''Sleep It Off'' is the second album from no wave pop singer

Cristina Cristina is a female given name, and it is also a surname. Notable people with the name include: Given name *Cristina (daughter of Edward the Exile), 11th-century English princess *Cristina (singer), Cristina Monet-Palaci (1956–2020), American s ...

Music

''Sleep It Off'' was produced by

Don Was Don Edward Fagenson (born September 13, 1952), known professionally as Don Was, is an American musician, record producer and record executive. Primarily a bass player, Was co-founded the funk-rock band Was (Not Was). In later years he produced s ...

. The songs were written by Cristina (all lyrics, except for the covers) collaborating with Was and her backing musicians,

Barry Reynolds Barry Reynolds (born 27 October 1949, in Bolton, Lancashire) is a British guitar player, songwriter, composer and producer, best known for his long-lasting collaboration with Marianne Faithfull. Reynolds first emerged with the band Pacific Drift ...

and Ben Brierley (from

Marianne Faithfull Marianne Evelyn Gabriel Faithfull (born 29 December 1946) is an English singer and actress. She achieved popularity in the 1960s with the release of her hit single " As Tears Go By" and became one of the lead female artists during the British I ...

's band), and Doug Fieger (from

The Knack The Knack was an American rock band based in Los Angeles that rose to fame with its first single, "My Sharona", an international number-one hit in 1979. History Founding (1977–1978) Singer Doug Fieger was a native of Oak Park, Michigan, a no ...

). The music is beat-laden, sophisticated synth-pop, setting Was's detailed production against Cristina's expressive but sometimes less-than-perfect, cynical No Wave vocal style. At times the music is reminiscent of Blondie, or

Madonna Madonna Louise Ciccone (; ; born August 16, 1958) is an American singer-songwriter and actress. Widely dubbed the " Queen of Pop", Madonna has been noted for her continual reinvention and versatility in music production, songwriting, a ...

, and it does not forget the decadent disco of Cristina's eponymous debut. opinion)ref name=Pitchfork /> Chris Connelly describes a record that is a "grimly hilarious gavotte through the upscale decadence of the titled apocalypso" with an effect "somewhere between Marianne Faithfull and the

Flying Lizards The Flying Lizards were an experimental English new wave band, formed in 1976. They are best known for their eccentric cover version of Barrett Strong's "Money", featuring Deborah Evans-Stickland on lead vocals, which reached the UK and US re ...

ut withmusic more enjoyable than either". The three cover songs on the record span a wide range: the R&B of Van Morrison's "Blue Money", Brecht and Weill's "Ballad of Immoral Earnings" from the

Threepenny Opera ''The Threepenny Opera'' ( ) is a "play with music" by Bertolt Brecht, adapted from a translation by Elisabeth Hauptmann of John Gay's 18th-century English ballad opera, ''The Beggar's Opera'', and four ballads by François Villon, with music b ...

, and

John Conlee John is a common English name and surname: * John (given name) * John (surname) John may also refer to: New Testament Works * Gospel of John, a title often shortened to John * First Epistle of John, often shortened to 1 John * Second E ...

's country hit "She Can't Say that Anymore". (The bonus tracks on the CD release also include covers of

Prince A prince is a male ruler (ranked below a king, grand prince, and grand duke) or a male member of a monarch's or former monarch's family. ''Prince'' is also a title of nobility (often highest), often hereditary, in some European states. Th ...

and

Was (Not Was) Was (Not Was) is an American pop rock group founded in 1979 in Detroit, Michigan, by David Weiss and Don Fagenson, who adopted the stage names David Was and Don Was. Their song catalog features an eclectic mix of pop and rock styles, often fea ...

Sleeve

The sleeve design is by

Jean-Paul Goude Jean-Paul Goude (born 8 December 1938 in Montreuil (France)) is a French graphic designer, illustrator, photographer, advertising film director and event designer. He worked as art director at ''Esquire'' magazine in New York City during the 1 ...

, who later used a similar idea for

Grace Jones Grace Beverly Jones (born 19 May 1948) is a model, singer and actress. Born in Jamaica, she and her family moved to Syracuse, New York, when she was a teenager. Jones began her modelling career in New York state, then in Paris, working for ...

's '' Slave to the Rhythm''.

Themes and reception

Although featuring shorter, more hook-laden songs than her previous album, ''Cristina'', ''Sleep It Off'' is a dark album. Cristina describes it as an album about "coping with sex and money and power plays in the 1980's", :In the sixties people survived on political idealism. In the seventies there was this obsession with 'lifestyle' - women's lib or a new religion, sex and drugs and rock 'n' roll, or a macrobiotic diet. Something was always THE ANSWER. In the eighties people are into

power Power most often refers to: * Power (physics), meaning "rate of doing work" ** Engine power, the power put out by an engine ** Electric power * Power (social and political), the ability to influence people or events ** Abusive power Power may a ...

and money and

narcissism Narcissism is a self-centered personality style characterized as having an excessive interest in one's physical appearance or image and an excessive preoccupation with one's own needs, often at the expense of others. Narcissism exists on a co ...

because they don't know what else to believe in. I don't think the album has a cynical take on this. I guess I just believe that whatever's going on, trying to exist is a pretty trying business. Life knocks you down, all you can do is get back up, brush yourself off, cry a little, laugh a little and keep going. The album has been consistently lauded by critics. On its release in 1984, ''Rolling Stone'' said that :Sleep It Off is not for the MTV crowd, but so what? 'My life is in a turmoil/My thighs are black and blue/My sheets are stained, so is my brain/What's a girl to do?' Buy this record, I'd advise. Class is in session. ''

The Face The face is a part of the body, the front of the head. Face may also refer to: Film * ''The Magician'' (1958 film) or ''The Face'' * ''The Face'' (1996 film), an American television film * ''Face'' (1997 film), a British crime drama by Antonia ...

'' placed ''Sleep It Off'' in its Top 20 records of 1984. When the album was re-issued on CD in 2004, ''Pitchfork'' awarded it a grade of 8.5, remarking that Cristina's music gives :a glimpse of how complex and fun popular culture could've been if Harvard girl Cristina's intelligent kitsch had lodged itself in the popular conscious instead of the new-age pabulum of a desperately seeking diva with a goddess complex. Pitchfork also particularly praises the bonus tracks on the re-release.

Ladytron Ladytron are a largely British electronic band formed in Liverpool in 1999. The group consists of Helen Marnie (lead vocals, synthesizers), Mira Aroyo (vocals, synthesizers), Daniel Hunt (synthesizers, guitar, vocals), and Reuben Wu (synthesize ...

included "What's a Girl To Do" on their ''

Softcore Jukebox ''Softcore Jukebox'' is a compilation album put together by English electronic music band Ladytron. It was released on 7 October 2003 through Emperor Norton Records. It features different styles of music from rock to hip hop. It also includes t ...

''. Unfortunately, the record was a commercial flop and Cristina consequently retired.

Track listing

Original Release (1984)

The original album release of ''Sleep It Off'' featured ten tracks. ''Side A'' # "Don't Mutilate My Mink" ( Cristina Monet-Palaci,

) # "Ticket to the Tropics" (Monet-Palaci,

Doug Fieger Douglas Lars Fieger (August 20, 1952 – February 14, 2010) was an American musician, singer and songwriter. He was the rhythm guitarist and lead vocalist of the rock band The Knack. He co-wrote "My Sharona," the biggest hit song of 1979 in the U ...

) # " She Can't Say That Anymore" (

Sonny Throckmorton James Fron "Sonny" Throckmorton (born April 2, 1941) is an American country music singer and songwriter. Known primarily for his songwriting, Throckmorton has had more than 1,000 of his songs recorded by various country singers. He has also had ...

) # "Quicksand Lovers" (Monet-Palaci, Don Was,

Bruce Nazarian Bruce Nazarian (March 27, 1949 – October 8, 2015) was an American funk and rock musician, recording artist and music producer from Detroit, Michigan. Nazarian was an Apple Certified Trainer and Certified Pro on various professional application ...

) # "Rage and Fascination" (Monet-Palaci, Ben Brierley, Joe Mavety) ''Side B'' # " Ballad of Immoral Earnings" ("''Zuhälter Ballade''", also translated as "Tango Ballad" or "Pimp's Ballad";

Bertolt Brecht Eugen Berthold Friedrich Brecht (10 February 1898 – 14 August 1956), known professionally as Bertolt Brecht, was a German theatre practitioner, playwright, and poet. Coming of age during the Weimar Republic, he had his first successes as a pl ...

Kurt Weill Kurt Julian Weill (March 2, 1900April 3, 1950) was a German-born American composer active from the 1920s in his native country, and in his later years in the United States. He was a leading composer for the stage who was best known for his fru ...

) # "What's a Girl To Do" (Monet-Palaci, Don Was,

) # "The Lie of Love" (Monet-Palaci, Reynolds) # "

Blue Money "Blue Money" is a song written by Northern Irish singer-songwriter Van Morrison. It was the second of two Top Forty hits from his 1970 album, ''His Band and the Street Choir'' (the other being "Domino"), reaching No. 23 on the US chart. The US ...

" (

Van Morrison Sir George Ivan Morrison (born 31 August 1945), known professionally as Van Morrison, is a Northern Irish singer-songwriter and multi-instrumentalist whose recording career spans seven decades. He has won two Grammy Awards. As a teenager in t ...

) # "He Dines Out on Death" (Monet-Palaci, Brierley) * All lyrics by Cristina except A3 and B1. * Produced by Don Was.

CD Release (2004)

The CD release of ''Sleep It Off'' reordered the original ten tracks and added six bonus tracks. # "What's a Girl to Do" # "Ticket to the Tropics" # "The Lie of Love" # "Quicksand Lovers" # "Rage & Fascination" # "Ballad of Immoral Earnings" # "She Can't Say that Anymore" # "Blue Money" # "Don't Mutilate My Mink" # "He Dines Out on Death" # "

Smile A smile is a facial expression formed primarily by flexing the muscles at the sides of the mouth. Some smiles include a contraction of the muscles at the corner of the eyes, an action known as a Duchenne smile. Among humans, a smile expresses ...

" (Don Was,

David Was David Jay Weiss, known as David Was, is an American musician, music producer and journalist. With his stage-brother Don Was, he was the founder of the 1980s pop group Was (Not Was). Career Was was born in Detroit, Michigan to a Jewish family. ...

) (bonus track) # "Deb Behind Bars" (Monet-Palaci, Brierley) (bonus) # "Things Fall Apart" (Monet-Palaci, Don Was, David Was) (bonus) # " When U Were Mine" (

) (bonus) # "Deb Behind Bars lternate version (Monet-Palaci, Brierley) (bonus) # "You Rented a Space" (Monet-Palaci, Robert Palmer) (bonus) * "'Things Fall Apart' is dedicated to the late

Lizzy Mercier Descloux Martine-Elisabeth "Lizzy" Mercier Descloux (16 December 1956 – 20 April 2004) was a French musician, singer-songwriter, composer, actress, writer and painter. Early life Mercier Descloux grew up in Lyon, France, but returned to her native Pari ...

, ma chère copine in adversity ... In loving memory of her talent, her courage, and her kindness. Cristina" (Dedication in 2004 CD notes; Descloux had died that year.) * Tracks 11-12 and 15 are from the ''Sleep It Off'' album sessions. * Track 13 was originally released 1981 with Material's (with

Nona Hendryx Nona Bernis Hendryx (born October 9, 1944) is an American vocalist, record producer, songwriter, musician, and author. Hendryx is known for her work as a solo artist as well as for being one-third of the trio Labelle, who had a hit with "Lady ...

) song "It's a Holiday" on a split 12" taken from the ZE album ''

A Christmas Record ''A Christmas Record'' is an LP originally released in 1981 by ZE Records. It was recorded by various musicians from that label's roster, including Was (Not Was), August Darnell, Material, Suicide, Cristina, and The Waitresses, all performing o ...

''. * Tracks 14, 16: are from demo sessions with Robert Palmer at the

Compass Point Studios Compass Point Studios was a music recording studio in the The Bahamas, Bahamas, founded in 1977 by Chris Blackwell, the owner of Island Records. The concept of the studio was of a recording facility supported by in-house sets of artists, musici ...

. * Production by Don Was, except tracks 14 and 16: produced by Robert Palmer.

Personnel

*Cristina - vocals *

- guitar *Ben Brierley - guitar, harmony vocals *

- guitar, slide guitar *

- Oberheim Obsx, Casio organ, guitar, bass guitar, drum machine, percussion *

Howard Wyeth Howard Pyle Wyeth (April 22, 1944 – March 27, 1996), also known as Howie Wyeth, was an American drummer and pianist. Wyeth is remembered for work with the saxophonist James Moody, the rockabilly singer Robert Gordon, the electric guitarist Lin ...

- drums *Kevin Tschirhart - percussion *David McMurray - saxophone *Kathy Kosins, Susan Schmidt - harmony vocals with: * "Sugar-coated" Andy Hernandez - marimba on "Ticket to the Tropics" *

Marcus Belgrave Marcus Batista Belgrave (June 12, 1936 – May 24, 2015) was an American jazz trumpet player from Detroit, born in Chester, Pennsylvania. He recorded with numerous musicians from the 1950s onwards. Belgrave was inducted into the class of 2017 ...

- trumpet on "Ticket to the Tropics" *Christopher Ewen - synthesizer on "Rage and Fascination" *

- lead guitar, bass on "Blue Money" *

James Chance James Chance, also known as James White (born James Siegfried, April 20, 1953), is an American saxophonist, keyboard player, and singer. A key figure in no wave, Chance has been playing a combination of improvisational jazz-like music and pun ...

- saxophone on "Blue Money" ;Technical *

Michael Zilkha Michael Zilkha (born 1954) is a British-born entrepreneur, the co-founder of ZE Records. Early life He was born in 1954, the son of Selim Zilkha, the founder of Mothercare, one of the UK's largest retail chains (and the grandson of Khedouri Zilkh ...

- executive producer *Don Was, Pete Thea - engineer *Don Was, Michael Frondelli - mixing *

- cover, design concept

References

{{Authority control 1984 albums Cristina (singer) albums Albums produced by Don Was