Indigo

With Indigo, Matt Bianco's third album, Warner Brothers wanted to create an international top act in 1988, able to crack the notoriously difficult market in the U.S.. So, what does the company do? Hire a producer known for making big bucks in the US.

Enter Emilio Estefan, husband of Gloria Estefan, hot shot latino producer and seller of about 60 million records. Taking the two englishmen, putting them into a studio in Miami with a couple of cuban studio musicians and Estefan was Warner's idea of making big bucks, but unfortunately, the album was pretty much the worst they've done so far. The songwriting was at times abysmal ("Don't blame it on that Girl", "Slide", "Jack of Clubs", "R&B") and the attempts of making these tracks sound more attractive with some rare groove samples really didn't work at all. The two Estefan produced singles "Don't blame it on that Girl" and "Good times" didn't have the impact Warner hoped for and were quickly forgotten, although top ten hits both in the UK and US.

So far, so crap.

What rescues this albums are exactly two tracks, which couldn't be more different from each other and the rest of the album:

"Wap Bam Boogie" was created pretty much in an afternoon, when Mark Fisher played around with some samples he found on one of Pete Waterman's keyboards. After adding a jazzy flute solo,an extremely danceable drum loop, some sequenced bass and a bit of piano improvisation, the club hit of '88 was finished. Released as a B-side to Don't blame it on that girl, this track was far more popular than the rather lame "Don't blame it", done with Estefan.

The other outstanding track is "Say it's not too late", recorded with the usual posse of studio musicians from London which features one of the most beautiful alto saxofone soli ever, courtesy of all-star Ronnie Ross and some damn clever brass arrangements. This is one of the tracks Mark Fisher, the musical brains behind the band, is most proud of. Ever. I would concur. But forget about the rest.

Tracklisting:

• Don't blame it on that girl
• Nervous
• Slide
• Say it's not too late
• Wap Bam Boogie
• Good times
• R&B
• Hanging on
• Jack of Clubs
• Indigo

You'll find this album in any record shop as a give-away for ca 1 dollar. Buy it just for Wap Bam Boogie and Say it's not too late, but don't judge the band by the rest...

Sigh.

In"di*go (?), n.; pl. Indigoes (#). [F. indigo, Sp. indigo, indico, L. indicum indigo, fr. Indicus Indian. See Indian.]

1.

A kind of deep blue, one of the seven prismatic colors.

2. Chem.

A blue dyestuff obtained from several plants belonging to very different genera and orders; as, the woad, Isatis tinctoria, Indigofera tinctoria, I. Anil, Nereum tinctorium, etc. It is a dark blue earthy substance, tasteless and odorless, with a copper-violet luster when rubbed. Indigo does not exist in the plants as such, but is obtained by decomposition of the glycoside indican.

⇒ Commercial indigo contains the essential coloring principle indigo blue or indigotine, with several other dyes; as, indigo red, indigo brown, etc., and various impurities. Indigo is insoluble in ordinary reagents, with the exception of strong sulphuric acid.

Chinese indigo Bot., Isatis indigotica, a kind of woad. -- Wild indigo Bot., the American herb Baptisia tinctoria which yields a poor quality of indigo, as do several other species of the same genus.

© Webster 1913.

In"di*go (?), a.

Having the color of, pertaining to, or derived from, indigo.

Indigo berry Bot., the fruit of the West Indian shrub Randia aculeata, used as a blue dye. -- Indigo bird Zool., a small North American finch (Cyanospiza cyanea). The male is indigo blue in color. Called also indigo bunting. -- Indigo blue. (a) The essential coloring material of commercial indigo, from which it is obtained as a dark blue earthy powder, with a reddish luster, C16H10N2O2, which may be crystallized by sublimation. Indigo blue is also made from artificial amido cinnamic acid, and from artificial isatine; and these methods are of great commercial importance. Called also indigotin. (b) A dark, dull blue color like the indigo of commerce. -- Indigo brown Chem., a brown resinous substance found in crude indigo. -- Indigo copper Min., covellite. -- Indigo green, a green obtained from indigo. -- Indigo plant Bot., a leguminous plant of several species (genus Indigofera), from which indigo is prepared. The different varieties are natives of Asia, Africa, and America. Several species are cultivated, of which the most important are the I. tinctoria, or common indigo plant, the I. Anil, a larger species, and the I. disperma. -- Indigo purple, a purple obtained from indigo. -- Indigo red, a dyestuff, isomeric with indigo blue, obtained from crude indigo as a dark brown amorphous powder. -- Indigo snake Zool., the gopher snake. -- Indigo white, a white crystalline powder obtained by reduction from indigo blue, and by oxidation easily changed back to it; -- called also indigogen. -- Indigo yellow, a substance obtained from indigo.

© Webster 1913.