How there haven't been remasters of their first three albums is beyond me. Probably some Pebbles bullshit (probably not).

From wikipedia:

FanMail is the third studio album by American girl group TLC. It was released on February 23, 1999, by LaFace Records and Arista Records. The title of the album is a tribute to their fans who sent them fan mail during their hiatus. FanMail debuted at number one on the US Billboard 200, selling approximately 318,000 copies in its first week of release, and spent five weeks at number one.

The album received eight nominations at the 42nd Annual Grammy Awards, including one for Album of the Year, and won three. As of 2000, the album has been certified six-times platinum by the Recording Industry Associ...of America (RIAA), and has sold over 10 million copies worldwide. FanMail is TLC's second best-selling album after 1994's CrazySexyCool. To promote the album, TLC embarked on their first concert tour, the FanMail Tour.

Last video: Someone edited the movie version and actual version of "No Scrubs"

A few album notes:

• "I'm Good at Being Bad" contains elements from "Slippin' Into Darkness" by War.
• On initial pressings of the album, "Whispering Playa – Interlude" featured a sample of "Cold Blooded" by Rick James playing in the background.^[16] The sample was removed on subsequent editions, likely due to copyright reasons, with the background music being a clip of another TLC song, "U in Me", instead.^[17]
• The song "I'm Good at Being Bad" originally featured interpolated lyrics from Donna Summer's "Love to Love You Baby", but the interpolated lyrics were later removed on later pressings of the explicit version. They were never removed from the clean version of the album.

Just a note for those that don't know:

When TLC heard "What About" from Janet's The Velvet Rope album, with its angry chorus vs. its soft-spoken verses, they wanted a song like that. They knew the power of it. Jam & Lewis worked on "I'm Good At Being Bad" and gave them that same flavor for Fanmail. It's the only Flyte Tyme produced song on the record. It's a standout track to me.

Also, the Japanese version had a bonus track "U in Me". Also, "I Need That":

• Released online by TLC on MP3.com to promote the FanMail Tour. Produced by Rico Lumpkins for PWPX, LLC. Written by R. Lumpkins, L. Lopes, and S. Chunn. Left Eye's rap was later expanded and rerecorded on the track "Gimme Some" from Toni Braxton's album The Heat as well as being completely reused and shortened on the track "Whoop De Woo" from the compilation Now and Forever: The Hits, originally intended for the group's fourth album 3D.

Love this album!!! Happy anniversary

TrivialPursuit said:

I definitely have an initial pressing. Having a harder time believing this is 20 years old compared to anything else before this era.

Cinny said:

I definitely have an initial pressing. Having a harder time believing this is 20 years old compared to anything else before this era.

I do, too. I'll never get rid of it. Same with the original pressing of MJ's BAD.

Terrible album.

This is the very definition of "phoning it in."

I have NEVER understood what ANYBODY could possibly be attracted to in "Fanmail" unless maybe you were a 13 year old girl who simply didn't know any better and was seduced by the imagery and the concept of "FanMail" and was too young to have any understanding of what real hip-hop was or should be - or real music period for that matter - and how totally lacking "FanMail" was in that regard.

At the same time that "Fan Mail" was released, we were subjected to a cascade of deeply disturbing un-American cultural motions, quackery, and outright fakery/forgery such as the rise of Britney Spears, the rise of Jennifer Lopez as some sort of musical icon that people were supposed to rally around and give a fuck about, and the rise of culture-defying dreck like boy bands. If you think the boy bands are cute or whatever, I get that on some level maybe, I know teenage girls have to have someone's picture to put up on their walls and that sort of thing, but Jesus, America has NEVER recovered from what 1999 (the year not the LP) did to it culturally and musically. I don't believe that "FanMail" can be viewed outside of this complete nosedive in American culture for it is the very epitome of the sharp veering toward image not IN SERVICE of substance but rather image in the PLACE of substance that began taking fervent hold over American culture at this time.

Given what TLC had shown they were capable of on "CrazySexyCool" I am incredulous anyone could be ANYTHING other than EXTREMELY DISAPPOINTED if not OUTRIGHT ANGRY in "FanMail."

"No Scrubs??" It is a complete fabrication - a totally cynical calculated attempt at rah-rah girl power anthemic bullshit from very talented girls who had no need whatsoever to lower themselves into this particular gutter to make a point. Is someone going to argue that "the funk" was not DELIBERATELY left off of "No Scrubs" in order to appeal more broadly to market segements to whom "the funk" is foreign (i.e. more whites) because I sure am. That song is DEEPLY UNFUNKY as is "Unpretty" another total jettisoning of music in favor of calculation and image. Someone is excited about these shit songs from the people who did "Creep" "Switch" and "Waterfalls"? How could this be POSSIBLE??

Back in the day, "FanMail" would simply have been viewed as TLC "falling the fuck off" and it wouldn't have been viewed as a particularly bad thing as falling off generally happened to pretty much everyone sooner or later. But no, we are supposed to uphold this childish idea that "Fan Mail" not only MET the standard set by the first two TLC LPs, but arguably was so good that it EXCEEDED it.

GET THE FUCK OUT OF HERE WITH THAT SHIT.

When Lisa died, I was astounded she was being referred to - IN DEATH! - as the "Fan Mail" singer/rapper.

Like I'd want my most embarrassing/hack professional output to be what I was associated with in death.

OK, done.

[Edited 2/23/19 16:31pm]

[Edited 2/23/19 16:32pm]

hardwork said:

Terrible album.

This is the very definition of "phoning it in."

I have NEVER understood what ANYBODY could possibly be attracted to in "Fanmail" unless maybe you were a 13 year old girl who simply didn't know any better and was seduced by the imagery and the concept of "FanMail" and was too young to have any understanding of what real hip-hop was or should be - or real music period for that matter - and how totally lacking "FanMail" was in that regard.

At the same time that "Fan Mail" was released, we were subjected to a cascade of deeply disturbing un-American cultural motions, quackery, and outright fakery/forgery such as the rise of Britney Spears, the rise of Jennifer Lopez as some sort of musical icon that people were supposed to rally around and give a fuck about, and the rise of culture-defying dreck like boy bands. If you think the boy bands are cute or whatever, I get that on some level maybe, I know teenage girls have to have someone's picture to put up on their walls and that sort of thing, but Jesus, America has NEVER recovered from what 1999 (the year not the LP) did to it culturally and musically. I don't believe that "FanMail" can be viewed outside of this complete nosedive in American culture for it is the very epitome of the sharp veering toward image not IN SERVICE of substance but rather image in the PLACE of substance that began taking fervent hold over American culture at this time.

Given what TLC had shown they were capable of on "CrazySexyCool" I am incredulous anyone could be ANYTHING other than EXTREMELY DISAPPOINTED if not OUTRIGHT ANGRY in "FanMail."

"No Scrubs??" It is a complete fabrication - a totally cynical calculated attempt at rah-rah girl power anthemic bullshit from very talented girls who had no need whatsoever to lower themselves into this particular gutter to make a point. Is someone going to argue that "the funk" was not DELIBERATELY left off of "No Scrubs" in order to appeal more broadly to market segements to whom "the funk" is foreign (i.e. more whites) because I sure am. That song is DEEPLY UNFUNKY as is "Unpretty" another total jettisoning of music in favor of calculation and image. Someone is excited about these shit songs from the people who did "Creep" "Switch" and "Waterfalls"? How could this be POSSIBLE??

Back in the day, "FanMail" would simply have been viewed as TLC "falling the fuck off" and it wouldn't have been viewed as a particularly bad thing as falling off generally happened to pretty much everyone sooner or later. But no, we are supposed to uphold this childish idea that "Fan Mail" not only MET the standard set by the first two TLC LPs, but arguably was so good that it EXCEEDED it.

GET THE FUCK OUT OF HERE WITH THAT SHIT.

When Lisa died, I was astounded she was being referred to - IN DEATH! - as the "Fan Mail" singer/rapper.

Like I'd want my most embarrassing/hack professional output to be what I was associated with in death.

OK, done.

[Edited 2/23/19 16:31pm]

[Edited 2/23/19 16:32pm]

So you don't like the album?!

They still sang "I'm Good at Being Bad" with the Donna Summer luvtoluvyababy on the tour. I always thought it was a clean version exclusive.

I'm never going to listen to it again due to overexposure, but it sure was a great pop album to listen to those first couple years.

I Miss You So Much, My Life, and Shout would've been great singles and the album could have gone diamond.

hardwork said:

Terrible album.

This is the very definition of "phoning it in."

[length cut]

I really think you're not reading the room on this one. Granted, we all have our taste in music, and I respect that. But I'm just going to counter with a couple of notes before I go to bed here.

I'd disagree with phoning it in. It was five years between CrazySexyCool and Fanmail. Despite their legal battles, they still worked on music, a lot. They worked some mostly the same folks (minus Puffy, but Jam & Harris was an upgrade). I'll tell you why it wasn't phoned in. Their first three albums all were moments the reflected what was going on in music and TLC made it their own. Oooooooh On The TLC Tip was more hip-hop influenced, which was a time where hip-hop and rap artists were rising to new heights and were mainstreaming their sound more than ever before. Hip-hop was changing from calling out sucka MCs to really finding a new way of delivering lines. TLC's album tapped into those nuances in production and you can hear it.

Now with CrazySexyCool, this was the time where you had LL Cool J and Arrested Development on unplugged as much as you had Nirvana or Alice in Chains. Artists were approaching the way they recorded music different. CSC had that thing that Arrested Development did, blending an organic edge to R&B music, which was sorta rare with everyone hovered over a drum machine. When you hear stuff like "Red Light Special" or "Diggin' On You", that was the sound of the moment. They read the room and nailed it with an elevated version of what was on radio. They tapped into something really special there.

With Fanmail, they read the room correctly again. I was listening to the album today and realize the heavier beats, the chirpy sounds in production, the vocalized "Hoo hoo" was forward thinking ("Silly Ho"). Love 'em or hate 'em, Nsync and Backstreet were huge at that time, in 1999. "Shout" and "If They Knew" sounds like something from Nsync's No Strings Attached. "Come On Down" sounds like a Backstreet Boys production. "Automatic" is a Brandy or Monica take. If you listen to the original mix of Aguilera's "What A Girl Wants" (which is hard to find but based heavily with acoustic guitar sounds rather than the pop-heavy radio remix), that's where "No Scrubs" and "Unpretty" picks up the slack. That doesn't mean Fanmail sounds like a mish-mosh of other people. It means they, again, tapped into new sounds that others were picking up later on and calling new. That album created trends in music that lasted another five years. "I Miss You So Much" would have been inferior had a group like Blaque or Xscape tried to sing it. "Don't Pull Out On Me Yet" could easily find a home on CrazySexyCool (and frankly is a more upbeat "Red Light Special").

Each of those three albums is as different as the previous or next. They spoke to the time they were made yet remain classic sounding, not dated.

Hudson said:

They still sang "I'm Good at Being Bad" with the Donna Summer luvtoluvyababy on the tour. I always thought it was a clean version exclusive.

It's funny you sorta discovered all that in the reverse. I'm so glad I have the original pressing (which probably isn't too hard to find in a used record store). I listened to it on Spotify today and was like "Oh hell no", and pulled out my CD.

getxxxx said:

https://www.billboard.com...jmDy5p7FF4

Some interesting notes from that:

About "Shout":

Austin: It was fun doing "Shout." The remixed version [which was never officially released] had Enrique Iglesias and Sheila E. on it. I was trying to have a little Latin feel to it -- because it was really kicking in at the time -- while still keeping it futuristic.

"Lovesick":

Austin: That was me diving back into the Prince element for them. He actually had a song called "Automatic" [from his 1982 album 1999], so I wanted to maintain that Minneapolis sound a little bit. We did that one second because it was connected to "Lovesick."

"Don't Pull Out On Me Yet":

Chilli: This one has a little bit of a Prince vibe. It's funny how during that era, almost every song you recorded got on the album. You have the ones that are some really good album cuts, and then some are just okay. [Laughs.] You can tell because those are the ones that's usually like number 10, 11 or 12 [on the tracklist].

"I Miss You So Much":

Chilli: We were at the end of recording the album and I was sick. I had like a sinus infection and was on all these steroids trying to get my voice back all the way. And I asked Babyface, "Can we do [this song] next weekend?" But we had this deadline to finish the album. And so I was just like nasal spraying it up. It was crazy. I wanted to redo it because I sounded stuffy. But he thought it sounded good and was going to work out well. I just loved being in the studio with him because he helps to bring out things in you that you didn't even know you had.


___________

I remember Toni Braxton, or Babyface, telling the same story about Babyface working on Toni's first solo album. It may have been "Another Sad Love Song" where Toni had a cold and a stuffed nose. Babyface loved the tone it gave her and she sang the song that way and it's on the record. (It would have made an even better story to sing "Breathe" with a stuffed up nose.)

hardwork said:

Terrible album.

This is the very definition of "phoning it in."

I have NEVER understood what ANYBODY could possibly be attracted to in "Fanmail" unless maybe you were a 13 year old girl who simply didn't know any better and was seduced by the imagery and the concept of "FanMail" and was too young to have any understanding of what real hip-hop was or should be - or real music period for that matter - and how totally lacking "FanMail" was in that regard.

At the same time that "Fan Mail" was released, we were subjected to a cascade of deeply disturbing un-American cultural motions, quackery, and outright fakery/forgery such as the rise of Britney Spears, the rise of Jennifer Lopez as some sort of musical icon that people were supposed to rally around and give a fuck about, and the rise of culture-defying dreck like boy bands. If you think the boy bands are cute or whatever, I get that on some level maybe, I know teenage girls have to have someone's picture to put up on their walls and that sort of thing, but Jesus, America has NEVER recovered from what 1999 (the year not the LP) did to it culturally and musically. I don't believe that "FanMail" can be viewed outside of this complete nosedive in American culture for it is the very epitome of the sharp veering toward image not IN SERVICE of substance but rather image in the PLACE of substance that began taking fervent hold over American culture at this time.

Given what TLC had shown they were capable of on "CrazySexyCool" I am incredulous anyone could be ANYTHING other than EXTREMELY DISAPPOINTED if not OUTRIGHT ANGRY in "FanMail."

"No Scrubs??" It is a complete fabrication - a totally cynical calculated attempt at rah-rah girl power anthemic bullshit from very talented girls who had no need whatsoever to lower themselves into this particular gutter to make a point. Is someone going to argue that "the funk" was not DELIBERATELY left off of "No Scrubs" in order to appeal more broadly to market segements to whom "the funk" is foreign (i.e. more whites) because I sure am. That song is DEEPLY UNFUNKY as is "Unpretty" another total jettisoning of music in favor of calculation and image. Someone is excited about these shit songs from the people who did "Creep" "Switch" and "Waterfalls"? How could this be POSSIBLE??

Back in the day, "FanMail" would simply have been viewed as TLC "falling the fuck off" and it wouldn't have been viewed as a particularly bad thing as falling off generally happened to pretty much everyone sooner or later. But no, we are supposed to uphold this childish idea that "Fan Mail" not only MET the standard set by the first two TLC LPs, but arguably was so good that it EXCEEDED it.

GET THE FUCK OUT OF HERE WITH THAT SHIT.

When Lisa died, I was astounded she was being referred to - IN DEATH! - as the "Fan Mail" singer/rapper.

Like I'd want my most embarrassing/hack professional output to be what I was associated with in death.

OK, done.

[Edited 2/23/19 16:31pm]

[Edited 2/23/19 16:32pm]

Why do people pretend like the 'sharp veering towards image" in 1999 was something random?

*

*

TRL was the center of the music industry in 1999. TRL was a program that features popular music videos and "played the ten most requested music videos of the day."

*

*

If anything MTV, who did this in the 1980s, is responsible for the veering towards image from 1999 onwards.

*

*

But I also like how people like leaving out Justin Timberlake out of the 'boybands" and "girl pop" as if he made a "seamless transition."

*

*

He didn't make a transition to anything. Britney Spears created the boys solo career. And Janet Jackson's superbowl made his 'transition' to adult star.

*

*

He should have been another Nick Carer if it wasn't for these two specific events. He wasn't destined for anything.

Have been on a TLC kick as of late, so I'll chime in 4 no reason... Was the hugest TLC fan back in the day, traded in my Queen Latifah tape 4 CrazySexyCool when u could still do that . Was obsessed w/ Lefteye .

Put me in the pile that says they fell off w/ FanMail. Unpretty is nice, I like that 1, geniune sentiment. Was never crazy 4 No Scrubs (maybe it hit 2 close 2 home ). Bought FanMail anyways n listened 2 it maybe twice. Sampled a few tracks from it recently: Dear Life lost me w/ the 1st line ("Dear Life, u suck..." ), Don't Pull Out sounded intriguing 2 my virgin ears, but nah, couldn't get thru a few seconds.

By the time the album after that came out, Lisa had died n didn't like Girl Talk n didn't think it was worth copping, if even 4 her few parts . On a positive note, their semi recent Meant To Be is pretty . I wish them the best, the memories .

Was also a big tlc fan and loved left eye.

alphastreet said:

Love this album!!! Happy anniversary

TLC - Fav live tv performance of No Scrubs on Jay Leno (1999)

[Edited 2/24/19 22:54pm]

hardwork said:

Terrible album.

This is the very definition of "phoning it in."

I have NEVER understood what ANYBODY could possibly be attracted to in "Fanmail" unless maybe you were a 13 year old girl who simply didn't know any better and was seduced by the imagery and the concept of "FanMail" and was too young to have any understanding of what real hip-hop was or should be - or real music period for that matter - and how totally lacking "FanMail" was in that regard.

At the same time that "Fan Mail" was released, we were subjected to a cascade of deeply disturbing un-American cultural motions, quackery, and outright fakery/forgery such as the rise of Britney Spears, the rise of Jennifer Lopez as some sort of musical icon that people were supposed to rally around and give a fuck about, and the rise of culture-defying dreck like boy bands. If you think the boy bands are cute or whatever, I get that on some level maybe, I know teenage girls have to have someone's picture to put up on their walls and that sort of thing, but Jesus, America has NEVER recovered from what 1999 (the year not the LP) did to it culturally and musically. I don't believe that "FanMail" can be viewed outside of this complete nosedive in American culture for it is the very epitome of the sharp veering toward image not IN SERVICE of substance but rather image in the PLACE of substance that began taking fervent hold over American culture at this time.

Given what TLC had shown they were capable of on "CrazySexyCool" I am incredulous anyone could be ANYTHING other than EXTREMELY DISAPPOINTED if not OUTRIGHT ANGRY in "FanMail."

"No Scrubs??" It is a complete fabrication - a totally cynical calculated attempt at rah-rah girl power anthemic bullshit from very talented girls who had no need whatsoever to lower themselves into this particular gutter to make a point. Is someone going to argue that "the funk" was not DELIBERATELY left off of "No Scrubs" in order to appeal more broadly to market segements to whom "the funk" is foreign (i.e. more whites) because I sure am. That song is DEEPLY UNFUNKY as is "Unpretty" another total jettisoning of music in favor of calculation and image. Someone is excited about these shit songs from the people who did "Creep" "Switch" and "Waterfalls"? How could this be POSSIBLE??

Back in the day, "FanMail" would simply have been viewed as TLC "falling the fuck off" and it wouldn't have been viewed as a particularly bad thing as falling off generally happened to pretty much everyone sooner or later. But no, we are supposed to uphold this childish idea that "Fan Mail" not only MET the standard set by the first two TLC LPs, but arguably was so good that it EXCEEDED it.

GET THE FUCK OUT OF HERE WITH THAT SHIT.

When Lisa died, I was astounded she was being referred to - IN DEATH! - as the "Fan Mail" singer/rapper.

Like I'd want my most embarrassing/hack professional output to be what I was associated with in death.

OK, done.

[Edited 2/23/19 16:31pm]

[Edited 2/23/19 16:32pm]

Damn you harsher on this album than I was.

I agree with you on No Scrubs. I'll pass on that one anytime.

I immediately dug Silly Ho when I first heard it but the gem on the album

for me even before being released as a single was Unpretty. Definitely different for

them and Dallas Austin. Other notable tracks the title track Fanmail, Automatic, and Lovesick.

But yeah parts of this album was definitely a snoozefest for me.

Say what you want about boy bands and the rise of Britney Spears (Max Martin); we all remember!

The thing is TLC still had the very same collaborators as the first two albums, Dallas Austin, Jermaine Dupri, Babyface (plus She'kspere & Flyte Tyme). They did not go after the industry sound.

Some of the songs, such as "Dear Lie" and the enduring classic "Unpretty", were derived from T-Boz's personal book of poetry.

Some songs, like "Shout" were admittedly NOT FAVORITES even by T-Boz, and the album definitely had its challenges. The Apple Computer raps on "Silly Ho" were in place of Left Eye's absence.

hardwork said:

Terrible album.

This is the very definition of "phoning it in."

mnbvc said:

Why do people pretend like the 'sharp veering towards image" in 1999 was something random?

*

*

TRL was the center of the music industry in 1999. TRL was a program that features popular music videos and "played the ten most requested music videos of the day."

*

*

If anything MTV, who did this in the 1980s, is responsible for the veering towards image from 1999 onwards.

You guys are correct but FanMail came out in FEBRUARY 1999, and they recorded it as early as 1997 when the only pop on the horizon was UK's Spice Girls. This album doesn't sound or play like competition against the 1999 rise of bile pop.