What did you think of Andre's work for other people besides Jody? I think he showed real versitility that even say Jam and Lewis and Babyface at that time lacked.

Tina Turner "Break through the barrier"


Not sure if this is a Tina outtake or written specifically for the film? Compare this to say Jellybean Johnson and Janets production on "black cat" for example, and Andre, to me, seems to understand AOR/lite rock a hell of alot better then they did at the time. "Black cat" sounds horrible and dated now. This does sound dated, but is a decent slice of AOR as good as Cher/Chicago et all at the time. Despite this, its a shame no real bigshots like Chicago hired him for an album at the time as I think he would of been great in the light rock field.

James Ingram "Better way"


I must be the first person ever to notice that Andre sampled a keyboard riff from this on that Tina Turner song he did a few years later LOL. Anyway, Andre produced and wrote this one alone (he produced and co-wrote the Tina song with then common collaborator Garnder Cole) and I think again, like the Tina song, its a decent slab of sunny mid 80's AOR, again on par with any other high profile act at the time. OK, this does sound very dated and more poppy then Tina's cut, but its a decent pop song I feel. Great middle 8 aswell.




Again, like Tina and James, this is a slightly odd combo but it worked very well some of the time. He produced the whole album (and wrote "room at the top", a decent enough song), and whilst some of it is no doubt pretty average and dull, "Cant set rules about love" stands out as a decent and assured piece of work though. It had AOR overtones again aswell, meaning again to me, AOR might of been a great route for him to go in.

Gardner Cole "wall of fear"


Gardner Cole and Andre seemed to collab quite alot around the late 80's/early 90's. I dont like this half as much as the AOResque songs he did for James or Tina, but its not bad though. He produced this with Garnder Cole but did not co-write it though. Sounds like sonic the hedgehog music LOL.

Tiffany "Never run my motor down"


OK, Iam clutching at straws now, he only co-wrote this one (again with Mr Cole, meaning this could be a possible outtake from Gardners album?). Still, its a fun song and I love it personally LOL. MASSIVELY dated, but its cool he still co-wrote some pure poppy stuff meaning he was still quite versitile around this time (1990). (The guitar solo kills me everytime)

Anyone have any other songs he worked on beside Jody that are worth commenting? I know he did tracks here and there for Jermaine Stewart and even one for St Paul later on I seem to remember, but anymore that were outside his more traditional rnb field?

I would of loved an Andre solo album with a bunch of AOR songs like "break through the barrier" released in the late 80's. He understood AOR that some of his contempories at the time did not as much (jellybean Johnson, Jam/Lewis-who to be fair, very rarely tried to do a rock song), and much more importantly then that, he was genuinely damn good at it aswell.

Wow, I haven't hear "Better Way" in ages! I disagree about "Black Cat" sounding horible and dated though-- particularly the video version. Crank that ish in the car driving down the highway and it sounds as good as it did the day it was released.

Thanks for this

A full list of all of André's contributions would be highly appreciated as i'm a big fan of his solo/The Girls work

Are you seriously arguing that Tina's song doesn't sound date?

I liked "Love/Hate" that Andre produced for Pebbles:



Really liked Adam Ant's "Room At The Top":



Andre also worked with Pretty Poison: http://www.youtube.com/wa...Ygo9m5pGTw

I played every single clip and really wanted to like.
But jeez that sucks

I like Andre!! I saw a bootleg cd of his in Melodies and Memories in Detroit today. I should have bought it!! They had a TON of Prince boots!! Definately a good cd store and one people should check out

sosgemini said:

No, I actually said Tina's song has dated LOL. But to me, it has aged alot better then "black cat".
[Edited 4/14/10 17:58pm]

sextonseven said:

Didn't know about Pretty Poison. Thanks!

"Room at the top" would be better without that drum machine thats straight outta "she drives me crazy" LOL. Still a decent enough song though. A minor quibble.

I forgot about the Pebbles cut. Sounds like Janet jackson and Paula Abdul rolled into one. Good track.

databank said:

He produced a cut with Gardner Cole for a kid group called The Party. The track is called "Coulda shoulda woulda" and was released off their s/t album. Unfortunately it's not on youtube at the moment. Very much of its time. I like it alot though, but it's very poppy and dated now.

Brofie said:

LOL fair enough. No need to be rude though

Personally I found Andre's albums derivitive of you know who for the most part. Iam glad he could diversify. Fair enough if you hate the tracks though.

Very underrated. Andre, to me, was always thinking outside the box with his musical style, and that was Minnesota. People forget that he worked with Jermaine Stewart, on the 1987 "Say it Again" LP. Which was really cool. I mean, it did sound a lot like Janet Jackson "Nasty" meets Jody Watley's work, but it was Andre's work.

If you get a chance, check out "Got to be Love" by Jermaine Stewart. It is hot!
[Edited 4/21/10 5:51am]

One day in Hollywood, me and Rick James were cruising the strip looking for hoes and we got hungry. We pulled into the Taco Bell off Santa Monica and ordered a couple of burritos. I get to the window and there is Andre Cymone - in uniform with the paper hat. Rick just started laughing and screaming really loud with the hoes in the backseat. I tried not to make eye contact and just took my change when Andre brought the food. Rick started clowning him once we bounced back onto the strip. I took up for him for a little while - saying he was underrated. But eventually the hot sauce kicked in and I couldnt even keep a straight face about the whole situation.

Brofie said:

whaaaaat???

databank said:

It's called assery.

sosgemini said:

you look like you would know

sextonseven said:

I remember this song.I heard it on the radio long before I heard "Girlfriend",which many people assume is her first single.

thesexofit said:

What's the album title? What's the track list? What year is it from?
[Edited 5/13/10 4:58am]

Oh, look! I found the answers all by myself: http://www.discogs.com/Ad...ase/509372

thesexofit said:

Rough stuff with music by André Cymone almost has that drum machine beat, too.



[Edited 5/13/10 8:45am]

You know I'm sorry, after listening to all of these sorry ass tracks, i find it very difficult to believe that this is the same dude that co-wrote and produced "Still A Thrill"
"Still A Thrill" is on a whole other level compared to all the half-ass songs posted so far. I do not see a coloration whatsoever.
I'm going to stay on the skeptical side of believing Andre is responsible for "Still", it just seems like a huge stretch of the imagination.


[Edited 5/13/10 15:30pm]

Manners & Physique is a great album. Not Adam's best but a solid collection of songs nonetheless.

The fact that André's production ruined the title track when compared to the original demo makes me wonder though.....