I just bought this 2-CD set that contains the second and third albums by Lisa Lisa and Cult Jam.1987's 'Spanish Fly' is superb....after all these years,this album still packs a punch!! Songs like "Everything Will B-Fine","Head To Toe",the Prince-like "I Promise You" and the Motown-styled "Lost In Emotion" still sound as fresh and vital as they did 21 years ago.Full Force did an amazing job on the production.It's one of my favorite 80s albums.

Unfortunately,I can't say the same for the follow-up album,1989's 'Straight To The Sky'.What a mess! It's filled with run-of-the-mill New Jack Swing tracks,some of which simply go on for too long.This is why I don't like alot of late-80s R&B.All of those New Jack Swing beats are tired and predictable.The songs are all about "the beat",so there wasn't alot of attention being paid to the melody.As producers,Full Force sound like they're on auto-pilot throughtout.The only good songs here are "Little Jackie Wants To Be A Star","Dance Forever" and the excellent title track.Instead of this lame album,I wish this 2-CD set included the first album.

I'll look for this set the next time I hit a record store.

That looks pretty cool but just based on it's 3 monster hits, I bet the first album would have been better. I had a tape and recently just bought the vinyl (I'm moving backwards) of "Spanish Fly" and it is amazing! There is so much going on with that album. Like you said, there is a bit of a Motown feel to some of those tracks but the energy of them is much higher. Just a great album all the way through. Every track is special and great pop. I might have to put that album on sometime today.

I can't imagine "Straight For the Sky" was anything to write home about. Based on the singles, seems like they lost their bite.

I bought that on the strength of having the special versions of the songs too.

A Face In The Crowd
I Promise You
Playing With Fire

are some HOT HOT HOT jams.

Unfortunatley they didnt put the Full Force acapella of "Someone To Love Me" but they did put on Spanish Fly

I agree with soul alive. Spanish Fly was excellent and straight to the
sky was not that good. In fact the only songs i can remember from that
album right off hand is jackie wants to be a star and my favorite from
the album kiss your tears away. It was one other fast song that i liked
but the album was forgettable. During this time full force was busy
producing other artists like cheryl"pepsi"riley and ex girlfriend so
maybe they weren't totally focused when they did the straight to the sky
album.

"Lost In Emotion" and "Head To Toe" bring back memories of the 80s. Those were huge hits at least in my household.

There is a remix of "Little Jackie" tacked on to the end of my Straight To The Sky cd that starts with the Hihache break beat. I like that version.

paisleypark4 said:

"Playing With Fire" rocked! I gotta play that one sometime today!

Cinnie said:

They're the reason I made the Junior High Bitches comps to begin with.

GangstaFam said:

Hook me up!

i was recently looking for Spanish Fly. i heard that album was good and i love me sme full force as producers. i thought they madea great team with Lisa Lisa. the first cd is the bomb!!

Cinnie said:

Ya know, ever since you reminded me of these, I've been revising and perfecting 'em. It's turning into quite and epic project.

Be patient with me. I promise I'll hook ya up with these and the Madonnas. It might not be til summer, but I will definitely get 'em to ya.

dancerella said:

GangstaFam said:

Cinnie said:

In my household too Those songs were JAMS! Listening to this CD now,it amazes me how well these songs have aged.

SPANISH FLY is a classic record, solid tracks. I think Straight to the sky showed the group being trapped by what was going on around them. HIP HOP/RAP was blowing up and all of a sudden all the "freestyle" acts were getting told to go "hard" and bring in new producers and guest rappers and thats when it all started to fall. When they did the "hells kitchen" record, they were really done at this point, they were working with C&C which at that point was a "death wish" since they were part of that whole "Lypsynching" but using a hot lead singer fiasco, and that with the Milli Vanilli scandal was the reason you saw groups like Lisa Lisa, The cover Girls and others disappear at that point.

lastdecember said:

I agree,'Spanish Fly' is excellent.It's easily the best album that Full Force ever produced.



Yeah,the late 80s was a rough time.Hip-hop had taken hold,and then along came New Jack Swing,which is basically just watered-down R&B with a hip-hop beat.'Straight To The Sky' was a victim of those trends and it now sounds extremely dated.I tried to listen to it the other day and I found myself using the "skip" button on most of the tracks.





I never bought the 'Hell's Kitchen' album,is it any good? I'm only familiar with the first single "Let The Beat Hit Em" which is decent,but not outstanding like their previous mid-80s hits.In 1994,Lisa Lisa released a solo album but I never heard anything from it beyond the first single "Skip To My Lu".These days,she appears at Freestyle/Old School concerts.She'll be in my area next month.

SoulAlive said:

I always wondered what state we would be in if Hip Hop did not take R&B over

SoulAlive said:

I bought the cassette. Just going off my memory,C&C produced side 1 and
full force side 2. Right off hand i liked the ballad forever and a couple
of tracks full force produced on the second side. That will be a project of
mine over the weekend to revisit lisa lisa and cult jam.

phunkdaddy said:

That was my "project" last weekend I'm having so much re-visiting 'Spanish Fly'.I gotta get their first album on CD.Remember the song "You'll Never Change"? That's my favorite song from that album.

SoulAlive said:

Wasn't that the b-side to "Head To Toe"? My fam didn't have the Spanish Fly album... it was the two 45s for "Head To Toe" and "Lost In Emotion". I think "Lost In Emotion" had some sort of dub version on the back.

Cinnie said:

Yeah,it was a B-side.I think it could have easily been a single in its own right.

I JUST MET GUITARIST ALEX "SPANADOR" MOSELEY AT AN OPEN MIC AT CAFE WHA? IN GREENWICH VILLAGE IN NYC A WEEK & 1/2 AGO. HE WAS THE GUITARIST IN THE HOUSE BAND, AND IT WAS HOSTED BY CHERYL "PEPSII" RILEY!!!!!
HE WAS GEEKED THAT I SAW THEM ON THE FRESH FEST TOUR IN '86 WHEN IT CAME TO BUFFALO!!!! HE EXCITEDLY TOLD HIS WIFE!!!! I TOLD HIM I DIDN'T APPRECIATE HIS BOSS PAUL ANTHONY (FULL FORCE) STRIPPING DOWN TO HIS DRAWZ, AND HE STARTED CRACKIN' UP!!!!
BOTH HIM & MS. RILEY WERE COOL PEOPLES!!!!!

woogiebear said:

That's great Spanador always seemed like a cool guy.

woogiebear said:

I love this!