"Angel in My Pocket" by One to One

Song#:  2839
Date:  08/23/1986
Debut:  93
Peak:  92
Weeks:  4
Genre:  Dance-Pop, Synthpop



Pop Bits:  This Canadian duo of Louise Reny and Leslie Howe first got their start as members of a popular cover band named Mainstream. Wanting to do more, the pair broke off from the band and began writing their own tunes. Demos of the songs would help them get signed to the indie label Bon Aire. Their debut album, Forward Your Emotions would do well in Canada with its first single, "There Was a Time" reaching #14. This second single would get to #24. The duo got picked up for distribution in the US by Warner Bros. and this song would hang on for a month at the bottom of the Pop chart. The success of the album and singles would earn them a Juno nomination for Most Promising Group of the Year while Howe would get nods for Producer of the Year and Recording Engineer of the Year.

ReduxReview:  This is a nice, mid-80s synthpop tune with a bit of Europop flare that sounds like it should have been from some teen rom-com flick. It's well-produced and Louise Reny's voice is a nice compliment to the synths. It caught on in Canada, but it just couldn't break wide in the US. The tune wasn't Top 10 material, but it was good enough to get into the top half of the chart. Too bad it fizzled early. Not as much on this song, but on their first Canadian hit "There Was a Time," Reny sounds quite a bit like a future superstar - Gwen Stefani.

ReduxRating:  6/10

Trivia:  In the late 80s, Leslie Howe would meet a talented teenage singer/songwriter that was starting to get noticed. Her name was Alanis Morissette. Howe and Morissette began writing songs and their demos eventually got Morissette signed to MCA. Howe would co-write and produced her first album, Alanis, and it would become a hit in Canada. It would also earn her a Juno award for Most Promising Female Vocalist. Because of her young age and dance-pop sound, Morissette was often compared to Debbie Gibson and Tiffany at the time. A second album also co-written and produced by Howe, Now Is the Time, failed to do as well as her debut album and she was let go from MCA. Of course it is now well-known that Morissette would reinvent herself and return three years later with the LP Jagged Little Pill. It would go on to sell over 16 million copies and win the Grammy for Album of the Year.

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