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Cristina, "Doll in the Box"
Ze
As part of Ze Records' ongoing excavation of their extensive backcatalog, they have recently reissued two albums by Cristina, theinternationally ignored disco superstar should-have-been but never-was.Cristina Monet was born into opulence and wealth, attending Harvard andLondon's School of Drama, floating freely between flats in London,Paris and New York City. In 1978, while working at a theater critic forthe Village Voice,she met her future husband and founder of Ze Records Michael Zelkha.Zelkha was itching to get into the NYC underground punk/disco scenes,so they recorded a single called "Disco Clone," an incisive, ifirritating satire of disco culture for which they enlisted theproduction talents of John Cale and hilariously corny vocal narrationby actor Kevin Kline. Thankfully, the music improved by leaps andbounds by the time Cristina was recording her debut full-length Doll in the Box,but "Disco Clone" pretty much established Cristina's modus operandi:sleek, downtown Studio 54 jams with Cristina's haughty, detached,Brechtian vocal style; demonstrating her cool disillusionment withnightclubs full of "bored-looking bankers dancing with beautifulmodels." That early single is included as a bonus track on thisreissue, along with some other early singles and the entire AugustDarnell-produced debut. Darnell was soon to unveil his Latino-flavoredmutant disco ensemble Kid Creole and the Coconuts, and much of thatinfluence is evident on Doll in a Box, with heavy-handedAfrican and Latin rhythms, Caribbean overtones and a jaunty brasssection. Check out the African tribal chanting that forms the basis of"Jungle Love" for a laugh. Listening to this material more than 20years later, it can't help but sound somewhat dated, suffering fromaging problems that Cristina's contemporaries (and labelmates) such asWas (Not Was) and the Aural Exciters were able to sidestep. Most ofCristina's appeal lay in her sarcastic, world-weary vocals, soundingyears beyond her actual age. However, for much of Doll in the Box,those amazing vocals are overwhelmed with an overactive, technicolorproduction that wears a thin after a few listens. The singles are muchbetter, with the aforementioned "Disco Clone" presented alongsidehilariously witty covers of Peggy Lee's Lieber and Stoller-penned "IsThat All There Is?" and The Beatles "Drive My Car." On the latter,Cristina alters the lyrics of the Lee classic into a darkly humorousmonologue set against incongruously bubbly music: "And then I fell inlove with the most wonderful boy in Manhattan...we'd take longs walksdown by the river and he'd beat me black and blue and I loved it." Doll in a Boxis very far from a lost classic, but the inclusion of Cristina'sclassic early 12" singles more than makes up for its shortcomings.
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