Eve's Plum "Cherry Alive" (550 Music/Epic BK 66559) 1995
Musical artists can develop in many different ways, but the strange case of Colleen Fitzpatrick is unusual indeed. Amid a history of dancing and acting (she played a key role in the John Waters movie
Hairspray
in 1988), Fitzpatrick has gone from being the lead singer of the gen-X alt-rock band Eve's Plum to being a dance-pop singer known as Vitamin C, who (at nearly 30 years of age) has successfully appealed to the Britney Spears-led teen market. Sounds like the Alanis Morissette story in reverse, doesn't it? Time may tell if Fitzpatrick is a bandwagon-jumper or if her personal tastes and outlook have merely changed. But in the meantime, former fans of Eve's Plum have predictably labeled Fitzpatrick a sellout.
Both albums by Eve's Plum are now out of print. I suspect that fans of Vitamin C are likely to dislike these discs in the same way that fans of the more obscure Eve's Plum tend to dislike Vitamin C. Now that the '90's alternative revolution has come and gone, neither of the two Eve's Plum albums seems particularly distinguished in retrospect, although neither is boring for a minute.
On 1993's Envy, the band plays Nirvana-era fuzz-amp guitar rock with just enough pop hooks to make it palatable. Don't expect to hear any prototypes of sunny Vitamin C pop songs here; Fitzpatrick sings sometimes subversive lyrics full of pre-Alanis angst. She alternately sounds like she is emulating Debbie Harry (her on-screen mom in
Hairspray,
heh heh) and screeching like the decade's "riot grrrl" types; on "I Want It All", she veers back and forth between the two styles. Not bad.
Track Listing:
1. Blue 2. I Want It All 3. Once Twice 4. Venus Meets Pluto 5. Lovely You 6. On The Outside 7. Die Like Someone 8. Believable 9. I Might Die 10. Kiss Your Feet
Cherry Alive, the second and final Eve's Plum album, is smartly produced by Fred Maher, who steers the New York band away from Seattle-style grunge and toward Boston-style alt-pop (a la the Breeders, Belly, and Letters To Cleo). Maher makes Fitzpatrick's voice sound more appealing and a tad less derivative, although the Debbie Harry comparison still holds. Cherry Alive is not the greatest power pop album you'll ever hear, but it contains enough infectious tunes ("Lipstuck", "Serious Stuff", "Wishing The Day Away") to make it worthwhile.
Track Listing:
1. Jesus Loves You 2. Wishing The Day Away 3. Want You Bad 4. Loved By You 5. Fairy Princess 6. Cherry Alive 7. Lipstuck 8. Sticky And Greasy 9. Beautiful 10. Serious Stuff 11. Dog In My Heart 12. Only Anger
