illusionofjoy | OTR: Tasmin Archer

There is a sticker on the front of my copy of this album on which the following is printed: "CD Warehouse $3.99." So, I know where or for how much I bought this album, but damned if I can tell you when. In regards to that, I can only say that it was sometime after I moved to Pittsburgh, as CD Warehouse did not exist in Northern New York.

I bought it to hear "Sleeping Satellite" once more, the song which made Tasmin Archer into a one-hit wonder. Being as it is track one, it puts the rest of the album at a disadvantage. Granted, it's a stunning five minutes of pop R&B, which doesn't help either - the tracks immediately following it don't shine nearly as brightly. It is my hope that if I ever put out an album with one hit on it, I will have had the foresight to place it as the last track, so as to force people to at least press "skip" ten times before hearing what they bought the album for (as if people buy CDs anymore, anyhow).

"Sleeping Satellite" was a number one hit in 1992, when I was eleven years old and, if I recall, it was bumped from that spot on the Billboard charts by Aerosmith's "Livin' On The Edge." From there, it pretty much disappeared off of the face of the planet. I wouldn't hear the song again - or the album it came from - until many years later.

WAIH did not have a copy of this CD, so when I spotted it used at the local record store with which we had an account, I used my Music Director powers to snatch it up. As to why, it was likely in a bout of nostalgia, thinking to myself, 'gee, I haven't heard "Sleeping Satellite" in nearly a decade.' That song still sounds good even now, but the rest of the album is very pop-by-the-numbers. It's good, workmanlike song writing, but it's nothing stunning or spectacular. I'm not surprised this album was forgotten so quickly - nothing much sticks...really kind of sad. It's got potential...

The only other song which stands out on Great Expectations after "Sleeping Satellite" is what could be the lead-off of side B, were this a record: "In Your Care." It's got a simple chord structure, strummed on guitar with minimal accompaniment; it's almost like this is the one song where Archer decided to be totally honest and bare her emotions - that's the impression I get from the refrain, "Son of a bitch - you broke my heart!" And it's interesting too, as I mentally file through all the songs I've heard in my lifetime, that if Tracy Chapman were to ever cover "Something Fast" (by The Sisters of Mercy), that it would probably sound like "In Your Care."

After that, the album pretty much returns to the status quo it maintained from tracks 2-6 for tracks 8-11. Rumour has it that Archer is working on a new album for an independent label. Would it be too much to have great expectations for a release by her not tied to a major? Mind the pun and watch your footing.