Nona Hendryx (produced by Tangerine Dream's Peter Bauman)'s "Skindiver". for fans of kate bush, peter gabriel or david sylvian

Apparently she was in a band with Patti Labelle before going solo.

I'd like to hear her best solo work.

"a band" = Labelle = Lady Marmalade

she did some stuff with members of talking heads as well, which is where I remember her name (maybe she was on Home of the Brave (laurie anderson) also, can't remember). but no I haven't heard this record, will check it out

ok you've piqued my interest! (but no i've not heard it)

She was a Bluebelle, too.

Talking Heads: was in the live band for a while, is on Remain in Light and Speaking in Togues.

The cover of her first album is the dopest ever. (I think I posted it in the Betty Davis thread.)

B-Boys off the '83 album is as bad (good) as boogie gets.

She performed with a her own band at the University of Maryland in the early 80s and I interviewed her at the university radio station. I recall being underwhelmed by her funk-rock band.

I recall a song or two by her were played on Norwegian radio a few times back then, around 1982-83 or something. It sounded like some kind of electro disco to me (which is fine as I like - and liked - that genre). Maybe I'd see the Bush/Gabriel connection today though. I dunno as I haven't heard any of those songs for 25 years.

skindiver's from 87 and has very little to do w/her disco/soul/boogie past.

Pick hit from the 1983 "Nona": "Design for Living." Check the lineup:

Drums: Gina Schock, Carol Steele
Bass: Tina Weymouth, Kim Clarke
Acoustic Piano: Valerie Simpson
Synthesizer: Nona Hendryx
Guitar: Nancy Wilson
Violin: Laurie Anderson
Percussion: Carol Steele
Backing Vocals: Nona Hendryx, Patti Labelle, B.J. Nelson, Dolette McDonald

"nona" has the most ridiculous lineup: laswell, nile rogers, kashif, Bernie Worrell, sly dunbar, gina schock of the go-gos, nancy wilson of heart, valerie simpson, olu dara, Jamaaladeen Tacuma

Don't forget her terrific Material collaboration "Busting Out."

If anyone wants to YSI this to me, I'd be most appreciative.

The only solo Nona I've heard is that '87 hit "Why Should I Cry."

Saw her opening for Bowie on the Glass Spider Tour. Can't remember much of it though, apart from a colourful 80s outfit and pretty impressive vocals.

I've been trying to look for Nona Hendryx records ever since I found this album in the used records bin:

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v655/lixnixn/nona.jpg

I mostly bought it for the awesome cover, but the music is nice too. Mid-80s R&B that sounds kinda like late Grace Jones. It seems all of her albums are out of print though, so an YSI would be appreciated, yes.

i finally ripped all of this and will upload it soonish

ooh, intrigued - maybe playing a kate bush-inspired set tomorrow night for somebody's birthday, & wld be curious to hear some tracks from skindiver prior!

i will add, it's not the greatest album ever made, but it's really different than most anything else, so it gets points for that.

http://www.sendspace.com/file/oa52xd

Thanks, will download it once I get home. I can upload Hendryx's Female Trouble album in return, if people are interested in that.

Except that I don't know how to pack a whole album into one file only... How do you do it?

And if anyone happens to have the "Nona" album mentioned upthread on their computer and wants to share, please drop me an email.

I've got the LP, but not on my computer. Can't be that hard to find, if you search the dollar bins, can it? And Nona Hendryx (Epic, 1977) rocks even harder, so you might want to look for that, too.

She performed with a her own band at the University of Maryland in the early 80s and I interviewed her at the university radio station. I recall being underwhelmed by her funk-rock band.
I loved her funk-rock band when they played at Central Park in the late eighties/early nineties. Maybe they got better.

I just found Skindiver on vinyl second hand - the cover is fabulous. Unfortunately my turntable is broken so I can't really judge the music.

Labelle reunion album this year (w/ lots of Nona compositions and co-compositions) was real good by the way.

Reason I bumped this, though: Somehow didn't realize til yesterday (listening to Ze's A Christmas Record) to what extent Madonna's "Holiday" was a blatant rewrite if not ripoff of Nona's 1981 "It's A Holiday" with Material. (Wouldn't be at all surprised if Madonna was listening to Ze stuff in the early '80s, either.)

Oh, I think that's a definite..

Shake Your Head (Let's Go To Bed) Madonna recorded lead vocal with Don and David for the Was (Not Was) album Born to Laugh at Tornadoes produced in Detroit in 1982-83. The released vocal were by Ozzy Osbourne with backing vocals by Kathy Kosins and Carol Hall. Madonna and John "Jellybean" Benitez are both in the album credits. During a May 2006 Kathy Kosins phone interview with Bruce Baron it was revealed that Ozzy recorded his vocal first. Kathy and Carol added vocals in Detroit. Kathy's vocals were intended to be replaced by Madonna by producer Don Was. Madonna's label Sire Records did not agree to the release and Kathy's vocals were restored for the ZE Records release as a backing track. Kathy then became a longtime Was (not Was) contributor. Madonna originally became involved via her friendship with Stephen Bray and his group The Breakfast Club who were also signed with ZE Records (later acquired by MCA). Madonna requested her original vocal not to be used in an early 1990s remix released as a single in Europe to support a Was (Not Was) Greatest Hits album. Kim Basinger did the new vocals. The 90's remix version with Madonna's vocals leaked onto the internet in April 2008.

She ruled at EMP Pop Conference tonight

And now that I have it settled, my blog coverage on it: http://tinyurl.com/empnona

I know so little about her beside the backup vocalist stuff for the Heads, a few Labelle tracks, and the contributions to Material!

I remember her being real nice when I interviewed her at my university radio station way back when in the early 1980s (I'm old). I think my questions were not that good (but I was 19, does that count as an excuse) and so it was good that she did not get frustrated. Not too many people at the show. I think I remember it being more rock than funk or r'n'b.

I found a cutout cassette of "Skindiver" for a dollar a few years back. I had heard some of her other solo stuff, knew of her association with T. Heads, and actually own/like Baumann's "Repeat Repeat" album, but this is like none of those. This is a little new-agey in spots, but yeah "lush" and great on the car stereo. I liked it enough to upgrade to a CD later, but then really never played it.

Found a $1 used copy of The Heat from 1985 last month, and it's definitely not nearly as compelling as her first two albums, or the "Busting Out" or "It's a Holiday" Ze tracks she'd done with Material a few years before. (I've never heard The Art of Defense from '84, also Material-produced apparently, though consensus from the time suggests it was fairly lame.) Anyway, production on the '85 LP is split between Arthur Baker (just three songs) and Chic's Bernard Edwards, and there are some interesting and expansive electrofunk beats at least in "Revolutionary Dance" and "The Heat Pt II," but Nona's songwriting seems totally lazy throughout ("If Looks Could Kill" is a Bryan-Adams-level pile of cliches). I get the idea they were trying to make this her Private Dancer (with maybe some side glances to Cyndi Lauper and Madonna, and gratutious rock guitar parts as was the fashion at the time), but it's impossible to pull that off when you don't actually have any songs or hooks at your disposal. Too bad.

Btw, if anybody reading this is in Austin, last time I was in the St. Vincents Thrift Store on South Congress (a month or two ago) there was a $1 copy of 1983's far better Nona. Not sure if it's still there or not, but I wouldn't be shocked if nobody's picked it up since.

god, was there any major artist chic and baker didn't produce or remix in 85 (sometimes on the same album)? jeff beck, mick jagger, bruce springsteen, haulin' oats, diana ross, carly simon, billy crystal (?!)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hZl3gGV4H6c

also, chuck, i'm pretty sure u can get most of nona's albums in any dollar bin in any record store across the country.

"Transformation" is a marvelous bit of icy art funk.

ya, i love that song

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZmERPya1wes

http://www.cherryred.co.uk/bird/product.php?show=tbird&display=nonahendryx

Still missing the "Nona" album though. Used to love this:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xrvceJ82fPo

The Art Of Defense, 1984 -- Not nearly as good as the first two albums (or the "Bustin' Out" and "It's A Holiday" Ze Records tracks she'd made with Material around 1982), better than the fourth album. Just a lack of memorable songwriting, by which I mean melodies/hooks at least as much as lyrics; "I Sweat (Going Through The Motions)" and "Electricity" are kind of catchy, maybe, but compared to what she'd done earlier, "going through the motions" is about right. The longer cuts -- "To The Bone" which has Afrika Bambaataa shouting some Zulu Nation-style chants toward the end, maybe "I Want You," and especially the six-and-a-half-minute "The Life" at the end of Side One which seems to have some Remain In Light in it -- let you hear Material stretching out their prog-funk a little, and basically are what save the album. (The diet reggae of "Ghost Love" sure doesn't.) But even those cuts really seem like slumming for Laswell and Beinhorn after Material's Memory Serves and One Down, both of which I really wish I still owned, not to mention their more free-jazzy/no-wavey early records. Also on Art Of Defense, not that you can tell in most cases: Bernie Worrell, Eddie Martinez (guitar on every cut), Daniel Ponce (congas on a couple), Fonzi Thornton, Dolette McDonald, Peech Boy Bernard Fowler. Christgau gave it a C+; I actually think it's better than that, though it's more evidence that Nona belongs on the list of Artists Who Got Worse With Every Subsequent Album (at least judging from all the ones I've heard.)

Always thought 'Ghost Love' was the best cut on that album...strange ambient reggae soul/funk...a Bill Laswell production in a nutshell...

Was surprised to notice that Nona gets six of eight songwriting credits on Labelle's 1976 Chameleon LP. Other two songs are credited to outside writers. Not sure if that was business as usual for Labelle albums or not. (It's the only one I own.) Two of her songs, "Who's Watching The Watcher" and "A Man In The Trenchcoat (Voodoo)" start out teasing you into thinking they're going to sound like the hard funk rock of her debut solo album from a year later, but after a half-minute or so both wind up being more piano (think Billy Preston style maybe) than guitar oriented, which is disappointing though I kind of like them (especially the trenchcoat one) anyway. "Gypsy Moths" is sort of salsa, and the rest of the album very gospel-oriented. No songs even a tenth as catchy or memorable as "Lady Marmalade" (from '74's Nightbirds); now curious if Labelle ever did any other songs that were. (Christgau gave Chameleon a B-, Nightbirds an A-; I'll pick up the latter if I ever see it for a buck.)

Other than "Bustin' Out" and Whitney Houston on on "Memories," I find One Down pretty stale; the funk sounds so damn constricted.

BBR reissued her solo debut last year. Hopefully they'll go on to reissue "Nona" as well.

xp And "One Down" wasn't even on the album as originally issued in 1982.

Actually, I do own one other Labelle album, just not on vinyl -- their 2008 comeback Back To Now, which is actually better than Chameleon. Two Nona-alone songwriting credits, and she collaborates on others, including the Wyclef Jean feature. Favorite tracks, last time I listened, were "The Truth Will Set You Free," "How Long," and the Cole Porter cover "Miss Otis Regets."

Oops, I meant to say "Bustin' Out" wasn't on the album as originally issued in 1982.

so you consider her first solo album her best?

Didn't know that the "Winning" on her first album is the same one with which Santana scored a hit in the early eighties.

you consider her first solo album her best?

Yeah, but remember, I'm hard rock guy! Your mileage may etc.

The second album is surely the one I miss. But the debut is interesting because it is so different from what you'd expect from an ex-Labelle member.

All her solo albums getting reissued.

!!!

wau -- no one bought'em?

How do you know?

no trees in this forest

i reviewed her 1977 debut in MOJO last year, it's a solid 3/5.

Nona is shit-hot.

Reason I bumped this, though: Somehow didn't realize til yesterday (listening to Ze's /A Christmas Record/) to what extent Madonna's "Holiday" was a blatant rewrite if not ripoff of Nona's 1981 "It's A Holiday" with Material. (Wouldn't be at all surprised if Madonna was listening to Ze stuff in the early '80s, either.)

Just listened on Spotify to the version on the Bustin' Out EP -- and I gotta say: I don't hear it at all.

listening to nona for the first time. absolutely unsurprised to find alfred in here talking about it

Live show I saw in Central Park was great, need to check out some records.

lol brad

"B-Boys" and "Dummy Up"!

Didn't know that the "Winning" on her first album is the same one with which Santana scored a hit in the early eighties.

― Gus Van Sotosyn (Alfred, Lord Sotosyn), Sunday, December 19, 2010 8:06 PM (4 years ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

I just discovered this today! Her version is so much better. I always liked the tune, but the Santana one I grew up on is so generic AOR. Hers has more of a groove. Guess I should check out the whole album.

"Tears" FFS

seriously going to pass that one around telling people it's a new Dawn Richard song

or D(delta)WN or whatever

Addicted to this song lately:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LzXrZ0JvN6Q

that album

This is kind of an odd record. Even tho there’s no Laswell or Laurie Anderson in places it feels a little like Mister Heartbreak’s more languid moments – as jaxon said in the OP, the songs all just kind of hang out rather than go anywhere. Also, other than Kate McGarrigle(!) on backing vox on one track, I have no idea who any of the people credited on Discogs are. Baumann notwithstanding, it seems like Nona wrote and programmed most of this by herself. It’s the only record of hers from that era that’s not on Spotify.

Upon a little more investigation, it appears the label it’s on, Private Music, was Baumann’s instrumental/New Age label throughout the 80s, with releases from people like Patrick O’Hearn and Suzanne Ciani. So maybe it all makes a little more sense.

private was a weird label. leo kottke put out records on it as well. the stuff he was doing on the label around that time essentially amounts to adult contempo pop music.

still have yet to hear this one but would like to.

(checks)

oh, it's on youtube now and i have to drive to the store this morning. wonderful. will report back.

well, after one listen while driving i have to say it lived up to the hype! on the one hand, it is kind of just an adult contempo pop album. on the other, "new age janet jackson" springs to mind as a quick descriptor. it did strike me as a tad preachy at times, but that leads to my next point — which is that i do very much like it, but that i simultaneously feel like i don't actually "get it."

i think it's really good, whatever the case may be. i've always loved just the sound of her voice and the production is very dated, but in a nice nostalgic way. "woman who fly" definitely feels like it could have been a hit in some capacity. i actually much preferred the second half, but there weren't really any songs that i flat out didn't like. solid four mics.

everyone should listen to this album. it's so wonderful.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qDjg6DfBiSQ

not on proper streaming right now. plenty of cheap copies across all formats to be found on discogs tho.

Will check it out . Thanks

9.0 on sunday fork archive review. fuck yeah.

*pfork

Good review, especially since after 1983's Nona I get restless.

(I haven't heard SkinDiver)

yes besides the unflinching coolness of them giving the album a highlight, i found the review itself excellent. really pleasant surprise.