Search - Billie Ray Martin :: Deadline for My Memories

She is a legend in her own right and daYam can she write a s

J. Ahern | Gainesville, FL United States | 07/26/2005

(4 out of 5 stars)

"German electronica soul diva from Hamburg releases her first solo effort in 1995, which includes her worldwide hit 'Your Loving Arms'. Most debut albums released on a major label are those who are chosen, molded, and packaged to fit a certain image and something very formulatic. THis is not the case with Deadline of my Memories.



Billie wrote/co-wrote/or was involved heavily with each and every track. Her style is raw, creative, and edgy, and not to mention she has that unmistakable voice that is reminiscent of 60s soul Aretha Franklin. There are a few ballads on here which display her range, but then her more upbeat dance tracks really hit the spot for me.



Greatest tracks are:

Hands Up and Amen

Still Waters

Space Oasis

Imitation of Life

We Shall be True

Your Loving Arms



Give this a chance, as well as her more recent albums 18 Carat Garbage, and her new 2003 Demos album ([...]).....she's awesome and deserves more recognition."

Undisco me!

Johnny Myo | London, UK | 07/03/2007

(4 out of 5 stars)

"This was/is an interesting album -- after a tortuous production and re-engineering process involving (BT) Brian Transeau, this 13-track collection finally slipped out some five years after Billie Ray Martin had made her seminal album Electribal Memories with Electribe 101 (which - incidentally - still sounds as fresh as it did 17 years ago. Yes, 17 years!)



The hallmarks of over-attention are there, and it seems as though Transeau wanted to satisfy original fans' hunger for more of the same cool electronica, while showcasing BRM's twangy, country music leanings in a way that wouldn't alienate those same fans.



What you get is undoubtedly very glossy - I'd be amazed if BT hadn't been listening to Annie Lennox's irresistibly overproduced Stay By Me when he was putting together the title track, which similarly chucks everything in but the kitchen sink; lots of melodramatic little flourishes, as befitting a big old torch song. The infectiously hooky Running Around Town features the "bouncing beat" prevalent in a lot of house music at the time, but has worn quite well. His approach works best when dreamy synths run along a parallel thread to Billie Ray's soaring vocals, as on Still Waters. Space Oasis is the nearest to an Electribe re-tread (although it's very like BT's mid-90s work, too), and I Don't Believe, with it's gospel choir and country-fied arrangement hints at the sustained greatness of BRM's superior 2001 classic, 18 Carat Garbage.



In contrast to that album, the production of Deadline sounds very much of its moment - what pulls it out of that, 12 years on, is the pure quality of the songwriting and Valkyrie-like power of the singing. And BT cleverly adds lots of cunning little fade-ins and out to make the incongruity of some of the songs a lot less jarring - it's still a bit too full-on for, say, dinner-party music but great for blasting out on a rainy Sunday!"

Phenomenal!

Johnny Myo | 03/08/2003

(5 out of 5 stars)

"Billy Ray Martin is very underated and underappreciated in the U.S. Her voice is soulful. The album has several club favorites from the past, Your loving arms & Running around town. The whole album is phenominal!! A must have!!"