theAudience said:

Hell yeah. I just might do a cover of this song myself.

Yeah, it was used from mid to late 1982 (but the album didn't come out until early 1983) until probably 1986 or 1987.

These computers have blocks on them so I can't see myspace or hear the clips. I don't get exited any more about old artists making new music because I already know what it's going to be.....midtempo sellout shit hop.
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[Edited 3/1/07 7:13am]

vainandy said:

Yeah, I thought so--best theme song Soul Train has had. thanks man.
Peace

vainandy said:

Neither do I. I am still waiting to be surprised by an actual "funk band" or someone with real soul to break through all the hip-hop bullshit (wishful thinking, I know) and what passes today as "R&B." Longing for the days when every other new act or artist had real musicians backing it up. Let's face it, funk on TV and radio died when the last jeri-curl dried up LMAO. We who love the real funk and soul are a dying breed.

vainandy said:

i hate to say it but you're right. i guess it's hard for older artists to figure out where they can fit in so they start doing corny r. kelly type r&b jams or hook up with a hip hop artist and it's usually terrible. i would be very curious to hear what he sounds like today though. can anyone tell me? i can't hear or see any music online at work.

SoulAlive said:

I actually thought O'Bryan did a very good job on ballads, given his tenor and falsetto lent themselves to that particular style. Ballads like "You and I," "Lady I Love You," "Together Always" and "Go On and Cry" were superior to songs like "Breakin' Together" and have aged better than songs like "The Gigolo."

You can't go by what has "aged better" because songs like "The Gigolo" are uptempo and uptempo doesn't exist anymore. The only thing that would "age well" and fit in with today's music would be something slow....and it wouldn't be a good slow song, it would be a damn adult contemporary sounding one.

That's why I hate the terms "aged well" or "sounds dated". Because look at what is current these days. Going by the music of today, a good old song would be one that does "sound dated" and "hasn't aged well".

vainandy said:

That would be true -- if that was my barometer. Even by the latter 1980s, "The Gigolo" sounded like a song you would hear only when dealing with quirky songs from a particular time period.

It doesn't have that element of timelessness like other uptempo songs from that period, like Earth, Wind & Fire's "Let's Groove" or The Dazz Band's "Let It Whip." In fact, a lot of EWF's music that came out before "The Gigolo" have held up much better than that song.
[Edited 3/1/07 13:10pm]

Well, I see a lot of the late 1980s as being ruined and contaminated by crossover folks like Shitney Houston. A lot of the uptempo stuff from the late 1980s may not have had her boring sound, but everyone sure as hell was trying to crossover like she was. I wouldn't want "The Gigolo" to sound like that era either.



When I hear those songs, I automatically think "early 1980s". Even when I hear an old song for the first time, I can usually spot what era it came from immediately. That's why I've never understood the term "dated" because to my ears, everything sounds "dated" to some era.

Also, songs like "Let's Groove" and "Let It Whip" are songs that oldies stations have worn out. That's why they are timeless. We all know who to put the blame on for playing only certain songs over and over and not others.....folks like Clear Channel.
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[Edited 3/1/07 13:16pm]

vainandy said:

hey vainandy, i was wondering do you only listen to music from the 80's? i'm starting to listen to music exclusively from the 80's with just a few exceptions of todays music. it's all about the 80's electro funk and new wave!

vainandy said:

I'm not talking about comparing O'Bryan's "The Gigolo" to music in the late 1980s (BTW, what I and my friends and relatives listened to that time was GUY, Keith Sweat, Tony! Toni! Tone! and Bobby Brown -- not all of soul music was invaded by Shitney Houston). I remember listening to it during that period and cringing because its new-wave elements and clavinet accents were tied to a very specific trend, making it an anachorism.

"The Gigolo" simply did not age well, because it was a song that was trendy, filled with cliched sounds and was not meant to have a long shelf-life -- ironically, it's no different of a throwaway than a lot of what passes for soul music today. I believe you think I'm discounting the song based on comparing it to current music at a particular time, but I listened to the song recently and it's the same thing (and like you, I don't listen to "today's R&B.")

vainandy said:

Well, "dated" to me means it's a song that uses elements or musical influences that were excessively trend-intrinsic that gives the song little shelf life beyond that period. I don't know of people who cringe when they hear "Let's Groove," "Let It Whip" and the instrumental to "Planet Rock" -- songs that came out during that time period. Some songs are going to have elements that appeal to people then and now (and now, that can mean people who weren't around when the song came out but appreciate it).

"The Gigolo" is one of those songs where people who grew up with it will say at a party, "Turn that shit off!" It wasn't that popular or essential of a song to begin with, and the dated elements surely aren't going to make people get on the floor and dance like the songs I named. Like I said, I can name quite a few songs from 1982 and earlier that don't sound nearly as outdated as "The Gigolo."

[Edited 3/1/07 13:40pm]

90% of the time, I listen to music from the late 1970s and early 1980s. Sometimes I will get in a late 1960s or early 1970s mood but I usually stay in the disco era of the late 1970s through 1984.

Every blue moon I will pull out some house music from the early 1990s. I don't pull out my house music too often because I heard it so much in the clubs during that era and I am burned out on it. I play house music a lot when I have gay friends over (that's all they want to hear), but even then, I try to eventually bring in some disco because I know they like that too and I'm tired of house. I slip in a disco song or two on them and, the next thing you know, that's all I'm playing for the rest of the night....I know what I'm doing. However, if I put on some funk, those whores start hollering to play something else.

vainandy said:

That best explains O'Bryan's new album, based on what I heard on that Web site.

No, but a lot of it like "I Wanna Be Rich" and "Just Got Paid" sounded like it was intentionally recorded for the purpose of crossing over.



OK, new wave elements. I can understand that. A kind of short-lived form of music with a distinct sound. Disco was another form of music with a sound of it's own and you immediately knew when you heard it....."that's disco". I can understand that. However, I love disco and new wave so I see that as a good thing.




Not with anyone I know. If I were to throw that one on at a party or other jams that hardly ever get played any more like "Something About You" by Ebonee Webb, "Traffic Jammer" by The Barkays, "Right In The Socket" by Shalamar, "All Night Thing" by Invisible Man's Band, etc.....people start hollering....."Hell yeah! You dug waaaaayyyyy down in the stack for that one! I haven't heard that jam in years!" Of course, most of my friends, straight and gay, hate today's music just like I do so they don't compare old songs to today's standards. They just see those songs as "jams that are too hard to be played on today's radio so they haven't heard them in years". I have many of my friends say....."that jam is too black for them to play these days"....since radio always seems to play old songs these days that white people are familiar with.
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[Edited 3/1/07 14:01pm]

OH DAYUM! He's hot. Just what I wanted to see , his nekked ass!




..

Yeah I remember him too. What's he up to these days? It seems like he abruptly disappeared around 84-85.

Okay, What O'Bryan song starts out with him singing "So Young, So Sweet. So Young, So Sweet"? I can't remember.

vainandy said:

I wouldn't go as far as to call Calloway's "I Wanna Be Rich" (which came out in 1990) anything but contrived pop music -- in fact, it fared better on the pop charts than the soul charts. Hell, I don't know too many brothers rocking that corny shit.

I wouldn't call Johnny Kemp's "Just Got Paid" pop-oriented (it was basically Teddy Riley taking the rhythm track from "I Want Her" and speeding it up a bit). But that's my opinion (and a lot of the fellas I knew).

vainandy said:

IMO it's more of the song "The Gigolo" itself than even the new-wave elements. I can listen to Cameo's "Alligator Woman" today, and it's an album that had new wave elements. Some of The Bar-Kays' music had those new wave synethizer riffs, so it's not that. Maybe it's O'Bryan's Prince-inspired falsetto and the Larry Blackmon-inspired bass vocals in the chorus ("He's just a freak/he won't dance/he's just a gigolo"), maybe it's the corny lyrics -- if anything, it's a combination of all those things I mentioned.

It's not like there are certain elements of "The Gigolo" that make me cringe -- it's the whole song, being fairly derivative and not having some distinctive or catchy groove. Given that we're the same age and we have different opinions of "The Gigolo" today -- a song I liked when it came out -- I would say it's simply where we have differing opinions.

ThePunisher said:

That was "I'm Freaky."

Everyone I know hates it too but they sure played the hell out of it on R&B radio back then. They played to the point that I wanted to throw the radio up against the wall.



When I hear "Just Got Paid", I hear someone trying to take the Minneapolis Sound with the synths and watering it way down with weaker drums and bass so it will be weak enough for pop radio, yet keeping it just hard enough for R&B appeal. I hate inbetween shit.

vainandy said:

Really? When I hear Johnny Kemp's "Just Got Paid" I don't hear anything resembling The Minneapolis Sound. I hear Keith Sweat's "I Want Her" -- which is obvious, because Teddy Riley wrote and produced both songs -- sounding inspired by Bell & James' "Living It Up (Friday Night)."
[Edited 3/1/07 14:50pm]

olskoolfool said:

Since "Soul Train's A'Comin" is not on his greatest hits, and his albums are out of print, was it released as a single?

ThePunisher said:

that song is the bomb! it's "i'm freaky"!

vainandy said:

that's cool. i can relate though i'm not too crazy about disco. i don't mind if it has elements of disco but pure disco kinda makes me sick. do you like sharon redd? the "love how you feel" album is the bomb! that's a great combo of disco, electro and early house.