• Full Force promo photo
    Old School,  R&B

    Full Force Get Busy One Time

    / June 21, 2005

    You mean to tell me I’ve never posted about 80’s R&B / funk masters Full Force? The genius of Bow Legged Lou, Paul Anthony, B-Fine and the rest of the fellas have never been discussed at length on the self-indulgent and hopefully sometimes entertaining- to-others blog named IckMusic? Well, that’s just plain wrong.

    You’ve heard Full Force before. If you’ve heard the beats, backing vocals and instrumentation behind Lisa Lisa & Cult Jam (“I Wonder if I Take You Home”, “All Cried Out”), Samantha Fox (“I Wanna Have Some Fun”, “Naughty Girls (Need Love Too)”), or UTFO’s “Roxanne Roxanne”, you’ve heard Full Force.

    Based out of Brooklyn, the boys in Full Force didn’t really get it going until they wrote and produced Lisa Lisa’s debut in 1985. From there, they released their own debut the next year. Check out a snippet from All Music’s scathing review: “This 1986 debut included the mildly entertaining “Alice, I Want You Just For Me!,” but was mostly either uneventful love tunes, haphazard novelty pieces or unfocused and formulaic quasi-raps.”

    Well color me stupid, I was a fool for their unfocused and formulaic quasi-raps! They released a few more albums in the 80’s and 90’s (as well as one comeback / tribute / greatest hits album in 2001). But they stayed busy as a production team through the years (I lost track of the boys around, oh, 1988).

    I give you two 12″ extended remixes recently pulled from my vinyl collection. One with Full Force in front of the mics, one behind.

    Full Force: Alice, I Want You Just For Me

    U.T.F.O.: Ya Cold Wanna Be With Me – written & produced by Full Force

  • Jody Watley
    Old School,  R&B

    She’s Still a Thrill

    / June 13, 2005

    Digging into the vault of hotties from my adolescence brings this funky, sensual tune from Jody Watley (I don’t post enough of the ladies). Jody started off as a Soul Train dancer in the 70’s. She would soon become a member of Shalamar, which was the brainchild of Soul Train’s booking agent Dick Griffey, and British R&B producer Simon Soussan. Jody bid Shalamar adieu in 1984, and exploded back on to the scene in ’87 with her debut solo album, which won her Best New Artist at the 1987 Grammies.

    This tune is co-written and produced by Andre Cymone (as is the album). Quick quiz, who is Andre Cymone?……bzzzzt. Andre was Prince’s bassist in the late 70’s and early 80’s (till 1981). He was a close childhood friend of Prince, and released three solo albums before moving behind the board as producer (Adam Ant, Jermaine Stewart, Pebbles, Tom Jones). Jody’s solo album was Andre’s first production credit, and an impressive one at that (by the way, what in the $#%@ happened to Andre Cymone?).

    I was checking out Jody’s web site, and she is still very much active. She updates her site regularly herself, and just recently wrapped up some shows in Japan. She has posted a 2005 remix of her biggest hit, “Lookin for a New Love” too. She’s still lookin’ great too.

    Jody Watley: Still a Thrill

     
  • Old School,  R&B

    Go-Go with Kurt and Trouble Funk

    / May 26, 2005

    It’s 1982 in Washington D.C tonight as Trouble Funk mixes their homemade brand of go-go music with the freshest master rappin’ styles of the day courtesy of Afrika Bambaataa and the Soul Sonic Force. Their 1982 release, ‘Drop the Bomb’ was released on Sugar Hill Records, home to some of the earliest hip hop sent out to the world.

    Trouble Funk: Pump Me Up

    Nice groove huh? Well, the very same beat in this tune was sampled and looped a few years later into Kurtis Blow‘s “If I Ruled the World”, which showed up in the old school classic film ‘Krush Groove’ (aka the Fat Boys acting debut).

    Kurtis Blow: If I Ruled The World

  • R&B

    It’s Rainin’ on my Window Pane

    / December 27, 2004

    Here’s a heart-wrenching tune from Toussaint McCall. I first heard this as a 15 or 16 year old on a Chicago radio station that played old blues and R&B on Sunday nights. I pressed Record on my tape deck, and listened to it over the years. It wasn’t until the magic of the internet that I was able to track down the artist. Yep, Toussaint McCall. This song helped me through many episodes of teen angst and heartbreak. Well, I’m not sure helped is the word, but it certainly helped me wallow in my sorrows over the years. Now that I’m happily married, I’ll never truly be able to play the role of the singer as he laments “I moved your pictures from my wall, and I replaced them, both large and small…” Damn, this is good stuff. One of my favorites of all time.

    From All Music:

    A classic from the winter of 1967 and possibly the most popular pure deep soul single of all time. Written by McCall, the slow love homage checked in at number five R&B and a solid number 22 pop. The production adheres to the K.I.S.S. principle (Keep It Simple Stupid) and is not much more than McCall’s passionate vocal riding on top of a sheet of minor organ chords.

    Lower the lights, make it rain, and listen to this:

    Buy Mr. McCall’s Music here.