Electro R&B/1984-1986 S/D

About a billion other things.

You're off to a great start.

Actually... you should just come over.

AWESOME album. good choice.

http://ec2.images-amazon.com/images/P/B000001EU7.01._SS500_SCLZZZZZZZ_V1115362965_.jpg

Mine:

Alexander O'Neal - "Innocent"
anything on Jody Watley's s/t debut.
The S.O.S. Band - "Just Be Good To Me"

http://www.danceclassic.com/

Time for Andy to revive his CDR series.

(a little out of the timeframe)

The Rene & Angela albums are great. You can now get Wall to Wall on CD, but that's a little earlier than this era (and released in France, I think, though the same series that reissued Howard Johnson's first album). I don't THINK Rise has been on CD yet.

The Fonzi Thornton album has Bernard and Nile PLUS Kashif -- he's another one at the top of the class (Johnson, Evelyn King, Change).

Jam & Lewis don't get enough credit for the slower/moodier ones -- Cherrelle's "When You Look in My Eyes" especially.

Let the music play by Shannon is more or less the perfect electro record, sweet and hard. There's a great Arthur Baker comp which features Planet Rock, Walking on Sunshine and a slew of other classics.

Slightly tangential to the ones listed above would be Madonna's first album, Build me a bridge by Adele Bertei, which segues into some of the Thomas Dolby side projects esp Whodini's Magic Wand and then some of the early Art of Noise/Trevor Horn remixes esp the remix of Leave It by Yes.

I believe mark s favorite LEVEL 42 certainly qualifies in the non-ballad category for "Something About You."

would this include kashif and evelyn king?
yes and yes.

i think the dates should be a little more fluid. 81 is probably the best year for this stuff. this has probably been the majority of my purchases in the past year or two. i will add a lot more to this thread this evening when i get around my records.

some other names to check out (some pretty obvious):
Marvin Gaye's "Sexual Healing" (all time fave album)
Lenny White & Twennynine
Don Blackman
Cameo
Midnight Star
Bernard Wright's 'Nard album is prolly better than Mr. Wright. Funky Beat's pretty good too.
Keni Burke
Sexual Harrassment
S.O.S. Band "The Finest"
D-Train (not the biggest fan)
Breakwater (also don't love except the daft punk sampled track "Release the Beast")
T-Connection
Mandre
Freeez (more on the blue eyed tip, but great nonetheless)
Mazarati (jesse johnson of The Time produced - also check out his solo stuff)
Zapp
Howard Johnson - "so fine" (produced by kashif)

Were there any post-electro Mandre albums?

Breakwater (also don't love except the daft punk sampled track "Release the Beast")

If only they had done "Release the Bats."

I definitely like 'Nard the most of the Bernard Wright albums but it doesn't have anything as great as "Who Do You Love."

Axion jaxon, is it the belting?

andy, it probably is the gosply belting that keeps me from buying the d-train record. i've seen it a few times for 5-10$ and i keep passing it by.

Dayton's admittedly more boogie than anything else.

I don't know any D-Train after Music. The albums are really patchy, from what I recall. I've been meaning to check the one from 1987, though -- Expansion just reissued it. Can't be too bad since Hubert Eaves was still around.

"Restless" - Starpoint
"The Medicine Song" - Stephanie Mills
"Beat The Street" - Sharon Redd

Walter "Cockroach" Bradley - Back to Mine is back up. The others on the blog will be up within a couple hours.

Are Club Nouveau's "Why You Treat Me So Bad" and Timex Social Club's "Rumors" the only truly creepy/eerie singles from this era? I can't think of any others at the moment.

Nu Shooz - "I Can't Wait"

Might as well add "Point of No Return."

The Gwen Guthrie/Compass Point All-Stars Padlock EP should be included. Again, more boogie than electro, but worth mentioning.

Okay, this IS more like a thread titled Electronics-Enhanced R&B 1980-1989.

otm! the whole album is great. both those tracks are on the Restless album.

don't stop...don't stop the MUZ-IK...

1981: "I Hear Music In The Streets"

(the new improved search function takes my breath away! awesome!)

52nd Street - Can't Afford
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oM9ol7oXwkQ

Gwen Guthrie - Outside in the Rain
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2YUPgWv5kiU

SOS Band - Just the Way You Like It
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fmV5ZQECDQI

Surface - Happy
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=h9MXWti6gnY

Chaka Khan - Love of a Lifetime
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CmktjwjfF8o

Nu Shooz - I Can't Wait
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6SFCC36W7qs

Loose Ends - Hangin' on a String (Contemplating)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QzJD3KHaVjY

Loose Ends - Nights of Pleasure
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PLZeLcZqgS0

Rene & Angela - I'll Be Good
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sFXx6uU5wRE

Cherrelle - I Didn't Mean to Turn You On
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mjVAD9j7KHU

Cherrelle & Alexander O'Neal - Saturday Love
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-HadjjimwfU
(About five girls I knew had Cherrelle-circa-this hair. Of course I had a crush on all of them.)

Yarbrough & Peoples - Don't Stop the Music
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vlvAwPkTpNE

I have a ton of these tracks, which I would start to list if I wasn't going away on vacation...tonight. I did succumb to buying a "Rare Boogie tracks from Canada" comp from Dusty Groove recently. There's another Canadien bootleg called "Disco Strut" that's on vinyl/double cd, but has muddy sound quality. The 12" single for Rene & Angela's "I Love You More" (with the Krivit instrumental) is one of my all time faves. And surely anything Leroy Burgess related (Logg, Convertion, Dazzle, etc) is completely essential. Check out the Soul Brother comps, as well as the two "Groove On Down" compilations.

There's somewhat of a crate digging revival of this in France, with a whole series of comps coming out (four volumes apiece for "Masterpiece," "Boogie Times", and "Nighttime Lovers") which are very hit/miss and sometimes all together awful. If you can find any of the 18 or so volumes of earlier French compilation series "The Funky Collector" definitely check them out.

http://ec1.images-amazon.com/images/P/B000CMNHKQ.01._SS500_SCLZZZZZZZ_V1139848173_.jpg

Alfred, very good look on this!!

You still gotta hit the play button after it loads, or it plays whatever's on Viva at the time. Actually seems like he's not keeping it strictly boogie on those playlists, but he does include a lot of it.

Also: http://dancegrooveradio.com/

and going through the 12"s:

Gwen Guthrie - "Seventh Heaven" (part of the sly & robbie/levan produced Padlock ep. more electro than the rest)
The Quick - "Zulu" (super rad)
Temper - "Fever" (very good)
Indeep - "When Boys Talk" (more a fan of the instrumental, but it's still cool)
911 - "Twenty four/Seven"
James Reese - "No Questions"
Dino - "Summer Girls"

I used years 84 to 86, but it could go to 89, but not earlier. I'm familar with the ealier years. I'm curious about how the music started changing, from boogie/electro to the newer R&B to New Jack Swing. Why certain sounds remained hip and other were replaced. When did all traces of electro fall out of R&B/dance music?

http://ec2.images-amazon.com/images/P/B000002PHV.01._SS500_SCLZZZZZZZ_V1115789433_.jpg

I will check this out. I was talking about buying the album (found a vinyl version for 28€) but might end up downloading it... sad.

also picked up a Jonzun Crew single (Time is Running Out) from 84 that's pretty R&B-ish. i've always wondered about their later albums that look pretty cheesy (like this one). also his solo albums. any good?

Waht is it made?

Hey Chris,

I'd be most thankful if you could YSI me the Rockwell !
I've been looking for it on slsk too but I've only found one user and it's always queued...

High Hopes/S.O.S. Band
Just Be Good To Me/S.O.S. Band
Change Of Heart/Change
Just The Way You Like It/S.O.S. Band
You Are My Melody/Change
I Didn’t Mean To Turn You On/ Cherrelle
Encore/Cheryl Lynn 8/9/84 but released
You Used To Hold Me So Tight/Thelma Houston
The Heat Of Heat/Patti Austin
Saturday Love/Cherrelle feat Alexander O’Neal
If You Were Here Tonight/Alexander O’Neal 1
Will You Satisfy/Cherrelle
What Have You Done For Me Lately/Janet Jackson
The Finest/S.O.S. Band
A Broken Heart Can Mend/Alexander O’Neal
Tender Love/Force MD’s
Nasty/Janet Jackson
Borrowed Love/S.O.S. Band
When I Think Of You/Janet Jackson
Human/Human League

Plus a CD of music I used to dance to in Jungle at Busbys Aug 85 to Aug 86. Remember these?

Say I’m Your No.1/Princess
I Wonder If I Take You Home/Lisa Lisa And Cult Jam
Trapped/Colonel Abrams
I’ll Be Good/Rene and Angela
Single Life/Cameo
Something About You/Level 42
Who’s Zoomin Who/Aretha Franklin
l’ll Be A Freak 4 U/Royalle Delite
Alice, I Want You Just For Me/Full Force
Saturday Love/Cherelle feat. Alexander O’Neal
Magic Man/Rochelle
Love’s Gonna Get You/Jocelyn Brown
What Have You Done For Me Lately/Janet Jackson
The Finest/SOS Band
Main Thing/Shot
You And Me Tonight/Aurra
All In All/Joyce Sims
Jump Back/Dhar Braxton
Headlines/Midnight Star
Ain’t Nothin Goin On But The Rent/Gwen Guthrie
Fools Paradise/Meli’sa Morgan
When I Think Of You/Janet Jackson Aug
Midas Touch/Midnight Star

In descending order:

Captain Rapp - Bad Times (I Can't Stand It), Pt. 2
Howard Johnson - Knees
Real to Reel - Can You Treat Me Like She Does?

confound it, now I can't stop thinking of cheesy Detroit-area dance clubs, circa 1986, like J.J. Morgan's and Cheeks...a pox on you lot!

Jimmy G and the Tackheads - "You Always Break My Heart"
Sly Fox - "All The Way"
The System - "The Pleasure Seekers"

I bought it again on CD recently and was also amazed at how great it sounds 22 years later. It is kind of forgotten about I think.

http://www.discogs.com

Jenny Burton - In Black and White
Juicy - It Takes Two

Both are really great. Why is Jenny Burton so Underappreciated?

did somebody mention Jenny Burton?...well, "Rock Steady", my good man!

Ollie and Jerry - "Breakin' ... There's No Stopping Us"

hey, who did that song "Kelly's Eyes"?...(somebody from the Prince stable, as far as memory serves)...

loved "Sidewalk Talk"!...didn't Madge herself sing on it?...(and speaking of, anybody remember the Steve "Silk" Hurley remix of Was (Not Was)'s "Shake Your Head", which features the unholy trinity of her, Kim Basinger and Ozzie Osbourne?

André Cymone

Madonna's on "Sidewalk Talk," yeah.

1. This genre does not have a catchy name...right now, I'm listening to one of the few comps that nails it (80's Groove Anthems by those impossibly tasteful Mastercuts folk)...see what I mean?

2. It is just not cool. They still play this stuff at TGIFridays. The one time Green Gartside truly embraced this music was on Provision, the one Scritti LP ostracized by everybody, including (ultimately) Green himself...well, everybody except a fool like me.

WTF! XPOST

Which comps do you have? I have what I believe to be the album mix on two comps.

can't find it though.

yes i can, sorry.

haha i feel young

YOU GOT TA SAVE YOUR LOVE FOR NUMBER ONE, Y'ALL!

my entry into this sonic world was scoring a gig as an usher at a Luther Vandross show at Detroit's Masonic Temple, back in '83...(Cheryl Lynn opened up)...

I-Level

PROTO-AR KANE!

ah .. I finally found a copy of 'Mr. Wright'. after work today, at Reckless, for .49 cents.

"Too Damn Hot" sounds as great as I remember it from 20 years ago.

lol what? i just looked this thread up in the search, i didn't know it had been revived today!

this Loose Ends A Little Spice is pretty fantastic

http://youtube.com/watch?v=VFd5XcAYW3g

do u want it right now?

one of the best songs ever btw

I got a pretty much spotless copy of Val Young's "If You Should Ever Be Lonely" 12" for less than one American dollar a couple months back. That fits perfectly here and is lovely, lovely indeed.

I hope Mr. Wright got paid for this:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zEzTQt7-qT8

I got a pretty much spotless copy of Val Young's "If You Should Ever Be Lonely" 12" for less than one American dollar a couple months back. That fits perfectly here and is lovely, lovely indeed.

Seduction was just (re?)issued on CD and sounds great.

i'm listening to alexander o'neal's hearsay and man it is so great

he's an unbelievable singer ... i love cherelle and all but his entrance on 'saturday love' is so strong and it makes her sound like a ghost by comparison

the beginning of Saturday Love CRACKS ME UP

Hearsay is securely in my top ten of all-time. "Sunshine" is the greatest gesture of gratitude ever written.

"can you stand the rain" is such a bite of that joint

Well a combo bite with "If You Were Here Tonight." Now THAT's my jam.

More You Tube clips please.

bump

"If You Were Here Tonight" vs "Sunshine."

Search: Quincy Jones's "The Dude". Seriously, it has nice vocoder vocals and some ridiculous protorapping by someone who I think might be Quincy himself.

http://i10.ebayimg.com/02/i/08/22/69/ce_1.JPG

This is from 1987, and it's probably closer to mainstream r'n'b than electro, but it does have some nice Jam & Lewis procuded tunes, plus Nona Hendryx is an awesome vocalist. And the album cover is obviously one of the greatest ever.

Are her albums hard to find? I'd love to hear the Material-helmed one.

I think they're pretty hard to find, yeah. I found Female Trouble in a used records bin, and I've never seen anything else by her in any record shop. I'd love to hear that Material-produced album too (the Material album she guests on is quite good), especially since Allmusic says it also features Jamaaladeen Tacuma, Sly Dunbar, and Nile Rodgers.

I wish eighties r'n'b would come trendy again at some point, there are so many interesting records that need to be reissued.

'the dude' isn't v. electro, that came out like one or two years after 'off the wall'

that said 'ai no corrida' = alltime classic disco

Ahh "The Dude." Some great tracks, "Ai No Corrida", "The Dude" (although extreme Young MC exposure as a child forces my to say out loud "My name is Young" every the lovely vocals ask "Who is it?"), and "Betcha Wouldn't Hurt Me"among them. That's 3/4s of the A-side, but unfortunately that string is broken by "Just Once" right there as song number three. Now of course this is prototypical "doctor's office music" but it always bring to mind a very specific childhood visit to a real doctor's office that seemed interminable and which resulted in hearing this song at least twice. I remember feeling very melancholy, not because it was a scary office visit or anything, but just because this song made me feel just that sad. Still does. Sad and schmegma-y.

The Gwen Guthrie/Compass Point All-Stars Padlock EP should be included. Again, more boogie than electro, but worth mentioning.

copped this today. A+

also that destination boogie comp is :-O

The Gwen Guthrie/Compass Point All-Stars Padlock EP should be included. Again, more boogie than electro, but worth mentioning.

copped this today. A+

Good call on both the copping and grading!

tried to get that '84 thelma houston album w/ "you used to hold me so tight" but between the time i read its listing online and walked to the record store it had already sold :-/

Are you talking about Dusty Groove deej? I remember you giving some Chicago clubbing recommendations when I was up there in January in another thread. I found many $.50 and $1.00 Tabu and other applicable-to-this-thread 12"s in the dollar bin there. The funny thing is that I somehow expected the physical store to be so much bigger. Their online inventory made me expect a warehouse or something.

^^^yeah thats the spot

i got a pretty big haul this week of 70s/80s disco/post-disco dance, 12"s and LPs this weekend ... dusty groove is good but its harder to find gems there sometimes, everything gets picked thru so fast and people can search thru their shit so quickly.

they do have a fair amount in the back rooms i'm sure ...

if you come thru again sometime let me know and i can show you some other spots to check for stuff like this.

would kill for a copy of this

http://www.discogs.com/release/354843

I'll take you up on that deej. Not sure when I'll be returning, but I'd love to.

Can't help you with the Up Front.

Although my favorite very random circa-1997 graphics disco/boogie/dance blog has the full 9:14 "Special Dance Mix" of that track up this week deej. Towards the bottom here: http://home.versatel.nl/f.p.tas/dldisco.htm

http://home.versatel.nl/f.p.tas/kleindancepop3.gif

haha

good looking out

aww kleindancepop3.gif doesn't work on white background :(

http://home.versatel.nl/f.p.tas/babe2new.gif

AHHH
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DSssKolk2Hw

james ingram - always

I wish there were more old videos online from New York Hot Tracks.

There's one song by Marilyn Scott called "10x10" (produced by Michael Sambello) that I would love to hear again.

"State Your Mind" by Nile Rodgers.