''Grrr! It's Betty Boo'' is the second studio album by the English singer

Betty Boo Alison Moira Clarkson (born 6 March 1970), better known as Betty Boo, is a British Singing, singer, songwriter and Rapping, rapper. She first came to mainstream prominence in the late 1980s following a collaboration with the Beatmasters on th ...

, released on 12 October 1992 via

WEA Records Warner Music Group Corp., commonly abbreviated as WMG, is an American multinational entertainment and record label conglomerate headquartered in New York City. It is one of the " big three" recording companies and the third-largest in the gl ...

. This album failed to match the success of her debut studio album, '' Boomania'' (1990), stalling at No. 62 in the

UK Albums Chart The Official Albums Chart is the United Kingdom's industry-recognised national record chart for album, albums. Entries are ranked by sales and audio streaming. It was published for the first time on 22 July 1956 and is compiled every week by the O ...

. The album did however garner one hit single with " Let Me Take You There", which peaked at No. 12 in the UK Singles Chart. Further singles from the album were "I'm on My Way", "Catch Me", "Thing Goin' On" and "Hangover". The record is dedicated to her father. The cover art is based on the iconic package of Tigra cigarettes. After this, Betty Boo retired from the music industry for several years.

Critical reception

Writing for ''

The Guardian ''The Guardian'' is a British daily newspaper. It was founded in Manchester in 1821 as ''The Manchester Guardian'' and changed its name in 1959, followed by a move to London. Along with its sister paper, ''The Guardian Weekly'', ''The Guardi ...

'' in October 1992,

Adam Sweeting Adam Sweeting is a British rock critic and writer. Graeme Thomson, writing for ''The Guardian'', deemed him as an "influential journalist" of the 1970s. He currently writes film and television reviews for '' The Arts Desk''. Biography Sweeting ...

thought that ''Grrr!'' contained "more than its fair share of garish artificial charm", surmising that although Boo's songs "hang on a fragile thread of absurdity", presenting critics with an easy target, "her kittenish raps – usually about boys and boy-trouble – bristle with winningly daft rhymes".

AllMusic AllMusic (previously known as All-Music Guide and AMG) is an American online database, online music database. It catalogs more than three million album entries and 30 million tracks, as well as information on Musical artist, musicians and Mus ...

's William Ruhlmann noted that "Boo raps through the verses and sings the choruses... in an engaging enough manner, but she never threatens to be more than a cartoon".

Madonna Madonna Louise Ciccone ( ; born August 16, 1958) is an American singer, songwriter, record producer, and actress. Referred to as the "Queen of Pop", she has been recognized for her continual reinvention and versatility in music production, ...

praised the album in a 1994 interview with '' Q'', describing it as "horribly ignored".

Track listing

Samples

* "I'm on My Way" contains an interpolation of "

Lady Madonna "Lady Madonna" is a song by the English rock band the Beatles, written primarily by Paul McCartney and credited to Lennon–McCartney. In March 1968 it was released as a mono non-album single, backed with " The Inner Light". The song was recor ...

", written by John Lennon and Paul McCartney. The saxophone line is not taken directly from

The Beatles The Beatles were an English Rock music, rock band formed in Liverpool in 1960. The core lineup of the band comprised John Lennon, Paul McCartney, George Harrison and Ringo Starr. They are widely regarded as the Cultural impact of the Beatle ...

' original version, but is a re-creation featuring the same session players:

Ronnie Scott Ronnie Scott Order of the British Empire, OBE (born Ronald Schatt; 28 January 1927 – 23 December 1996) was a British jazz Tenor saxophone, tenor saxophonist and jazz club owner. He co-founded Ronnie Scott's Jazz Club in London's Soho district ...

Harry Klein Harold Klein (25 December 1928 – 30 June 2010) was an English jazz saxophonist. As a session musician, he played on recordings by the Beatles. Early in his career, Klein played with Nat Gonella in the late 1940s. He then played with Bill Le S ...

, Bill Povey and Bill Jackman. * "Thing Goin' On" contains a sample of "Turn Off the Lights", written by Young, Logan & Saunders and performed by Larry Young's Fuel. * "Let Me Take You There" contains a sample of " It's All in the Game", written by Charles Dawes and

Carl Sigman Carl Sigman (September 24, 1909 – September 26, 2000) was an American songwriter. Early life Born in Crown Heights, Brooklyn, New York, to a Jewish-American family, Sigman graduated from law school and passed his bar exams to practice ...

, as performed by

The Four Tops ''The'' is a grammatical article in English, denoting nouns that are already or about to be mentioned, under discussion, implied or otherwise presumed familiar to listeners, readers, or speakers. It is the definite article in English. ''The ...

. The instrumental break contains a sample of "

Pet Sounds ''Pet Sounds'' is the eleventh studio album by the American Rock music, rock band the Beach Boys, released on May 16, 1966, by Capitol Records. It was produced, arranged, and primarily composed by Brian Wilson with guest lyricist Tony Asher. R ...

", written by

Brian Wilson Brian Douglas Wilson (June 20, 1942 – June 11, 2025) was an American musician, songwriter, singer and record producer who co-founded the Beach Boys. Often Brian Wilson is a genius, called a genius for his novel approaches to pop compositio ...

and performed by

The Beach Boys The Beach Boys are an American Rock music, rock band formed in Hawthorne, California, in 1961. The group's original lineup consisted of brothers Brian Wilson, Brian, Dennis Wilson, Dennis, and Carl Wilson, their cousin Mike Love, and their f ...

. * "Close the Door" begins with a bass arrangement bearing strong similarities to

Barry White Barry Eugene White (né Carter; September 12, 1944 – July 4, 2003) was an American singer and songwriter. A two-time Grammy Award winner known for his bass voice and romantic image, his greatest success came in the 1970s as a solo singer and ...

's "

I'm Gonna Love You Just a Little More Baby "I'm Gonna Love You Just a Little More Baby" is a song written, produced and recorded by Barry White. Released in the spring of 1973 as the first Single (music), single from his 1973 debut album ''I've Got So Much to Give (album), I've Got So Muc ...

Personnel

– producer, pre-production,

vocals Singing is the art of creating music with the voice. It is the oldest form of musical expression, and the human voice can be considered the first musical instrument. The definition of singing varies across sources. Some sources define sing ...

Additional musicians

–

saxophone The saxophone (often referred to colloquially as the sax) is a type of single-reed woodwind instrument with a conical body, usually made of brass. As with all single-reed instruments, sound is produced when a reed on a mouthpiece vibrates to p ...

on track 1 *

– saxophone on track 1 *Bill Povey – saxophone on track 1 *Bill Jackman – saxophone on track 1 *Gary Plumbley – saxophone on track 8 *

Guy Barker Guy Jeffrey Barker, (born 26 December 1957) is an English jazz trumpeter and composer. Early life Barker was born in Chiswick, London, the son of an actress and a stuntman. He started playing the trumpet at the age of twelve, and within a year ...

–

flumpet The Flumpet is a hybrid brass instrument that shares the construction and timbral qualities of a trumpet and flugelhorn. The Flumpet was invented for Art Farmer by David Monette and is currently in production by Monette. The Flumpet is in the ke ...

on track 2 *

Richard Niles Richard Niles is an American composer, arranger, record producer, guitarist, broadcaster, and journalist. Biography Early years Niles was born May 28, 1951, in Hollywood. He is the son of Tony Romano, a composer, singer, and guitarist who writ ...

–

string arrangement The string section of an orchestra is composed of bowed instruments belonging to the violin family. It normally consists of first and second violins, violas, cellos, and double basses. It is the most numerous group in the standard orchestra. In ...

on track 3 *Roger Rettig –

pedal steel The pedal steel guitar is a console steel guitar with pedals and knee levers that change the pitch of certain strings, enabling more varied and complex music to be played than with other steel guitar designs. Like all steel guitars, it can play ...

on track 3 *Frank Ton Ton –

drums The drum is a member of the percussion instrument, percussion group of musical instruments. In the Hornbostel–Sachs classification system, it is a membranophones, membranophone. Drums consist of at least one Acoustic membrane, membrane, c ...

on track 6 *Michael Rosenberg –

guitar The guitar is a stringed musical instrument that is usually fretted (with Fretless guitar, some exceptions) and typically has six or Twelve-string guitar, twelve strings. It is usually held flat against the player's body and played by strumming ...

on track 8 *Sweet Paulino –

percussion A percussion instrument is a musical instrument that is sounded by being struck or scraped by a percussion mallet, beater including attached or enclosed beaters or Rattle (percussion beater), rattles struck, scraped or rubbed by hand or ...

on track 8 *Fenella Barton – strings on track 9 *Sian Bell – strings on track 9 *Sonia Shany – strings on track 9 *Jocelyn Pook – strings on track 9

Technical personnel

* John Coxon – producer, pre-production "Done Upstairs" * Mads Bjerke – recording, engineer on tracks 1–7 & 10 at The Strongroom * Streets Ahead – producer on track 2 * Dean Ross – producer on tracks 8–9 * Sweet Paulino – producer on tracks 8–9 * Jim Abyss – recording on track 8 at

Metropolis Studios Metropolis Studios is a music production and entertainment industry company established in 1989 by Gary Langan, Carey Taylor, Karin Clayton and Alexander Skeaping. Donald Brackett It is located in the Power House, a Grade II listed building, ...

, mix engineer on track 1 at

Olympic Studios Olympic Studios was a British independent recording studio based on Church Road, Barnes, Church Road, Barnes, London, Barnes, London. It is best known for its recordings of many artists throughout the late 1960s to the first decade of the 21st ...

* Ren Swan – recording on track 9 at Sarm East Studios * Gregg Jackman – mix engineer on tracks 2–10 at Sarm West Studios

Charts

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Grrr! It's Betty Boo 1992 albums Betty Boo albums Sire Records albums