WITH AN EXPANDED REISSUE ABOUT TO BE RELEASED TO CELEBRATE ITS 30TH ANNIVERSARY, WE MEET MARCELLA DETROIT TO HEAR THE INSIDE STORY OF HER BOLDLY AMBITIOUS CHRIS THOMAS-PRODUCED 1994 SOLO LP, JEWEL. “I ENVISIONED THE ALBUM WAS TO BE QUIRKY – VERY, VERY QUIRKY,” SHE TELLS US...
ANNIE ZALESKI
When Detroit released her second solo album, 1994’s Jewel, she had momentum on her side: Shakespears Sister’s 1992 second LP Hormonally Yours produced the yearning single Stay, which spent eight weeks at the top of the charts in the UK and reached the Top 5 in the United States.
Jewel, which is being reissued in various formats for the album’s 30th anniversary, was no less pop-oriented; for example, the anthemic lead single I Believe boasts a pleasing power ballad sweep. However, the album was eclectic, with highlights including the funky, electro-kissed Perfect World, searing pop-rocker I’m No Angel and the upbeat, R&B-influenced You Don’t Tell Me Everything.
The expanded 2CD set of Jewel includes a disc of B-sides, unreleased demos and remixes, from acts such as The Beloved, Way Out West, Youth, and Masters At Work’s Kenny ‘Dope’ Gonzalez. Of particular note is the fiery 90s house music banger Second Class Citizen – a newly remixed version of a tune Detroit wrote during this era – and several gorgeous acoustic songs from Jewel, including Out Of My Mind, a track written specifically for her by her husband, musician Lance Aston. “It’s such an honour to have a song written about you, and for it to be so heartfelt and beautiful was just really humbling,” Marcella says. “I was really grateful – and it’s all part of the whole era, the whole time.”
Jewel emerged after a time of musical transition and upheaval. Detroit had learned that Fahey wanted to take a break and focus on family after promotion wrapped for Hormonally Yours. In response, Detroit started stockpiling musical ideas for solo material while the duo was still busy on the road. “I love to work with concepts, with titles,” she says. “I was jotting down a bunch of ideas and then would start developing them whenever I had any time off.” Detroit eventually headed back to L.A. and started fleshing out demos in her own studio, energised by having the time and space to focus on being creative.
When it came time to record these songs, she considered working with future Björk collaborator Marius de Vries. “How I envisioned the album was to be quirky – very,
