The story of Colleen Fitzpatrick's musical career path sounds something like the Alanis Morissette story in reverse. Amid a history of dancing and acting (she played a key role in John Waters’ original Hairspray movie in 1988), Fitzpatrick went from being the lead singer of the mid-‘90’s alternative rock band Eve's Plum to being a dance-pop singer known as Vitamin C. Under that name, Fitzpatrick (at approximately 30 years of age) successfully appealed to the Britney Spears-led teen market with the hit single “Smile” and the sentimental high school anthem “Graduation (Friends Forever)” in 1999. She even inspired her own Mattel doll and lipstick color. But her fame was fleeting. Fitzpatrick’s career abruptly sank after the second Vitamin C album tanked in 2001. Since then, Fitzpatrick has released only one single in 2003, and has reportedly recorded other material which has not yet been released.
Both of the albums which Fitzpatrick recorded with Eve's Plum are now out of print. Viewed as part of the whole '90's alternative revolution, neither of the two Eve's Plum albums seems particularly distinguished in retrospect, although neither is boring for a minute.
On the 1993 album Envy, Eve's Plum played Nirvana-era fuzz-amp guitar rock with just enough pop hooks to make it palatable. Don't expect to hear any prototypes of sunny Vitamin C pop songs here; Fitzpatrick sings sometimes subversive lyrics full of pre-Alanis angst. She alternately sounds like she is emulating Debbie Harry (her on-screen mom in Hairspray, heh heh) and screeching like the decade's "riot grrrl" types; on "I Want It All", she veers back and forth between the two styles. Not bad.
Track Listing:
1. Blue
2. I Want It All
3. Once Twice
4. Venus Meets Pluto
5. Lovely You
6. On The Outside
7. Die Like Someone
8. Believable
9. I Might Die
10. Kiss Your Feet
Cherry Alive, the second and final Eve's Plum album, was smartly produced by Fred Maher, who steered the New York band away from Seattle-style grunge and toward Boston-style alt-pop (a la the Breeders, Belly, and Letters To Cleo). Maher made Fitzpatrick's voice sound more appealing and a tad less derivative, although the Debbie Harry comparison still holds. Cherry Alive is not the greatest power pop album you'll ever hear, but it contains enough infectious tunes ("Lipstuck", "Serious Stuff", "Wishing The Day Away") to make it worthwhile.
Track Listing:
1. Jesus Loves You
2. Wishing The Day Away
3. Want You Bad
4. Loved By You
5. Fairy Princess
6. Cherry Alive
7. Lipstuck
8. Sticky And Greasy
9. Beautiful
10. Serious Stuff
11. Dog In My Heart
12. Only Anger
The Last Nite single contained Fitzpatrick’s mashup of the titular Strokes song from 2001 (which was admittedly derived from Tom Petty’s "American Girl") and Blondie’s 1978 classic "Heart of Glass". It’s a bizarre idea that works surprisingly well. Also, it fuses Fitzpatrick’s different musical personalities together into one track. It’s a remake of an alt-rock song, which acknowledges her Eve’s Plum background; its sound is overtly dance-club oriented, which is in keeping with her Vitamin C persona; and it’s her most direct tribute yet to her heroine Deborah Harry.
The best of the three remixes is the Manhattan Clique Edit, which both extends the song’s running time and speeds up the tempo while altering the sound. The other two edits are so "alternate" that they barely resemble the original mix; the This Is Radio ElectroClash-Williamsburg Edit is the better of the two.
Be warned: some versions of the single contain only the original mix. Some other versions (including the 12-inch vinyl one) contain only three tracks, usually omitting the This Is Radio ElectroClash-Williamsburg Edit.
Track Listing:
1. Last Nite (original mix by Fred Maher) 3:54
2. Last Nite (This Is Radio ElectroClash-Williamsburg Edit) 3:45
3. Last Nite (I Lick That Mix By Count Caligula Edit) 5:40
4. Last Nite (Manhattan Clique Edit) 6:05
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