Tempted is the second, and last, album by the American dance duo Waterlillies.[2][3] It was released in 1994.[4] The title track was a top 10 hit on the Billboard Dance Club Songs chart.[5]
| Tempted | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
_Album_Art.jpeg) | ||||
| Studio album by | ||||
| Released | 1994 | |||
| Genre | Dance | |||
| Label | Kinetic/Sire/Reprise[1] | |||
| Producer | Ray Carroll | |||
| Waterlillies chronology | ||||
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| Singles from Tempted | ||||
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Production
editThe album was mostly produced by Ray Carroll. "Take My Breath Away" was written and produced by Sandra Jill Alikas.[6] Tempted includes an a cappella cover of the Carpenters' "Close to You".[7]
The Junior Vasquez remix of "Never Get Enough" topped the Billboard Hot Dance Music/Club Play chart for a week in April 1995.[8] It reached No. 40 on the Billboard Hot Dance Music/Maxi-Singles Sales chart.[citation needed]
Critical reception
edit| Review scores | |
|---|---|
| Source | Rating |
| AllMusic |   [9] |
| The Encyclopedia of Popular Music | [10] |
| Entertainment Weekly | A−[11] |
| Knoxville News Sentinel | [12] |
Trouser Press called the title track "a rousing dance track that garnered a fair share of radio and club play," writing that, "except for a wholly unnecessary a cappella rendition of Bacharach/David’s 'Close to You', the Waterlillies’ sophomore album stretches the boundaries of a limited aesthetic palette with greater returns than the debut."[1] Entertainment Weekly thought that, "on its own, singer-producer Sandra Jill Alikas' voice, a stock-still alto not unlike Enya's, would be just another aural massage, but instrumentalist-producer Ray Carroll’s gently boinging tracks add all sorts of shadings—wanton desire in 'Tempted', all-enveloping warmth in 'I Wanna Be There', sorrow in 'Never Get Enough'."[11] Billboard deemed the title track "a jiggly dance/pop number," writing that "Alikas is an angelic, compelling presence."[13]
The Miami Herald called the album "hypnotic," writing that the musicians "somehow manage to inject heat and heart into mid-tempo dance tunes despite using the tools of the trade—synths and drum machines."[14] The Record determined that "Carroll revels in early-Eighties synth-pop, creating dreamy, if uninvolving, melodies, with drum-machine tracks and the occasional hip-hop rhythm."[15] The New Yorker opined that Tempted "happily evokes both the glory days of the electronic eighties and the recent work of other dance-floor mavens, like Saint Etienne and Opus III, but without their nostalgia."[16]
AllMusic wrote that, "what sounds at first blush like just one more formulaic house-beats-plus-diva dance album turns out, on second listen, to be something a bit more subversive than that."[9]
Track listing
edit| No. | Title | Length |
|---|---|---|
| 1. | "Tempted" | |
| 2. | "I Wanna Be There" | |
| 3. | "Never Get Enough" | |
| 4. | "Free" | |
| 5. | "I Don't Want Your Love" | |
| 6. | "Nolion Doll" | |
| 7. | "Take My Breath Away" | |
| 8. | "Supersonic" | |
| 9. | "She Must Be in Love" | |
| 10. | "How Does It Feel?" | |
| 11. | "Work It Out" | |
| 12. | "Close to You" |
References
edit- ^ a b "Waterlillies". Trouser Press. Retrieved 1 November 2021.
- ^ "Waterlillies Biography, Songs, & Albums". AllMusic.
- ^ Vorva, Jeff (26 Aug 1994). "Waterlillies' dance tracks listenable". Sidetracks. Northwest Herald. p. 9.
- ^ McGarrigle, Dale (10 Sep 1994). "Comfy sonic sofa: Waterlilies' 'Tempted' sounds like the future of dance music". Bangor Daily News.
- ^ "Arts". Miami Herald. Billboard. November 11, 1994. p. 17G.
- ^ "Pop Making Sense". Windy City Times. Retrieved 1 November 2021.
- ^ Everson, John (15 Sep 1994). "Waterlillies Tempted". Music. SouthtownStar. p. 8.
- ^ "Hot Dance Club songs". Billboard. April 1, 1995.
- ^ a b "Tempted". AllMusic.
- ^ Larkin, Colin (2006). The Encyclopedia of Popular Music. Vol. 8. MUZE. p. 533.
- ^ a b Browne, David. "Tempted". Entertainment Weekly.
- ^ Campbell, Chuck (September 6, 1994). "New Releases: Edie Brickell, The Waterlillies, Lusicous Jackson". Knoxville News Sentinel.
- ^ "Single Reviews - The Waterlillies Tempted". Billboard. Vol. 106, no. 36. Sep 3, 1994. p. 71.
- ^ Cohen, Howard (July 9, 1995). "Classic Discs: Dance Music from Disco to Techno". Arts. Miami Herald. p. 1.
- ^ Porter, Mark (December 9, 1994). "In the Clubs". Lifestyle/Previews. The Record. p. 7.
- ^ "Clubs". The New Yorker. Vol. 70. November 14, 1994. p. 25.