Forgotten Artists!
Song: Milkshake
Artist: Kelis
Album: Tasty (2003)
Genre: Dance
I’m not sure if her “milkshake” is still bringing all the boys to the yard; but back then, this song was the sh*t in the Black community. I absolutely loved the video to this song, I thought it was freakin’ hilarious as hell!! ? It’s been about 15 years since this album first came out; I think her milkshake is more like yogurt by now! ? ? You can just imagine all of the things happening in that video happening for real in the hood, I guess that’s what makes it so hilarious to me. But you know what? This was actually a pretty good album I think (for the most part). This album has a lot of good cuts I haven’t heard before. Check out “Trick Me (WARNING! HAS PROFANITY),” also check out “Protect My Heart,” it reminds me a lot of Toni Braxton’s style of music. Almost the whole album is pretty nice (I think).
Believe it or not kids (and some grown ups), Mrs. Olivia Newton-John is most definitely a legend in every sense of the word! She is perhaps one of the few artists I’ve put in to my ultimate favorites category of the seventies and eighties. I think she’s just one of those artists that we don’t realize just how much she has contributed to the entertainment industry until we really look back and reflect. My goodness! Let’s see, she’s an actress, songwriter, business woman, and oh yeah, did you know she was also a model in her younger years?
Olivia Is Most Remembered For The Movie, Grease!
I am confident in saying that of all the phenomenal things that Olivia has done throughout her career, she is instantly remembered for her work in the 1978 movie Grease! She co-starred John Travolta, and they both did an incredible job! Olivia not only acted in the movie, she was also a huge part of the soundtrack as well. Both the movie and the soundtrack were successful hits. “Grease,” performed by Frankie Valli, & “You’re The One That I Want,” performed by Travolta and Olivia were #1 on the charts. “Summer Nights” also performed by Travolta and Olivia hit #5, and Olivia’s “Hopelessly Devoted To You,” reached #3 on the charts! In Australia, the album hit 14x Platinum, and in America 8x Platinum. Back then, those figures were eye popping.
I could be wrong, but I think the project Grease really made a difference in her career! Music was going through a major shift (and that included the world of country music), and I just don’t think she would have been as successful if she didn’t participate in the movie. Listening to Olivia’s music was kind of like listening to an Australian country version of Karen Carpenter. ? Don’t beat me up for that, I loved Karen’s music too.
Beyond The Grease Soundtrack!
Ok, I need to make my readers aware of just how badass Olivia was back in the day! Out of 38 songs that actually registered on the Billboard Charts, she has managed to get 5 number ones, and 15 top tens. That’s an incredible achievement, not only as a woman, but as a mostly country artist. Also keep in mind, she accomplished this just when disco was on its why out, and both rock and pop was slowly dominating the 80s.
Some of my favorites dear to my heart are “Physical (1981),” “I Honestly Love You (1974),” “Have You Ever Been Mellow (1975),” and another badass song “Magic (1980).” I soooo love the beat to “Magic.” And you know, “Suddenly (1981),” was a nice song too, but unfortunately it only reached #20 on the Top 100 Charts (which is not bad technically). If I’m not mistaken “Suddenly” was on the original Xanadu (1980) soundtrack. Olivia didn’t have all that much of a vocal range (in my opinion), but she managed to crank out some huge memorable hits in my lifetime.
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This was very difficult for me to put together, because as I looked through my collection, the song list kept piling up. However, I was strict on myself, and narrowed them down to only six songs. In my opinion, my six picks are most likely considered obscure in the hip hop world. I’m pretty sure anyone under 20 years of age hasn’t heard any of them, or most of them. These are what I consider some of the best rap songs I heard growing up. Of course there are more, but for the purpose of keeping things simple, I chose these six extremely rare songs. Enjoy.
Song: Love’s Comin’ At Ya (Remastered)
Artist: Melba Moore
Album: Other Side Of The Rainbow (2010)
This awesome song actually came out in 1982, and was digitally remastered in 2010. I love “Love’s Comin’ At Ya,” because it reminds me of the same kinds of rhythms that Evelyn “Champagne” King used to perform. In fact, in many ways it sounds almost identical to the T. Then again, Melba also had that same kind of voice; and as I’ve mentioned earlier, record companies were about finding that “formula” for making millions. I highly recommend that you research Melba Moore’s store. It’s pretty inspirational. She gone from being a huge success, to suddenly having no money to the point of applying for welfare/food stamps. She picked herself back up, and successfully rebooted her career. I consider her a very underrated talent. Although she didn’t have big hit’s on the Top 100, she did had a few top hits on the dance charts, including “Love’s Comin’ At Ya,” which reached #2, and another song I loved a lot called “You Stepped In To My Life,” which reached #5 in 1978.
Song: Bam-Bam
Artist: Toots & The Maytals, Byron Lee & The Dragons
Album: From Bam-Bam To Cherry Oh! Baby (c. 1970s)
Genre: Sweet Reggae
This may sound very arrogant…. But…. In this day and age, the only people who can probably appreciate an album like this, are Jamaicans and West-Indians in my age group. Very few Americans would know anything about this album; unless perhaps you’ve dated someone for many years who happened to be from the island. One of the things I miss most from my childhood growing up was, in my neighborhood, we had one of the only record shops dedicated to 100% reggae! Both full albums and 12 inch reggae; many if not all were imported. All in a very short walking distance. I remembered this album being one of many my mom purchased there. I think this was when I fell in love with Toots and The Maytels’s music for the first time.
The first song I heard was “Bam-Bam” by Toots & The Maytels. I loved this song so much. I don’t know what was it that I loved it so much. Maybe it was his unique voice? Maybe it was his soul that came through his music? Or maybe it was his passion for political change I heard in his music? I played that song so many times. The second song I fell in love with was “Pomps & Pride.” Very catchy tune, and you can’t help but to move your hips just a little bit when you hear it. I was really surprised to find out that Spotify has the entire entire album. The album has various artists, which includes Desmond Dekker (which is another talented favorite of mine.
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Song: Will You Still Love Me
Artist: Slim Smith
Album: Sound Box Essentials: Platinum Edition (2012)
Genre: Sweet Reggae
This is a very nice reggae cover of an old 1960s song, originally first recorded by a girl group called “The Shirelles.” The very popular group Shirelles took this song to #1, and has been covered by many people after that. But very few are aware of this reggae gem. Born in Jamaica, Slim Smith has done a wonderful job with this legendary classic. Unfortunately, early in Smith’s reggae career, he accidentally killed himself. He died in 1973 from subsequent injuries. I cannot find the year he actually released this recording. I’m going to make an assumption it was a couple of years before his death.
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Yesterday, I found one of my old favorite Barry Manilow cassettes. Yay!!! You know, I can’t imagine anyone walking around with a cassette player these days; if someone did, I’m pretty sure that most people around them would be in shocked and puzzled ?. I consider Barry Manilow the king of love ballads! This little Jewish guy was a hit machine in his prime. However, he really hasn’t made any big hits since the 80s. Tho, it’s wonderful to see that there are millions that still love him and remember him. I decided to create a 19 song playlist of my most favorite hits!
What’s in my new Barry playlist? How about his massive 1978, 12 inch disco hit “Copacabana!” How about his ballad “I’ve Made It Through The Rain (1980),” I loved this song!! That song was like my late grandfather’s personal anthem, he used to hmm this song ALL the time ?. Another great song he produced was a song called “Bandstand Boogie,” which later on became the theme song to Dick Clark’s show “American Bandstand” some in c. 1976 I believe. Many more memorable songs this awesome playlist.
Today, I’d like to write about one of the biggest forgotten reggae legends! His name? The late John Holt. This man has made a lot of smooth reggae. Sweet, sweet reggae. He also used to be one of many Jamaican artists that loved to reinterpret American music; and let me tell you, many of them were really nice in my opinion. I didn’t like all his remakes, sometimes it sounded like his voice didn’t fit some of the songs he sang. But, there was one cover he did that I remember my grandfather listening to a lot on his reel2reel (I loved it too). This song was co-written by the late Brook Benton (along with two others), and recorded by the late Nat King Cole. The song was called “Looking Back (1958).” The song hit #2 on the R&B Charts.
However, John Holt’s version of “Looking Back 1972),” took the song to a whole different level. I LOVED how he put together that organ intro; it almost made the song immediately recognizable. It’s a beautiful song that talks about a man realizing his bad mistakes toward the one he loves, and he learned not to do them again. You know, I was saddened to discover that Holt’s cover version wasn’t even mentioned anywhere on Wikipedia. If I didn’t know it existed growing up, it would not be on my blog. I digress.. I tried adding him on Wiki, not sure if they’re going to approve it or not. I want you to check out two more amazing Holt songs. “A Love I Can Feel (1971),” and “If It Don’t Work Out,” also released in 1971. “If It Don’t Work Out,” is actually a cover of the Casinos’s song “Then You Can Tell Me Goodbye (1967).”
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Another guy that didn’t fit the stereotype at first glance! Once again, we can’t judge a book by it’s cover. Even myself. As diverse as my taste in music is, even I have to be reminded sometimes. Then again, I grew at a time where there was no music streaming. You had to either buy a whole album, or hoped and prayed that a friend had the same album so you can listen to it. Or better yet, ask your friend to make a cassette tape for you! ?? But seriously though. He looked something like my 4th grade math teacher.
No way did I perceive Rupert Holmes as a singer! Never in my wildest of dreams would I have thought that Rupert would produce one of the most popular pop songs to end the 70s with. In 1979, Rupert wrote and recorded a song called “Escape (The Pina Colada Song).” A song pretty much about a guy who’s bored with his girl, and decides to hook up with a stranger. This song not only shot up to #1 on the Top 100 Charts, it stayed #1 for 3 weeks! That was huge in the vinyl era. It almost seemed like he written this song while he was on a tropical vacation or something! He had another song called “Him” that peaked at #6. I wasn’t impressed, but people liked it. The only other song I liked from Rupert was “Get Outta Yourself.” Unfortunately, it appears that song did not register on the Billboard Charts. Shame.
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I’m saddened to say that this incredibly handsome guy had only 2 big hit to his name ?. This is Peter Brown. At the age of only about 24 years old, this guy was smoking ♨️hot♨️ in the late 70s disco scene. His first 12 inch hit sold for over a million copies in 1977. That song was called “Do You Wanna Get Funky With Me,” off his album “A Fantasy Love Affair.” Not to be confused with Sylvester’s 1982 mega hit “Do Ya Wanna Funk.” Now, unfortunately, although “Do You Wanna Get Funky With Me” peaked at #18, I wasn’t particularly feeling this song at all. I was shocked to find out that he sold that many copies to be honest.
However, I did not go completely bananas until I heard his smash hit “Dance With Me (1977).” This was actually on the same album, but the song wasn’t a hit until mid 1978. This song was the shit back in the day. Even though I was too young to go out clubbing, when my mom or grandparents had their house parties I remember sweating to this song. This 12 inch was all dance!! I mean Studio 54 dance music! The song only peaked to #4 on the Hot Dance Charts.
Other than the two songs I’ve just shared with you, I really wasn’t feeling any other of his songs. Although there was another song called “They Only Come Out At Night (1984),” that hit #1 on the Dance Club Charts, I just didn’t like it. I think the problem was that his music started to sound like novelty. You know, like all his music were from specific 80s soundtracks; similar to “The Last Dragon (1985),” or that similar to Rockwell’s music. Such a shame his voice was phenomenal!
I really do wish I discovered this guy earlier. Have my readers ever heard of Charles Bradley? Honestly I don’t ever recall listening to his music until about a couple of years ago. I really loved his soulfully funk sound. I was devastated to find out that he had died of stomach cancer shortly after I discovered who he was and his music ?. He was 68.
This man (who I feel in many ways has a striking resemblance to the late Nipsey Russell btw), sung his ass off!! Oh my goodness, when Bradley sung a song, all his emotion emanated from each and every performance. His type of performances are just not seen anymore (relatively speaking). To hear his music, or to see him perform on video, was not only breathtaking at times, it was also refreshing to see real blues music performed like that, then in 2016.
The first album I heard by Bradley, was “Changes (2016).” I think this entire album is awesome to be quite honest. This album is so authentically 70s, that there is absolutely no hint of modern flair I could detect. I think most blues fans would like at least half of the songs on this album. If I were forced to pick a favorite song, I would have to go with “Things We Do For Love.” My goodness. If I didn’t know any better, I would have said this was recorded in the old Motown Studio or something.
There’s another album I think you should check out. It’s called “Black Velvet (2018).” I really liked the song called “Can’t Fight The Feeling.” I haven’t found a whole lot of juicy information on Bradley, which leads me to believe that either Bradley started his musical career late, or he was discovered late. Having said that, I’m kind of insecure as to the actual copyright dates to his songs. Often times when someone dies, the music label often re-releases music of a popular artist, and you wind up with a new copyright/release date. In any event, I think that Bradley’s music is worth exploring if you’re a blues/funk fan. I recommend that you watch his very short, but powerful interview on YouTube. Very humbling.
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Hey guys! Today I want to write about the phenomenal Linda Ronstadt. You know, not because I love Linda’s music tremendously, sometimes I still don’t think the music industry acknowledges her contribution enough. I mean, this may sound a bit negative (I’m open to being wrong), but I really don’t recall her being acknowledge for any lifetime achievements until just before or just after it was confirmed that she has Parkinson’s disease. Unfortunately, because of her illness, she had to retire from performing. I put together an awesome playlist that contains 19 of my most favorite Ronstadt songs!
In my opinion, Linda is one of many artists that should always be celebrated. Why? Not only is she Mexican decent, she’s bilingual. Not only is she bilingual, I’ve heard her perform just about every single genre (except rap) ?. I’m not kidding. From Mariachi, country, pop, folk, sang on movie soundtracks, you name it, Linda has done it! She’s also probably one of the few artists, that has done more covers of other people’s music and struck gold (with most, if not all of them).
She’s Diagnosed With Parkinson’s Disease
Out of 34 songs that registered on the Top 100 Charts, Ronstadt managed to acquire one #1 hit, and 10 Top Tens. However, she also had a lot of Latin hits that were not on the chart (which I’ve included in this playlist). One of my top favorites is a song she sang with the late James Ingram, for the movie “An American Tail (1986),” and the song is called “Somewhere Out There.” Another great song, originally sung by Dee Dee Warwick is “You’re No Good (1964).” The composition of this song is badass! I loved this song so much, I’ve always wished for an instrumental version. On the Latin side, there are a couple of great songs she has on her album called “Conciones de mi Padre (1987).” I actually remembered when she was promoting this album on one of the night time talk shows. Can’t remember who it was, maybe it was David Letterman. Anyway, a famous cover she sang I love is “La Cigarra.” I believe it was originally sung by Lola Beltran. I love both versions. Oh my goodness, they both ripped this song to shreds! One more fun classic “La Charreada.” I absolutely loved when she sang those very long notes. She had a strong and powerful voice. Check out more of her amazing hits here.
You know, one thing I find weird about having an almost photographic memory, is that I am continuously stunned as to how both age and drugs changes one’s appearance. I literally took a mental snapshot of how the legendary Leo Sayer looked during the prime of his career. Now, my jaw drops as to how he looks now. Leo is almost unrecognizable in my opinion. He even lost his trademark’d fro! I haven’t been in that much shock since I’ve seen the drastic physical change in Billy Joel (Joel has also done a lot of drugs too, not surprised).
Sayer Is Almost Unrecognizable!
Leo had not produced any hits since the 70s and mid 80s. Before Leo even opened his mouth, fans immediately new who he was by his trademark fro! Most of my older readers might remember him from his massive #1 disco hit “You Make Me Feel Like Dancing (1977).” Another song that was a huge hit for him was a beautiful ballad called “When I need You (1977),” which by the way also hit number 1.
I guess Leo has cleaned himself up, and now he has a brand new album called “Selfie (2019).” I have to say that I am utterly impressed! Very impressed. I think fans will enjoy most of this album. I think he’s done a really nice job staying in line with the kinds of music he used to do, yet the album is updated and the lyrics are relevant.
The first song I really like is “Soul Mining (2019).” This song has a pop/southern sound to it, and it brought out Leo’s old “blue-eyed soul” spirit (if you will). Judging from the streams, this song is his fan’s favorite, as it is now mine as well. Also check out “Occupy (2019).” This is a very youthful song about life, and I think that it could standup to today’s young pop music in my opinion (if promoted the right way). This album is not going to be everyone’s cup of tie, but if you’ve been a Leo fan in the past, you’ll certainly appreciate this album I think.
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You know, at first impression, looking at a photo of these two guys I’d bet most people don’t think much. You’d probably think that these were the typical 70s men who loved to go to bars and drink all night. However, England Dan & John Ford Coley are musicians who managed to produce one of the most popular romantic songs of the 70s! I can’t exactly call them a “one hit wonder,” but, unfortunately, there was only one song I liked, and it became one of my most favorite easy listening songs!
That song was called “I’d Really Love To See You Tonight (1976),” which shot up to #2 on the Top 100 Charts. Now, as I’ve said, they’ve managed to produce several other hits such as, “We’ll Never Have To Say Goodbye Again (1978),” and “Love Is The Answer (1979).” But, hands don’t “I’d Really Love To See You Tonight,” is what they’re remembered for (at least those of us who are old enough to remember). England Dan passed away at the age of 61.
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I guess it’s safe to say that the late Bob Welch’s music has fill in to the obscure category by now. I don’t think anybody listens to him anymore, that includes myself. The last time I heard anything from him was when I was a teenager. Welch only had one major hit in his career, which happened to be my only favorite from him. The song was called “Sentimental Lady (1977),” off his album “French Kiss.” Listening to this song was almost like listening to a mellow version of the Beach Boys (in my opinion). It was a nice song though.
You couldn’t get more easy listening than this song. It reached #8 on The Billboard Charts, and as far as I can tell, it was the biggest hit of his career. His second popular song from the same album was “Ebony Eyes.” I didn’t particularly care for this song, but a lot of people liked it. Before Welch took off on his solo career, he was a former member of the legendary band Fleetwood Mac as a guitarist/vocalist from 1971-1974. Sadly, at the age of 66, Welch died from a self inflicted gunshot.
Ok, guys, I decided to give you a treat this weekend. I put together a hand picked playlist (by yours truly as always) of 20 of what I consider some of the BEST Latino club mixes of the 80s and 90s! This playlist will not only make you go down memory lane, it will make you sweat by the time you finish playing it. Like many other types of music, I am saddened that we don’t hear this kind of music anymore. It’s as tho all Latin dance music was replaced with either EDM or Reggaeton. I guess Boricua club music follows the same path that disco did, a once thriving genre now considered defunct by the younger Latino generation.
You many not care about that, but I see it as a huge problem. Because 80s Latin club music was listened to by everyone. It didn’t matter if it was in English or Spanish. I don’t give a sh*t what you think, when I was growing up, if you really wanted to party hard, we’d go to a Latin club. Also, the kinds of people Latin music attracted was different. It was very rare I heard fights, gun fire, or any of that sh*t in a Latin club. When people came to Latin clubs, people moved every inch of their bodies, and perhaps forget about their stresses for the night, and just let go. Today, it seems the only thing people interested in doin’ is reggaeton, and twerking their ass region until their ass claps. Sorry…. Let me get off my soap box.
The songs in this playlist has been either produced by Latinos, or Latinos strongly had influence! So, what’s in this playlist? How about “Sume Sigh Sey” by Todd Terry. Or How about “Funkete” by The General. I’ll give you one more. How about personal huge favorite “You & You & You (Mambo Mix).” I don’t know what it is, Latin musicians have a way of taking strange and unusual sounds that people don’t hear every day, and turning it in to a club hit. Listen to my full playlist on Spotify. Enjoy!
I don’t remember if I wrote about him on my old blog but.. What the hell.. Today I’d like to quickly write a little about Johnny Kemp. Johnny was a talented Bohemian singer who started his music career in the late 70s. He had a unique look and a unique sound. Johnny did not hit it big until about ten years later, when he released his smash hit “Just Got Paid (1988).” The song shot up to #1 on both R&B/Hip Hop & the Dance Charts. This song was made for Johnny, I never thought that anybody could thing that song the way he did. Also, seeing him dance to this song on his music video was electrifying in my opinion. By mid video, it reminded me a lot of the original “Fame (1980)” soundtrack video.
“Just Got Paid” was the biggest hit of his career. In fact I think that was his only #1. On The same album, he had a #5 dance hit called “Dancin’ With Myself (1988).” I didn’t particularly like that song, but a lot of people did. After shaking my ass to “Just Got Paid,” it seems like this song was a downgrade or something. It just didn’t seem danceable to me. However, I did love his 1986 song called “Just Another Lover.” The song only peaked at #26 on the Dance Charts.
Johnny died in 2015, at the young age of 55. As far as I can tell, I still don’t think there was an official cause of death. According to what I’ve read, he fell over a cruise ship he was actually scheduled to perform in. I’m not even sure if they knew exactly how he fell. I guess for most, it was written off as a freak accident.
I’d like to introduce young folk to the late Joe Tex. He was another favorite of mine I used to listen to all the time. I think that in this era of music streaming, young folk who are starting out in the music business today can learn a lot from knowing about artists like Joe Tex. The reason is because he only had a total of 27 songs that registered somewhere on the Top 100 Billboard Charts; however, only 3 of them reached Top 10 status.
Why is that important? Because the longer I blog, I’ve begun to clearly understand that numbers don’t always equate with someone’s true talent. Even more complicated than that, sometimes an album could be on the low #200 position, but a song on that same record could reach Top 10 status. Despite Joe only having 3 Top 10 Hits, his other music was so popular that even the singles that didn’t make good sales, were played very much on radio and clubs. So, there was no question about his vocal talent.
One of my very favorites growing up was a song called “Ain’t Gonna Bump No More (with No Big Fat Woman) (1977).” It only peaked at #12, but this was the sh*t back in the day. I don’t remember not hearing this song on family parties and barbecues. You know, when you listen to the lyrics of this song, it was innocent yet hilarious! But, a song like this would never be made again in this day and age; every single “fat” activist would have overwhelmed both the artist and label with accusations of fat shaming. Great song tho.
Another popular favorite was “I Gotcha (1972),” which reached #2 on the Top 100 Charts. I absolutely loved this song, because it had a very Blaxploitation feel to it. Sounded like it could have came straight out of a Cleopatra Jones soundtrack. Now, Joe didn’t only sing dance music; he sang a many of wonderful ballads. At #5 “Hold What You’ve Got (1965),” was a very popular song that contained a lot of true wisdom about love and relationships. Another beautiful ballad (but never made the charts); was called “Green Green Grass Of Home,” originally sung by Johnny Darrell. However, I only remembered hearing Tom Jone’s version. In fact, Joe kind of sounded like Tom a lot. My late grandpa used to play this a lot too. So many interpretations by many artists, but for the life of me I can’t find when Joe originally released this version. My best guess is around 1978. This wonderful and talented man was taken away from us at the age of only 49.
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Hey guys, Today I’d like to introduce to you a guy I consider a master guitarist from back in the day. His name was O’Donel Levy. I’ve been playin’ him all day for the past week. I thought to myself, I need to blog about him before the week is over. The late O’ Donel Levy had an incredible album called “Breeding Of Mind (1974).” Sh*t! This album is freakin’ amazing! If you love instrumental jazz R&B (maybe a little of easy funk too), there’s no doubt in my mind you’d fall in love with this album as I did. It’s a cryin’ shame that I saw no meaningful information about him on Billboard. Then again, I’m not surprised.
Music aficionados would call Levy’s music modern jazz today. His style reminds me a lot of legendary George Benson. In fact, at one time, he actually toured with both George Benson and Jimmy McGriff. Levy’s album is filled with absolutely brilliant reinterpretations of well known classics. My strongest favorite is his rendition of The Carpenter’s “We’ve Only Just Begun.” I hate using words over and over, but this piece is amazing! This is what I call relaxing smooth jazz! It’s the kind of music you can play while chatting & brunching with friends.
I also encourage you to check out two more pieces from this album. His rendition of Carole King’s “Too Late, ” and The Jackson 5’s “Never Can Say Goodbye.” Both are absolute masterpieces as well in my opinion. His music creates a very smooth atmosphere. Legendary O’ Donel Levy died in 2016. We lost an amazing jazz talent.
I wonder out of curiosity, how many people remember Tracy Ulman? I would think not that many. Tracy was born in the UK, and she was an extremely successful 80s actress and singer. She had her own TV show, called The Tracy Ulman show. It aired from 1987 thru 1990. It was funny as hell in my opinion. I think she’s talented both as an actress and as a singer. One of my favorite songs she sung (which I also believe (if my memory is correct) was the theme song from that show) was “They Don’t Know (1983),” It was from her debut album “You Broke My Heart In Seventeen Places.” The song hit #8 on the Top 100 Charts. The album was actually cute, it has a 60s sound to it. I don’t think she has made an album in quite a long time. Most are just re releases of her old stuff. Although I think her music was cute, honestly I think I liked her better as an comedian.
I laugh every time I see this album cover. I don’t know why but, they remind me of one of those Sy-Fy movies where the alien is disguised as a human, just waiting for the right time to eat your brains while no one is looking! LOLOL. Even their music was sort of space-aged. The attitude these guys are giving in this photo is liken to that of “Men In Black (1997).” No doubt a dated photo ?. The group I’m writing about to day is called “Soft Cell.”
No Doubt, This Group Was An Acquired Taste.
They were a really popular, and yet awkward 80s group. Marc Almond & David Balls both are from the UK, and they mostly perform synth-pop and new wave music. Well, let me tell ya, no matter how hard they’ve tried, no one seemed to like their music, with the exception of one song that became an explosive hit! It’s really a shame that the public did not take to their music (including myself), because I think Marc had a really nice voice. Maybe his voice just didn’t fit with the kind of music David was putting together.
Record sales were so low that their record label wanted to break the group’s contract early. However, both the label and the group agreed on one last try. The decided to do a cover of an old 1965 song by Gloria Jones called “Tainted Love (1982).” The moment the recording was released, it shot up to #8 on the Top 100 Charts. The song turned out to be the one and only final hit of their career. They’ve tried create that similar formula in their later albums; but their albums never took to music fans. In fact, it was probably their “final nail in the coffin,” as every other album after their hit sounded too much alike. Here is the original 1965 classic from Gloria Jones “Tainted Love.”
I wouldn’t say that Eddie’s 1973 self-titled album was an outstanding album. However, it is his most memorable album because it includes his greatest #1 hit of his career. The song is called “Keep On Truckin’ (1973).” This song was boss back in the day. It stayed number one for two consecutive weeks! Every Black and Pro Black radio station was playing this song! In fact, I remembered the song being so popular, it seemed as though they played it with the same frequency as the commercials.
The late Eddie Kendricks was once a talented member of a legendary group called The Temptations! However, I don’t recall Eddie singing lead on too many songs. Well, I only remembered the couple of huge hits he sang, such as “Get Ready (1966),” “Just My Imagination (1971),” and “The Way You Do The Things You Do (1964).” Despite the climbing success of The Temptations, Both Eddie (and Jimmy Ruffin as well) wanted to pursue a solo career. When Eddie finally left the group, he had a very difficult time. Because as The Temptations continued to spill out hit after hit, Eddie didn’t even make the top ten list, barely Top 40.
I’ve read that The Temptations publicly taunted Eddie as a result of his mediocre success. In fact, The Temptations produced a song called “Superstar (Remember How You Got To Where You Are) (1971),” as a direct response to both Eddie’s departure, and the firing of Ruffin. In the end, everything worked out for both of them (despite the bad blood).
Boogie Down, Was Eddie’s Second Biggest Hit
The second biggest hit of Eddie’s career was a song called “Boogie Down (1974),” which reached #2 on the Top 100 Charts. Let me tell you, I heard soooooo many different LP versions of this song back in the day, it wasn’t even funny. I loved this song though. It was almost like listening to a revamped disco version of the late Curtis Mayfield’s “Super Fly.” Eddie had a very distinct falsetto, and was one of the very few people who could put his falsetto to dance music. Eddie died early in his 50s of lung cancer.
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