Review your favorite 80's R&B/Hip-Hop/Freestyle album here!

[K-Bee]

Taz did start these kinda threads in the metal forum. Time to expand it to the other music parts of i80s:

Feel free to put any info of your favorite 80s r&b/hip-hop/freestyle or even house and disco albums in this ongoing review thread.

Tell us why you like them, what make them standouts from the rest and why you just can't live without them.

Enjoy!! :)

[K-Bee]

What better way to start of this thread than by reviewing one of the true classics of the early 80's:
The Infamous "The Dude" album by Quincy Jones.

Released on A&M Records in 1981 (a few years before Jones founded his own "Qwest" sub-label), "The Dude" really is a funky musical masterpiece.
The album's especially noticable for kickstarting the career of James Ingram. James is doing the lead vocals on the two outstanding ballads "Just Once" (which earned him a grammy) and "One Hundred Ways"

The whole thing is a very star-stuttered affair with contributions from Patti Austin, Brothes Johnson, Toto's Steve Lukather and even Stevie Wonder and Michael Jackson.

"The Dude" really cannot be praised enough in my book. Take your pick from the funky discofied jam "Ai No Corrida", the Patti Austin led "Razzamatazz" or any other of the 9 nine tracks of the album. There really is no filler on it.

Only Quincy Jones can bring together so many talented musicians, songwriters and vocalists and make things work without the result suffering from the usual over-production syndrome and plain songwriting contributions.

"The Dude" may be 22 years old now but with the whole retro thing going on at the moment, the music is as fresh as ever.

In The Immortal words of Patti Austin: "Every home should have One"

A true 10/10 masterpiece

:thumbsup: :clap:

[Prefab Sprouter]

Excellent review K-Bee. I admire Quincy's work and love the song Razzamatazz. Think I'll go buy me a Quincy CD!!! :D

[K-Bee]

In the light of Gregory Hines recent passing I decided to have another listen at his self titled album, released on Epic in 1988.

Actually, the album was a pretty good soul/pop offering much in the same style as Luthers "Any Love" set from the same year. Not a big surprise really, Since Luther Vandross produced the whole thing and many of the same musicians that Luther use also appear on Gregory Hines album. Gregory was a pretty good vocalist and definetely way better than a lot of the other 80s actors that also tried their hands at a singing career back then (ie Bruce Willis, Phillip Michael Thomas and Eddie Murphy)

Highlights include the upbeat dancer "That Girl Wants To Dance With Me" as well as the duet "There's Nothing Better Than Love" which originally appeared on Luthers "Give Me The Reason" album in 1986.

If you're a Luther Vandross fan and don't know this Gregory Hines album, I suggest you try seeking it out.....you'll be happy you did.

[Rooster]

It's all about License to Ill.

[Martika_fan]

Grandmaster Flash and the Furious Five
"The Message (Single)"
(1982)

This was the very first Rap record to really explore the Ghetto experience and urban reality in New York's black neighbourhoods.

Before this record, Rap music was in many ways nothing more than another form of Disco. Grandmaster Flash and the Furious Five were entertainers, and when on stage they would perform dance routines just like the Jackson Five and try to rock the crowd, with lyrics about luxurious living, being the best party-rockers, and fairy tales. Ironically this is the type of Rap style that has come to be scorned and hated by todays hardcore Hip-Hop heads.

However this record marked a departure theme for both the group and Hip-Hop music. This was I believe the very first piece of socially conscious realism in Rap music.

It seems odd how often whoever does something like this before anyone else, has the good fortune to have done it best, with no other inspiration..... Actually the inspiration for this record came from the band's surroundings, and it does indeed paint a vivid picture of life in the gutters of New York.

As the record begins, for fifteen seconds there is no rapping- just music. A slow rhythmic beat with electronic blips ascending and descending, with odd wavers of noise, which seem to reverberate and ricochet. By itself the music sets the scene well, causing the listener to visualise New York- the traffic, the concrete open spaces and desolation, the heights of the skyscrapers to the bottom of the gutter. It's tone is unmistakably grim- this is not going to be a party record.

The first words we hear, as though the long wait has been a long debate the Rapper, Duke Bootee has had with himself as whether or not to go into it all...

"It's like a Jungle sometimes, makes me wonder how I keep from going under"

It's delivered calmly, suggesting the man is keeping ahead, but is still finding it impossible to ignore his gritty and oppressive surroundings.

Then Melle Mel takes the mike and drops the first verse.

"Broken Glass everywhere
people p!ssing on the stairs, you know they just don't care
I can't take the smell, can't stand the noise
got no money to move out, I guess I got no choice.
Rats in the front room, rodents in the back
Junkies in the alley with a baseball bat
I try to get away, but I couldn't get far
'Cos a man with potential repossessed my car"

Nice bit of sardonic humour here, but ultimately an ugly picture of life in the Ghetto. And then without a pause comes the chorus line.

"Don't push me cos I'm close to the edge
I'm trying not to lose my head"

One of the first lines in Rap music to get confrontational with the listener, in a perfect balance of indiscriminant rage and genuine innocence. These rapper's are just ordinary people trying to get by- That's Keeping it Real.

It then leads from verse to chorus to verse without a pause. Quite claustrophobic and in your face, rather like the environment it depicts.

"Crazy lady, livin' in a bag
Eating out of garbage piles, used to be a f*g-hag
Search and test a tango, skips the life and then go
To search a prince to see the last of senses
Down at the peepshow, watching all the creeps
So she can tell the stories to the girls back home
She went to the city and got so so so ditty
She had to get a pimp, she couldn't make it on her own"

A tale of a woman's seduction by a depraved pimp. A lot is unsaid about it all, but the sensationalism and romanticism of the pimp and the ho that dominates a lot of Reality Rap records since this is not to be found here, neither is the misogynistic outlook or putdowns that the woman gets what she deserves.

Then Duke Bootee drops his first verse

"My brother's doing fast on my mother's T.V.
Says she watches to much, is just not healthy
All my children in the daytime, Dallas at night
Can't even see the game or the Sugar Ray fight
Bill collectors they ring my phone
And scare my wife when I'm not home
Got a bum education, double-digit inflation
Can't take the train to the job, there's a strike at the station"

Adds some nice dimension to the song- this is a family man, but he's at the end of his tether, and he can't keep up with his job. Flies in the face of the stereotypical black man who is lazy and only out for one thing. Which sadly seems to be the typical Gangster Rapper's portrayal now.

"Me on King Kong standin' on my back
Can't stop to turn around, broke my sacroiliac
Midrange, migraine, cancered membrane
Sometimes I think I'm going insane,
I swear I might hijack a plane!"

And then the meaning of the song becomes clear- it's about a descent into madness.

"Don't push me cos I'm close to the edge
I'm trying not to loose my head"

It comes of something of a relief that we get a nice long pause. As though the Rapper is trying to recollect himself and keep his sanity. Effectively the listener is able to finally unwind a little from the angst and consider all that has been said. Whilst the soundscape reminds the listener that the setting hasn't changed, there is a sense of the passage of time.

"My son said daddy I don't wanna go to school
Cause the teacher's a jerk, he must think I'm a fool"

Throughout the song there was hardly anything inplicitly pro-black about it. It was simply about working class, inner city life and crime. Even though some of the things described in the record were exotically grim, as Melle Mel said of the record, half the people in America, black or white, sang along with the confrontational chorus and meant it.

But this is the first actual reference to what could be profoundly rascist treatment and even then it's quite subtle, leaving the listener to make their own mind up. But if it involves labelling disapproval at young black kids, then it's all part of a domino effect.

"And all the kids smoke reefer, I think it'd be cheaper
If I just got a job, learned to be a street sweeper
I dance to the beat, shuffle my feet
Wear a shirt and tie and run with the creeps
Cause it's all about money, ain't a damn thing funny
You got to have a con in this land of milk and honey
They push that girl in front of a train
Took her to a doctor, sowed the arm on again
Stabbed that man, right in his heart
Gave him a transplant before a brand new start
I can't walk through the park, cause it's crazy after dark"

Now it's getting slightly more exotic, not to mention frightening, and beyond the type of violence and murder rates that the average man may witness. It's also remarkable to note that there's very little mention of actual shootings or gun culture. Ironically this was probably recorded during a more innocent time.

And then Melle Mel takes the mike for the last verse.

"A child is born, with no state of mind
Blind to the ways of mankind
God is smiling on you but he's frowning too
Cause only god knows what you go through"

This final verse was originally lifted from the Group's earlier single "Superrappin'". Originally a party record, it's lyrics of adult themes and tragedy were quite out of place. But on this single it fit perfectly! The other tracks had described and laid out the Ghetto environment, like the props of a play- and now we were getting the story.

So far the track had been an adult's view of the unpleasantries of the city, and like all people from that life, we hope to shelter children from such sites and let them enjoy their youthful innocence, until we feel they are ready to know about the negative side of the world. But here that's not to be....

"You'll grow in the Ghetto living second rate
and your eye's will sing a song of deep hate
the places you play and where you stay
looks like one great big alleyway
you'll admire all the number book takers
thugs, pimps and pushers and the big money makers
driving big cars spending twenties and tens
and you wanna grow up to be just like them"

...in-fact the kid sees so much of the negative, he doesn't even question it. Ironically I can't help but think about the simmilar negative influence of today's Gangster Rap CD's on disaffected young listeners, every time I hear that line. No wonder even vehement Rap opponent Revd Calvin Butts likes this song. It's almost gospel in its description of innocence corrupted by temptation and greed. This record is not about embracing the darkness you live amidst, like Rap records today are.

"You say I'm cool, huh I'm no fool
but then you wind up dropping out of High School"

... ties in brilliantly with the previous verse about ghetto kids being failed by Schools which teach them to have no self-respect.

And then it get's really nasty!

"Now you're unemployed, All null and void
Walking around like you're pretty boy Floyd
Turned Stick Up kid, but look what you done did
got sent up for an 8 year bid
now your manhood is took and your a maid tag
spend the next two years as an undercover f*g
being used and abused to serve like hell
til one day you was found hung dead in the cell"

Finding the perfect balance between acknowledging the guilt of the young offender and chastising the establishment which placed him in such detrimental conditions which in many ways forced him onto the wrong path, and furthermore inflicted him with a punishment which far exceeded his crime.

Interestingly enough the story of the armed Ghetto Child meeting a tragic fate has become a recurring theme in storytelling Hip-Hop tracks, such as Slick Rick's "Children's Story" , Kool Moe Dee's "Little John", and even Dr. Dre's "'Lil Ghetto Boy" where the kid finally pulls the trigger and in doing so, gets the upper hand..... still this is in my opinion the most poignant.

"But now your eyes sing the sad sad song// of how you live so fast and die so young"

..... what a line! Nearly every time I come back to this song, when I hear that line, it hits my heart. The same chorus about being close to the edge follows, but now it is absolutely impossibe to take that challenge lightly.

Furthermore we hear a bit of street dialogue (I'm pretty sure this was the first Rap record to incorporate that, but please correct me if I'm wrong). The group meeting up and chit-chatting happily, when suddenly a Cop car pulls up and the group are arrested on the spot.

O.K. so the cop's a really bad actor, but it is still a compelling moment. Instead of the stereotypical black man with a bad attitude against the cops, it's actually the other way round.

MELLE MEL- Hey officer, what's the problem?
COP- You the problem!!

These men truly play the part of the innocent bystanders, who are trying to get by and really don't need this humiliation on top of everything else.

"Don't push me 'cos I'm close to the edge"

We are left wondering at the end, whether that humiliation has finally pushed the group over the edge. But it fades out, the question is unanswered and the song's vivid and gritty images last, reminding the listener that anyone can go insane if they truly think of the state of their surroundings and how long they've had to put up with them.

So in context with what followed I think this possibly is the best reality Rap record. It's soundscape is still totally atmospheric even twenty years later. In these days of high bodycount video overkill and gat talk on wax, some of these lyrics are still shocking in its depictions of rape and murder.

It's sad. When I hear rappers today talking about these types of things and the suffering they've been through... by then I've heard the rapper talk so much about killing and violence and abusing women so much, and often also drop a few bigoted and intolerant views about Koreans, Jews, white people, or people afflicted with STDs, that by then, whilst I know this rapper probably isn't sugar-coating anything or lying about the type of person they are, and so won't be lying about what their environment is like, I often just don't care by then. How can someone like that appeal to my humanity?

(That doesn't just apply to Rappers BTW, plenty of Rock musicians and film-makers have sold art with just as virulent hate-messages loong before Rap even existed)

So this record holds brilliantly over other similar records, for one reason above all others- It depicts the plight of characters I can actually care about. These men don't proclaim themselves as misogynists or reverse rascists, their anger is justified.

[K-Bee]

Excellent review of a very important track in black music history!
Thanks for putting this up! :)

[DJ Jimmy M]

For me this is kinda hard to say as when the 80s moved on I was more a rocker than anything LOL. But...for this catogory is have to say a cross between Odyssey "Happy Together" and Change "Miracles" for 80s R&B/Soul, etc LPs even though both of those are very early 80s and more on the funk/disco side of things.

[whistledog]

I picked up the D.C. Cab DVD for $8 the other day and had forgotten just how good the soundtrack was. It was one of the first soundtracks I ever bought.

http://www.geocities.com/godeltsihw/mrcab.JPG

Although this soundtrack only hit 1 home run with Irene Cara's The Dream (which reached the U.S. Top 40), the whole album is excellent. You get a nice blend of r&b, funk, and pop melodies with a whole host of stars on some wonderful tracks by great artists like Champaign, Stephanie Mills, and of course Miss Irene Cara :thumbsup3

If you've seen the movie before, then you know how beautifully these songs blend in, most especially 'The Dream' at the end sequence during the parade/fanfare!

01. The Dream - Irene Cara
02. Deadline U.S.A. - Shalamar
03. D.C. Cab - Peabo Bryson
04. Knock Me on My Feet Again - Champaign
05. Squeeze Play - Karen Kamon

06. World Champion - Leon Sylvers III
07. Single Heart - DeBarge
08. Party Me Tonight - Stephanie Mills
09. One More Time Around the Block Ophelia - Gary U.S. Bonds
10. Knock Me on My Feet [Instrumental] - Giorgio Moroder

Apart from 'The Dream', I really like the Shalamar track. It's got that funky kind of beat that makes you want to get out on the dancefloor and boogie on down :thumbsup3

[whistledog]

Billy Ocean - Suddenly

http://cover6.cduniverse.com/MuzeAudioArt/130/130910.jpg

I can describe how great this album is with just 6 words: "eight minute version of Caribbean Queen"

This album features 9 excellent tracks:

01. Caribbean Queen (No More Love on the Run)
02. Mystery Lady
03. Syncopation
04. The Long and Winding Road

05. Loverboy
06. Lucky Man
07. Dancefloor
08. If I Should Lose You
09. Suddenly

Tracks 1, 2, 5 and 9 all became big hits in the charts, but one that didn't become a single that I really liked was his cover of the Beatles' Long and Winding Road.

But what originally drew me to this album was the incredible 8 minute version of Caribbean Queen with the synth solo. The version that became the single/chart hit was sadly edited down to around 4 minutes, which is good, but the album version goes on any mix CD that I make :thumbsup3