Gregg Alexander
Gregg Alexander (born Gregory Aiuto; May 4, 1970) is an American singer, songwriter, and record producer. He served as lead vocalist and guitarist for the short-lived alternative rock band New Radicals, who are best known for the 1998 single "Yo ...
, released on May 5, 1992.
It includes three tracks ("Loving You Sets Me Free", "Cruel with Me" and "The World We Love So Much") that had already been released on Alexander's 1989 debut album ''
Michigan Rain
''Michigan Rain'' is the debut album by the American musician Gregg Alexander, released in 1989 by A&M Records.
The album was originally supposed to be titled ''Save Me from Myself'', but the title was changed at the last minute, because, as Al ...
''. It also includes rerecordings of "Michigan Rain" and "Save Me from Myself" from that album.
Both "Smokin' in Bed" and "The Truth" were released as one-track promotional singles, and had videos filmed.
"The Truth" includes the line "Here it comes, here it comes, here it comes/Are you ready?/Here comes the lawsuit, baby", followed by Alexander covering the refrain of "
Slow Ride
"Slow Ride" is a song by the English rock band Foghat. It was the lead single from their fifth studio album, '' Fool for the City'' (1975), released on Bearsville Records. In 2009, it was named the 45th "Best Hard Rock" song of all time by V ...
" by
Foghat
Foghat are an English Rock music, rock band formed in London in 1971. The band is known for the use of electric slide guitar in its music. Their best known song is the 1975 hit "Slow Ride". The band has released 17 studio albums, including ei ...
. There is also a reference to the "
Tutti Frutti
Tutti frutti (from Italian ''tutti i frutti'', 'all fruits'; also hyphenated tutti-frutti) is a colourful confectionery containing various chopped and usually candied fruits, or an artificial or natural flavouring simulating the combined flavo ...
" line "A wop-bom a loo-mop".
In the leadup to the album's release in May 1992,
personal ads
A personal advertisement, sometimes called a contact ad, is a form of classified advertising in which a person seeks to find another person for friendship, romance, marriage, or sexual activity. In British English, it is commonly known as an adve ...
were placed in the ''
LA Weekly
''LA Weekly'' is a free weekly alternative newspaper in Los Angeles, California. The paper covers music, arts, film, theater, culture, and other local news in the Los Angeles area. ''LA Weekly'' was founded in 1978 by Jay Levin (among others), ...
'' that simply read "INTOXIFORNICATION".
Critical reception
In a contemporaneous review, David Barton of ''
The Sacramento Bee
''The Sacramento Bee'' is a daily newspaper published in Sacramento, California, in the United States. Since its foundation in 1857, ''The Bee'' has become the largest newspaper in Sacramento, the fifth largest newspaper in California, and the 2 ...
'' compared the sound of ''Intoxifornication'' to a hybrid of
Prince
A prince is a male ruler (ranked below a king, grand prince, and grand duke) or a male member of a monarch's or former monarch's family. ''Prince'' is also a title of nobility (often highest), often hereditary, in some European states. The ...
and
Bryan Adams
Bryan Guy Adams (born November 5, 1959) is a British and Canadian singer-songwriter, musician, record producer, and photographer. He is estimated to have sold between 75 million and more than 100 million album, records and Single (music), si ...
, calling it "sexy, funny, catchy and musically challenging without being obscure... ''Intoxifornication'' not only announces a talent to watch, but one to get into right now". Brenda Herrmann of the ''
Chicago Tribune
The ''Chicago Tribune'' is an American daily newspaper based in Chicago, Illinois, United States. Founded in 1847, it was formerly self-styled as the "World's Greatest Newspaper", a slogan from which its once integrated WGN (AM), WGN radio and ...
'' also compared Alexander to Prince "with a twist of ''
Beverly Hills 90210
''Beverly Hills, 90210'' (often referred to as ''90210'') is an American teen drama television series created by Darren Star and produced by Aaron Spelling via his production company Spelling Television. The series ran for 10 seasons on Fo ...
''", praising Alexander's "musky, moany voice... gorgeous face, guitar and songs filled with sexual by-plays... made for radio and pretty kind on the ear, if not revolutionary". A later negative take came from William Ruhlmann of
AllMusic
AllMusic (previously known as All-Music Guide and AMG) is an American online database, online music database. It catalogs more than three million album entries and 30 million tracks, as well as information on Musical artist, musicians and Mus ...
, who called the album "overwrought hard guitar rock of no distinction".
Track listing
All songs written by Gregg Alexander.
# "Smokin' in Bed" – 3:11
# "Michigan Rain" – 2:50
# "Loving You Sets Me Free" – 4:23
# "Intoxifornication" – 4:02
# "The Truth" – 5:13
# "Save Me from Myself" – 6:22
# "I Wanna Seduce You" – 3:13
# "Electric Girlfriend" – 2:25
# "Cruel with Me" – 4:02
# "The World We Love So Much" – 4:38
# "Wear Your Love Beside You" (hidden track, title listed on Japanese release) – 4:31
Personnel
* Gregg Alexander -
vocals
Singing is the art of creating music with the voice. It is the oldest form of musical expression, and the human voice can be considered the first musical instrument. The definition of singing varies across sources. Some sources define sing ...
,
lead guitar
Lead guitar (also known as solo guitar) is a musical part for a guitar in which the guitarist plays melody lines, instrumental fill passages, guitar solos, and occasionally, some riffs and chords within a song structure. The lead is the featur ...
, solos,
electric
Electricity is the set of physical phenomena associated with the presence and motion of matter possessing an electric charge. Electricity is related to magnetism, both being part of the phenomenon of electromagnetism, as described by Maxwel ...
Danielle Brisebois
Danielle Brisebois (born June 28, 1969) is an American producer, singer, songwriter and former child actress. She is best known for her role as Stephanie Mills on the Norman Lear-produced sitcoms ''All in the Family'' and its spin-off '' Arch ...
- backing vocals
*
N'Dea Davenport
N'Dea Davenport (born September 22, 1966) is an American singer, songwriter, dancer and producer. She was the lead vocalist in the UK acid jazz band The Brand New Heavies and made pioneering contributions to the genre of acid jazz.
Early life ...
- additional vocals
* Denny Fongheiser -
drums
The drum is a member of the percussion instrument, percussion group of musical instruments. In the Hornbostel–Sachs classification system, it is a membranophones, membranophone. Drums consist of at least one Acoustic membrane, membrane, c ...
* Laura Harding - additional vocals
* David Munday - additional vocals
* John Pierce -
bass guitar
The bass guitar (), also known as the electric bass guitar, electric bass, or simply the bass, is the lowest-pitched member of the guitar family. It is similar in appearance and construction to an Electric guitar, electric but with a longer nec ...
*
Rick Nowels
Richard Wright Nowels Jr. (born March 16, 1954) is an American songwriter and record producer. He has co-written and co-produced over 90 hit singles with multiple artists,keyboards,
piano
A piano is a keyboard instrument that produces sound when its keys are depressed, activating an Action (music), action mechanism where hammers strike String (music), strings. Modern pianos have a row of 88 black and white keys, tuned to a c ...
and
bass
Bass or Basses may refer to:
Fish
* Bass (fish), various saltwater and freshwater species
Wood
* Bass or basswood, the wood of the tilia americana tree
Music
* Bass (sound), describing low-frequency sound or one of several instruments in th ...
, additional vocals
* Rudy Richman - drums
* Ben Schultz - lead and rhythm guitars
* Robbie Seidman - additional vocals
* Sandy Stewart - additional vocals
*
Maria Vidal
Maria Elena Vidal (born August 1, 1960) is an American singer songwriter. Her single "Body Rock" reached No. 8 on the US Dance Charts, No. 48 on the Billboard Hot 100, Hot 100, No. 5 on the Springbok Charts in South Africa, and No. 11 in the UK, ...
imeem
The online service imeem was a social media website where users interacted with each other by streaming, uploading and sharing music and music videos. It operated from 2003 until 2009 when it was shut down after being acquired by MySpace.
The co ...