B

Cotton, Josie

Band members Related acts

- Josie Cotton (aka Kathleen Josey, aka Josey Cotton) --

vocals

supporting musicians:

- Gary Ferguson -- drums (1981-84)

- Paul Fox -- emulator (1984)

- Johnny B. Frank -- keyboards (1981-84)

- Skip Gillett -- drums (1984)

- Don Heffington -- percussion (1984)

- Pete McCrea -- guitar (1981-82)

- Prescott Niles -- bass (194)

- Bobby Paine -- guitar, drums (1981-84)

- Geoff Workman -- keyboards (1984)

- Donny Wyn -- drums (1984)

- none known

Genre: pop

Rating: 3 stars ***

Title: Convertible Music

Company: Elektra

Catalog: 60140-1
Year: 1982

Country/State: Dallas, Texas

Grade (cover/record): NM / NM

Comments: sealed

Available: 1

GEMM catalog ID: 5600

Price: $25.00

Born Kathleen Josey (aka Josie Cotton) grew up in Dallas, Texas (and no there was no relationship to Joseph Cotten). She started her professional career singing in a number of local band, but by the late 1970s had relocated to Los Angeles where she started dating and work with musician Bobby Paine. Together with his brother Larson the Paines had written a song called 'Johnny, Are You Queer'. The Go-Gos had picked the track up as part of their live repetoire, but when signed to IRS, elected not to record it for their debut LP. The Paines then asked Cotton to record the song with the demo attracting the attention of Greg Shaw's Bomp! Records. Released in 1980, Cotton's debut 'Johnny, Are You Queer?' b/w 'Let's Do the Black-Out' (Bomp! catalog number 12133) generated considerable radio buzz, though a lot of radio stations apparently refused to play the song (remember, 'queer' was a controversial word in the early-1980s), but before Bomp! could follow-up with a supporting album, Cotton was lured away by Elektra which promptly acquired rights to the single, reissuing it nationwide as 'Johnny, Are You Queer?' b/w 'Let's Do the Black-Out'' (Elektra catalog number #AS-11538).

Produced by the Paine brothers (who contributed two other songs to the collection), 1982's "Convertible Music" showcased a strange, but entertaining mixture of retro 1960s girl rock, garage moves (lots of Farfisa organ), and jagged 1980s new wave flourishes. Funny thing - 'Johnny' attracted most of the attention and criticism from both the right and left wings of American society, but at least to my ears it was one of the weakest tracks. (Almost three decades later it's hard to see the lyric as being either homophobic, or pro-alternative lifestyle.) Elsewhere Cotton wrote about two thirds of the songs which sought to blend 1960s girl group pop with a more aggressive 1980s power pop/new wave feel. I'd tell you that virtually every one of the cotton originals was better than 'Johnny'. When Cotton's hybridized approach worked ('He Could Be The One' and a killer cover of The Exciters' 'Tell Him), the results were nothing short of wonderful. Think along the lines of The Shangri-Las, or The Shirelles mixed with Belinda Carlisle and The Go-Gos and you'd be in the right aural neighborhood. Cotton certainly didn't have the most dynamic voice you've every heard, instead mostly content to vamp it up with little girl gone bad performances. It's always reminded by a bit of a less shrill and eccentric Cyndi Lauper ... On the gimmicky songs Cotton seemed content to frame herself as a more edgy version of Julie Brown, or perhaps Tracy Ullman. But guess what? As displayed on the atypical ballads 'I Need The Night, Tonight' and 'No Pictures Of Dad' the woman actually had quite a voice. Shame she didn't use it more often. Sure the album wasn't perfect. 'Johnny' has always irritated me and some of the production effects haven't aged well. On the other hand, the set remains mindless fun and remember that the 1980s are the new 1970s ... your kids and grandkids will undoubtedly love this stuff when they stumble across it and you show them how to use a record player..

Elektra tapped the album for follow-up singles in the form of:

- 1981's 'He Could Be The One' b/w 'Systematic Way' (Elektra catalog number 7-47481 )

- 'Bye, Bye Baby' b/w 'Bye, Bye Baby' (Elektra catalog number 7-69886)

The singles, coupled with extensive publicity saw the album hit # 147 on the charts.

"Convertible Music" track listing:
(side 1)

1.) He Could Be The One (Bobby Paine - Larson Paine) - 2:47

2.) Rockin' Love (Bobby Paine - Larson Paine) - 3:00

3.) Waitin' For Your Love (Josie Cotton) - 3:30

4.) So Close (Josie Cotton) - 2:38

5.) I Need The Night, Tonight (Josie Cotton) - 3:13

(side 2)
1.) Johnny, Are You Queer? (Bobby Paine - Larson Paine) - 2:42

2.) Systematic Way (Josie Cotton) - 2:56

3.) Another Girl (Josie Cotton) - 3:12

4.) Bye, Bye Baby (Josie Cotton) - 2:56

5.) No Pictures Of Dad (James Gittridge) - 3:31

6.) Tell Him (Bert Russell) - 2:34

Naturally YouTube has a couple of Cotton's videos:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=E3gzRg-8qD8

'Johnny Are You Queer?'

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5VntEcMZj-U

'Tell Him' off of the Merv Griffin show

Genre: pop

Rating: 3 stars ***

Title: From the Hip

Company: Elektra

Catalog: 60309-1
Year: 1984

Country/State: Dallas, Texas

Grade (cover/record): VG+ / VG+

Comments: --

Available: 1

GEMM catalog ID: 5601

Price: $10.00

The publicity surrounding 1982's "Convertible Music" saw Hollywood come knocking at Josie Cotton's door in the form of a role in 1983's "Valley Girl". While Cotton's role wasn't gigantic - she appeared in the film's prom scene singing the previous hits and a a cover of Gary U.S. Bonds' 'School Is In' it still served to increase her public exposure. The hype was underscored by the inclusion of three Cotton tracks on the "Valley Girl" soundtrack:

- 'Johnny, Are You Queer?'

- 'He Could Be the One'

- 'School Is In'

Returning to the studio, 1984's "From the Hip" reunited Cotton with the Paine brothers. Her sophomore release got clobbered by the critics who point out two underlying flaws. In their roles as producers the Paine brothers were apparently under considerable pressure to increase Cotton's commercial appeal and made a couple of unwise decisions. Tarting up the sound with a wide array of then-state-of-the-art instrumentation (synthesizers, syndrums, etc.) gave the album an instantly dated feel. The brothers also relied on outside material thereby depriving the collection of Cotton's own goofy creative input. While there was merit to both of those criticisms the good news was the album was actually far better than reviews would have you believe. True, the set would have benefited from a couple of Cotton originals, but the overall sound really wasn't that different from the debut mixing contemporary pop (a wonderful cover of the Looking Glass hit 'Jimmy Loves Maryann'), jittery new wave dance tracks ('License To Dance'), and 1960s influences ('Life After Love'). For her part Cotton sounded confident and comfortable in the studio, singing with even more energy and conviction this time around. So overlooking the flaws about half of the album was first rate with personal favorites including 'Jimmy Loves Maryann' (Lindsey Buckingham providing lead guitar), 'Gina' (with a nice surf band touch), 'School Is In' (featured on the "Valley Girl" soundtrack), and 'No Use Crying' (one of the few Cotton originals). With half of the songs making the cut it beat the statistics and was worth hunting down. Elektra also tapped the album for a single: