The only album more brilliant than Neneh Cherry's "Homebrew" is her follow-up, "Man" - which wasn't even released domestically. I recently found this treasure in a cut-out bin, and I've been listening to it non-stop. Talk about a blend of Prince and Lenny Kravitz and Gary Numan and some folk and alt.rock and blues and jazz and techno and trip-hop...futuristic and retro and singer-songwritery, all wrapped up in one tasty blob.

And all people know her for is "Buffalo Stance". Sad.

Anxiety said:

she's also the one that called out Lenny Kravtiz on his cheating when he was married on the song Buddy X!

She just did a tune called "Braided Hair" with Speech (of Arrested Development fame) for a 1 Giant Leap project that features music from around the world. Released in June 2001 I believe.

It's a nice track. Very true to what Arrested Development was doing.

I love her. Her Woman cd is great..only here its an import. It should have gotten a wider relese in America. Woman seems like it inspired Portishead. Her Under My Skin is also th ebest song on Red Hot and Blue. Trout, from Homebrew (and Buddy) are the shit.

What is she doing now ? I remember a song she did with Stipe about sex education that I thought was fantastic. And I kinda fancied her a bit too. Is that wrong ?

Fandangouk said:

TROUT? Damn that was awesome...


and so is Woman (MAN?)...The whole album rocks!!! I hate that the American public is too busy listening to crap like eminem while real artist are being left in the dust...errr...

i have her first two albums which r great. i don't know if she has more but if she did i would get them all.
i was hoping she would eternally put out new music.

How can someone be UNDERRATED if they've only recorded 2 albums more than 10 years ago? The lack of acknowledgement sounds pretty much par for the short catalog and the infrequency in recording.

I had a major crush on her back in the day.Her brother is Eagle-Eye Cherry,if I'm not mistaken.

?
[This message was edited Wed Feb 26 0:34:46 PST 2003 by IstenSzek]

IstenSzek said:

Neneh's stepfather is Don Cherry (she's the daughter of West African percussionist Amadu Jah and Swedish artist Moki Cherry). Don's a very famous and innovative jazz trumpeter; once associated with Ornettte Coleman in the 50s and 60s. David Ornette Cherry, Don's son, performs a form of improvisatory jazz music and he plays keyboards and melodica and flutes. David is actively touring and perfroming. Eagle Eye Cherry looks to be David's younger brother (Neneh's step-brother). He plays guitar in a blues-rock genre and actively records and performs. I vaguely remember Neneh working with Eagle-Ey

PFunkjazz said:

Maybe the real question here is how can someone help but become underrated when their best work isn't even distributed domestically, and that person's best domestically released work was all but ignored because it didn't fit into any convenient little radio friendly niche? Neneh's a black woman who has the vision and talent of a great singer-songwriter, and has the good ear to work with amazing musicians and producers. But she's seen as some R&B pop-soul diva who's only good for having a pretty voice and a nice ass, despite her pedigree and accomplishments.

And it's not just two albums - it's four, at the very least, not to mention other folks' projects she's guested on.

Find a copy of "Man" and give it a listen. You'll see what I'm talking about. It's a crying shame this album didn't at least get a stronger cult following. Every song on the album is fucking brilliant.

IstenSzek said:

The name of the song is "Together Now", which is also on the "Man" album, and kicks much ass. I think she also had a song on the "Until The End Of The World" soundtrack that wound up on "Man" as well - very ethereal and trip-hoppish. And the song "Kootchie" is up there with "Computer Blue" and "Darling Nikki" in terms of raunchy rock-star funk. And she had the nerve to put out a guitar-driven song called "Kootchie", heh. Too sexy...

Fandangouk said:

"Trout," with a bed of sampled Bonham drums and the rhythm guitar from Steppenwolf's "Pusher".

"gimme grits and eggs,gimme ham and bacon wit a pancake and some maple syrup cause it is Somedays..."

Anxiety said:

hey thanks for reminding me of her, i always liked her music, this reminds me that i really need to buy her cd's.

peace!

talented artist, but much like Prince, I hate to hear her rapping.

betra said:

Yeah, but there's more to her than "Buffalo Stance". Most of her rapping on the albums after that were more incidental and sing-song. There's a definite marriage of folk and hip-hop on her albums, whether it's buried under lots of rock or trip-hop or surfacing as a nice, simple ballad. I agree though - her speaking voice is too squeaky to pull off a decent rap.