Downtown Venus (P.M. Dawn) (LP 3512 - 3515)

P.M. Dawn  Of the Heart, of the Soul and of the Cross: the Utopian Experience (CD, Gee Street Records, 1991) ****  

P.M. Dawn  The Bliss Album..? Vibrations of Love and Anger and the Ponderance of Life and Existence (CD, Gee Street Records, 1993) ****  

P.M. Dawn  Jesus Wept (Vinyl, Gee Street Records, 1995) *****  

P.M. Dawn  Dearest Christian, I'm So Very Sorry for Bringing You Here. Love, Dad (CD, Gee Street Records, 1998) ****

Genre: RnB, pop, hip hop

Places I remember: The Warehouse, JB Hi Fi, Amoeba Records, HMV

Fab, and all the other pimply hyperboles: Set Adrift on Memory Bliss (Of the Heart...)

Gear costume: The 9:45 Wake Up Dream (on YouTube); Downtown Venus (both from Jesus Wept)

They loom large in his legend (The Album Collection playlists): Part 1; Part 2; Part 3; Part 4; Part 5

Active compensatory factors: P.M. Dawn is basically a duo comprised of two very talented brothers - Attrell Cordes (a.k.a. Prince Be, a.k.a. Prince Be the Nocturnal) and Jarrett Cordes (a.k.a. Eternal or DJ Minutemix).

Of the Heart... was their debut album and it was an instant success thanks to Set Adrift on Memory Bliss. It was a revelation when I first heard that song at the start of the nineties. 

Then I bought the album and played it on repeat. Shock horror probe: maybe I'd even embrace hip hop? But Of the Heart's new age spirituality and philosophical introspection with beats was out of step with the rest of the hard street rap that prevailed - which is exactly why I loved it in the first place.

The Bliss Album...successfully continued the pop-rap sounds from the debut album. The brothers' vocals are superb - smooth, lush, and catchy, while the music continues to be a dreamy melodic soul/RnB/ hip hop cross over. Their version of Norwegian Wood reveals the source of their inspiration for this sound.

Prince Be's raps and Eternal's vocals create a unique multi-layered P.M. Dawn sound that continues to be hugely appealing 25 years later. 

Their third album, Jesus Wept, is my favourite of theirs, and has been hard to find. I have had a cassette version for years but have been keen to find a CD of it as well. Even better, I was thrilled to find a vinyl copy in Los Angeles' Amoeba Music while visiting for Samantha and Andrew's wedding. The cover sticker says that it's a special Record Store Day release - the first time on vinyl! Yahoo!! It sounds brilliant!

Although sales had steadily declined from the earlier albums, fourth album, Dearest Christian...continued their musically successful formula: the amalgamation of samples with Prince Be's songs.  

Where do they all belong? There's a Best Of out there which sounds interesting. Aside from that I have no interest in the current version of the band. Prince Be sadly passed away in 2016 and Eternal left the band after his brother's health declined earlier in the 2000's.