Vitamin C CD

This is an enhanced audio CD which contains regular audio tracks and multimedia computer files.
Vitamin C: Colleen Fitzpatrick (vocals).
Additional personnel: Russell Valezquez, Dan The Man, Waymon Boone, Count Bass D, Lady Saw (vocals); David Mansfield (acoustic, electric & pedal steel guitar); Fred Maher (guitar, keyboards, programming); David Rainer (guitar, bass); Josh Deutsch (guitar, programming); Michael Kotch (guitar); Suzie Katayama (cello); Garry Hughes (keyboards, programming); Melvin Gibbs (bass); Malcolm Michiles, DJ Logic (scratches); Vanese Thomas, Ada Dyer, Sean Altman, All City Chorus (background vocals).
Producers include: Garry Hughes, Fred Maher, Jim Harry, Matt Mahaffie, Josh Deutsch.
This is an Enhanced CD, which contains both regular audio tracks and multimedia computer files.
Personnel: Waymon Boone, Lady Saw (vocals); Fred Maher (guitar, recorder); Josh Deutsch (guitar, programming); David Mansfield, Michael Kotch, Dave Rainger (guitar); Gregor Kitzis, Mary Rowell, Laura Seaton, Paul Woodiel (violin); Denise Stillwell, Sandra Robbins, Ron Lawrence , Sally Shumway, Joel Rudin, Ashley Horne, Jill Jaffe, Martha Mooke, Mark Wood (viola); Suzie Katayama (cello); Harry Jimmy, Lloyd Puckitt, Matt Mahaffey (recorder); Garry Hughes (keyboards, programming); Alan Friedman (programming); Colleen Fitzpatrick, Dan the Man, Sean Altman, Ada Dyer, Vaneese Thomas (background vocals).
Audio Mixers: Lloyd Puckitt; Matt Mahaffey; Tony Maserati.
Recording information: Axis Studios.
Photographer: Markus Klinko.
Arranger: Harry Jimmy.
Vitamin C is the nom de plume for singer Colleen Fitzpatrick, who fronted Eve's Plum for two very good, and overlooked, albums released by 550 Music in the mid-'90s. Here she steps out on her own for a self-titled solo debut that is every bit as engaging as those two releases and more so. The album shows a wider range stylistically from Fitzpatrick than she did with her former band, and the result is a stunning collection that mixes pop, alternative, and dance music. Jamaican dancehall diva Lady Saw guests on the single "Smile," which fuses dancehall and alt-pop to good effect on the opening track. There is no shortage of hooks on Vitamin C. "Turn Me On" is raucous pop with quiet spoken passages and a neat lyrical twist, and "Me, Myself and I" cops the vibe of War's "Lowrider." Fitzpatrick adopts a breathy delivery over electronic bursts and a hammering drumbeat on "Not that Kind of Girl." She gets funky on "Do What You Want to Do" and explores role reversal on the electro-pop of "Girls Against the Boys." And just when it seems that she can't pull one more hook from her bag of tricks, Fitzpatrick delivers the provocatively playful "About Last Night" and the nostalgic, string-laced "Graduation (Friends Forever)." She even takes an admirable stab at the Split Enz classic "I Got You." There's not a weak track on this stellar record. ~ Tom Demalon
Vitamin C is Colleen Fitzpatrick, formerly of New York City's Eve's Plum. Her self-titled debut album finds the singer leaving the alt-rock stylings of her former band far behind in favor of a more urban, forward-looking sound.
The opening track, "Smile," employs the kind of Caucasian dance-hall rap style that made Barenaked Ladies famous, while "Unhappy Anniversary" is straightforward folk-pop, complete with jangling acoustic guitar and wistful vocals. "Me, Myself and I" cleverly interpolates the chorus from Santana's "No One to Depend On" in an arrangement that wouldn't sound out of place on a Smash Mouth album. Fitzpatrick makes good use of sunny pop melodies mixed with lazy hip-hop rhythms and state-of-the-art production touches throughout. And how could you not like a 1999 album that includes a cover of Split Enz' "I Got You"?Entertainment Weekly (9/3/99, pp.67-8) - "...sounds like the unabashedly great pop album the Spice Girls might have made....She recently landed on the charts with a charming slice of dancehall pop called 'Smile', and that's what her album makes me do..." - Rating: A-