Review: “High On A Happy Vibe” by Urban Cookie Collective (CD, 1994)

Today’s Pop Rescue is the 1994 debut album High On A Happy Vibe by the British dance band Urban Cookie Collective. Will this album give you happy vibe, or does this cookie crumble to dust? Read on…

Urban Cookie Collective – High On A Happy Vibe (1994) album.

This 12 track CD opens with the hit lead single The Key, The Secret. The synth and instantly recognisable vocals introduced us to the band and gave us an iconic and very catchy eurodance style song. The track takes no hostages – with its infectiously bouncy sound, thumping beats, and repeated vocals and samples from the late Diane Charlemagne. It’s a great album starter, and lead single, and it was a hit – with the single peaking at #2 (rightly stuck behind Freddie Mercury’s posthumous Living On My Own single re-release). We’re off to a great start.

Feels Like Heaven follows, and this track gives us a seamlessly catchy sound too. It’s not quite as light and bouncy, but instead it allows Diane to show off more of a vocal range. The synths are here en masse, and layered well to give us a rich sound as the track heads through a verse and chorus. The track stood as the album’s second single. The track gave them another Top 10 hit, this time reaching #5 in the UK singles chart.

Next is Walk Right On, the first album track to appear, and this takes a slightly more sedate journey as it evolves. Diane’s vocals shine here really well as she takes what feels like more of a full verse and chorus format song. There’s definitely some echoes of their contemporary 2 Unlimited and Culture Beat vibes coming out of this song. Despite it being quite mellow, the track gives a richer sound and set of vocals. It’s a really nice song.

Then it’s Yours Is The Love, which starts with some brooding synths before dramatically dropping in a beat and gurgling set of synths to the first chorus. The track kind of meanders around somewhat, loaded with lovely sounding synths and soft dreamy vocals. It’s a really nice gentle listen.

Following this is Dreaming In Colours, and this soon drops us in on a racing beat and repeated vocals. Some 2 Unlimited/Culture Beat synths are here in spades, and the track has an almost choral synth sound to it, which fits well with the theme of the song but it does feel a bit too long and padded out.

A big introduction leads us in to single Sail Away. We’re soon then thrown into another galloping eurodance hit, except here we get a full set of verse and chorus vocals from Diane, and she sounds perfect – flanked by some expertly placed backing vocalists and a dance beat. The track was a moderate hit – reaching #18 in the UK.

Then we’re on to Worldwide Reunion, which once again gives us some nice dance beats, but also gives us some nice breathy backing vocals. Diane delivers what seems to be the band’s most verbose lyrics so far, resulting in a track that’s not quite as catchy as others. The chorus works well though where the vocals sound their best.

Bring It On Home (Family) is next, the album’s fifth and final single. Here, there’s a perhaps more than a passing musical resemblance in the reggae sound and choice of synths in my mind, to Ace Of Base’s All That She Wants. As a track, this is certainly a different sound for them, and it doesn’t really work. The UK single-buying public agreed, and the track stalled, taking the band to #56.

Synthscapes lead us to the Hidden Land. That’s followed by a gurgling synth and a thumping bass drum. Hi-hats drop in too and then we’re into full-on-bouncy-synth eurodance sound again. Here we find some rather subdued vocals. These contrast fairly well to some bigger vocals from Diane as the track progresses, resulting in a somewhat dreamy sound.

Then the tempo picks up again, taking us back somewhat closer to the sound of the opening and lead single The Key The Secret with the titular High On A Happy Vibe. This track stood as the album’s fourth single, but their happy vibe didn’t quite work with the public, and saw the band land just outside the UK Top 30 for the first time, where it reached #31.

This leads on to the CD’s two bonus tracks. First up is The Key, The Secret (Kamoflage Club Mix) – this initially gives the song a more mysterious sound thanks to some strings-esque synths. The hi-hats drop in, ushering in the thumping bass drum alongside it. The track builds steadily as Diane’s unmistakeable vocal line from the chorus leads us to the first chorus. It doesn’t quite carry the energy and bounciness of the original, instead giving us a more softer sound. It works fairly well though.

The album closes with bonus track Sail Away (Judge Jules & Michael Skins Vocal Pop Funk Mix), which seems to throw some funky bass and organ sounds here. This allows Diane’s vocals to sound much richer and they suit this sound well. It’s a worthy remix of this track, and perhaps works as well as the original single version.

Urban Cookie Collective’s lead single ‘The Key, The Secret’ (1994).

Verdict

Over all, this album is a wonderful blast of reminiscent 1990’s eurodance hits and sounds.

Urban Cookie Collective’s iconic hit, which opens the album, is almost unrivalled here, with Feels Like Heaven being a worthy highlight companion, but it’s not alone, as Walk Right On, Yours Is The Love, and both the single and the funky remix of it are all great tracks too.

As for artists in this genre, an entire album can be somewhat of a challenge, as it either results in an album of clones of the hit, or one that sees a broad range of styles. However, here the sidesteps from the hit formula they’d found in their debut hit, is at least expanded upon. Sadly, it doesn’t really work in the Ace Of Base close-call Bring It On Home, which is possibly the lowest point of the album. It’s unfortunate that it was released as a single.

Writing this review led me to discover that singer Diane Charlemagne died in 2015, leaving us sadly without hope of her fantastic and familiar voice of the group’s biggest ’90s hits, once again returning to our ears.

There is definitely a happy vibe to this album, and anyone who enjoyed the ’90s euro-dance artists will enjoy this album.