Welcome to a the inaugural installment of Ruby Tuesday, where we discuss a hidden or lost gem from music’s past. Yes, we’re very clever with our titles. Stayed up for days coming up with it. Seriously.
Our first subject is Bradford, England’s Tasmin Archer, a soul popster from the early ’90s who, thanks to her UK #1 smash “Sleeping Satellite,” was quickly dubbed the Female Seal. She was not the Female Seal, of course — anyone who bought the album that spawned “Satellite,” 1993’s Great Expressions, learned that lesson the hard way — but there is no denying that “Satellite” could easily pass for the twin sister of “Crazy.” Both songs have an airy quality to them, and both have dance-ish beats but aren’t exactly danceable. It was an apt, and as favorable, a comparison as Archer was likely to find.
The hit parade for Archer ended quickly. She scored one more Top 20 hit in the UK with “In Your Care,” though one could argue that its chart success owed more to its B-side — a remix of “Sleeping Satellite” — than the song on the cover. A few more singles crawled their way into the UK Top 40, but she never dented the US charts again. She continues to make music, but I personally have not seen anything of hers in the CD racks since the 1994 Shipbuilding EP, where she covered a handful of Elvis Costello tunes.
Such is the fate for far more musicians than you would think. Knock the one-hit wonder all you want, but at least people remember their big hit. Archer, on the other hand, has practically been erased from the history books. Which is why I would like to submit “Sleeping Satellite” — yep, it’s the remixed version from that single for “In Your Care” — as the first ruby. Enjoy.
