When I started as the store artist for a record company in the 90’s the former artist had left written instructions all over the room to guide me to where everything was, as well as a Barbie Doll tied up in bondage hung from the ceiling!
I also inherited her CD/Cassette player, and a few scattered cassettes that were piled in the corner where the electronic equipment was stored… To this day I’m not sure if these cassettes were hers or not because she’d written to me telling me all the stuff she needed had already been taken out and moved to her new job. So I was free to do whatever I wanted with what was left.
So one day, I was working on a big project and after a few hours, had exhausted my supply of the CDs I’d brought along with me to get me through the long day. I needed music, but I sure didn’t feel like listening to the same CDs over again. Then I remembered the stack on Cassettes in the corner, and right at the top of the pile was an album that caught my eye featuring an artist named Vanessa Daou. The tape read : Vanessa Daou reading from the works of Erica Jong. Hmmm, sounded interesting, to say the least!
So I put the cassette in, and was instantly taken in by the lush, nu-romantic sound of the opening track… this wasn’t ANYTHING like what I was expecting! I don’t know, maybe I was thinking it was going to be something like spoken word. OK, some of the tracks on the Cassette DID ring of “dialog with the music as a backing track”, but I was surprised at the very ROXY MUSIC-ish, ethereal keyboards that backed up the words.The song was titled "The Long Tunnel of Wanting You", Dark, Moody and HIGHLY Suggestive (and with Erika Jong, what else would you expect) , VERY Very catchy stuff!
Like most of the stuff I tended to get into long after it had originally come out, the CD was out of print, and I had to take a weekend to visit the various used CD stores peppered around town before I got ahold of a copy of my own!
And though many people have since told me "This CD is whack!", it's still one that I find myself yearning to listen to, particularly when I'm in my retro-80's mode! Ahahahaha!
