Dystopian Dance Party

Tag: jheri curl music

  • Jheri Curl June: West Phillips’ “(I’m Just a) Sucker for a Pretty Face”

    I’ve been sitting on this song for at least two Jheri Curl Junes now, but I always held it back because I didn’t know what to say about West Phillips. The only information and the sole photo I could find of him are both above, stolen from his Discogs artist page; and when I Google Image Search “West Phillips,” I just get a bunch of photos of buff hunks in bikinis by a photographer with the same name (you’re welcome, by the way). Earlier this spring, however, I heard “Sucker for a Pretty Face” on Andrew Joseph’s and Laura Caringell’s Paid Time Off radio show and was reminded of what a monster fucking jam it is. What else do we need to say, really?

    In case that’s not enough, here’s some info on West Phillips, all paraphrased from the aforementioned Discogs bio. He was born Everton West Phillips in Antiqua and later relocated to Chicago, where he began his music career working with songwriter Jerry Butler on songs for R&B artists like Sam & Dave and Percy Sledge. He then graduated to work as a musician for Butler’s label Fountain Records, playing on sessions with groups like Omni. Also, at some point circa 1984, he had a wicked jheri curl (see above).

    But even if Phillips hadn’t sported a curl, the spirit of JC was clearly with him when he recorded “Sucker for a Pretty Face,” his 1983 debut single and a masterclass in airtight electro-funk groove construction. The thumping “Another One Bites the Dust” bassline, the exquisitely whining synthesizer, the synthetic drum-machine claps and surgical rhythm guitar–all with Phillips’ incessant, pitch-shifting, lightly Caribbean-accented vocals layered on top, complete with a rap featuring the line, “let me get to munchin’ on your lollipop.” What else is there to know? West Phillips is a sucker looking for some sugar; and in the end, aren’t we all?

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  • Jheri Curl June: Imagination’s “Just an Illusion”

    As we mentioned in our Jheri Curl June 2K18 podcast, one of our favorite activities here in the Dystopian Dance Party universe is digging in the crates for Jheri Curl Music; and the British JCM group Imagination is my favorite discovery since the Deele.

    © R&B Records

    I picked up their first album, 1981’s Body Talk, solely because of the album cover, which features the trio posed around a white piano, wearing garters and gladiator sandals, in a room shrouded in dry ice smoke.

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  • Jheri Curl June: Aurra’s “Make Up Your Mind”

    Dayton, Ohio’s Aurra began life as an offshoot of Jheri Curl June Class of 2015 and 2017 members Slave, led by multi-instrumentalist Steve Washington with guitarist and singer Curt Jones, singer Starleana Young, and arranger/multi-instrumentalist Charles Carter all in tow. By their third album, 1982’s A Little Love, Carter had departed (replaced by a whole mess of synthesizers) and the group’s focus had shifted firmly to Jones and Young, with Washington taking more of a behind-the-scenes production role. They had also become what the kids today would call “Jheri Curl af.”

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  • Jheri Curl June: Mandrill’s “Get It While It’s Hot”

    We begin our fifth year of Jheri Curl June with Mandrill: a group from Brooklyn, New York that had existed for over a decade before embracing the slick, seductive sound of Jheri Curl Music. Like Jheri Curl June veterans Kool & The Gang, Mandrill began as a large funk outfit with latin and jazz influences. By 1981’s Energize, however, they had discarded the jam-heavy grooves for the tight, synthetic sound of Jheri Curl funk. It would also be their last album recorded before they disbanded in 1982.

    “Get It While it’s Hot” is an example of how early Jheri Curl Music often offered up exceptions to the rules; in this case, Mandrill maintained their live horn section instead of using a synthesizer to provide “synthetic” horns. Yet most of the characteristics are here, including a low melodic bass line and soaring synths. It’s early JCM for sure, but Jheri nonetheless. (more…)