You know, I talk a lot about good - no - GREAT music on this blog and elsewhere, but I have to admit, nothing pisses me off more than others taking either the credit, or unwonted success, from the work of others. To me, one of the best albums Jim Steinman ever wrote and produced, is Original Sin by Pandora's Box. This was a concept album, like most of Steinman's work, built around a solid collection of very powerful songs, and the incredible, powerhouse vocals of the four females who made up the group - Ellen Foley, Elaine Caswell, Gina Taylor and Deliria Wilde. The sad thing is, while these ladies deliver stellar, iconic, DEFINITIVE performances on this album, many of the songs are remembered more for the sub-standard cover versions by artists that should both have known and done better.
What really saddens me about this is that those artists didn't need to rip off this album just to feed their over-bloated bank accounts even more. Yes, I am talking about Malt - sorry - Meat Loaf and Celine Dion - amongst others - artists who were already so popular and successful, they didn't need to spit out the sub-standard versions of these master works that they did. But then, Celine Dion has a habit of robbing other artists of the credit they earned - just look at The Power of Love by Jennifer Rush!
And, let's be honest about it, those other versions are substandard when compared to the Pandora's Box originals. Dion might be a super star with an amazing vocal range, but her technical perfection robs her work of feeling and emotion - and a quivering bottom lip just doesn't replace that rawness. And the Malt Loaf versions are sad parodies that don't add anything to his body of work, and which still need female vocalists to bring out the passion and compassion of the songs anyway.
This is all a roundabout way of saying - this album is phenomenal, and deserved better, and deserves your attention now. Get on Youtube - as that's probably the only place you will find these wonders nowadays - and play the shit outta these. Search for the original videos - like those above and below - and enjoy the full experience. Amazing vocals, phenomenal songs, seminal perfomances, and hot, raunchy videos!
What more could you ask for?
Original Sin by Pandora's Box
Track Listing
1) The Invocation
2) Original Sin (The Natives Are Restless Tonight)
3) Twentieth Century Fox
4) Safe Sex
5) Good Girls Go To Heaven (Bad Girls Go Everywhere)
6) Requiem Metal
7) I've Been Dreaming Up A Storm Lately
8) It's All Coming Back To Me Now
9) The Opening Of The Box
10) The Want Ad
11) My Little Red Book
12) It Just Won't Quit
13) Pray Lewd
14) The Future Ain't What It Used To Be
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