I love Faraway Eyes by Vanity from Action Jackson and I think it's her best vocal performance. The song suits her voice so well. Was it released as a single? If not it should have been. I really want the Action Jackson CD but it is ridiculously expensive 2 buy online. The record company should do a re-issue. I also think their should be a Best Of Vanity CD. After her death I thought there would have been SOMETHING 2 commemorate her acting and music career but there has been nothing

Vanity performing "Faraway Eyes" on Soul Train (1988)

Her music and films were often cheesy and borderline camp but I really enjoyed them nevertheless.

This song was written and produced by Jesse Johnson.He did a superb job with Vanity.On this track,her vocals sound better than ever.

jungleluv said:

I love Faraway Eyes by Vanity from Action Jackson and I think it's her best vocal performance. The song suits her voice so well. Was it released as a single? If not it should have been. I really want the Action Jackson CD but it is ridiculously expensive 2 buy online. The record company should do a re-issue. I also think their should be a Best Of Vanity CD. After her death I thought there would have been SOMETHING 2 commemorate her acting and music career but there has been nothing

I don't think it was released as a single.I have the Action Jackson soundtrack on vinyl.I agree,there should be a Vanity 'Best Of' CD containing her Motown material,plus "7th Heaven" (from the 'Last Dragon' soundtrack,and the two tracks that she recorded for Action Jackson.

KoolEaze said:

"Faraway Eyes" & "Undress" were both produced by Jesse Johnson, from the "Action Jackson" Soundtrack. Both Songs were/are AWESOME!!! And it makes Me wonder "What If": A FULL project on Vanity, produced by Jesse Johnson, Jimmy Jam & Terry Lewis.....OOH WHEE!!!!

woogiebear said:

SoulAlive said:

jungleluv said:

I love Faraway Eyes by Vanity from Action Jackson and I think it's her best vocal performance. The song suits her voice so well. Was it released as a single? If not it should have been. I really want the Action Jackson CD but it is ridiculously expensive 2 buy online. The record company should do a re-issue. I also think their should be a Best Of Vanity CD. After her death I thought there would have been SOMETHING 2 commemorate her acting and music career but there has been nothing

I don't think it was released as a single.I have the Action Jackson soundtrack on vinyl.I agree,there should be a Vanity 'Best Of' CD containing her Motown material,plus "7th Heaven" (from the 'Last Dragon' soundtrack,and the two tracks that she recorded for Action Jackson.

There is also another song by Vanity on the AJ soundtrack called 'Shotgun' that she did with Dave Koez. I have not heard it tho.

jungleluv said:

SoulAlive said:

I don't think it was released as a single.I have the Action Jackson soundtrack on vinyl.I agree,there should be a Vanity 'Best Of' CD containing her Motown material,plus "7th Heaven" (from the 'Last Dragon' soundtrack,and the two tracks that she recorded for Action Jackson.

There is also another song by Vanity on the AJ soundtrack called 'Shotgun' that she did with Dave Koez. I have not heard it tho.

It's nothing huge. She's doing a lot of background vocals. Most of which you can barely hear. And a lot of scatting too. It's on Youtube on the Action Jackson soundtrack, you have to fast forward to the song though because the soundtrack is uploaded on one video.

woogiebear said:

WayneDaStar said:

jungleluv said:

There is also another song by Vanity on the AJ soundtrack called 'Shotgun' that she did with Dave Koez. I have not heard it tho.

It's nothing huge. She's doing a lot of background vocals. Most of which you can barely hear. And a lot of scatting too. It's on Youtube on the Action Jackson soundtrack, you have to fast forward to the song though because the soundtrack is uploaded on one video.

Just listened to Shotgun on Youtube. Yeah, u can't hear Vanity very well coz Dave Koz is shouting over her vocals. It would have sounded better if Vanity had some lines 2 sing on her own. Anyone else who wants 2 hear it - go to Action Jackson soundtrack ( full album ) and fast foward 2 around 27 minutes. It's after the Sister Sledge song.

woogiebear said:

"Faraway Eyes" & "Undress" were both produced by Jesse Johnson, from the "Action Jackson" Soundtrack. Both Songs were/are AWESOME!!! And it makes Me wonder "What If": A FULL project on Vanity, produced by Jesse Johnson, Jimmy Jam & Terry Lewis.....OOH WHEE!!!!

There's a rumor that Vanity recorded a third album in 1988 that remains unreleased.It was supposedly titled Cherry Bomb or it had a song with that title.I believe that Jesse was involved.

Anyone have any more info?

[Edited 6/10/18 20:12pm]

Wow until I read this thread I never knew about these songs and i love Jesse and all his productions. Both these songs and productions are first rate - they are great! "Undress" gives me that "Free World" vibe. Love it!

Where can I download these songs? Not on i-tunes.

Latin said:

woogiebear said:

"Faraway Eyes" & "Undress" were both produced by Jesse Johnson, from the "Action Jackson" Soundtrack. Both Songs were/are AWESOME!!! And it makes Me wonder "What If": A FULL project on Vanity, produced by Jesse Johnson, Jimmy Jam & Terry Lewis.....OOH WHEE!!!!

It would have been awesome

phunkdaddy said:

By far her best work outside of Nasty Girl. The rest of V6 material was pretty much filler imo. Her other solo material was nothing special either imo. I would have loved to see a whole Jesse produced Vanity album too. Just imagine he would have put that same bump on it like he did for TaMara And The Seen and SueAnn Carwell.

The great thing that Jesse was able to do was,get the best vocals from her.She sounds good on these two tracks ("Undress" and "Faraway Eyes")....the vocals are stronger than the squeal-y vocals we heard on her two solo albums.There's no doubt that Jam and Lewis could have made her sound great,too.They took Janet (who,let's be honest,was never a great singer) and made her sound decent.A whole album produced by Jam,Lewis and Jesse would have taken her career to a whole new level!

"Undress" by Vanity (1988)

SoulAlive said:

phunkdaddy said:

By far her best work outside of Nasty Girl. The rest of V6 material was pretty much filler imo. Her other solo material was nothing special either imo. I would have loved to see a whole Jesse produced Vanity album too. Just imagine he would have put that same bump on it like he did for TaMara And The Seen and SueAnn Carwell.

The great thing that Jesse was able to do was,get the best vocals from her.She sounds good on these two tracks ("Undress" and "Faraway Eyes")....the vocals are stronger than the squeal-y vocals we heard on her two solo albums.There's no doubt that Jam and Lewis could have made her sound great,too.They took Janet (who,let's be honest,was never a great singer) and made her sound decent.A whole album produced by Jam,Lewis and Jesse would have taken her career to a whole new level!

Sydney said:

Wow until I read this thread I never knew about these songs and i love Jesse and all his productions. Both these songs and productions are first rate - they are great! "Undress" gives me that "Free World" vibe. Love it!

yeah,"Undress" has a hard,relentless beat.If that song had been promoted more aggressively,it would have been a Top 10 R&B smash hit.

Sydney said:

Where can I download these songs? Not on i-tunes.

For some reason,Vanity's solo music is so hard to find If you have a turntable,you could buy a used copy of the Action Jackson soundtrack.Otherwise,you'll just have to listen to it on Youtube.

KoolEaze said:

Her films were often cheesy and borderline camp but I really enjoyed them nevertheless.

For the most part,I agree.'Action Jackson' was probably the best movie she appeared in,though.

phunkdaddy said:

The rest of V6 material was pretty much filler imo.

seriously? You don't like the Vanity 6 album? I think that album was very edgy and ahead of its time.There was funk,pop,New Wave,even some early rap on "If A Girl Answers (Don't Hang Up)" this album sure wasn't your typical girl group album!

It would have been great if Vanity had stayed in the Prince camp,did Purple Rain and another Vanity 6 album but from a business standpoint,it's easy to see why she left.Prince's camp offered her $5,000 to do Purple Rain,while Berry Gordy (Motown) was offering her a whopping $350,000 to do 'The Last Dragon'