Lisa Lisa & the Cult Jam "Lost in Emotion"

I remember listening to "Lost in Emotion" (mp3) (buy) on 99.5 WZPL, the old top 40 station in Indianapolis, in 1987 when it was pretty huge, and when it looked like Lisa Lisa & the Cult Jam might actually have a chance at being massively big. But while I do remember liking the song (I mean, there wasn't really that much I didn't like when I was 10), I don't remember loving it, probably because I was 10 and afraid to look gay to my friends. But I heard it on a Muzak feed recently while eating at a restaurant, and I had one of those moments I love having when I hear something that's totally decontextualized from associated information---no title, artist, visual accompaniment---and I have to rack my brain to try to figure out what it is, using all of my musical referential faculties. This specific occasion was compounded by the fact that I was in a busy restaurant, and the song had to compete with the chatter of other diners, the clanking of silverware and coffee mugs, and other ambience, making it a harder task than it would have been normally.

The first thing I noticed while trying to figure it out was the vocal melody, which instantly led me toward Motown, an instinct that was reaffirmed by the singer's voice. Lisa Velez possessed a fragile, calm warble that channels Diana Ross more blatantly than any other singer since, and the first verse and chorus sound directly out of the Holland/Dozier/Holland songbook. You have to understand that, because of the surrounding clamor and the poor equalization of the restaurant's PA system, I was essentially only able to hear Velez, and not the massively overdone synthetic 80's production, an extreme detriment to the song's enjoyability 19 years later. The song was written and produced by B-Fine from Full Force, the team of pro-wrestler sized songwriters and performers who'd given "Roxanne Roxanne" to UTFO a few years earlier and served as Velez's H/D/H +3.

It starts nicely enough, with the song's processed bassline as a solo introduction, but the production only ratchets up the complication after that. The synthesizer, trying to inject some sort of Latin-ness (the record is called Spanish Fly, afterall) is the biggest culprit, with the way-too-loud and also sort of Latin drum machine (a synth timbale?) coming in a close second. The tinkling xylophone that matches the refrain is nice, and could really just exist with a bass and snare and the song would be fantastic. But with this mix, it just gets cluttered and I get claustrophobic. It's definitely not headphone music. And it emphasizes one of the best things about Motown productions of the 1960s---they would work all of these disparate elements into service of a song, but on the best ones, nothing felt overwhelming.

But, try as it might, all the nasty overproduction can't detract from what is just a stone-cold classic melody, a time-tested lyrical theme of resistance in the face of romance and a perfect delivery by Velez. The verse sounds like every anxious teenage conversation with giddiness that belies any sort of trepidation. But then the bridge comes in and everything drops into a minor key, and everything changes for a moment as the background singers (again, probably the push of a button) play the naysayer, as she sings the great line "From time to time, I wonder if I am in your heart. Even though I don't live there yet, I'm afraid it'll be cold and dark." But then the chorus strikes a perfect balance between the verse and bridge, letting us know it's okay to wallow in indecisiveness for a little bit---it can actually be rather pleasant to get lost for a minute. Que sera, que sera.

Which brings me to my point, which is that this song needs to be taken apart and reassembled by someone with a bit more restraint than the guys who would end up gaining their greatest fame as the bullies in House Party. It's a gem of a song, but I'm afraid it will never really be fully appreciated out of its original cultural context (it went to #1 in 1987) unless it's allowed to breathe a lot more. I mean, I probably wouldn't have given it a second thought if it weren't for the uniqueness of my listening context. There's no rule saying that a remake can't improve on the original---it happens all the time. Let that bassline do the major support work, and find a crack singer (hell, maybe even Velez if she's still got the chops) to do the rest. You can't lose with that melody, you just can't. Full Force didn't. And cut like 2 minutes off the running time. If only just for my sake, please.