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Pop Rock Nation

Tag: Andre Cymone

  • Infatueighties: #87/#86: “Yah Mo B There”/”Still a Thrill”

    The cover of Jody Watley's 1987 single "Still a Thrill"

    Remember on “American Top 40” when Casey Kasem would skip over songs that had been on the charts forever and a day? Well, since I already discussed “Yah Mo B There” here, there’s no point in rehashing. It pops up at #87 on my list.

    Now, song #86 is probably one of, if not the least-known song on this whole countdown. Most of you know Jody Watley as 1/3 of bubbly pop/disco group Shalamar or as the fashion plate who delivered post-Janet hits like “Looking for a New Love” and “Real Love”, but this song, while not a huge hit, served as her finest moment.

    Not only is Jody almost unrecognizable vocally-rocking a tone so deep you wouldn’t be out of line if you thought a man was singing, but this song has a nasty funk groove. The chicken scratch guitars and popping bass were provided by a guy named Andre Cymone. Prince fans may know Cymone as the Minneapolis Wonder’s original bass player (he left right before “1999”) and his de facto brother-Andre’s mother took Prince in as a teenager and the two boys grew up together. Andre had a fairly forgettable solo career, but scored a handful of hits as a producer, working with everyone from Jermaine Stewart to Adam Ant to Jody, who at the time of this song was his girlfriend and later became his wife. The two divorced at some point in the mid-Nineties, reportedly under a fair bit of acrimony, and Andre has become something of a recluse. Jody, however, still regularly scores hits on the dance charts and tours the country. Her most recent album, “The Makeover”, was released last year and scored a minor hit with a cover of Madonna’s “Borderline”.

    Oh, you’ll also find Andre fairly prominently featured as the love interest in this video.

  • The Infatueighties Countdown: #99: “Looking for a New Love”

    My friend Jim calls Shalamar the most underrated pop group of the Eighties, and he might have a point. The threesome of Howard Hewett, Jeffrey Daniel and Jody Watley created some of the most bubbly, well-crafted pop-R&B of it’s time, even incorporating new wave and rock textures into their music by the time of 1983’s “The Look”. They’re probably best known for the hit singles “This is for the Lover in You” (which Babyface re-recorded with the three original members in the late Nineties) and “A Night To Remember”. If Jeffrey Daniel’s face looks familiar to you, it’s because he appears in Michael Jackson’s “Beat It” and “Bad” videos. He apparently was also moonwalking almost a year before MJ “created” it for “Motown 25”, as the below listed clip will demonstrate.

    Anyway, Shalamar’s story is worthy of it’s own column sometime in the future. Back to the topic at hand. The female third of Shalamar, Jody Watley, reintroduced herself to the market as the high-fashion edition of a Janet Jackson or Madonna. With Prince associates David Z. and Andre Cymone (who she later married), her first album was a Top 10 success and also won her the Grammy for Best New Artist, largely due to the success of “Looking for a New Love”, an attitudinal slab of techno-funk that spent a month at #2 on the U.S. singles charts (thankfully, it spent that time behind a song worthy of beating it: U2’s “With or Without You”.

    While Jody’s subsequent albums failed to set the world on fire, her first album is easily one of the best dance-pop albums of the Eighties, and very easily the equal of Janet’s “Control” or Madonna’s debut. She was certainly a more striking visual artist than the other two: with a highly defined fashion style adopted from several years living in London, not to mention cheekbones that you could cut yourself on. She was also the first woman I ever saw with a tattoo, but that’s neither here nor there.

    Finally, let’s give her some long-overdue props for originating the phrase “Hasta La Vista, Baby” two years before Tone Loc used it in “Wild Thing” and three before Arnie uttered it in “Terminator 2”.

    This is the extended version of the single…sounds like it was sped up a bit too.

    Oh, and one more thing…she was voguing and embracing gay culture before Madonna…as this video from 1989 (“Vogue” came out a year later) will attest to. Hey, is that Rakim rapping in a video filled with drag queens??

    …By the way, if this list had stretched to 150, both “A Night To Remember” and “Friends” would have been included.

  • New Music In Stores & Online 7/29/08: Wow, This Is Bad

    In most years, there’s a period from mid-July to mid-August during which NOTHING comes out. As a record buyer, this is frustrating because you’re walking into record stores and not finding a thing that strikes your interest. On the other hand, with the holiday selling season closer than you think, it might be a good idea to save your money for the deluge that awaits.

    Anywhere, here’s my five picks (if I must) out of this week’s releases. How bad is it? I’m actually mentioning one of the same releases this week that I mentioned last week. Thank God for semantics.

    Sugarland “Love on the Inside”-The hottest country duo in the land took an interesting tactic with their new release. It came out last week in a “deluxe” edition, while this week marks the introduction of the presumably less-bells-and-whistles containing (and cheaper) regular version. Ten years ago, if you were to tell me that I’d even be considering buying an album like this, I’d have laughed you into September, but I’ve acquired a fondness for modern-day country. Although I’ve not heard much of Sugarland (aside from the godawful duet with Bon Jovi that I mentioned in last week’s column), I could very well be tempted to check this one out.

    Country duo Sugarland\'s new CD \"Love on the Inside\"

    http://www.sugarlandmusic.com/splash.html

    Rick Springfield “Venus in Overdrive”-Here’s something that just might freak you out. The guy that teenage girls drooled over in the early Eighties (my cousin had a picture of him hanging in her bedroom back in the day) is approaching 60. SIXTY. Nevertheless, the indefatigable Springfield continues playing and touring. This is Rick’s first album of original material in five years. His last album, “The Day After Yesterday” was an interesting collection of covers. I said “interesting”, not good.

    http://rickspringfield.com/

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