Cristina - Cristina

Somehow Cristina, with this album, achieved the ultimate disco/pop crossover, something that could be described as the missing link between "Love Boat" and Vivienne Westwood ! Indeed listening to this LP it's easy to understand why she was sometimes described as a pre-Madonna figure ... "La Poupée Qui Fait Non" is my personnal favourite here. It's an overproduced cover of the same song by Michel Polnareff, a famous French pop singer & songwriter. The result is an incredible disco epic with Candido-like drumrolls, breakdown, vocal ad lib and tutti quanti ... Irresistible on any dancefloor. The title means "The Doll Who Says 'No'", and as you may guess the whole song is full of sexual innuendos ! "On ne lui a jamais dit ... qu'elle pouvait dire oui (she was never said ... she could say 'yes' )"

Cristina was a saucy vehicle for August Darnell, again exploiting the tackier end of disco with the lovely lady vamping it up in a coquettish way, not entirely removed from the great Kylie hit of now. Cristina was the girlfriend (and later the wife) of Michael Zilka, owner of ZE records. When Zilka met Darnell and learned that he was part of Doctor Buzzard Original Savannah Band he asked Darnell to help produce Cristina's album. Zilka was so pleased with the result that Darnell became the house producer of ZE records.
Cristina's Cristina is my all time favourite album. Was it a joke? Was it punk disco? In the time that disco had no credibility at all this album created the perfect crossover for disco haters to dance onto the beat. She cannot sing, the album is overproduced, the lyrics are so tacky that they can be used as glue but that is all part of why this album is so fantastic.