Dystopian Dance Party

Tag: babyface

  • Jheri Curl June: The Mac Band’s “Roses Are Red”

    Jheri Curl June: The Mac Band’s “Roses Are Red”

    The last week or so of Jheri Curl June is always a bittersweet experience, because with each passing day you’re reminded of the genre’s impermanence. Like the beautiful, delicate flower it was, Jheri Curl Music bloomed for only a short time; by the end of the ’80s, it was all but a distant memory. But even these waning years, there were still echoes of the J.C.M. glory days to be heard.

    My wife introduced me to one such echo, “Roses Are Red” by Flint, Michigan’s own Mac Band, the other day. Led by singing brothers Charles, Derrick, Kelvin, and Ray McCampbell, the group were signed to MCA Records in 1986 after winning that year’s Budweiser Showdown, a nationwide talent contest organized by the Houston-based Starstream Records. “Roses Are Red” was the third and most successful single from their 1988 debut album, which was confusingly titled The Mac Band Featuring the McCampbell Brothers and produced by multi-year JCJ alums L.A. Reid and Babyface, with musical contributions by David Lewis of Atlantic Starr.

    Like other LaFace productions of its vintage, “Roses Are Red” captured a transitional moment, with the hard-hitting drums (played by L.A. himself) heralding the coming of New Jack Swing. But just watch the video above, which looks like a group of uncles getting a few wine coolers deep and spontaneously trying to recreate Prince‘s video for “When Doves Cry”; these guys clearly had one foot in the mid-’80s, and you know what, I celebrate them for that.

    We’ll close out this year’s edition of Jheri Curl June next week! In the meantime, here are the playlists:

  • Jheri Curl June: Surface’s “Falling in Love”

    Jheri Curl June: Surface’s “Falling in Love”

    For the past nine years, we’ve harped on a lot about the sonic signifiers that make Jheri Curl Music what it is: your clean bass and rhythm guitar, your programmed drums, your layered synths, and so on. But one sound we’ve never had cause to mention is the flute… that is, at least, until now.

    “Falling in Love” was the debut single by the New Jersey-based group Surface: a vehicle for EMI Records staff songwriters David “Pic” Conley and David Townsend, with Conley’s girlfriend, Karen Copeland, on vocals. It is, at first glance, little more than a pleasantly chill midtempo J.C.M. trifle–imagine an S.O.S. Band album track, and you’ve basically got the picture. But then, the flute enters the mix–just a taste at first, then gradually growing in prominence, until all the sudden we’re treated to a full-blown solo. And you know what? It fuckin’ rules.

    I’ll admit, we’re not exactly unbiased when it comes to flute in pop songs. Callie’s other podcast dedicated a whole episode to flute jams; I spent a not-insignificant part of my youth listening to a cassette compilation called Funky Flutes and Sexy Sitars; at least one of us (I won’t say who) spent actual U.S. currency to see Jethro Tull in concert. But the flute adds so much to “Falling in Love,” it kind of begs the question why it wasn’t a more common sound in songs of its genre. Clearly, at least someone at Surface’s record label Salsoul agreed, because the single’s European picture sleeve prominently featured Conley serenading a bemused-looking Copeland with the instrument (see above).

    Unfortunately, “Falling in Love” didn’t kick off a whole new era of woodwind-mania in ’80s R&B. The single made it into the lower reaches of the Billboard R&B chart, peaking at Number 84 in summer 1983; the following year, electro-lite follow-up single “When Your Ex Wants You Back” reached the same position, after which Conley and Copeland broke up, marking the end of the group’s original lineup. Surface would eventually (ahem) resurface in 1986 with a new singer, Bernard Jackson, and a smoother sound heavily indebted to the likes of Babyface. It’s fine–we may even write about Surface Mark II in a future Jheri Curl June–but I think we all know what’s missing. Luckily, the version of “Falling in Love” on streaming services is an extra-long remix by Shep Pettibone, so you can wet your whistle and then some.

    Speaking of streaming, here are those playlists again:

  • Jheri Curl June: Bobby Brown’s “Don’t Be Cruel”

    As we’ve mentioned before, by the late 1980s, the sound of mainstream R&B was developing into what would become known as New Jack Swing. We’ve been writing about this for five years now, so if you don’t get it by now, let me explain it in Pokémon terms: your starter Pokémon is Disco. With love, attention, and experience, that eventually evolves into Jheri Curl Music. New Jack Swing is its final form. The basic elements exist throughout, but the forms morph into a larger, stronger monster.

    Bobby Brown’s “Don’t Be Cruel” was written and produced by Jheri Curl June inductees L.A. Reid and Babyface; and while it knocks harder than their work with the Deele, it still maintains much of the wet, silky flair of Jheri Curl Music.

    (more…)

  • Podcast: Jheri Curl June 2K18

    This year marks our fifth annual Jheri Curl June, and we’re going to make it a thing or die trying. Join us as we define the Jheri Curl Music genre and share our picks for the most essential tracks; then, starting Monday, we’ll formally kick off the month-long celebration of wet, silky ’80s R&B. Oh, and listen all the way to the end, because we also announce the winners of our two free copies of Dystopian Dance Party Issue 1!

    (more…)

    Podcast: Play in new window | Download

  • The Prince Issue Podcast with Guest Erika Peterson

    As you may have heard, we recently launched a physical magazine, the first issue of which is dedicated to eclectic art and writing inspired by the music of Prince. So, to celebrate a successful launch–and to get us back in podcasting mode after an unplanned six-month leave of absence–we invited Erika Peterson, a friend and contributor to the magazine, to talk about her work and the most funny/surreal moments of Celebration 2018 at Paisley Park. We also talk about Dystopian Dance Party’s ongoing beef with Questlove, and do our best to try and beat him at his own game of guessing Prince songs from their opening seconds. It doesn’t go well.

    (more…)

    Podcast: Play in new window | Download

  • Jheri Curl June: After 7’s “In the Heat of the Moment”

    After 7 were formed in 1988, just in time to partake in Jheri Curl Music’s swan song before the genre gave way to the emerging New Jack Swing style. The group consisted of Kevon and Melvin Edmonds–brothers of singer, songwriter, and Jheri Curl June inductee Babyface–as well as Keith Mitchell, who was (incorrectly) rumored to be the cousin of music mogul (and another JCJ featured artist) L.A. Reid. Both Babyface and Reid wrote and produced much of After 7’s 1989 debut album, including their hit single and late Jheri Curl jam, “In the Heat of the Moment.”

    (more…)

  • Jheri Curl June Special: L.A. Reid

    If you’re a regular Jheri Curl June reader, then you should already know that the first week of June holds special signifance in jheri curl music history. As we noted back in our very first Jheri Curl June Special of 2014, Prince’s birthday falls at the end of the week, on June 7. Just a day earlier, there’s also the birthday of megaproducer and Prince’s fellow Minneapolitan, James “Jimmy Jam” Harris III: the subject, with musical life partner Terry Lewis, of our 2015 JCJ Special. And if all that wasn’t enough, on the very same date as Prince, another Midwestern Jheri Curl architect was born in 1956: Cincinnati, Ohio’s own Antonio “L.A.” Reid.

    With all due respect to Mr. Reid–who, in my defense, has so much money that I sincerely doubt he cares–there’s a reason why we waited three years to enshrine him in the Jheri Curl June Hall of Fame. If, as I suggested last year, Prince was Jheri Curl’s principal architect and Jam and Lewis its most successful engineers, then Reid and his longtime colleague Kenneth “Babyface” Edmonds were more like JCM’s property developers, building on the blueprints of the Minneapolis Sound to considerable success without ever really innovating on the formula. When we think about L.A. and Babyface, we think about…well, LaFace, a label synonymous with early ’90s R&B. Their achievements in the previous decade were decidedly more modest.

    But that doesn’t mean they weren’t, in their own way, important. Dystopian Dance Party has love for Reid’s and Edmonds’ early band the Deele, and last year we highlighted one of the pair’s late-era jheri curl productions, “Rock Steady” by the Whispers. There’s plenty of room in pop music for songs that refine and iterate on existing formulas, rather than reinventing the wheel; this is especially true in jheri curl music, a genre that existed pretty much exclusively as a vehicle for up-and-coming artists to bite from Prince and Michael Jackson. This, then, is our tribute to L.A. Reid: maybe not the most innovative of artists, but a shrewd businessman, a talented musician, and a gifted producer and songwriter who could, let’s not forget, buy and sell all of us in a second.

    (more…)

  • Jheri Curl June: Shalamar’s “Imaginary Love”

    By 1987, Shalamar’s classic lineup of Howard Hewett, Jody Watley, and Jeffrey Daniel had disbanded. The lineup for Shalamar’s ninth studio album, Circumstantial Evidence, consisted of Sidney Justin, a former backup singer for the group who replaced Hewett when he left in 1985 to pursue his solo career; DeLisa Davis, who auditioned to replace Watley after her departure in 1983; and Micki Free, a rock guitarist who was discovered by Gene Simmons while in a band that opened for KISS, and later joined Shalamar under Simmons’ counseling despite his hard rock sensibilities.

    (more…)

  • Jheri Curl June: The Whispers’ “Rock Steady”

    On Tuesday we talked about the Deele, the Ohio-based R&B group that kickstarted the careers of Antonio “L.A.” Reid and Kenneth “Babyface” Edmonds. Today we look at one of the songs the duo produced under their production company, Deelesongz, Inc.: the Whispers’ “Rock Steady.”

    The Whispers were formed in 1963 by twins and black Mario Bros. Wallace “Scotty” Scott and Walter Scott, and had several hits throughout the ’60s and ’70s. But “Rock Steady” was their first hit to make it into the Top 10 on the Hot 100, peaking at number 7. I like to think that the success of Rock Steady can be directly attributed to this amazing video:

    (more…)

  • Jheri Curl June: The Deele’s “Stimulate”

    In 1989 Antonio “L.A.” Reid and Kenneth “Babyface” Edmonds founded LaFace records, the record company responsible for Usher, OutKast, TLC, Pink, and Toni Braxton, among others.

    Back in 1985, though, they were sporting bright pink satin dress shirts and impressive jheri curls with the rest of the boys in the Deele, yet another funk and R&B outfit from Ohio.

    (more…)