Dystopian Dance Party

Tag: georgio

  • Jheri Curl June: Prime Time’s “Anytime is Prime Time (Theme Song)”

    Jheri Curl June: Prime Time’s “Anytime is Prime Time (Theme Song)”

    In the almost-10 years since we started Jheri Curl June, I’ve learned to keep an eye out in the record store for potential discoveries in the Jheri Curlaverse. Sometimes, this habit pays off–as in the case of 2018 JCJ honoree Georgio. But sometimes, even the most promising-looking record can fail to live up to expectations.

    This was the case when, back home in Michigan two summers ago, I came across Confess It Baby, the 1985 sophomore album by Prime Time. “Promising-looking” didn’t even begin to describe it: Posed in front of the skyline backdrop from a local public access talk show, dressed in the finest selections from the Steve Harvey menswear line, the motley crew assembled on the album cover (see below) looked like they stepped out of a production of Guys and Dolls with a cast comprised entirely by the lineups of the Whispers and DeBarge. This–combined with a tracklist full of suggestive song titles like “What’s That You Slipped Into My Wine,” “Sex-o-logical,” and “Baby Don’t Break My Back“–basically put my expectations through the roof.

    Likely because of these sky-high expectations, I was underwhelmed when I got home and gave Confess It Baby a spin. It isn’t a terrible record, by any means, and certainly not below par for Jheri Curl June; remember, this is coming from someone who counts discovering Georgio as a success. But it was generic enough that I’d all but forgotten about Prime Time until this Jheri Curl June rolled around and I remembered, “Oh yeah, what about that one record by the goofy-ass Whispers/DeBarge knock-offs?”

    All of which is to say, I have good news and bad news about today’s JCJ pick. The bad news is, Confess It Baby isn’t officially streaming, and while we’ve included some YouTube-only tracks in past years, I can’t be bothered doing it for Prime Time. Which brings me to the good news: the group’s 1984 debut album Flying High is streaming, and it’s actually a damn sight better than Confess It Baby.

    Don’t get me wrong, it’s also hilarious. The group shot on the back cover (see above) is almost as goofy as the one on Confess It Baby, except this time the assorted Whispers and DeBarge castoffs are in a production of The Outsiders. Meanwhile, lead singer Jimmy Hamilton kicks off closing track “Anytime is Prime Time (Theme Song)”–yes, Prime Time end their debut album with a song about themselves–by yelling, “What time is it?” as if that catchphrase didn’t already very clearly belong to Morris Day of the Time. But the electro-lite groove and sunny melody ensure that you leave with a smile on your face, even if you don’t have as overdeveloped sense of irony as yours truly.

    Anytime is Prime Time to listen to Prime Time… and the rest of the artists on these playlists:

  • Jheri Curl June: Marlon Jackson’s “Baby Tonight”

    Earlier this month, I noticed a comment on our Instagram that said we’d been “sleeping on MJ.” My first thought was, “sleeping on MJ?! We gave Michael Jackson our second-ever Jheri Curl June Special way back in 2014; we also wrote about his 1988 film Moonwalker for Jheri Curl Cinema! If this is sleeping on MJ, what would being awake on him be like?!” But then I realized, maybe the “MJ” in question isn’t Michael at all; maybe, in fact, it’s his older brother Marlon Jackson. If that’s the case, random Instagram person, then I owe you an apology: we really have been sleeping on MJ these past seven years–but no more.

    Marlon, who once described himself as the “background Jackson,” was an original member of the Jackson 5, but didn’t get his chance in the spotlight until the group’s 1984 album Victory: writing, singing, and riding a motorcycle in the music video for the third single and closing track, “Body.” Two years later, he contributed a solo track, “(Let Your Love Find) The Chosen One,” to the soundtrack for the Eddie Murphy vehicle The Golden Child. Finally, in 1987, he released his solo debut, Baby Tonight, for which today’s song served as the lead single and title track.

    “Baby Tonight” is the definition of a late-period Jheri Jam, with its busy programmed bass and electronic rhythms (particularly in the remix used for the music video). It actually reminds me, not so much of Marlon’s brothers and bandmates in the Jacksons, but of our 2018 Jheri Curl June honoree Georgio–which might be a backhanded compliment, but I consider it a compliment nonetheless! Sadly, this MJ wouldn’t achieve anywhere near the solo success of the other one (or, for that matter, his older brother Jermaine, who I’m sure we’ll get around to writing about one of these days); Baby Tonight remains his only solo album, though he continues to perform with the Jacksons to this day. Which, for a self-described “background Jackson,” isn’t such a bad thing all in all.

    It’s hard to believe, but there’s only one more day of Jheri Curl June! We hope you’ve been enjoying it as much as we have. Feel free to catch up with the playlists below, and we’ll be back one more time tomorrow!

  • Jheri Curl June: Georgio’s “Tina Cherry”

    Every year there’s at least one artist who I eagerly anticipate writing about for Jheri Curl June. This year, without question, that artist is Georgio. I already told the story on our latest podcast about the first time I encountered Georgio, flipping through the racks at my local record store (shout out to Purple Narwhal Records in Rockville, Maryland). I took one look at the sculpted cheekbones and tastefully-applied makeup on the cover of his 12″ single “Tina Cherry,” and somehow I knew that this would be my JCJ discovery of 2018. I promptly picked up not only “Tina Cherry,” but the whole stack of Georgio records, and took them to the counter.

    Since then, I’ve made it a habit of picking up whatever Georgio I can find at the record store–I got a copy of “Lover’s Lane,” another single from his 1987 debut, from Electric Fetus in Minneapolis this April. The thing about Georgio I should establish at this point is that his music isn’t great. It’s perfectly competent, on the club/house-ier side of the late-decade JCM spectrum, but there’s a reason why it’s usually priced so cheap that I can routinely afford to walk out with a stack of five or six of his records. My affection for Georgio has a lot to do with my conviction that the best Jheri Curl Music, or at least the most characteristic, is often the most mediocre. It also has to do with the tragicomic history of the man himself, Georgio Allentini.

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  • 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!

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