I've only heard this twice but I think this Melba joint is hot:


[Edited 11/10/09 17:56pm]

I had forgotten about this one. This must have been her best year as far as making good music goes. I've heard that she made some disco songs in the 1970s but I've never heard any of them myself. But when the name Melba Moore comes up, the first thing that usually pops into my head is the mid to late 80s adult contemporary type R&B....the type that later got it's own genre called "Adult Urban". Oh, how great it was before there was enough of those type songs to become a genre.

vainandy said:

Melba was a bad ass (good artist) in the 1970s and EARLY 1980s, she had some funk and dance joints.

I played "Play Boy Scout" from her "This Is It" album several weeks ago. Melba is an interesting artist because it's like she was three or four different people during her career, she had her Broadway career, a pop-jazz direction with the first two albums (early '70s), then the disco period (mid-to-late-1970s) and a period where she put out some funkier material in the early-'80s. She didn't do "adult urban" until sometime after 1985.

Around the same time so many other artists started doing it...after little miss you-know-who came on the scene and became so huge at it.

vainandy said:

And you know the most fucked up thing about that? Melba didn't start hitting #1 until teaming up with Freddie Jackson! Buddah and Epic Records hardly promoted her.

Oh God, I used to call him the male Shitney Houston.

vainandy said:

You're gonna make me pull out my Melba Moore 'Best of' CD I love this song! Listen closely and you can hear Freddie Jackson on background vocals.

Ole Freddie used to be in a funk group called Mystic Merlin. The only thing I remember hearing from them on the radio was "Sixty Thrills A Minute" back in 1981 and it was a jam. It's a damn shame when folks go solo and want to go "soft" and a weak so-called uptempo song like "Jam Tonight" just don't cut it compared to something like this....


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[Edited 11/10/09 22:57pm]

vainandy said:

You never heard these big disco hits? These songs were very popular in the discos.

"This Is It" (1976)


"You Stepped Into My Life" (1978) (a remake of the Bee Gees song)


"Pick Me Up,I'll Dance" (1979)

Timmy84 said:

Melba is a very diverse artist,capable of singing any type of song.In 1985,she even explored rock/pop territory with the single "Read My Lips"...

vainandy said:

You should pick up a compilation by her.She actually has alot of uptempo singles and was one of the first artists to benefit from the "Kashif sound"....

"This Is It" (1976)
"You Stepped Into My Life" (1978)
"Pick Me Up,I'll Dance" (1979)
"Take My Love" (1981)
"Love's Comin At Ya" (1982)
"Mind Up Tonight" (1982)
"Keepin' My Lover Satisfied" (1983)
"Love The One I'm With (A Lot Of Love)" (1986) (duet with Kashif)

Timmy84said:

here's the actual video for that song

Timmy84 said:

Ms. Moore career was as hot as possum grease on uh grill.

SoulAlive said:

Melba did 3 albums on Epic: "Melba" in 1978, "Burn" in 1979 and "Closer" in 1980. My favorite one is "Burn" because she's workin' with Pete Bellotte (1/2 of the duo who produced the big Disco hits by Donna Summer.) It's a really jammin' album, I might add; very upbeat, very electric and I love the rock guitar undertone of the title cut! Cut for cut, it's bad! LOVE it! Sadly, CBS didn't promote her and her best stuff came out on EMI/Capitol from 1981 - 1988.
Melba IS MOST DEFINITELY a badass! I concur!
[Edited 11/11/09 16:27pm]

Wow,she did an album produced by Pete Bellotte? I gotta look for that one.I like the stuff he did with Donna Summer.

SoulAlive said:

Yep! It's TIGHT! The title cut, "Burn," is OUT the box! It's like that Donna Summer-ish rock guitar-driven Disco FUNK! I think you'll LOVE it if you like the Donna stuff! The other awesome joints are "Hot and Tasty," "Can't Give It Up" and "Don't Wanna Lose Your Love." Good luck!

whitechocolatebrotha said:

Now you got me really wanting to find this record

vainandy said:

Wow,I never knew that he was in a group like this!

and the song is slammin' too!

I remember the song well. It was one of those songs that I always wanted to buy but never knew the name of the group. I never dreamed someone like Freddie Jackson was in the group though. Hell, it's possible though. Just look how weak Babyface is compared to The Deele.

Anyway, it was the orger Funkenstein that did a thread on them and he said that Freddie Jackson was in the group. I did an internet search on Freddie's biography and it was true. Oh, how the funky have fallen.

on that album cover posted above,which one is Freddie?

I'm at work and can't see it. But I did look at the picture previously and tried to pick him out and couldn't. Hell, he never did have a look that stood out though.

Lemme take a guess he's on the far left with that white hat.

Timmy84 said:

SoulAlive said:

According to the soulwalking.co.uk web site, Freddie Jackson was not yet a member of Mystic Merlin when Sixty Thrills was recorded. His vocals are featured on their next album, Full Moon.

todd305 said:

Oh OK!

Well, that explains a lot then. Now I can stop feeling like I'm living in the Twilight Zone. I just couldn't imagine Freddie Jackson throwing down hard like that.

SoulAlive said:

I wasn't familiar with most of her 70's disco stuff. The only 70s songs I knew were "Lean On Me" and "Pick Me Up I'll Dance". Melba really didn't start to get heavy radio play and scoring major hits until the 80's when she moved to Capital Records.

kitbradley said:

Yeah,the 80s is really when she began to get alot of attention and airplay.