Things associated with Vanity 6.
Morris Day and the Time.
Beverly Hills Cop strip club scene.
Sex.

Hello World!!!

Before I get into the topic at hand, were you out last night in the A? It was actually chilly and windy. My thin-strapped bubble dress was not holding up in the night air…could it be that fall is upon us…could it be that my b-day is in a couple of weeks? The answer to both questions is a resounding, “Yes!” (Read: You still have time to buy a b-day gift for me…gift cards are cool too )

Okay, the topic of the day – Have you heard the news? Y’all would never guess who has enrolled in seminary…Yes, that’s right…Omarosa Manigault-Stallworth – that crazy chick from Donald Trump’s reality show “The Apprentice.” I watch very few reality shows, but I remember watching her on that show.  She was the ultimate “mean girl” and after a while, she became the reason that everyone tuned in. Most people would not admit it, but I think many of us got a vicarious thrill from watching her be catty and snooty. I imagine her demeanor will change now that she is officially a student at United Theological Seminary in Ohio. She is seeking a doctor of ministry degree. Her Web site is hilarious. She has two categories on her Web site: naughty and nice. On the nice page, she is dressed in a white flowly gown with her hands outstretched presumably pointed to heaven. I guess she is dressed as an angel. Well, on the naughty page, she is undoubtedly dressed as a devil. She has horns on her head and is in some red pleather get-up with her stomach showing.

I wonder if she plans to become a minister. Don’t laugh…stranger things have happened…Have you heard of Saul on the road to Damascus in the Bible? This guy, who was known for killing Christians, actually became one of the Bible’s most famous ministers of the gospel.  He actually has his own page on Wikipedia! All of this has me thinking about the qualities that make a good pastor or minister…

What do you look for? Do you want a minister who had a dramatic conversion experience like Paul or even Al Green? Apparently, he decided to become a minister not long after a pan of boiling grits was poured on him. Do you like a minister that can relate to young people? I’m sure that Rev. Run does not have a hard time relating to the youth. Does your minister have to be a bad girl gone good like Denise Matthews formerly of Vanity 6? Apparently, she is now an evangelist.

Celebrities aside, what do you look for in a pastor or a minister? Some people don’t believe that pastors should be women? Do you feel a pastor or minister should have a seminary degree? Is it important that a pastor have lived a rough life before being called to ministry? Or should a pastor be someone who was raised in the church and never strayed? Do your ministers have to be the same race that you are or have the same socioeconomic background that you have?  Do your pastors have to drive luxury vehicles or be married? Do your pastors have to be young with fresh ideas or old with time-tested beliefs?

In a previous post, I blogged about what people look for a church. In many cases, it is the pastor and or ministers that make the difference for some people.

Any thoughts?

Cover of Will You Still Love Me Tomorrow?: Girl Groups from the 50s on . . .; image courtesy of Amazon.com

As a means to enrich my interest in girl groups, I’ve been looking for literature on the subject. One book my thesis adviser recommended was English writer Charlotte Greig’s Will You Still Love Me Tomorrow?: Girl Groups from the 50s on . . ., which covers the girl group era (roughly 1960-1964) from both sides of the Atlantic, as well as girl groups that predated the era and formed (and continue to form) in the wake of its legacy.

I liked this book fine. It’s a good primer for folks just getting into girl groups (I’d certainly assign the chapters on the Brill Building or Motown to an undergrad class on gender and music culture). It’s smart and celebratory yet critical of the gender politics of girl groups without alienating a reader not hip to, say, Judith Butler’s thoughts on gender performativity. Greig also employs her trade skills as a journalist, so there’s lots of neat and valuable first-person accounts from folks like Brill Building songwriter Ellie Greenwich and members of the Marvelettes and the Velvelettes. And there’s lots of fascinating tidbits Greig throws in that could be spun into their own books. For example:

Did you know that American Bandstand started as a radio show on WFIL in Philadelphia, on the outskirts of town? Did you know that it became a television show because bored Italian American teenage girls from the neighboring West Catholic High School would hang out after school and start dancing to the records? Did you also know that existing within this group were class tensions that were easily reflected in girls’ particular clothes and hairdos? I certainly didn’t.

Perhaps unsurprising, but did you know that Brill Building songwriter/producer Ellie Greenwich worked with her husband Jeff Barry, who elbowed her out of songwriting and production credits because he assumed he’d be the breadwinner while she had the babies? They divorced.

Did you know that almost all of the girl groups Greig discusses (and/or interviews) failed to be compensated for their services? Perhaps unsurprising when you consider the larger context of the early days of rock music and its shady legal dealings with publishing and recording rights, but pretty important when considering the supposed “disposability” of girl groups.

Did you know that Reparata from Reparata and the Delrons (one of the best-named girl groups of the golden era) got her name from a saint? Kinda fascinating. I’d read an entire book on girl groups and Catholicism!

Did you know about that the role the British Invasion had in dismantling the girl group era was largely a myth? Many believe that English rock groups like The Beatles, The Rolling Stones, and their brethren were responsible for the demise of the girl group era (which is poor history, as you can see American acts like The Beach Boys, The Temptations, and The Supremes right up there with The Fab Four on the pop charts). Greig does well to remind her audience that groups like The Beatles were actually inspired by girl groups and covered many girl group songs. Instead, Greig attributes pre-mature folds of girl group songwriting factories like the Brill Building out of fear that the British Invasion would spell their demise.

Did you know that there were class differences between the girl groups at Motown? I certainly didn’t but, again, it makes sense. According to other groups like The Marvelettes, The Supremes were given unequal treatment at the record label because they were savvy, culturally-aware city girls. Other groups were comprised of country girls who didn’t grow up in Detroit and, thus, were not as hip or poised.

But these gems, which are often dropped without too much comment, speaks to my biggest problem with the book: it is simply too broad. And at just over 200 pages with a scant bibliography, the fact that she covers so much ground without digging deeper really left me wanting.

That said, I think this book does a noble job broadening the definition of what a girl group is. Greig’s principle mission, as she defines from the outset, is to dispense with the myth that girl groups were born in 1960 and died in 1964. She maintains that girl groups started forming post-World War II and are still forming and recording today (“today” meaning the late 1980s at the time of her writing).

She also argues that girl groups are not adherent to a particular genre, which, read alongside the Rhino girl group box set, seems very true. The girl group sound was actually not one singular generic entity but incorporated R&B, pop, soul, folk, and the blues. Thus, after the 1960s, when the girl group legacy endured, groups would revisit it while folding in reggae, disco, punk, funk, electronic music, and many other styles. And, as girl groups evolved, Greig argues that sometimes they became more politically minded. Particularly in the 70s, funk-based girl groups like Honey Cone tended to endorse a “black is beautiful” agenda.

And acts like LaBelle expanded how black could be beautiful by incorporating the (traditionally white, male) glam- and art-rock stylings of David Bowie and Peter Gabriel-era Genesis. However, my partner is quick (and right) to point out that Funkadelic adopted a similar performance style at around the same time, so let’s view LaBelle and Funkadelic alongside one another.

Punk bands like Blondie and The Slits became more makeshift in their look and self-reflexive and parodic in their approach to addressing femininity and consumer culture in their songs. But I feel like Greig gives more focus toward Blondie, so lets look at The Slits more closely.

I do find it a little disconcerting that The Runaways, The Bangles, and The Go-Gos are largely broadsided in this discussion. If two of Greig’s principle concerns with girl groups are: 1) they tend not to have female instrumentalists and 2) they tend to be controlled by male managers and producers, it would have been nice to see her discuss girl bands who encountered and had (varying degrees of) success breaking free from male control.

This omission makes Greig’s inclusion of Vanity 6 and Mary Jane Girls a bit of a hard sell for me. Despite being multi-racial and (often celebratory and raunchy) advocates for sexual agency and pleasure, both groups were also formed and almost completely controlled by men (Prince and Rick James, respectively). As Greig points this out, I would have appreciated a broader context that I feel dicussing girl bands could have provided.

That said, I do think the inclusion of Bananarama is interesting, as they had a punkish, thrift-store edge and often linked themselves to the girl group era by covering song like The Velvelettes’ “He Was Really Saying Something.” I suppose this gets us into the dangerous territory of “wearing” and “trying on” race, but I’ll let you decide.

I also appreciate that Greig included hip hop in the discussion of girl groups, vis-à-vis Salt-N-Pepa, though fear that past lesser-known acts like Northern State, hip hop has historically favored solo artists to groups and has provided scarce resources for women, whether on their own or rhyming with friends.

I’d also be curious as to what Greig would say about groups from my youth like TLC, En Vogue, SWV, The Spice Girls and, during my high school years, Destiny’s Child, 3LW, and Dream. And of course, if we’re expanding girl groups to include punkier acts, I wonder what Greig thinks of Vivian Girls and Mika Miko alongside neo-retro acts like The Pipettes, as well as acts like The Pussycat Dolls who are, for better or for worse, one of the few integrated, multi-racial girl groups to achieve mainstream success since The Ronettes.

Again, all worthwhile endeavors; each in need of their own book for further inquiry.

A practice session inspired by my closing set at the last Come Up party at the Terltdrace in Pasadena. The inspiration for my closing set was inspired by DJ Jedi’s funky fresh set. The practice session had potential but started to lose momentum towards the end when I tried to get into Hasim and Cybotron to immediately jump into Earth, Wind & Fire…it kind of killed my mood after that point and I just killed the mix. Otherwise, I am feeling it and I love to play music that I really like (love?). It seems like there are always some songs I always play when I get to play old school sets. Rock Steady, Saturday Love, And the Beat Goes On, I Can’t Wait, etc…whatever, I love that stuff so its all good in the hood.

Enjoy the mix. RIP The Come Up at the Terrace. The Come Up will rise again but be patient in the meantime and follow our work online. Peace.

Silverlake Sessions Vol. 3 (Week of 07.27.09) – Click to Download

Tracklisting:

1. Brothers Johnson – Ain’t We Funking Now
2. Brick – Ain’t Gonna Hurt Nobody
3. Cheryl Lynn – Got To Be Real
4. Cherrelle – Saturday Love feat. Alexander O’Neal
5. Janet Jackson – Escapade
6. L.T.D. – Love To The World
7. Lisa Lisa & Cult Jam – I Wonder If I Take You Home
8. Michael Jackson – Black Or White
9. Patrice Rushen – Forget Me Nots
10. Stevie Wonder – Do I Do
11. The Whispers – And The Beat Goes On
12. The Emotions – Best Of My Love
13. Evelyn “Champagne” King – Love Come Down
14. Rick James – Ghetto Life
15. Rose Royce – Car Wash
16. US 3 – Cantaloop
17. The Whispers – Rock Steady
18. Billy Ocean – Get Outta My Dreams, Get Into My Car
19. Freezepop – Pop Goes my Love
20. Mary Jane Girls – In My House
21. MC Shy D – Gotta Be Tough
22. Prince – I Want To Be Your Lover
23. Vanity 6 – Nasty Girl
24. MC Shy D – Bust This
25. Michael Jackson – Don’t Stop Til You Get Enough
26. Royal Cash – Radioactivity
27. Shiela E – A Love Bizarre
28. Hasim – Al-Naafiysh (The Soul)
29. Cybotron – Clear
30. Earth, Wind & Fire – Let’s Groove

Last Dragon was the first time I saw Vanity, and she was dope. Light skinned, good hair and sexy as fuck. I remember watching the movie on VHS over and over, first for the martial arts then just to see her smile. She did her time with prince then split and tried her hand at a solo career, where she found some success. A age old argument is who is more dope, Apollonia or Vanity?? If you ask me your looking at her.

I absolutely love Vanity.

She may not be feeling the old her but, she taught a lot of females about having an unforced sex appeal.

Ooh, look at me, I’m a Cadillac
I’m a brand new convertible child
I’ve never been driven baby, U’re the first
Come on baby, drive me wild … ooh

Ooh, look at me, I’m a telephone
Whatever U want, just dial
Come on honey, please, it’s so easy
Do it baby, drive me wild

CHORUS:
Come on baby, do it, drive me wild
Do it baby, drive me wild
Come on baby, do it, drive me wild
Do it baby, drive me wild

Ooh, look at me, I’m a radio
Call me up, make a request
I’ll do anything, just name it
When I’m bad, baby, I’m the best

CHORUS

Ooh

Ooh, look at me, I’m a baby doll
Just pick me up and I’ll smile
I may be young but I’m a whole lotta fun
Come on, baby, drive me wild

CHORUS

Ooh, do it, drive me wild
Come on baby, drive me wild
Ooh, do it, drive me wild
Come on baby, drive me wild
Drive me wild, drive me wild
[ Drive Me Wild Lyrics on http://www.lyricsmania.com/ ]

Evangelist Denise Matthews Today Click Here

Awwwwwwwwww YEAH!!

Thanks for all your luvin’ on our cover of Nasty Girl! We had over 300 downloads within the first 24 hrs!! If you haven’t got your hands on it, it’s FREE so download away & spread that Sh*t like it’s peanut butter!!

Just for sh*t & giggles we asked peeps to send us their “nastiest” picture or video. So far we’ve had a few but we know y’all are holding out on us.. haha When we said Nasty pictures or vids we didn’t mean you showing us your itty bitties.. it can be anything.. We’re gonna blog about it & do a poll to see who the winner is. So if you’re down submit that Sh*t! We cannot wait to see whatcha got! Send to loveandelectrik@thehastingsset.com Doooooooo it!! haha

peashhhhhhh out!

DOWNLOAD “NASTY GIRL” HERE

Vanity 6 was a female vocal trio assembled by Prince in the early 1980’s.  They released only one album, the self-titled Vanity 6, on August 11, 1982. The album combined elements of pop, funk, new wave, dance and R&B.  Their biggest hit, “Nasty Girl”, was the album’s second single.  They also released “He’s So Dull”  and “Drive Me Wild”.  Videos were shot for all three singles.  The group consisted of Canadian-born actress/model, Vanity (whose real name is Denise Matthews), Susan Moonsie (Prince’s high school girlfriend), and Boston native, Susan Bennett. The trio was basically an outlet for Prince’s prolific songwriting activities as he (under the production pseudonym, The Starr Company) wrote, produced and arranged essentially their entire output.  The women shared lead vocal duties and the R&B group, The Time (another Prince creation) contributed musically.  They were known for their provocative image, wearing lingerie as they sang songs of sex and fantasy.  For any old school Prince fan, they are an integral part of his musical history.  Their songs are sexy, fun and sonically innovative. Reviewing the album for the Village Voice, Robert Christgau worte, “All eight of these dumb, dancy little synth tunes get me off when I let my guard down, and most of them are funny, hooky, and raunchy at the same time.”  Well said…

The group disbanded just before production of the film “Purple Rain” due to Vanity’s sudden departure for undisclosed reasons (she was to star opposite Prince in the film as well). Ms. Matthews is now an evangelist.

The song “Make-Up” was covered by The Soft Pink Truth for their album, “Do You Party?” and “Drive Me Wild” was covered by Foo Fighters for their album, “The Colour And The Shape”. 

Album review from allmusic.com

So for this installment of the top 9 ,we give you the 9 hottest of the hot babes of the 80’s !

#9 Winnie Cooper from the Wonder years

Come on !!! If you even watched the wonder years as a kid you know she was at least cute to you !! Especially when they hit high school in the show .

#8 Jesse Spano

Even though she was” So Excited” on caffeine pills, she was still hot with her “political rebel” attitude ! Cheers to you ” Ms. So Excited ” !!

#7 Hilary Banks

Air head …Yes. Hot … indeed !!! This 80’s hottie could call us “daddy” and spend our money any day !! Until the bank hits us with the overdraft fees !!( oh banks how we hate thee .. not the family )

#6 Jessica Rabbit

Cartoon babe !!

#5 Kelly LeBrock

Weird Science would’ve been an awesome movie without her, but when those two geeks make this lady…… thank you science!

#4 Phoebe Cates

What makes Phoebe so hot is that girl next door feeling you get from her. However, at the same time, you just keep thinking to yourself that she’s gotta be a closet freak. I would kill a shit ton of gremlins for this sweet lady.

#3 Vanity

Do we really need to explain how hot this babe was !! Geez just watch the “Last Dragon” and wait a little after all Sho -nuff giggles y0u get from the movie theater fight. Tell me your heart doesn’t flutter when you see this woman ! Lucky man Bruce Leroy, lucky man !!

#2 Paula Abdul

Straight up now tell me wasn’t Ms. Abdul gorgeous !!??? We believe this the only woman that could make use wish we were animated cats singing a duet with her on an endless amount of stairs ….

#1 Kelly Kapowski and Lisa Turtle

This decision had to be a tie, we had to put all the “Saved By the Bell Hotties ” on the Top 9, except for Biker chic she was okay but hey nothing like Jesse, Lisa and Kelly !!

Ever since last month, I’ve been waiting for this mixtape to come out. The 29-track mixtape includes exclusive Proton remixes of songs by a few of their favorite female artists, as well as rare B-sides, slow jams, and party anthems.

With this project, Proton seeks to blur the lines of distinction the industry has placed on male and female artists.  Choosing “red” and “purple” instead of the traditional pink and blue, Proton illustrates how the two genders aren’t really that different when it comes to their musical tastes and the music they create.

Official Tracklist and Download Link:

this mariah and nick cannon thing…has to be fake surely. i know she’s madder than a bag of ferrets, but shotgun wedding to serial dater and no pre-nup? come ON…

download here

aaliyah and r.kelly – the thing i like

very seedy – aaliyah signed with r.kelly’s label at 13…and two years later they allegedly married when she was 15 although the certificate said she was 18. maybe she was? of all the discussions i’ve seen on this topic this hasn’t been raised a possibility. aaliyah went on to date damon dash. and r.kelly? not going there.

ashanti and nelly – switch

not sure if these two are still together or not – in any case both are releasing albums shortly so you can bet that they’ll let us know one way or another, depending on how their publicists decide to play it.

beyonce and jay-z – upgrade you

i want to like jayonce, but they have really dull friends like ‘new bono’ chris martin and gwyneth paltrow. on the upside, their inevitably impending offspring will have fabulously ghetto names, probably chosen by worlds’ scariest mama tina knowles. bet she’s scouring those 80s music lists for a faux francais babyname that jheri soul’s finest would be proud of.

bobby brown and whitney houston - something in common

oh how we loved bobby and whitney – 80s badboy teen falls for older woman and mends his ways. for about five years, then he has an early midlife crisis and it all goes badly wrong. now whitney is trying to replicate the good old days with an even younger model and bobby is trying to get it on with anyone who’ll have him.

brandy and boyz ii men – brokenhearted

think those child protection laws must’ve been a bit slack in the early 90s. like aaliyah, brandy fell prey to an older counterpart but *sigh of relief* it was sensible old wanya of non-threatening boyz ii men, and he apparently waited until she was 16…

common and erykah badu – the light

after splitting with andre 3000 of outkast, crazy bag lady erykah (i do mean that in a nice way) hooked up with smiley rapper common. this woman outcrazied two rappers. do not mess.

jennifer lopez and p diddy – feelin’s so good

i did like j lo and puffy. it was a shame about that inconvenient little shooting incident which scared her off. they were fabulously trashy and didn’t care. she also was channelling the best outfits of her life when they were together. i still want that green tropical versace number…

kelis and nas – popular thug

seemingly solid couple and i’m kind of impressed with nas that he chose kelis, who clearly is not your run of the mill model-video actress-clinique salesgirl by day type, which he no doubt had his pick of.

mary j blige and kci hailey – i don’t want to do anything

a bad move for mary, and i would say that jodeci were more than a little tarnished by the revelations concerning the destructive nature of her relationship with kci, which she was dealing with for years before she met kendu. karma’s a bitch – have you seen the state of jodeci lately?

notorious big and faith evans – one more chance

not the likeliest of lotharios but biggie managed to charm quite a few women in his 23 years…faith and lil kim faced off quite publicly about him for a while and let’s face it, must have felt a bit ridiculous fighting over someone so er, non-standard.

prince and vanity – if a girl answers

prince and vanity lead denise matthews had a short lived relationship, once they split, denise aka vanity, hightailed it and was replaced by patricia kotero in a new group, appollonia. *crickets* yes of course he did, why do you think she got the job? vanity went on to date slighty taller men – adam ant and billy idol.

rihanna and chris brown – umbrella

so, blabbermouth jordin sparks lifted the lid on the relationship and now they’ve been ’spotted’, unwittingly, in kfc…oh god…i mean they’re both like, 12 years old, why do i know this?  chris has only just started to form vowels properly.

apparently prince would like to duet with amy winehouse and she has rightly said she would be there with bells on if that rumour is true.

after beyonce’s shameless showboating at the grammys, it’s lucky he’ll consider sharing the stage with anyone.

regular readers will know i love me some prince:

as do the current r&b cognoscenti

my fantasy prince setlist, should he ever do another greatest hits tour

last summer, i saw him at the o2…sigh

prince’s protegees for even more purple magic

my first ever post included rare prince material

some artists needed a little princespiration…

even more artists jacked his style…

download here

prince and angie stone – sunshine

prince and george clinton – we can funk

prince and jill jones – my baby knows how 2 love me

prince and madonna – love song

prince and maxwell – no one

prince and nona gaye – love sign

prince and rosie gaines – nothing compares 2 u

prince and sheena easton – u got the look

prince and sheila e – erotic city

prince and vanity 6 – if a girl answers

computers ruled 1984. even i had one. my parents bought me an acorn electron for educational purposes and i spent the next four years playing bbc versions of arcade games. pac-man became ’snapper’, donkey kong was ‘boxer’ and frogger was ‘hopper’.

my personal favourites were chuckie egg and burgertime. you couldn’t get burgertime for the acorn electron so i had to play it in arcades. chuckie egg was available for the electron but it didn’t work. you’d sit through about five minutes of alphanumeric screeching and then, no chuckie, no egg.

then there were the fabulously basic text adventure games. ’sphinx adventure’. literally -

you cross the bridge. there’s a carrot.

>eat carrot.

you can see in the dark!

yes, really. and if you were a little brat like me…

you cross the bridge. there’s a carrot.

>shit

what is ’shit’?

download here

apollonia 6 - blue limousine

autumn – computer touch

billy ocean – syncopation

confection – put me on your playlist

duran duran – the reflex

klymaxx – video kid

midnight star – body snatchers

new edition – cool it now

phil oakey – together in electric dreams

pointer sisters – automatic

shannon – sweet somebody

wham – credit card baby

in the uk we’re probably more obsessed with the weather than is healthy. because our weather is SO CRAP.

evidence:

• snow at Easter – oh my god what was i just saying…
• weeks where the temperature ranges from 4c to 18c so you don’t know what the bleep to wear
• summers which are hot, but humid rather than sunny
• summers which are sunny and then way too hot
• rain – last summer we even tried to blame rihanna

download here

alexander o’neal – sunshine

nice 80s mellow track from mad mr neal. was ‘interpolated’ in the 90s by jay-z and foxy brown. how does a camel always manage to get a female compadre? foxy, mary, beyonce…

cloud one – don’t let this rainbow pass me by

quality 70s/80s soul.

level 42 – sun goes down

cod-reggae from a band that only ever would have sold in the 80s. you could get away with anything back then.

love unlimited – walking in the rain with the one that i love

these girls were part of barry white’s love unlimited orchestra until he allowed them to sing. hence their catalogue is an odd mix of vocal 70s soul and instrumentals. this was sampled by letoya luckett for ‘you got what i need’.

madame x – cherries in the snow

vanity-esque mid-late 80s artist. so, sounds a bit like prince, a genre close to my heart. cherries in the snow is also the name of a revlon lipstick and a book by emma forrest.

miss thang – thunder and lightning

answer records did exist in the 80s – this was a reply to oran juice jones. the genre wasn’t invented by sporty thievz.

neneh cherry – kisses on the wind

first woman not to hide her pregnancy on totp in 1989…and became a grandmother in 2004 at the age of 40.

new edition -  can you stand the rain

post-bobby and once their voices had broken, this was a great turn of the decade slow jam.

oran’ juice jones – the rain

synth soul classic with actual rain noise in case the point about rain wasn’t quite clear…gotta love the 80s…

rah band – clouds across the moon

quirky semi novelty soul. about someone whose man has flown to the moon. yes, the moon.

rotary connection -  i am the black gold of the sun

one of the best chillout soul classics ever featuring minnie ripperton. shameful admission – i thought nu yorican soul’s 90s cover was the original at the time. well i wasn’t born in 1971…

tony toni tone – it never rains in southern california

ok, again…i thought this was an original. tony toni tone are another group who can pull off cover versions.

stars are everywhere this season. i love it when the star prints pop up in shops. not as cutesy as hearts and infinitely more interesting than polka dots.

my favourite childhood dress was a little white rara dress with blue, red and yellow pastel stars. i haven’t found anything for my grown up wardrobe that was quite right but i live in hope. in the meantime i do have an old ollie and nic bag in green velvet with purple stars, which i love.

download here

air – kelly watch the stars

i loved ‘moon safari’. if you can’t decide whether something sounds retro or futuristic, or both, that’s generally a good thing.

cheri – star struck

cheri were a moderately successful 80s girl band a la the mary jane girls and vanity 6.

china black – stars

like the lighthouse family, china black were always on the edge of sounding a bit worthy, a common affliction for brit soulsters.

con funk shun – she’s a star

very prolific but not a widely known as their peers such as kool and the gang and earth wind and fire…

earth wind and fire – star

…who had a penchant for singing about stars. this is lesser known than ’shining star’ but i prefer it.

heatwave – star of the story

one word – royalties. ‘mind blowing decisions’, ‘boogie nights’ and ‘always and forever’ must have earned this lot a fair wad over the years.

index – starlight

early 80s boogie soul.

madonna – lucky star

perhaps the most starry sounding song about stars ever.

mariah carey - underneath the stars

think deep blue skies, wet green grass and twinkling yellow stars.

prince – baby i’m a star

golden era prince.

rah band – message from the stars

cute, slightly novelty band. you could get away with that kind of stuff in the 80s without being labelled completely shit.

simply red – stars

i loved this.

stevie wonder – another star

stevie didn’t venture into disco too often despite releasing quite a few albums in that era.  

terri walker – star

another underrated uk r&b artist…

Sally Shapiro – I Know
TTC – Paris Paris
Johnny Cash – Hurt
Aidan John Moffat – The Boy That You Love
Jeffrey Lewis – System System
Jóhann Jóhannsson – Part 2 IBM 1403 Printer
Shapes & Sizes – Island’s Gone Bad
Plan B – Missing Links
All Girl Summer Fun Band – Canadian Boyfriend
Françoise Hardy – La Fille Avec Toi
Vanity 6 – He’s So Dull
Half Man Half Biscuit – Bob Wilson, Anchorman
Bonnie ‘Prince’ Billy – The World’s Greatest
R Kelly – The World’s Greatest
Ladyscraper – 2 in the Pink 1 in the Stink (download the entire album, legally and free, from their label: Cock Rock Disco)