Martika's Kitchen

Martika's Kitchen
Studio album by Martika
Released 1991
Genre Pop
Length 57:24
Label Columbia
Producer Prince, Christopher Max, Clivillés and Cole, Bob Rosa, Martika, Frankie Blue, Les Pierce, Joe Galdo
Martika chronology

Martika
(1988)		 Martika's Kitchen
(1991)
Singles from Martika's Kitchen
  1. "Love... Thy Will Be Done"
    Released: July 25, 1991
  2. "Martika's Kitchen"
    Released: 1991
  3. "Coloured Kisses"
    Released: 1992
  4. "Safe in the Arms of Love"
    Released: 1993
  5. "Spirit (remixes; promo only)"
    Released: 1993
Professional ratings
Review scores
Source Rating
Allmusic [1]
Entertainment Weekly C[2]

Martika's Kitchen is the second album released by pop singer and former child actor Martika. Released in 1991, it features four songs written and produced by Prince. The album was a departure in musical styles from Martika's debut album. Martika's Kitchen incorporates elements of gospel, jazz, funk, R&B and traditional Cuban music.

The album was critically praised but was a relative commercial failure in the U.S. The title track barely cracked the Billboard Hot 100, but the Prince-penned gospel song "Love... Thy Will Be Done" made the top 10.

The album was highly successful elsewhere in the world and triggered a concert tour that visited over 200 cities. The song "Coloured Kisses" charted internationally. The song titled "Temptation" was set to become the final single but was never officially released.

Building upon such previous efforts as "Toy Soldiers", the album tackled serious topics lyrically. "Broken Heart" is about crack babies; "Pride and Prejudice" deals with racism and homophobia. The Spanglish track "Mi Tierra", which features a guest vocal performance by Celia Cruz, is a lament of a Cuban-American's inability to visit her homeland.

Unknown to many, the four Prince songs (tracks 1, 2, 3 and 10) on the album were recorded by him (the original versions have been circulating on several bootlegs) and then given to Martika to emulate the exact vocal details and style for her own album. It is quite common in the world of Prince associates for Prince to produce songs for the protégé to simply duplicate. Martika co-wrote 10 songs on the album.

Three additional tracks recorded for the album were leaked on bootlegs years later, entitled "Rub U Down", "Beautiful Fabulous" and "The Do".

Track listing

  1. "Martika's Kitchen" (Prince) – 5:09
  2. "Spirit" (Frankie Blue, Martika, Prince, Levi Seacer Jr.) – 4:38
  3. "Love... Thy Will Be Done" (Martika, Prince) – 5:02
  4. "A Magical Place" (Christopher Max) – 4:41
  5. "Coloured Kisses" (Blue, Les Pierce, Martika) – 4:37
  6. "Safe in the Arms of Love" (Michael Cruz, Martika, Michael Jay) – 5:09
  7. "Pride and Prejudice" (Cruz, Martika) – 5:12
  8. "Take Me to Forever" (Martika, Jay) – 4:35
  9. "Temptation" (Blue, Pierce, Martika) – 4:46
  10. "Don't Say U Love Me" (Martika, Prince) – 4:24
  11. "Broken Heart" (Blue, Pierce, Martika) – 4:33
  12. "Mi Tierra" (duet with Celia Cruz) (Blue, Pierce, Martika) – 4:38

Singles

  1. 1991 "Love... Thy Will Be Done" #10 US, #9 UK, #1 AUS
  2. 1991 "Martika's Kitchen" #92 US, #17 UK, #29 AUS
  3. 1992 "Coloured Kisses" #41 UK, #39 AUS
  4. 1993 "Safe in the Arms of Love"
  5. 1993 "Spirit" (remixes promo only)
  6. 1993 "Mi Tierra/El Amor Llegará" (Argentine promo only)

Other tracks

  1. "El Amor Llegará" ("Love... Thy Will Be Done") – 5:01
  1. "Beautiful Fabulous" (outtake)
  2. "Rub U Down" (outtake)
  3. "The Do" (outtake)

Remixes

  1. "Love... Thy Will Be Done" (7" edit)
  2. "Love... Thy Will Be Done" (Prince mix) – 6:01
  3. "Martika's Kitchen" (7" edit)
  4. "Martika's Kitchen" (second version) – 5:20
  5. "Martika's Kitchen" (remix 1; alternate 7" video version)
  6. "Martika's Kitchen" (alternate dub version)
  7. "Safe in the Arms of Love" (7" edit)
  8. "Safe in the Arms of Love" (Edit version)
  9. "Spirit" (house mix)
  10. "Spirit" (hip hop mix)
  11. "Coloured Kisses" (single version) – 4:07
  12. "Coloured Kisses" (club mix) – 7:23
  13. "Coloured Kisses" (Clivillés and Cole 7" edit)
  14. "Coloured Kisses" (Clivillés and Cole remix)

Chart performance

Album:

Chart (1991) Peak
position		 Total
weeks
Australian Albums Chart[3] 9 9
Canadian Albums Chart[4] 81 6
German Albums Chart[5] 51 5
New Zealand Albums Chart[6] 40 8
UK Albums Chart[7] 15 15
U.S. Billboard 200[8] 111 9

References

  1. ↑ Allmusic review
  2. ↑ http://www.ew.com/ew/article/0,,20260080,00.html
  3. ↑ Steffen Hung. "Australian charts portal". australian-charts.com. Retrieved 2012-01-11.
  4. ↑ http://www.collectionscanada.gc.ca
  5. ↑ "Die ganze Musik im Internet: Charts, News, Neuerscheinungen, Tickets, Genres, Genresuche, Genrelexikon, Künstler-Suche, Musik-Suche, Track-Suche, Ticket-Suche". musicline.de. Retrieved 2012-01-11.
  6. ↑ Steffen Hung. "New Zealand charts portal". charts.org.nz. Retrieved 2012-01-11.
  7. ↑ "UK Singles & Albums Chart Archive". Chart Stats. Retrieved 2012-01-11.
  8. ↑ "Martika - Awards". AllMusic. Retrieved 2013-09-18.