I remember meeting Mari Wilson at the height of her success back in the eighties. It was a short conversation and, as I recall, all I learned from it was that she found Daryl Hall rather attractive. Unfortunately, I bore no resemblance to Daryl Hall (then or now). The beehive hairdo which was her trademark was a full time thing, by the way, and not just for effect on stage. It was somewhat gratifying to find out that she is still releasing albums.
"Emotional Glamour" is an album that has its moments. The songs are pretty damn fine reflecting her musical influences and the way life is for the modern woman. From the light and fluffy - but ever so groovy in a mainstream sixties kind of way - "Hits and Misses" to the infernally clever "The It Girl" (…take me shopping!), it is gratifying to hear songs that have melody and hooks that stick with you. There's even a sort of tribute to disco in "Only Human". Women of a certain age - that means they are of an age when no man in his right mind would ask a lady her age - always seem to have a fondness for disco. Ms Wilson does not pull back from hitting out at the search for eternal youth either ("Forever Young") and, indeed, it is the first time that I have hear the phrase "bingo wings" used in the lyrics of a song. Rounding the album off is "Perhaps, Perhaps, Perhaps" which was the theme to some sitcom though the name of it evades me at the moment.
So there you have it. Mari Wilson is a fine singer with catchy, melodic songs but she is rather let down on this album by an unimaginative production and flat sound. Nonetheless, it was pleasing to find out that Mari Wilson can still cut it.
Available by mail order from Amazon.