On May 3rd, 1988, Al B. Sure! released his smash hit album, "In Effect Mode". This album featured hits like, Off On Your Own (Girl), Rescue Me and (of course) Night & Day. 30 years and its still remains Al's best known album.

If Teddy Riley is the King of New Jack Swing, Al B. was it's Prince.

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"Nite and Day" was on repeat for awhile after first hearing it. The bass in "Ooh This Love Is So" was mesmerizing in a car with 12"-15" woofers back in 1988

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"Naturally Mine" was cool too. I eventually revisited this and "Ooh..." a lot.

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His son looks just like him btw.

[Edited 4/6/18 13:08pm]

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Maybe they've finally built a relationship. Good for them.

I still have the original CD I bought when that album came out in mint condition.

I rock this album

Naturally Mine is my favorite song on In Effect Mode.......that was a great summer

Back in 1988,I had the cassette.I really like the song "Off On Your Own (Girl)" and a few others.

SoulAlive said:

Back in 1988,I had the cassette.I really like the song "Off On Your Own (Girl)" and a few others.

that was definitely the jam......that was a great summer that year......alloooooottt of great music and new artists on the horizon..

Scorp said:

SoulAlive said:

Back in 1988,I had the cassette.I really like the song "Off On Your Own (Girl)" and a few others.

that was definitely the jam......that was a great summer that year......alloooooottt of great music and new artists on the horizon..

This album and Keith Sweat's Make It Last Forever were essential albums back then.

SoulAlive said:

Scorp said:

that was definitely the jam......that was a great summer that year......alloooooottt of great music and new artists on the horizon..

This album and Keith Sweat's Make It Last Forever were essential albums back then.

absolutely

I had to think of this album while I was listening to Meshell Ndegocello´s version of Nite and Day the other day.

Back then I never really understood why people mocked him so much (and some still do). Maybe he wasn´t the greatest singer but I always liked his voice and the music and his lyrics.

Really good album !

KoolEaze said:

I had to think of this album while I was listening to Meshell Ndegocello´s version of Nite and Day the other day.

Back then I never really understood why people mocked him so much (and some still do). Maybe he wasn´t the greatest singer but I always liked his voice and the music and his lyrics.

Really good album !

Why? Dude couldnt sing a lick in person.

Graycap23 said:

SoulAlive said:

Graycap23 said:

Why? Dude couldnt sing a lick in person.

Yeah,that’s what a lot of people were saying back then: he sounds good on the record,but he sucks in concert.

Oh, now I understand. Because I only know about how he sounds on the record, never seen any live footage.

ReddBlitz said:

'88 was just a bomb ass year in R&B alone!! In Effect Mode was beast mode from start to finish. The New Jack Swing era, especially in its early stages, totally dominated. Aside from Teddy Riley, Kyle West was killer too!! Awwwww, the memories!!!

ReddBlitz said:

'88 was just a bomb ass year in R&B alone!! In Effect Mode was beast mode from start to finish. The New Jack Swing era, especially in its early stages, totally dominated. Aside from Teddy Riley, Kyle West was killer too!! Awwwww, the memories!!!

Oh yes!! I was jamming to this whole album a couple of weeks ago, still sounds good. So hard to believe it has been 30 years, wow, takes me back to high school!

Happy 30th to "In Effect Mode"!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

I love New Jack Swing!

Happy 30th: Al B. Sure!, IN EFFECT MODE

30 years ago today, Albert Joseph Brown III – better known to his fans as Al B. Sure! – released his debut album, an LP which took him to the top of the Billboard R&B Albums chart and resulted in more than a little bit of swooning.

Before kicking off his music career, Al B. Sure! – and for the sake of simplicity, we’re henceforth just going to make like the Paul Simon song and call him Al – was actually a star quarterback at Mount Vernon High School in New York, but after graduation, he opted to eschew athletics in favor of studying music. That he did this despite having an athletic scholarship to the University of Iowa should give you an idea of how serious he was about pursuing his artistic side, but it paid off: in 1987, he entered the Sony Innovators Talent Search and was selected as the winner by none other than Quincy Jones. By the following year, he’d released his aforementioned debut album.

Produced variously by Al Teddy Riley, and Al’s cousin, Kyle West, IN EFFECT MODE found Al setting aside his original plan to dive headlong into a rapping career because he was so taken with the R&B music that West was making at the time. The only problem: Al had to shift gears, which resulted in a slight delay for him to straighten out the learning curve. It’s fair to say that he got on track pretty quickly, though, since the first song he recorded for the album was “Nite and Day,” which became a #1 hit on the R&B Singles chart as well as a #7 hit on the Hot 100.

IN EFFECT MODE would score no more top-40 hits on the pop chart, but it did deliver a second #1 R&B hit with “Off on Your Own (Girl),” as well as the #2 hit “If I’m Not Your Lover” and the #3 ht “Rescue Me.” Additionally, his cover of “Killing Me Softly” climbed to #14, so it’s fair to say that Al B. Sure! was a superstar straight out of the gate

SoulAlive said:

Scorp said:

that was definitely the jam......that was a great summer that year......alloooooottt of great music and new artists on the horizon..

This album and Keith Sweat's Make It Last Forever were essential albums back then.

...and Guy's debut LP. I wore that shit out during the summer of '88.