SERIOUSLY??? Paula Abdul - Vibeology

In digging around my CD collection the other day to do the Deee-Lite post, I happened upon a promo CD I remember hunting long and hard for back in the day. I had to be in my early teens while hunting for this relic and, if my memory serves me correctly, I found it via a mail-order record collecting service, although it might have been via that pre-Internet dial-up dinosaur, Prodigy. The medium for it's discovery doesn't matter much, although it does awaken memories of how hard it was to find rare recordings before the advent of Napster and other P2P services.

What I remember most about this oddball song is listening to Open House Party on Saturday nights, hearing the remix open the show, and constantly replaying this song on a tape of Paula Abdul's Spellbound while walking around the insides of the empty LCCC campus during the summer while my sister took violin lessons. The song I'm going on about is Vibeology, which I'm sure I gave away with the title of this post.

If you haven't heard the song, you've either missed an incredible pop gem or an enormous train wreck on multiple levels, all depending on who you ask. Vibeology was easily the oddest song on Abdul's second album, Spellbound, what with the full-on club bass, brass from the "horny horns", a strange chorus of operatic singers and a seemingly orgasmic Abdul as an occasionally confused golden-age radio performer. For all it's bi-polar fluxuations, it was probably the bravest song she could have put on an album she wrote little of and was considered a sophomoric follow-up by many. That said, it's also an example of the end of her career as an immensely popular star, as it was the least successful single from the album, had a generic video and is often best remembered for a miserable performance at the MTV Video Music Awards where she appeared in a leotard with a giant microphone pack strapped to her back, all the while looking like she might fall over at any given moment.

Regardless of the masses opinions of Vibeology, I was in love with the song and still find it pretty wonderful. Yeah, it's totally unpopular to admit something like that, but I've never tried to seem hip or cool so why would I hide details like these? That said, I was really taken by a pretty basic remix I was hearing regularly on the Open House Party radio show that had a bouncier beat and some new keyboards. I picked up the 12" only to be immensely disappointed upon discovering it contained different remixes in a darker vein by Steve "Silk" Hurley. While those mixes eventually grew on me, my search continued until I found a US promo CD with the remix I had been searching for. It was attributed to Keith "KC" Cohen, a regular studio hired gun of the early nineties and late eighties who worked primarily in the dance community (and also sometimes as the uncredited force for saving Prince's pop sensibilities), and I was in heaven.

Upon listening to the CD for the first time in years the other day, I found that my tastes toward remixes have changed significantly as Cohen's remix is no longer terribly appealing to me. It's rather pedestrian, although I'm sure it would sound great on a dance floor. What's interesting though is that Cohen also mixed the album version of Vibeology, and while he may not be the producer for that version, his touch can be felt and that original version hasn't lost any of it's charm for me as it still sounds oddly fresh today, at least to these ears.

I've seen reports that Cohen's remixes as well as the other tracks on that US promo CD are pretty rare and are no longer available commercially, if they ever were to begin with (there is some information pointing towards an Australian release). There is also evidence of additional remixes that were never made available commercially. I must admit enough of a fascination to hear more of those unreleased remixes, but I'm pretty happy with what I've got and would like to share that with all of you and anyone else interested. So, it is with great pleasure that I present the contents of the US promo CD single for Paula Abdul's Vibeology. And if anyone out there reading this has any of those other unreleased Vibeology remixes, drop me a line, I'd love to check them out!


Paula Abdul - Vibeology (US Promo CD)

01 Vibeology (Jeff & Pete 7" Edit)
Despite the name, this isn't an edit of a remix, but rather the single edit of the album version. Jeff and Pete are V. Jeffrey Smith and Peter Lord, the song's arrangers, producers and co-composers with Sandra St. Victor.

02 Vibeology (7" Keith Cohen Club Edit)
An edit of Cohen's remix, this version actually follows the pacing of the album version almost exactly, albeit with the remix's additional flourishes of course.

03 Vibeology (Humphrey's Hip-Hop Radio Edit)
Humphrey is Humphrey Riley who produced this remix with DJ Ron-Ski and Wiz.

04 Vibeology (Keith Cohen's House Mix)
The long version of Cohen's remix.

05 Vibeology (Humphrey's Hip-House Mix)
The long version of Humphrey's remix.

06 Vibeology (Keith Cohen's Penthouse Dub)
There was another Cohen dub of the song released on the US cassette single that was quite a bit goofier. That dub features someone doing a Ross Perot impersonation and talking about how Vibeology would truly help the people or something like that. This dub, unfortunately, is missing all of that inspired goofiness, but it's still a fun and mostly instrumental edit of the Cohen remixes.

BONUS: Vibeology (Hurley's House Mix)
After complaining about the disappointment but eventual pleasure found with Steve "Silk" Hurley's remixes, it would be ridiculous for me to not post at least one version for your listening or gawking pleasure. This is Hurley's main remix for Vibeology and is pretty damn great. If you like this, his Houstyle remix of Prince's Gett Off is essential listening!


Just in case that wasn't enough Paula Abdul or Vibeology weirdness for you, check out this strange commercial for the song's Japanese release as a single.




PS - If you thought this post seemed to tread into the territory of The Lost Turntable's universe, wait till you see my Trilogy post! A C&C Music Factory side-project that's gonna make you puke!