Today’s Pop Rescue from a fate unknown, is the 1998 debut album Fabulous by the Italian-American dance group The Tamperer featuring Maya. Will this album make Your Life Better, or will you not Feel It at all? Read on…

This 10 track CD opens with second and final single If You Buy This Record (Your Life Will Be Better). The track reached #3 in the UK charts. The intro this song plays hard with Madonna’s Material Girl, and rightly gives that song’s writers Peter Brown and Robert Rans credits. The track is somewhat musically similar as their debut single (next), and the Material Girl riffs really give it a distinctly catchy feel to it, even if lyrically it’s somewhat light.

That’s followed by the dramatic thud and brooding synths of lead single Feel It. This is of course a partial cover of The Jacksons‘ hit Feel It. This pumping update to the song rightly gave them a #1 UK hit, and is a stronger track than the previous song on this album. Here, Maya Days‘ vocals are perfectly steeped in attitude, and that amazing ‘WHAT……. she gonna look like with a chimney on her?‘ is one of 90’s music’s all time greatest moments – even the video delivers fantastically on that line.

Up next is Gotta Shine, and here we get a ton of bouncing synths set against a stomping bass drum. This track then goes on to give us some more wonderful vocals from Maya, who manages to sneak in some occasional fun vocal outbursts in what is a pretty mellow song. The track lacks the energy heard in the previous songs here, but it’s still quite a nice contrast.

Then it’s Step Out, which presents some nice synth strings as a beat pressurises beneath. Maya’s vocals are flawless here – sounding rich and upbeat resulting in a nice little dance-pop track.

A galloping drum sample and handclaps opens next song I Love Being A Girl. Synth brass tease us in the build up as Maya talks us into the first verse about boys. This is track is almost candy-pop in tone, and at times in the chorus I get wafts of Cyndi Lauper-esque vocals. It’s playful and fun, and almost something that wouldn’t sound out of place on a Vengaboys album.

Oo Doggie is next, and this gives us some more softer vocals from Maya, set against a Gat Decor type bouncing synth sound. The track is pretty mellow, and I’m not entirely sure what this song is about ‘Oo Doggie’, ‘give me some’ and ‘right now’ is repeated many times and makes me wonder if it’s not about canines.

Then we’re on to Get Up Get It On, which returns us to the harder thudding beats of the two singles we’re familiar with. This track takes nods from a Motown classic (and it’s bugging me which one – if you know, please drop it in the comments!), giving legendary songwriters Brian Holland and Lamont Dozier credits. However, the song fails to bring the strength, energy, and catchiness of the two similar chart hits.

Following that is DJ’s Rule The World, and this track gives us some nice vocals from Maya – including some more fun vocal outbursts and effects – set against some downbeat synth pads over a stomping dance beat. The emptiness of the track allows for Maya’s more subdued vocals to shine. It’s a gentle slow dance.

The Heart Of A Memory is next, and this gives us a surprise tender ballad co-written by Maya’s manager Steve Gittelman. This allows Maya’s vocals to really shine, and suddenly you realise quite what she’s holding back – we’re almost in Dina Carroll territory. The track builds wonderfully, and Maya’s vocal performance (including a key change) is emphatic and she gets to show off some soaring vocals. This is a delightful surprise, and a clear turn-left moment for the album.

The album closes with a 7m 29s Feel It (Klubbheads Klubb Mix), and this gives us a usual Klubbheads rapid-fire mix that gallops along with layers of percussive and thudding beats. Once it gets going, the speed of the track is a decent undercurrent to the iconic vocals from Maya. However, the Feel It riff is missing, because it hangs on the ‘WHAT…. she gonna look’ sample instead, and therefore swaps in some different synths playing a different tune.

Verdict

Over all, this album feels much like it delivered for the two singles, but then someone suggested they made an album and they took the chance.

The highlights are the two singles Feel It, and If You Buy This Record (Your Life Will Be Better), which are instantly recognisable and anthemic from the 1990s, but tucked away near the end is also the glorious The Heart Of A Memory, which is out of place against the rest of the songs here, but really allows Maya to show off her vocal precision and warmth instead of big dance vocals.

At it’s weakest, Oo Doggie hits the benign levels, and its surrounded by some nice but not particularly catchy dance pop songs that fail to deliver the catchiness or energy that the charting Tamperer featuring Maya would be recognised for.

Whist Tamperer featuring Maya did go on to have another chart hit in the UK (Hammer To The Heart), it would be great to hear more from Maya Days as a main artist, as she certainly has the vocals needed to deliver a hit, but she appears to be enjoying a regular acting career instead.

• POP RESCUE 2024 RATING: 3 / 5
• 1998 UK ALBUM CHART PEAK: Did not chart.
• POP RESCUE COST: 99p from a Discogs.com seller.