By Melissa Antoinette Garza
Well, it’s 4 a.m. and I don’t much feel like watching a movie. Instead, I’m doing something that I often do when my insomnia won’t let me sleep. I’m listening to some amazing music. Tonight, I’ve gone straight to Richard O’Brien’s ABSOLUTE O’BRIEN (1999). It should go without saying that the album is a favorite of mine.
ABSOLUTE O’BRIEN was initially planned as a way to showcase the songs from O’Brien’s stage show production, DISGRACEFULLY YOURS. Things changed when he wrote additional songs. The result proves, once again, that O’Brien’s musical versatility is as awe-inspiring and enjoyable as his versatility in fashion, film, stage and TV.
Every song has a smooth jazz tone that works and flows in a marvelous manner. The style choice weaves each song together magically. O’Brien shows remarkable range and incomparable talent as a performer.The sultry seductiveness in his voice combined with the sound and incredible lyrics, makes for an uplifting, refreshingly earnest and unaffected masterpiece.
INCUBUS OF LOVE: Anyone who knows anything about me, will know that INCUBUS OF LOVE hits me in all the right ways. O’Brien enticingly asking to be a sex demon would be fantasy fodder under any circumstance. After experiencing the sensations brought upon by his voice, the music, the background vocals and the sentiment of the song, I’d sell my soul to live inside the melody.
I’ll be yours until Aurora
Lights the morning with her aura
That rosy-fingered nimbus from above
Oh, let me be your incubus of love
IT’S UP TO YOU: A fresh take on a classic Latin beat opens the next song. IT’S UP TO YOU will have your body swaying, before O’Brien ever hits a note. When he does, it’s with a soft method that isn’t quiet harmless enough to be qualified as gentle. In fact, a subtle reoccurring harshness echoes in an erotically divine way.
No one here to convert you
No one here to pretend
But the world might desert you
And you just might need a friend
AIN’T THAT TO DIE FOR: AIN’T THAT TO DIE FOR begins with a sensationally slow speed as O’Brien croons. It’s a palpable prelude that promises more. When the music picks up and picks up it does, O’Brien matches intensity with a cool confident approach that makes me melt every time.
So let that love light blaze
Engage the gaze of praise
If you don’t have a voice
Then baby you don’t have no choice
FIXATION: FIXATION is a soft sweet melody that tells a story of love unrecognized. O’Brien sings in a mellow relaxed tone. Though, it’s certainly a different style, it strikes me the same way that Tommy James & The Shondells CRIMSON AND CLOVER does. The vibrations of sound circulates thru the listener in the most fabulous of ways.
Poor boy, poor girl
They’re both surfing on the same curl
Seems they choose to lose in random
Never choose to cruise in tandem
THE DANCE OF LOVE: This song opens with O’Brien breathing heavy and then continues with him singing about the ecstasy of sex. I’ve been following his career for years and there is just no peak with him. Everything is perfection and he is just the most dynamic entity ever sent to our universe. THE DANCE OF LOVE is tantalizingly and brazenly erotic. It is a spectacularly fun trip that incorporates a southern rock jazz-infused twang with a fast beat that has O’Brien singing about euphoric rapture, like no other.
There’s no need to know me
just come to me show me
that I’m light you’re the moth
together we can do the dance of love
come to me slowly
with no sanctimony just love
we’ll do the dance of love
ONE HUNDRED DOLLARS AN HOUR: This song should be prescribed by doctors to boost sex drive. When this song comes on, I am a puddle on the floor. Sometimes when I’m cleaning, I’ll put my playlist on random. When I hear ONE HUNDRED DOLLARS AN HOUR start, I stop what I’m doing, sit down and enjoy O’Brien’s wickedly arousing voice and the enticing lyrics about him making love to a prostitute.
You’re every woman – You’re every girl
That I’ve ever known
The moon the earth the waters
Eve’s eternal daughters, my corner stone
I bring my hunger to your shrine
And for one hundred dollars an hour
One hundred dollars an hour
Or part thereof – you’re mine
RHYTHM OF THE HEARTBEAT: The southern rock, jazz-infused twang returns for this upbeat and fun number. When I’m in our living room or kitchen, if this comes on, I’m dancing with the hubby.When getting hitched, it helps to find one with great taste; in other words, find someone who recognizes and appreciates O’Brien’s many talents. I did and after ten years, we’re still wonderfully happy and rocking out to Richard O’Brien on many a nights.
Then if somebody turns your head
And edges you onto the bed
Just forget you’re refined
stop improving your mind and start listening to the heartbeat
to the rhythm of the heartbeat
I’VE BEEN THERE BEFORE: This one tears my heart out. Anyone who has ever been charmed or witnessed a loved one charmed, by an ill-intentioned creep, will relate to this.
The sympathetic strength of O’Brien’s tone expertly matches with the lyrics that accurately and painfully depict a dysfunctional one-way love and loyalty. Concerned onlookers may be consciously aware of the train-wreck up ahead, but stopping the hurt is impossible. We all want to save those we love from making similar sorts of mistakes we have, but as people have had that shared sentiment for millennia and we are still making the same errors, it’s safe to say that human nature and temperament have more influence than the wisest advice.
He can make your heart start with a look
You let him read you like an open book
Then he betrays your trust
And all your dreams turned to dust
And I wrote the score
I’ve been there before
I’ve been there before
RUNNING WITH THE NOISY BOYS: This is yet another O’Brien song that my neighbor has caught me rocking out to more than once. That said, I was also caught, at a few of my old jobs, hanging out in empty conference rooms and dancing while on break. On my resume, I list that as being consistent.
RUNNING WITH THE NOISY BOYS is another incredible song on an album filled with phenomenal tracks. The sound is optimistic and celebratory in an appealingly naughty way.
Each one has their separate laugh
Some cheap, some late, some hollow
Some love to give their autograph
Some love the God Apollo
Some say that rules are just for fools
And using them destroys
The brother thing and the other thing
Running with the noisy boys
I WILL ALWAYS HOLD YOU IN MY HEART: Second to the last song and the most emotionally raw, this song cuts deep. It’s a crooning jazz piece that is sung from the point of view of a father who is physically distant from their grown child and misses them. More than that, he blames himself for being emotionally distant in years past. O’Brien expresses this love and regret in a smooth and bluesy gem that hits hard and hits home.
I never knew how far I’d fall
A poor blind fool who had it all
I threw your simple love away
Too busy living for the day
True happiness for you I pray
For I will always hold you in my heart
ANGEL IN ME: Anyone who wants to know how much I adore this song, look no further than my Twitter and Facebook accounts. I’ve posted the music video countless times.
As far as I know this is the only song on ABSOLUTE O’BRIEN that has an accompanying video. It is, in my completely unbiased opinion, the greatest music video of all time. Richard O’Brien wears both pink and black suits, while dressed like a devil. He then seduces an angel. The hairs on the back of my neck stand and my toes curl in excitement from the visuals alone.
Then there is the lyrics. The thought of O’Brien saying the words, “I’ve loved many a woman and left many a man,” makes me intensely amorous. To see him sing the words is on an entirely different level. He is the living embodiment of all that is great about sex. His existence brings on maximum levels of euphoria.
For many days and many nights I’ve loved the thought of you
Through many years too many tears you know I’ve sought for you
You gave this iron fist a velvet glove
And when we kissed that’s when I fell in love
Maybe I’m a devil but this time I’m on the level
And you bring out the angel in me
OVERALL: ABSOLUTE O’BRIEN is a necessity of life. If you don’t own it and you haven’t heard it, you’re missing out on some of the greatest musical numbers ever released.
It’s one of those amazingly rare albums where, from first track to last, you’re in heaven. Every song offers something different than the last, yet they all flawlessly work together to create a divine experience with the superb Richard O’Brien at the helm.
On a somewhat related note, a few years ago, my husband was kind enough to find me a poster for ABSOLUTE O’BRIEN. It is autographed by the man himself. I fucking love that poster and I adore my husband for getting it for me. Once again, if you’re going to spend a life with someone, make sure they appreciate the finer things in life; and there is nothing finer than Richard O’Brien.
Scared Stiff Rating: 11/10 (the math works out) – Absolute Ecstasy
