direction, design *Alli Truch - artwork *Rex Ray - design *Joshua Jordan - photography *James Minchin III - additional photography *Tom Pitts - additional photography *Nancy Jeffries - executive producer *Rick Essig - mastering *Reese Williams - additional production

References

{{Authority control Deee-Lite albums 1994 albums Elektra Records albums Funk albums by American artists