1. Any album from Skyy.

The best analogy that I can think of is that were very precise fine craftsmen.

They were at least as good Shalamar but did not get the international acclaim or sales.

2. Either of the Bobby Nunn LPs.

3. The 1984 and 1985 LPs from Roy Ayers.

A few examples of his teams for these LPs: James Mtume from Mtume,

a Grover Washington Jr. on a least one cut,

Branford Marsalis on at least another cut,

Stanley Clarke and plenty of other studs and studettes.

Beats the heck out of a lot of the snarky crap that is outright in the industry today.

yeah,it had that hit song with Shanice "This Time",but the album as a whole was overlooked."The Best Of Me" and "Quiet Guy" are excellent slow jams that deserved alot of attention and airplay.

TeeeeHaaaaHoooo said:

SoulAlive said:

I don't know what happened with that album,but I know that,in late 1978,she released a very good album that contains the hits "You Stepped Into My Life" (a Bee Gees cover) and my favorite "Pick Me Up,I'll Dance".From what I understand,the Burn album featured a slightly different sound...wasn't it kind of rock-ish? That could be why it wasn't as successful as the previous album.

'Burn' was a Hard Rock-Disco affair produced by Pete Bellotte without his usual sidekick Giorgio Mododer. Think side two of Donna Summer's 'Bad Girls'.

I had never heard the "Burn" album until it was recently released on CD and I was surprised at how Rock/Disco oriented it was. Not really one of my favorite albums by Melba but it definately saw her being very eclectic with her music. Totally different from anything prior to that. I'm glad her move to Capitol a few years later paired her with producers who were finally able to help her define a more distinctive sound.

SoulAlive said:

yeah,it had that hit song with Shanice "This Time",but the album as a whole was overlooked."The Best Of Me" and "Quiet Guy" are excellent slow jams that deserved alot of attention and airplay.

I have this on CD and I have to admit that, outside of "This Time", I've never listened to anything else on this CD.

This whole CD is great. These guys were tight late 80's remember them?

kitbradley said:

TeeeeHaaaaHoooo said:

SoulAlive said:

I don't know what happened with that album,but I know that,in late 1978,she released a very good album that contains the hits "You Stepped Into My Life" (a Bee Gees cover) and my favorite "Pick Me Up,I'll Dance".From what I understand,the Burn album featured a slightly different sound...wasn't it kind of rock-ish? That could be why it wasn't as successful as the previous album.

'Burn' was a Hard Rock-Disco affair produced by Pete Bellotte without his usual sidekick Giorgio Mododer. Think side two of Donna Summer's 'Bad Girls'.

Yes! But quite honestly, "Hot Stuff" rocked WAY HARDER than anything on "Burn." The only Rockish thing on "Burn" is the title cut, but it's soft compared to "Hot Stuff."

SoulAlive said:

whitechocolatebrotha said:

"Call On Me"

Evelyn "Champagne" King, 1980 RCA Records

It was clear that,after "Shame",Evelyn's record company didn't know what to do with her.They were confused about how they should market/promote her.I'm sure you know the whole story about the Sweet Delight/Call On Me saga.They finally got it right in 1981 when they paired her up with producer Kashif.It was smooth sailing about that,at least for a few years.

Hells, yeah, it was! She might have gotten with Jam & Lewis over Cymone, but she tanked again after "Get Loose" with Kashif. It was as if her ears were tellin' her all kinds of dif'fent things and she didn't know which things would best suit her vocals/style.

SoulAlive said:

whitechocolatebrotha said:

Y'know, Soul...that's always a possibility. Back then, you couldn't be Caucasian and be an R&B singer. It perplexed the Industry. The "wild and peaceful" thing 'bout Lady Tee was that she ALWAYS stuck 2 her guns and did the music SHE wanted 2 do and NOT what "they" told her 2 do. It's like she always said, "It's not the color of your skin that matters, but the song that's in your soul that matters." - or sumpthin' 2 that effect. "Robbery" was a flop all around, but 2 me, it's always been a classic and one of my fav'rite "life" albums.

It's one of my favorite Teena albums,too and even though it flopped on the charts,the three singles ("Fix It","Midnight Magnet" and "Stop The World") were popular and got alot of airplay in my area.It's an album that her hardcore fans enjoyed.It just didn't have a huge single (like "Square Biz").Interestingly,there was actually a music video for the title track.I thought this was odd,since there didn't appear to be any videos for the three 'official' singles.That may be another reason why this album didn't become the hit it deserved to be: lack of music videos.

I think I saw the video for "Robbery!" LOL! Weird! They shoulda put out a video for "Midnight Magnet," where it has that Jimmy Jam/Terry Lewis-ish "Encore" kinda sound about it. Can u imagine if Teena got with Flyte Tyme?! WHHOOOOOOOOO! SERIOUS FUNKIN'!!!!

DJK said:

1. Any album from Skyy.

The best analogy that I can think of is that were very precise fine craftsmen.

They were at least as good Shalamar but did not get the international acclaim or sales.

2. Either of the Bobby Nunn LPs.

3. The 1984 and 1985 LPs from Roy Ayers.

A few examples of his teams for these LPs: James Mtume from Mtume,

a Grover Washington Jr. on a least one cut,

Branford Marsalis on at least another cut,

Stanley Clarke and plenty of other studs and studettes.

Beats the heck out of a lot of the snarky crap that is outright in the industry today.

You KNOW that's rite! Skyy! Of COURSE!!! Funkytowngrooves remastered those two Roy Ayers CD's which are saLAMMIN' btw and Bobby Nunn...DAMN! Brothaman was SOOOO TIGHT!!!!

kitbradley said:

TeeeeHaaaaHoooo said:

'Burn' was a Hard Rock-Disco affair produced by Pete Bellotte without his usual sidekick Giorgio Mododer. Think side two of Donna Summer's 'Bad Girls'.

I had never heard the "Burn" album until it was recently released on CD and I was surprised at how Rock/Disco oriented it was. Not really one of my favorite albums by Melba but it definately saw her being very eclectic with her music. Totally different from anything prior to that. I'm glad her move to Capitol a few years later paired her with producers who were finally able to help her define a more distinctive sound.

I really dug "Burn," Kit, but you're right...Capitol defined her sound which would prove to be her most commercially successful period (the 80's.) If I could compare anything from her 80's repertoire with "Burn," it would have 2b her "Read My Lips" album from '85. Same Rockish-Dance kinda vibes.

SoulAlive said:

yeah,it had that hit song with Shanice "This Time",but the album as a whole was overlooked."The Best Of Me" and "Quiet Guy" are excellent slow jams that deserved alot of attention and airplay.

Huh. Never heard of these brothas, but will give 'em a sniff, Soul! Thanks!

Bloodstone - We Go A Long Way Back (1982)

whitechocolatebrotha said:

SoulAlive said:

yeah,it had that hit song with Shanice "This Time",but the album as a whole was overlooked."The Best Of Me" and "Quiet Guy" are excellent slow jams that deserved alot of attention and airplay.

Huh. Never heard of these brothas, but will give 'em a sniff, Soul! Thanks!

Never heard of them? I'm sure you remember their single "This Time" with Shanice.In 1988,it reached Number Two on the R&B charts (New Edition's "Can You Stand The Rain" kept it out of the top spot).