Search - Samantha Fox :: I Wanna Have Some Fun

More than just some fun

Vincent M. Mastronardi | Michigan | 08/19/2000

(5 out of 5 stars)

"The albums before this were slight flirtation of pop dance fun, but this album brings it all home. Samantha brings her talents to the table big time on this album which is just more than straightforward dance excess. It's full of new kinds of music that will move you in some way. It's a dance movement rather than just some record.Sam's biggest hits come Full Force and courtesy of the group as well with the femme fatales call to party in "I Wanna Have Some Fun". I think maybe the single edit works better because a back ground singer saying those few lines just makes the song drag. Still it's a pretty cool song with R&B pop hooks. Samantha also makes some heat on the super sexy "Next To Me" with Full Force working as a background group. It's energy in R&B form as she sings "touch me baby" and Full Force echoing "I Need To Feel Your Body". It's not "Touch Me" but a new dance groove. The innocent but naughty fun pop of songs like "Love House" and "Your House or My House" brings American house and British pop together. Even more cutesy dance tunes can be found like on Stock, Atiken and Waterman soundalikes such as the blissful "Walking On Air" and "Ready For This Love". The SAW team actually work their magic on two tracks. Most notably a very peppy "I Only Want To Be With You". Three of the most experimental tracks are really the best. The pure rock and roll excess on this strictly pop album of "Hot For You" is a nice touch. Sounds like something that would have made "Touch Me" a better debut. The co-written "Confession" is an out of mind dance record with experimental beats that just can't be classified as dance pop. It's got an electronic edge and the lyrics are very sharp. It's the smartest song on the album. Thank you, Sam. The ender is the tradition two albums strong of Samantha. A big powerful ballad that her little voice manages to lift up. In this case it's the near ethereal meets eighties hook sound of "Out Of Our Hands". You'd be surprised how effectively she sings her.Another great Samantha Fox album. She really diversified herself into many areas on this 12 tracker that her shorter albums just couldn't reach. You always felt there was some lacking, but not her. Listen to it and fall in love with Sam and her eighties dance grooves."

Sam's On Top

Richard A. Shidler | USA | 05/29/2000

(5 out of 5 stars)

"This is one of Sam's best albums and probably will be the one that people remember her by. It starts off with the song that almost everyone knows "I Wanna Have Some Fun." Next is "Love House" one of my favorite Sammy songs. "Your House Or My House" is sure to get your party going and "Ready For This Love" is perky pop of the best kind. "Next To Me" is a laid back ditty that sounds good anyway you listen to it. Sam's remake "I Only Wanna Be With You" has become a classic for her (I still hear it on the radio 11 years later!), and the rest of the CD is just as good. This album really surprised a lot of people who didn't believe in Sam, but this album helped prove them wrong."

Samantha's mix of R&B, bubblegum, and surprises

Daniel J. Hamlow | Narita, Japan | 11/06/2003

(5 out of 5 stars)

"With a successful formula on her second album, I wonder if Samantha Fox theorized that the more producers the better, a strategy that works to some extent for Jennifer Rush. In addition to the Steve Power/Steve Lovell team and that of Stock-Aitken-Waterman, I Wanna Have Some Fun boasts two songs each done by Rob and Ferdi Bolland and Fred Zarr, with others doing one song only, and yes, their distinctive styles emerge. 80's dance pop definitely predominates here, but there are a few surprises here as well.The title track might as well be called "Naughty Girls Still Need Love." "Hello it's me again/don't you know it's hard to keep a good woman down/but then again, maybe that could be fun." After a giggle, the song begins in earnest with a funky bass backbeat and harmonies by the Full Force boys and some monologue rap in the middle."Are you ready to do things tonight that you never dreamed were possible? Follow me." With that spoken intro, we get "Love House", a more danceable single, which has harmony vocals, a cacophony of rap-scratched words, strange voices, special effects, and ominous vocals of the guide of the house. I initially thought this was produced by Full Force, because of the heavy bass beat but it's a Bollands production. I really enjoyed my visit to this house, all right.Samantha must have really fallen in love with drum machines and bass beats, as "Your House Or My House" mixes those and sundry keyboards, computerized voices, and a strong backing chorus and monologue by Sam. Pure dance pop, call it Stock-Aitken-Waterman vanilla with some chocolate mousse and sprinkles.The Full Force-produced "Next To Me" is similar to but injects a trice more fizzy pop to Full Force's 80's R&B formula.Fred Zarr produced "Ready For This Love," a spright thumping drum machines and funky synths that resembles something Kim Wilde might have done on her Close album, also released in 1988.Power and Lovell were responsible for the haunting "True Devotion" on her eponymous album. They do another one, "Confession", which explores sin in a religious aspect, only this time, a heavy bass synth beat, drum track, quick bursts of string synths, and satanically deep voice saying things like "Je t'accuse." The rhythm reminds me somewhat of Mick Jagger's "Just Another Night."Then comes the two typical S-A-W bubblegum songs, the first one, a single, being a cover of Dusty Springfield's "I Only Wanna Be With You." It's only fair to give Foxy a 60's song after Kylie did "The Locomotion," right? "You Started Something" is of a slightly slower tempo, though the sound is unmistakable. On both these songs, Foxy blows the S-A-W bubblegum without it messily sticking on her face like those who don't chew Hubba Bubba gum-remember those commercials?If S-A-W was upbeat, then what does one call "One In A Million"? S-A-W songs on steroids? The Bollands produced this song, with a rapid fire chorus and a sound Bananarama would've peeled their skins for, there's even a fierce guitar solo midsong. A must have on any disco mix tape."Walking On Air", produced by Fred Zarr, is more Kim Wilde, Close-era pop and reduced the BPM compared to the previous barnburner.The next song, "Hot For You" boasts synths but also a guitar that's alternatively wails and grinds like light metal. Is she trying to do Pat Benatar or Vixen, I ask, complimenting the laudable guitar solo that could fit in 80's pop-metal? Nothing wrong with the song."Out Of Our Hands" is another atmospheric Power and Lovell ballad, sporting piano, bombastic power synths, and haunting vocals by Sam.The variety of sounds, be it Full Force-style R&B/pop, bubblegum synth pop, or the attempt at pop-metal, makes I Wanna Have Some Fun a masterpiece for Foxy. And just think, when I first got this, I was thrown by what I perceived to be an incoherent mess."