Annette Peacock

Annette Peacock's stint with Aura Records in the late '70s coincided with her greatest level of commercial viability, though in truth any singer given to songs with titles like "Real & Defined Androgens," "Rubber Hunger," and "The Succubus" was going to be fighting an uphill battle to sell units to Joe Q. Public. These recordings' mix of jazz fusion, album-oriented rock, and Peacock's unusual blend of jazzy singing with sensually spoken intellectual poetic passages was too offbeat to get any more than a cult audience, though it's more accessible than many a cult rock artist's work. This is as complete a document of that part of her career as any fan could wish for, containing the entirety of her 1978 album, X-Dreams, and its 1979 follow-up, The Perfect Release, as well as two outtakes from The Perfect Release ("Mexico" and "What's It Like in Your Dreams") that first appeared on the 1982 compilation The Collection. The outtakes aren't mere window dressing, but are fairly interesting, Peacock singing in Spanish for "Mexico," and "What's It Like in Your Dreams" being an effective sultry ballad. Unfortunately, these two tracks sound as if they might have been taken from vinyl, with some suspicious distorted noise present on the latter recording especially. Also included are lengthy historical liner notes with overviews of Peacock's career in general and her Aura recordings in particular. ~ Richie Unterberger, All Music Guide