I just picked up this LP (Survivin' In The 80's) yesterday. It's the first time I've ever heard any of Andre's music, other than stuff he may have produced for others. Although there might have been couple of song that I thought were Ok, I wasn't all that impressed. What does everybody else think, and should I look for other AC stuff?

AsianConnection said:

I used to have the first three Andre Cymone albums, but I don't know what happened to them. SURVIVIN is the 2nd one. I remember it had that VERY minor hit MAKE ME WANNA DANCE. I can imagine that it sounds very dated today. I think he was trying to get as far away from Prince as he could with his sound. However, I remember thinking his third album, AC (?), was the best of the three. It had "Dance Electric," an old Prince song that still sounds good to this day (I guess at some point they made up), and a couple of other cool songs. On the third album he sort of left behind that new wave/ funk stuff he did on the first two releases and went for a "sort of" alternative R&B sound. The album didn't really do well, though I remember "Dance Electric" going top 10 R&B. If you ever come across AC at a decent price, pick it up - just for "Dance Electric" alone. I still have the 12". I remember searching all over Manhattan at age 12 looking for it.

The only thing I remember was 2 videos he made. One was with his band that had his sister that played the keyboards in it where they were dressed like Startrek or somethin' and I remember the Dance Electric video. After that he became Mr. Jody Watley for a minute and that was the end.

All of Andre's albums were good as far as I was concerned. He was trying to do something different than P, which was kinda hard because they had so many of the same influences. Plus, he didn't want to be in P's shadow. As I have mentioned before, I have worked with Andre, and know him fairly well. Last I know, he was working on a girl's group ala Destiny's Child. Andre is a cool brother, very down to earth, and he's talented. Underated.

"Survivin' In The 80s" is the only Andre Cymone album I don't have. I have a download of "Make Me Want To Dance" and if the rest of the album is like that, then I know I would love it.

I enjoyed his first album, "Livin' In The New Wave". To me it sounded kind of like new wave meets Minneapolis. I have the third album "AC" also. It is more R&B based and sounds more like the "Minneapolis Sound". I used to like the third album better but as I got older, I went back and listened to the first album thoroughly and really enjoyed it.

Just as Andre was starting to get the radio airplay he deserved, he never did another album. I know he produced Jody Watley's album but I really would have enjoyed some more Andre Cymone albums. I really commend Jody Watley for not taking the easy road out and put out a ballad album, at a time where ballads were starting to take over. She got together with Andre and put out an album of one jam after another. If anyone doesn't know who Andre is, I have just two words for them..."Jody Watley". He proved he was just as good a producer as some of his other colleages from Minneapolis.

As far as Prince goes, I think their time growing up together, living together, and working together influenced and shaped both of them into the extremely talented individuals they both are. I think Andre deserves far more credit than Prince gave him.

Andre's AC is almost classic 80's funk for The Dance Elctric alone. I recently put in on Cd along with Survivin In The 80's

Sensuality ***
Satisfaction ****1/2
Lipstick lover ****
Neon PussyCat ***
vacation ***
Dance Electric ***** +++++
Book Of Love **1/2
Pretty Wild Girl ***1/2