Dystopian Dance Party

Tag: rene & angela

  • Jheri Curl June: Angela Winbush’s “Angel”

    This year’s Jheri Curl June has leaned heavily into harder go-go beats and electro grooves. Sure, we had Atlantic Starr‘s grown and sexy “Love Me Down” at the beginning of the month, but after that it’s been back to back Jheri Jams. So, I felt it was again time to relax into something as silky smooth as the sheets that Angela Winbush rests on in the music video for her song “Angel.”

    We previously spoke about Angela Winbush and her abusive working relationship while she was a part of René and Angela. On her first solo album, 1987’s Sharp, Angela really shines as a powerhouse vocalist and multi-instrumentalist. Her credits on this album include drum programming, keyboards, synthesizer, bass, and percussion.

    Another fun thing of note is that on the vinyl release of Sharp, the A- and B-sides of the album were titled the “Slammin’ Side” and the “Quiet Storm” side, respectively. On our own playlist, we’ll probably return back to the Slammin’ Side tomorrow, but Angela Winbush’s “Angel” was like a nice cooling summer rain on a hot day.

    For now, check out our growing playlists below!

  • Jheri Curl June: Ashford & Simpson’s “Outta the World”

    It’s honestly shocking to me that in the six-year run of Jheri Curl June, we’ve never covered Ashford & Simpson, the ultimate soul music couple. Ashford & Simpson are what Jheri Curl June inductees René & Angela aspired to look like: a powerhouse singer-songwriter married couple.

    Beginning their careers as successful songwriters, Nickolas Ashford and Valerie Simpson wrote songs for Aretha Franklin and Ray Charles before joining Motown and continuing their trail of hits. But what we’re interested in here at Dystopian Dance Party is the second decade of Ashford & Simpson’s solo career: specifically, 1984’s Solid, when the couple went and got proverbial Jheri curls together.

    Solid could be classified as a Jheri Curl album for the grown and sexy. Unlike most Jheri Curl Music that’s for the club or en route to the club, this is the album you put on when you’re about to pour champagne and have slow, sensual sex on satin sheets. It’s not spontaneous humpin’, this shit was planned out all week and you’re about to make this baby because it’s a Friday night AND the peak day of ovulation. Babies aren’t made in heaven, after all.

    Anyway, let’s say you’ve poured out the champagne out and have been kissing and touching and all that, right? “Outta the World” is undressing and foreplay music. Things are getting steamy and wet now–you know, kind of like a Jheri curl. If I’ve said it once, I’ve said it a thousand times: at its best, Jheri Curl Music sounds like the wetness of desire AND/OR the literal feel of a Jheri curl, and “Outta the World” is a perfect example of this. Now check out Nickolas Ashford and Valerie Simpson’s sweet synchronized shoulder shrugs and get humpin’.

    And with that, we’ll just leave you to start your weekend with the words “Ashford & Simpson” and “humpin’” emblazoned in your brain. Or, you can listen to the playlists below and try to clear your mind.

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  • Jheri Curl June: Yarbrough & Peoples’ “Guilty”

    In many ways, Yarbrough & Peoples offer a much more pleasant male-female music partnership dynamic than earlier Jheri Curl June inductees René & Angela. Calvin Leon Yarbrough and Alisa Delois Peoples were childhood friends who eventually became a musical duo. After being discovered by the Gap Band and Lonnie Simmons, they recorded their best-known hit, “Don’t Stop the Music,” in 1980. They continued to record and tour as a duo until 1987, when they called it quits–to be married. That’s right: there were no bruised ribs or legal battles, and in fact Calvin and Alisa continue to write, produce, perform, and appear in musicals together. Isn’t that sweet?

    One of Yarbrough & Peoples’ last singles would be “Guilty,” from the 1986 album of the same name. The song is a smooth, funky groove, recorded as an answer to Alexander O’Neal‘s hit song “Innocent“–which, if you compare the two songs, is very evident, not only in the echoing titles but also in the very similar synth lines and melodies.

    The music video is just over four minutes of pure camp, with Alisa Peoples working at a used car lot alongside two crooked used car salesmen with cigars and cowboy hats:

    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-wtPXdPyvrE

    After she fails to dissuade a customer (Calvin Yarbrough) from buying a good car–probably because she was too mesmerized by that moustache, gap-tooth, and dimple triple threat–the shady cowboy hat salesmen come over and talk Yarbrough into buying a car that is a complete piece of shit by distracting him with cheerleaders…? Apparently titties and pom poms are enough to make this guy ignore the fact that there are visible cracks in the windshield, because he buys the car only to immediately realize his mistake when the engine doesn’t start and begins smoking. But, PLOT TWIST, Yarbrough is actually an undercover cop, and the “Guilty Bros” are arrested. Fair enough, but I still think that Yarbrough is guilty of being a moron for buying that car.

    Those Dimples though...
    Those Dimples, though…  © Total Experience Records

    We’ll be back tomorrow with more great jheri curl music from the latter half of the ’80s. Spotify and YouTube playlists are below:

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  • Jheri Curl June: René & Angela’s “I’ll Be Good”

    Musical duo René Moore and Angela Winbush had released three albums before they finally reached commercial success with 1985’s A Street Called Desire, which contained the hit single “I’ll Be Good.” Sadly, René and Angela were not good to each other, and ended their nine-year musical partnership in a mess of legal battles and physical abuse less than a year after the release of A Street Called Desire. It definitely makes “I’ll Be Good” a lot less charming when you consider that Moore allegedly broke and/or bruised Winbush’s ribs in a violent backstage altercation; the song (and that tiger-print blazer) are still hot as hell, though.

    Both René and Angela would go on to have successful solo careers, with René releasing two albums as well as writing and producing for Michael Jackson. Angela would go on to produce and write for yesterday’s JCJ subject, the Isley Brothers. Ronald Isley subsequently became Angela Winbush’s manager and the pair were eventually married, but divorced in 2001–which, to be fair, is still a happier ending than the René & Angela story.

    We’ll be back next week with another week dedicated to the women of jheri curl music. Until then, catch up with our Spotify and YouTube playlists after the jump.

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