Soonkay Lisa: What I Want Out of Life / Give Me All Your Love

This perky little 7″ was one of my choice finds from a guy selling records out of his garage in Cottonwood, Arizona last year.  Interesting artist name, pink Hawaiian label, great titles — sounds promising, put it in the pile, it’s worth a try.  Didn’t take long after setting the needle down to realize that this was a keeper.  A big, almost Vegas-style pop soul production number on the A-side that borrows liberally from Stevie Wonder’s “For Once In My Life,” including a way groovy organ solo.  The B-side’s got a bit more of a smooth, Burt Bacharach lounge swing feel, with Ms. Lisa’s buttery croon floating thru the ether.  Strings and sax solos in the break, and perfect melodies throughout — what’s not to like?  It appears there was a picture sleeve made for the single as well, as a copy sold on ebay in 2008 included said sleeve, archived on Popsike.com.  And it looks like Soonkay Lisa is attempting to make a bit of a comeback, based on a YouTube video posted in mid-October 2009 which features her entry into Oprah’s recent karaoke contest.  She seems to have lost a bit of her spunkiness, but hey, that’s one hell of a single to have left to the world.

“What I Want Out of Life” [audio:SOONKAY_Life.mp3]

“Give Me All Your Love” [audio:SOONKAY_Love.mp3]