Like Toy Soldiers

As opportunistic as it can be, Sony Music has decided to release a collection from Martika, possibly due to Enemiem's sampling of the song Toy Soldiers on his own hit Like Toy Soldiers. This is not so much a greatest hits collection since Martika only had a chance to do two albums, both of which are splendid by the way.



On her self-titled debut in 1988, she gained much fame for several tracks, most notably the soaring #1 ballad Toy Soldiers and a danceable remake of Carole King's I Feel The Earth Move, giving the song a nice fresh sound altogether. Other great songs from the album include Cross My Heart (also done by a group called 8th Wonder) and More Than You Know.



Her sophormore album which saw Prince helping out in 1991 contained several solid tracks including Prince's haunting Love...Thy Will Be Done, the funky title track Martika's Kitchen and Don't Say U Love Me.



Several other album tracks and remixes make up the rest of this album, and perhaps this is the best you can get to a complete Martika collection since there wasn;t much to begin with.



But this forgotten star is definitely also underrated and talented. She collaborates in a new group called Oppera which is getting good reviews. Check that out.

Title track disappointment

This was a domestic greatest hit package that was long overdue. No doubt that Sony Legacy jumped on the bandwagon since Eminem resurrected the song on his "Like Toy Soldiers," but SHAME on everyone involved, not so much for using it in the CD title, but for audaciously editing the English version of the track by fading at at 4 minutes, 10 seconds and leaving the Japanese version to run in all the song's original glory. Someone should be fired!

Underrated vocal chops and songwriting.

The music press tends to criticize artists for not branching out and not taking risks. Unfortunately, Martika is an example of how an artist is punished by the record-buying public for doing something bold.



Martika's always had considerable talent. Her voice is strong, capable of a maturity that her contemporaries Tiffany and Debbie Gibson can't touch, she had both looks and charisma, and she's credited as a songwriter on most of her material. Most importantly, there was a latent ferocity in Martika's performances which adds a great deal of edge to her music, whether it was synth-dance songs or power ballads.



It's a shame that the careening sales of her sophomore album Martika's Kitchen had sent her into anonymity, because this is '80s pop music that holds up better than most, just for energetic performance. First hit "More than You Know" has the predictable pure-synth arrangement, but listen to Martika's vocal and you'll hear a vibrato and phrasing unusual in teen singers of that era, possibly attributable to her background in acting. Flagship monster hit "Toy Soldiers" still has a great deal of charm thanks to a dynamic arrangement with big peaks and valleys, and Martika's go-for-broke vocal, fine by any standard. I can't remember any teen-pop artist going as far as her feral, almost punk-ish cries near the end of the song -- sure she overreaches her range, but it's exhilarating to hear and adds immensely to the song. And while it's a tired choice for a cover song, "I Feel the Earth Move" suits Martika's vocal style nicely, allowing her to exploit that resonant low end (something Mandy Moore shares) that sets her apart from her colleagues.



The Prince collaborations are notable because Martika shared writing credits with The Purple One, a rarity when Prince writes for other artists. As with almost any Prince collaboration, his influence is glaringly obvious, but Martika's voice works marvellously with the overt funk/R&B direction, sounding grown-up and sexy. "Martika's Kitchen" is catchy and harkens to Prince's playful midtempo numbers, and she convincingly takes on Prince's love-as-religion theme in "Love...Thy Will Be Done", with its gospel arrangements, extremely dark vibe, and highly nuanced lead vocal.



It was a gutsy move (I can imagine her record label squirming about this: "There's no 'Toy Soldiers' on this album!"), and while "Love...Thy Will Be Done" managed to inch onto the singles charts, it signalled the end of Martika's chart run, just as she was starting to get mighty interesting. This is one artist who deserves a second shot at the title. Even Tiffany had a comeback single a couple of years back, and Debbie Gibson's still recording. Why not Martika?