Review: “Of The Heart, Of The Soul And Of The Cross: The Utopian Experience” by P. M. Dawn (CD, 1991)

Today’s Pop Rescue from an uncertain fate, is the 1991 album Of The Heart, Of The Soul And Of The Cross: The Utopian Experience by American sibling hip-hop/R&B duo, P. M. Dawn. Will this album be Bliss, or should you Set it Adrift and burn it? Read on…

P. M. Dawn - Of The Heart, Of The Soul And Of The Cross: The Utopian Experience (1991) album — P. M. Dawn – Of The Heart, Of The Soul And Of The Cross: The Utopian Experience (1991) album.

This epically titled 13 track CD opens with Intro, a 59 second little track in which the late Prince Be gives you a spoken welcome over a gentle snare-led beat.

This moves on to Reality Used To Be A Friend Of Mine, and this swiftly drops us in on what sounds like a sampled track – although it’s not mentioned in the artwork alongside the other credits. The track is really quite catchy – with a vintage feel to it, and a nice set of ‘ooh-ing‘ drifting backing vocals as Prince Be raps over the top. This has a wonderfully chilled and catchy feel to it. It was released as the fourth single from the album, and it snuck into the Top 30, reaching #29. It deserved better.

Synth pads open the next track, third single Paper Doll. Percussive beats not dissimilar to those heard in their Set Adrift On Memory Bliss (more on that later) hit are here. Once again, Prince Be seems to effortlessly deliver the rapid fire lyrics in what is probably the most laid-back way. The contrast in the vocals between the rapped verse and the sung chorus work well, laden with vocal harmonies that remind me occasionally of Seal, set over hissing hi-hats. Despite this nice mixture, the track stalled at #49.

Following that is To Serenade A Rainbow, in which Prince Be sings of flying away. There’s some named samples here from Hugh Masakela (‘Child Of The Earth’) and ‘Din Daa Daa’ by George Kranz. The over all result is an almost jazzy number, once again washed with dreamy vocals and harmonies. The rapping here reminds me a little of Oui 3, despite its lyrical reference to The Beatles.

Then it’s a trip to the beach for the intro to Comatose, before swapping it for some funky wah wah, sampled beats and harder rap. We have some more wonderful samples in play here, this time from Dr. John (‘Walk On Guilded Splinters’) and Sly And The Family Stone (‘Thankful And Thoughtful’). The end result is a track with bags of attitude and a really catchy one at that.

Lead single A Watcher’s Point Of View (Don’t ‘Cha Think) is next, and this track lifts the tempo a bit, but has plenty of drifting vocal harmonies, catchy beats, alongside the rapid lyrics. The track gave the duo their first Top 40 charting UK single, where it reached #36. It’s quite a foot-tapper!

Acoustic guitar leads us into Even After I Die, and here we find Prince Be on fine mellow rapping form, with a guitar riff helping to guide the way. Drum beats are on point as the song swaggers along in the background. It’s a nice mellow track.

That’s followed by In The Presence Of Mirrors, which continues a nice warm and mellow sound, and actually gives a sense of singing rather rapping in this track – and it works really well. This should have been a single, as it sounds wonderful.

Then it’s time for the breakthrough hit Set Adrift On Memory Bliss, complete with it’s use of Spandau Ballet’s sample of hit True. It works perfectly, with the tempo wonderfully matching Prince Be’s soft mid-tempo lovestruck lyrics. The track thoroughly deserved it’s hit status, although I had assumed it was a UK #1 rather than #3 (it was stuck behind the almost un-moveable Bryan Adams and Right Said Fred’s I’m Too Sexy!). Masterpiece!

Shake follows that, with Prince Be turning up the temperature (or horniness) by asking ‘any females in the house’ to ‘shake‘. Here, the track is pretty simple, although the chorus is fairy catchy and I’d be surprised if this hasn’t been sampled for something else. A slightly odd chanted ‘everyone can think Todd Terry‘ turns up near the end, but then the track ends. There’s also a really nice bass line that arrives about half way through. Once it gets going, it’s a good track.

Then it’s If I Wuz U, which gives us another load of really nice layered harmonies. This time a beat gallops along beneath as an uncredited pitch-shifted bleeping synth sample of Kraftwerk’s Pocket Calculator plays underneath (the lyrics even mention ‘calculate’ where the artwork doesn’t).

Following that is On A Clear Day, which gives us some really nice bass synths and sung lyrics. It works really well, evolving into meandering guitar solos. The track is filled with great drum sample layers and vocals. There’s definitely echoes of Stereo MCs here.

The album closes with The Beautiful. An underlying synth bass broods in the background as Prince Be talks reflectively and a female vocalist (or two) deliver harmonies in the background. The track is slow and gentle, and somewhat dreamy. Electric guitars can be heard in the distance, but never to dominate the vocals.

P. M. Dawn’s lead single ‘A Watcher’s Point Of View (Don’t ‘Cha Think)’ (1991).

Verdict

Over all, this album blends mellow rap, vocal harmonies, samples, and beats in a wonderful dreamy way.

I wasn’t quite sure what a whole album of P. M. Dawn would bring, but the duo have surprised me by delivering a consistent sound but one which also doesn’t sound too same-y. The highlights are of course Set Adrift On Memory Bliss which thoroughly deserved its success with the help of Spandau Ballet’s sample, but also Reality Used To Be A Friend Of Mine, A Watcher’s Point Of View (Don’t ‘Cha Think) and In The Presence Of Mirrors (which should have been a single). In these, the mixture of vocals, beats, gentle rapping, and dreamy warmth works well.

Whilst there’s no stinkers here, tracks like Comatose and To Serenade A Rainbow are good solid tracks, but lack the interest of the others. Maybe dropping these two would make this a shorter album that would allow for a tighter set of different sounds, but their inclusion is no sore point.

I’m not sure it’s bliss, but they are definitely good memories of early 1990s, and Prince Be’s part in it.