It is our prodigious girl of “Funky Bohemia” fame, the boss from the Hot Sauce Records! Her sound has evolved to embrace more Hip Hop beats, and now she reminds me of the pure Lisa Lisa & Cult Jam sound of the late eighties, whereas on the last effort another Lisa (Stansfield) carried the similarities. There is also an “edge” to Dangerous Diversion that was absent on her previous musical excursion when it seemed she was searching for a sound.
Are We Here Yet?
“Here” kicks the party off like a jam at any off the beaten path club done “live” in your town. I imagined falling into a set at the legendary New York City club Cee Bee Gee Bee’s with Ellee Ven and the band in mid-set! Next is a sexy lipstick number called “Sorry’s Not Enough”. I’m not sure this song is better with or without the intermittent rapping, but I’d like to try the “sans” version please if available and with more of Elleeven’s lyrical verse.
Has Elleven left the club?
I miss that there is no stone-cold club, “Under My Skin”- type jam on “Dangerous”. This is a more introspective and hip-hop-ical album. Like on track six, “Just Another Song” featuring the rapping words of Protégé`, and while again, it fits the Cult Jam formula of the late 1980s, the song itself, even without his words, is a nice medium-to-fast melody with a slight bounce to make it airwave-friendly.
However, it is the mellow “Further Away”, typifying that progression, and which is my favorite on the disc because it can appeal to the underlying sadness that we all experience from time to time in the sometimes unsure realm of romance.
By album’s end, she’s living dangerously again with the rawness of the rap lines on “Encore”. This is a quick-listened-to album, leaving you craving more and wondering, which singing “Lisa” will she channel next? The production is clear and the song positioning pretty expert on here. Three stars this go-round.
Released November 2008 on Hot Sauce Records.
