"BABY (LET ME LOVE YOU)" AND "SOME PEOPLE DON'T CARE" GET MASSIVE ROTATIONS ON MY PURPLE FRIDAYS IN SEATTLE....AND EVERYTIME I PLAY THEM, PEOPLE RUN TO THE BOOTH ASKING WHO IT IS!!!!!

SOULALIVE- I DISAGREE ON ONE THING...."SO IN LOVE" IS ALRIGHT WITH ME!!!! IT'S "HERE I AM" WHERE I SKIP TO "IT'S ALL A GAME", WHICH TO ME IS A BETTER BALLAD!!!!!

woogiebear said:

Yeah,"Here I Am" is a tedious song.I don't why it ever became a single.

I think the three weak tracks on the album are "Here I Am","So In Love" and "Love You Down".I love everything else.

.
[Edited 11/29/07 6:04am]

SoulAlive said:

OH YEAAHHH!!!

Doing everything but..makin time

SoulAlive said:

Jesse Johnson's "Shockadelica" mostly did not have that "Minneapolis sound" (namely, the heavy synthesizer/drum machine sound popularized by Prince's "Controversy" and "1999" that was emulated in the mid-80s). "Burn You Up" was the song that mostly resembled that style but most of the songs had that organic, live band feel.

Johnson's album and reputation started taking a hit with a rather publicized spat with his band (which had grown to nine members), who mostly quit over allegations Johnson didn't pay them. Ready For The World's "Long Time Coming," as I said, lost momentum because of poor single selection.

Even by late 1986 and early 1987, there were other acts whose music came from that Minneapolis spirit but had moved on from its initial style -- Jody Watley's debut album (produced by Andre Cymone), Alexander O'Neal's "Hearsay" album (produced by Jimmy Jam and Terry Lewis), tracks from Herb Alpert's "Keep Your Eye on Me" (Jam and Lewis) and Janet Jackson's "Control" was prominent until mid-1987 (Jam and Lewis). But to be truthful, RFTW arguably was tapping into that "Minneapolis sound" more than Prince and his protege acts by 1985 through 1987.

SoulAlive said:

The New Jack Swing style came into being in 1988. For a brief time (mostly 1987), the percussion-based sound used by Club Noveau for its "Life, Love and Pain" album was popular.

SoulAlive said:

What killed "Mary Goes Round" was that it was a weak song muscially and lyrically. Music styles change over a gradual period, not in such a short time that a song like "Love You Down" would be a No. 1 song and, say, "Baby (Let Me Love You)" would have flopped only a few months later because it was outdated. It seems you simply refuse to think "Mary Goes Round" was as weak of a song as been stated.

And yes, "Long Time Coming" was a disappointment in terms of sales. The album went gold only because "Love You Down" carried it. The album was declared gold by January 1987 (only a few weeks after "Love You Down" peaked on the charts). "Mary Goes Round" was released as a single in February 1987, so you can do the math. Prior to that, Ready For The World's debut album went platinum and churned out four top six singles.
[Edited 11/29/07 21:23pm]

woogiebear said:

Yes they did and mel riley was still sporting that jheri curl.

Najee and Soul Alive have made good points in this discussion.
I do agree with najee that mary goes round was a weak song and that
baby(let me love you)was the best song on the album. I agree with
soul alive in the fact that not many of the albums songs outside of baby(let me love you) would have made a difference in terms of album sales. I considered
the majority of the album to be bland unlike the first rftw album. Mary goes round was definitely the end all to this album. Yes i remember jesse's shockadelica album being released late 1986 around the same time as this rftw album. I bought both albums. Shockadelica was not received as well as jesse's debut album but this album kept me listening as opposed to rftw. I rarely listend to rftw's album outside the first two tracks and really wouldn't have any desire to do so today. I could put the shockadelica album on today and still be pleased as i was 21 years ago. Yes after the lead single crazay the album kind of fizzled but baby let's kiss got airplay in my area after the second single she(i can't resist)got a lukewarm reception although it was a good track.

Yeah i guess that's why when jesse came out with the every shade of love
album some of the songs sounded one dimensional since he played practically
all the instruments. I still dug the album anyway.

phunkdaddy said:

I CAN PLAY THEM BOTH TODAY 21 YRS. LATER & STILL LOVE THEM BOTH!!!!!
AS FAR AS "BABY LET'S KISS" THE REMIX HAD MORE OOOMPH TO IT!!!!!

The beat sounds weird.

Illustrator said:

That's one thing I like about their music.They always did interesting things with the drums.Some of their songs have weird beats.Did you ever hear "I'm The One Who Loves You" from the first album? Try dancing to that odd groove

SoulAlive said:

EVEN "OH SHEILA" WAS A DIFFERENT BEAT WHEN IT FIRST HIT. SAME WITH "I'M THE ONE WHO LOVES YOU". "BABY (LET ME LOVE YOU)" AND "MY GIRLY". PROPS TO MELVIN RILEY & GERALD VALENTINE (RFTW DRUMMER) FOR SOME KICKASS BEATS!!!!!

woogiebear said:

Like Prince,they did alot of cool things with the drum machines.Reminds me of the cool stuff on Prince's '1999' album.

SoulAlive said:

YUP....THAT LINN DRUM WAS THE SH*T!!!!!

woogiebear said:

phunkdaddy said:

Their time was running out.There's no way they could have lasted.They built a career out of mimicking the 1982/83 Minneapolis Sound.It gave them a handful of hits but bands like this typically didn't last long (remember Dreamboy? Exotic Storm?).They apparently knew this,which is why they slightly altered their sound for the 1988 album 'Rough N' Ready' but by then,it was too late.




I enjoy 'A Long Time Coming' alot more than the debut,but that's probably because it didn't get overplayed Both albums are very similiar.




I got both of these albums for Christmas 1986.I still enjoy listening to both.I consider these albums to be the last great "Minneapolis Sound" albums before hip-hop and New Jack Swing took over.I recall a Rock N' Soul interview from 1987,where Jesse Johnson admitted that he was "bummed out" about the failure of 'Shocakadelica'.He blamed the poor promotion on his record company A&M.

SoulAlive said:

DREAMBOY!!!!! "DON'T GO" SOUNDED LIKE "OH BABY" (PART 1.5)!!!!! WHAT THE HELL WERE THEY THINKING?? AND THEY LOOKED LIKE FIENDS!!!! YEAH..."RUFF N' READY" LEANED MORE ON THE NEW JACK SWING TIP, ALTHOUGH THERE WAS A CLASSIC RFTW BALLAD OR TWO "GENTLY" AND "DON'T YOU WANNA (WITH ME)"

I think Dreamboy were also from Michigan,just like RFTW...or I could be wrong

I have the first Dreamboy album on vinyl.Includes the hit "Don't Go".My favorite song is the uptempo jam "Walk The Streets"....cool Minneapolis-sounding jam!

SoulAlive said:

YOU'RE RIGHT!!!! FROM MICHIGAN!!!!

woogiebear said:

I'm curious about their second album...did you ever hear it?

SoulAlive said:

I vaguely remember the hit song....and that it was a ballad. but that's about it!!!!!

woogiebear said:

I think it was a called "I Promise (I Love You)" or something like that

SoulAlive said:

DING-DING-DING-DING!!!!! That was it!!!!! But that's all I remember from the 2nd LP.....

woogiebear said:

Yeah,I never heard anything else from it.