"I Feel the Earth Move" by Martika

Song#:  4016

Date:  09/02/1989

Debut:  96

Peak:  25

Weeks:  11

Genre:  Dance-Pop

Pop Bits:  Former Kids Incorporated star Martika scored a big hit with "Toy Soldiers," the second single from her self-titled debut album. The song would reach #1 and go gold. For a follow up, this cover tune would be selected. It didn't catch on quite as well stopping inside the Pop Top 30 while getting to #20 Dance. By this point in time, the LP had already peaked at #15 and gone gold.

ReduxReview:  This Carole King chestnut gets a dance-pop makeover and overall it's not too bad. The production is meaty and Martika sounds good. I guess the question would be - did we really need this remake? I don't think so, but that could be said about a lot of cover tunes of famous hits. Obviously the label didn't hear another hit on the LP and probably requested a cover tune as a potential single to promote. While this one was better than some recent awful covers, it didn't elevate the tune and in the end was forgettable.

ReduxRating:  5/10

Trivia:  Double Shot!  1) This is a remake of a song originally written and recorded by Carole King. The tune would be one half of a double a-sided single (along with "It's Too Late") that would reach #1 in 1971. The tracks were from King's Grammy-winning classic album Tapestry. That LP would reach #1 and remain there for 15 consecutive weeks, which still remains a record for a female artist.  2) Martika would return in 1991 with her second album Martika's Kitchen. It was a stylistic departure from her dance-pop oriented debut LP with elements of jazz, R&B, and Latin music. Perhaps most interesting of all were four tracks written and produced by Prince. Apparently Prince was sent a book of lyrics and ideas culled by Martika. From there, he wrote and recorded four songs and sent them back. Martika and her crew would then supply and additional overdubs along with her vocal take. One of those songs, "Love...Thy Will Be Done," would be the LP's first single. The gospel-ish track would become Martika's second and final Pop Top 10 hit (#10). The album's title track, also a Prince-based tune, would be the second single, but it didn't fully ignite and stalled at #93. No other singles would reach the chart. That left the album stalling at a minor #111. After everything wrapped up from the album, Martika would choose to walk away from the music business. She would return in the early 2000s as a backing vocalist and songwriter. Then in 2003, she and her husband Michael Mozart (aka Nikki Lee) would form the duo Oppera and would record a couple of albums. Billed as Nikki, Mozart had his own solo brush with fame in 1990 with the single "Notice Me" (#21 Pop/#11 AC).

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