Originally released in 1984, infamous New Wave icon Josie Cotton's second album From The Hip continues the 60's-styled pop rock that helped launched the Los Angeles singer's career with her celebrated debut album Convertible Music. Set for reissue on September 4, 2020 on Cotton's own label Kitten Robot Records, From the Hip includes her hit single "Jimmy Loves Maryann."
A record that was born from the turmoil that befalls many artists who have signed to a major label, From The Hip marks a pivotal crossroads at the beginning of her decades-long career. "I think we all had our version of a nervous breakdown in a closet somewhere," she laughs over those tumultuous times. "If the recording of Convertible Music was a technically nightmarish Elvis Presley movie, then From the Hip was Nightmare on Elm Street."
Signed to Elektra Records (The Cars, The Pixies, The Doors, Bruno Mars), Cotton was introduced to the revolving door company brass turnover that happens frequently at major labels. Having released her 1982 classic debut Convertible Music on the label, spawning the New Wave hits "Johnny, Are You Queer?" and "He Could Be the One", she had already witnessed the fickleness of the label who shifted the level of their support throughout the promotion of the album.
"By the time From the Hip came out, Elektra had changed CEOs several times," she explains. "So we were excited to hear that our new guy would be none other than [legendary producer] Roy Thomas Baker. I was a huge fan of his work, producing Queen and the Cars and we eventually became good pals."
Though Cotton and Baker shared a wonderful working friendship, her experience at the label was anything but wonderful. "In the middle of recording, my manager and lawyer disappeared and then Elektra decided to fire my producers/mentors [Bobby and Larson Paine]," she recalls, noting that Baker took over production duties.
"I started taking meetings at Elektra with no representation... el solo mio. All the people who had signed me initially and believed in me were gone. It felt like I was starring in my own Telenovela soap opera, but my mouth is out of synch with the sound as I overact my way into oblivion."
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