André began working on his follow-up disc Survivin’ in the 80’s, while also producing demos for The Girls debut and working on tracks for Evelyn “Champagne” King’s disc Face to Face, he recruited a band that included drummer John “Bam Bam” Morgan, guitarist Bobby Dean and keyboardists Linda Renee Anderson (his sister) and keyboardist Craig Thomas, who was also a synth programmer. “I was originally from Illinois, but moved to Minneapolis to work with a band that was also cool with Dez Dickerson and that was how I met André,” Craig Thomas says from his home on the West Coast. If one looks at the Survivin’ in the 80’s album cover, Thomas was the blond with the Flock of Seagulls hair.

“I had an Oberheim OB-Xa as well as an Oberheim sequencer and drum machine. André and I just started jamming, and we worked well together. I learned a lot working on that project with André. He was cool and easy to get along with, but also had high standards in terms of getting things right and making it happen.”

While they recorded a few tracks at André’s home studio, most of Survivin’ in the 80’s was made at American Artist Studio, a 24-track spot owned by Dre’s then-manager Owen Husney. “I loved that studio. I recorded a lot of stuff there,” Cymone says. “There was this jazzy bootleg thing that me, Prince and Bobby Z recorded there.” Although American Artist became his other home, the studio lacked the sonic impact that Cymone could’ve gotten from a more state-of-the-art facility. “Sometimes I would hear those early songs on the radio or in a club, and they didn’t really hold up sonically. They don’t have the punch or bottom that other records of that era had.”

Of course, as a young fan blasting this album in my room, I didn’t notice any of those flaws, but I could easily hear that André Cymone was torn as an artist that needed to make tracks that might got played on the radio or MTV, including the title track first single, second single “Make Me Wanna Dance,” which had a Zapp feel to it along with vocoder vocals, and more daring avant-pop musical experimentation of “M.O.T.F.” (Man of the Future, in case you’re wondering), “Stay” and “Don’t Let the Future (Come Down on You).”

http://www.soulhead.com/2...a-gonzales

"What Are We Doing Here" by Andre Cymone (1983)

"Survivin In The 80's" and "What Are We Doing Here?" was my SHIT, back then...i wore that cassette OUT....good times, good days, good nights...smh...

André Cymone is very underrated and very talented love his work with Jody Watley.

the first single "Make Me Wanna Dance" is a good song.Not sure why it didn't catch on