Song#: 3431
Date: 02/27/1988
Debut: 85
Peak: 66
Weeks: 8
Genre: Dance-Pop
Pop Bits: Stacey Q's debut album, Better Than Heaven, performed well (#59) thanks to the #3 synthpop hit "Two of Hearts." A second single, "We Connect," was able to crack the Top 40 (#35). With those results, her label, Atlantic Records, ordered a follow-up LP. Stacey Q and her co-writer/producer Jon St. James headed back into the studio and emerged with Hard Machine. For the album, the pair chose to expand on the percolating synthpop from Stacey Q's debut and incorporate other styles, as evidenced by this R&B-influenced this first single. While the original version appeared on the album, for single release the song was given the remix treatment by Shep Pettibone, which added Madonna-ish style elements that jazzed it up for pop radio. The track would do well in the clubs and get to #4 on the Dance chart. Unfortunately, the change didn't connect with pop fans and the song stalled in the lower half of the Pop chart. A second single, "I Love You" which was more inline with Stacey Q's earlier sound could only manage a #45 showing at Dance while not even hitting the Pop chart. The album would then only reach a minor #115. Despite the results, Atlantic gave Stacey Q the opportunity to do a third album and in 1989 she released Nights Like This. She shifted gears once again and pushed the album in a more house/freestyle direction. It's first single, "Give You All My Love," could only get to #16 Dance. A second single flopped and the album failed to chart. That result brought an end to her major label days. After a break from music, she returned in 1997 with Boomerang and then in 2010 with Color Me Cinnamon.
ReduxReview: This was a good track, but anyone who was looking for the robotic synthpop of Stacey Q's first album wasn't gonna find it here and that was both good and bad. It was good because it showed Stacey Q was trying to keep relevant and the freestyle-ish sound of the remix fit in with what was happening on the Pop chart at the time. However, it was a bit bad because it was something completely different from her previous two hits and I think fans were looking for an updated version of her original quirky sound. She also dyed her hair red and took on a more glamorous look. I think the changes were just too much and it threw people off. However, the song was a dancefloor hit and it deserved to be. While the original album version is good, Pettibone's remix amped it up and made the track sound much better and more in-step with the times. It was one of the rare cases where a remix surpassed the original. While Jon St. James was a good producer, I think it would have been beneficial for him to turned the reins over to someone else for the second album. At least on a few of the tracks. It might have helped out Stacy Q and the album.
ReduxRating: 6/10
Trivia: During the run of her first album, Stacey Q famously made a couple of appearances as the singer "Cinnamon" on the hit NBC sitcom The Facts of Life. Those appearances really stuck with folks who would often still identify her by that character. She played homage to the role with her 2010 album Color Me Cinnamon, which featured the original track "Cinnamon Girl." During the run of her second album, Stacey Q made another TV appearance. This time it was in the ABC sitcom Full House. In the episode, she played herself instead of a character. She also had a role in the b-grade cop/action movie titled One Man Force, which starred pro football player John Matuszak and Ronny Cox. Two songs from Stacey Q's album Hard Machine were featured in the cult film. Weirdly, Matuszak's first film appearance came in the 1981 comedy Caveman, while Stacey Q's film debut was in the 1985 sex comedy Cavegirl.
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