The Music Of The 80s - Favorites, Classics And Rarities

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MIKE FRANCIS

 

Mike Francis was born Francesco Puccioni on April 26, 1961 in Florence, Italy. The choice of an English stage name comes from Mike's direct contact with American culture.

 

At the age of 14, he started taking guitar and piano, discovering a great talent. Identifying himself with the music played by foreign artists, he started listening regularly to all of their music. Subsequently he gave, with his American friends, small concerts in all American schools in Rome.

 

Right after High School, although he thought of going to university, he began writing seriously his first songs, studying contemporaneously composition and arrangement as a self-taught person.

 

From the time of his first album "Let's not talk about it", including the hit "Survivor", Mike carried through his activity as an author and composer with great success, other than for himself as in "Let Me In", for other artists, in this particular case for Amii Stewart in "Friends" (already on top of both Black American and English charts) and "Together", where he is again author-composer.

 

The year after, he came out with his second LP, "Features", which shows undoubtedly his musical evolution as well as particular artistic inspiration. Among the ten songs within the album, starting with a prelude, we suggest you listen to "Features of Love" and "You can't get out of my Heart" and "Let Me In" to better comprehend the progressive growth of his musical personality. This album includes also the hit "Together", and the remake of two old hits "I'm not in Love" by 10 CC and "Lovely Day" by Bill Withers.

 

The third album "Dreams of a Lifetime" shows clearly Mike's great musical evolution.

 

After listening to it, you can notice the accurate search of the sounds; and the arrangements as well have radically changed compared to the previous works, thanks to the contribution of a new collaborator, Davide Romani, already well-known in the music field for having signed important and famous international products, as songs from the group Change (first place in the American charts a few years back).

 

Chosen from the album, as first single, is "Good and Bad Times", for its involving rythm and catchy tune. This track came from the prolific musical vein of the artist Thoty, and sung together with Mike is no doubt the winning formula.

 

Another prominent song for its incredible atmosphere is "On and On". The particular care given to its arrangements, gives us a chance to appreciate a new sound technics and following with an excellent mixing is "Body Thrill" of only instrumental version.

 

In the album, among the other tunes, we find "Love Weekend", an instrumental track in which Davide Romani and Mike Francis have availed themselves of the performance of a great Italian musician, clarinetist Hengel Gualdi. Furthermore, to increase the classical and artistic value of the samer, they'e availed themselves of 21 elements of a real orchestra, arranged and directed by Renato Serio.

 

To the accomplishment of this record, the already faithful collaborators have participated: Agostino Marangolo, Alessandro Centofanti, Dino d'Autorio, Fabio Pignatelli, and, as in the previous album, the inseperable friend Amii Stewart.

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JAMES INGRAM

 

James Ingram began performing with the band Revelation Funk in the early '70s, moving from Akron, OH, to Los Angeles in 1973. During the '70s, Ingram supported Ray Charles on the road with backup vocals and piano, played keyboards behind the Coasters on Dick Clark's oldies revues, and was Leon Haywood's musical director. After hearing a demo of him singing "Just Once," Quincy Jones asked Ingram to perform on his new album. Released in 1980 on The Dude, the number 17 "Just Once" was Ingram's first success, resulting in three Grammy nominations -- Best New Artist, Best Pop Male Vocal, and Best R&B Vocal -- winning in the two latter categories. From the same album, James Ingram also did the vocals of "One Hundred Ways".

 

Throughout the '80s, Ingram had steady popular success singing duets. His duet with Patti Austin "Baby Come To Me" went to the top of the charts. His 1983 release of the album "It's Your Night" came up with the second duet with Patti Austin "How Do You Keep The Music Playing" only reached the bottom half of the Top 20. His duet with Michael McDonald "Yah Mo B There" received Grammy nominations but only reached #20 in the charts. Other songs, "There's No Easy Way" and "She Loves Me" only made it to the Soul/R&B charts. The album was moderately successful.

 

His next release in 1987 bombed out with two songs "Always" and "Another Way" (from Beverly Hills Cop 2) did not reach the Top 40.

 

In 1990 he scored his first solo #1 hit, "I Don't Have the Heart." The song came out as a previously unreleased recording included in his greatest hits compilation. No more chart hits followed.

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PEABO BRYSON

 

Vocalist Peabo Bryson was among the premier silky-voiced soul artists who emerged as the softer, more sophisticated urban contemporary sound became dominant in the '70s and '80s. Bryson, who was born in Greenville, SC, sang with Al Freeman & the Upsetters in 1965, and was in the group Moses Dillard & the Tex-Town Display from 1968 to 1973. He was a producer and composer for Atlanta's Bang Records in the early '70s, and sang in Michael Zager's Moon Band. His self-titled, debut LP and several singles were recorded for Bang's subsidiary company Bullet, among them "Do It With Feeling," "Underground Music," "It's Just a Matter of Time," "Just Another Day," and "I Can Make It Better." All were moderate R&B hits. Bryson moved to Capitol in 1978, where his first album, Reaching for the Sky, went gold, and the title track was a number six R&B hit. He remained in the Moon Band until 1979, departing after "I'm So Into You" spent two weeks as the nation's number-two R&B hit in 1978.

 

Bryson continued a prolific career as both lead act and duet participant. He made hit duets with Natalie Cole, Roberta Flack, Melissa Manchester, and Regina Belle. Bryson recorded for Capitol until 1984, when he switched to Elektra, and enjoyed more success with "If Ever You're in My Arms Again" which made it to the US Top 10. He scored another major hit with Regina Belle with "A Whole New World" from the Walt Disney animated movie "Aladdin." He moved to Columbia in 1991, issuing Can You Stop the Rain; subsequent efforts include 1994's Through the Fire and 1999's Unconditional Love

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WILLIE NELSON

 

As a songwriter and a performer, Willie Nelson played a vital role in post-rock & roll country music. Although he didn't become a star until the mid-'70s, Nelson spent the '60s writing songs that became hits for stars like Ray Price ("Night Life"), Patsy Cline ("Crazy"), Faron Young ("Hello Walls"), and Billy Walker ("Funny How Time Slips Away") as well as releasing a series of records on Liberty and RCA that earned him a small, but devoted, cult following. During the early '70s, Willie aligned himself with Waylon Jennings and the burgeoning outlaw country movement which made him into a star in 1975. Following the crossover success of that year's The Red Headed Stranger and "Blue Eyes Crying in the Rain," Nelson was a genuine star, as recognizable in pop circles as he was to the country audience; in addition to recording, he also launched an acting career in the early '80s. Even when he was a star, Willie never played it safe musically. Instead, he borrowed from a wide variety of styles, including traditional pop, Western swing, jazz, traditional country, cowboy songs, honky tonk, rock & roll, folk, and the blues, creating a distinctive, elastic hybrid. Nelson remained at the top of the country charts until the mid-'80s, when his lifestyle -- which had always been close to the outlaw clichés his music flirted with -- began to spiral out of control, culminating in an infamous battle with the IRS in the late '80s. During the '90s, Nelson's sales never reached the heights that he had experienced a decade earlier, but he remained a vital icon in country music, having greatly influenced the new country, new traditionalist, and alternative country movements of the '80s and '90s as well as leaving behind a legacy of classic songs and recordings.

Nelson began performing music as a child growing up in Abbott, TX. After his father died and his mother ran away, Nelson and his sister Bobbie were raised by their grandparents, who encouraged both children to play instruments. Willie picked up the guitar, and by the time he was seven, he was already writing songs. Bobbie learned to play piano, eventually meeting -- and later marrying -- fiddler Bud Fletcher, who invited both of the siblings to join his band. Nelson had already played with Raychecks' Polka Band, but with Fletcher, he acted as the group's frontman. Willie stayed with Fletcher throughout high school. Upon his graduation, he joined the Air Force but had to leave shortly afterward, when he became plagued by back problems. Following his disenrollment from the service, he began looking for full-time work. After he worked several part-time jobs, he landed a job as a country DJ at Fort Worth's KCNC in 1954. Nelson continued to sing in honky tonks as he worked as a DJ, deciding to make a stab at recording career by 1956. That year, he headed to Vancouver, WA, where he recorded Leon Payne's "Lumberjack." At that time, Payne was a DJ and he plugged "Lumberjack" on the air, which eventually resulted in sales of 3,000 -- a respectable figure for an independent single, but not enough to gain much attention. For the next few years, Willie continued to DJ and sing in clubs. During this time, he sold "Family Bible" to a guitar instructor for 50 dollars, and when the song became a hit for Claude Gray in 1960, Nelson decided to move to Nashville the following year to try his luck. Though his nasal voice and jazzy, off-center phrasing didn't win him many friends -- several demos were made and then rejected by various labels -- his songwriting ability didn't go unnoticed, and soon Hank Cochran helped Willie land a publishing contract at Pamper Music. Ray Price, who co-owned Pamper Music, recorded Nelson's "Night Life" and invited him to join his touring band, the Cherokee Cowboys, as a bassist.

 

Arriving at the beginning of 1961, Price's invitation began a watershed year for Nelson. Not only did he play with Price -- eventually taking members of the Cherokee Cowboys to form his own touring band -- but his songs also provided major hits for several other artists. Faron Young took "Hello Walls" to number one for nine weeks, Billy Walker made "Funny How Time Slips Away" into a Top 40 country smash, and Patsy Cline made "Crazy" into a Top Ten pop crossover hit. Earlier in the year, he signed a contract with Liberty Records and began releasing a series of singles that were usually drenched in strings. "Willingly," a duet with his then-wife Shirley Collie, became a Top Ten hit for Nelson early in 1962, and it was followed by another Top Ten single, "Touch Me," later that year. Both singles made it seem like Nelson was primed to become a star, but his career stalled just as quickly as it had taken off, and he was soon charting in the lower regions of the Top 40. Liberty closed its country division in 1964, the same year Roy Orbison had a hit with "Pretty Paper."

 

When the Monument recordings failed to become hits, Nelson moved to RCA Records in 1965, the same year he became a member of the Grand Ole Opry. Over the next seven years, Willie had a steady stream of minor hits, highlighted by the number 13 hit "Bring Me Sunshine" in 1969. Toward the end of his stint with RCA, he had grown frustrated with the label, who had continually tried to shoehorn him into the heavily produced Nashville sound. By 1972, he wasn't even able to reach the country Top 40. Discouraged by his lack of success, Nelson decided to retire from country music, moving back to Austin, TX, after a brief and disastrous sojourn into pig farming. Once he arrived in Austin, Nelson realized that many young rock fans were listening to country music along with the traditional honky tonk audience. Spotting an opportunity, Willie began performing again, scrapping his pop-oriented Nashville sound and image for a rock- and folk-influenced redneck outlaw image. Soon, he earned a contract with Atlantic Records.

 

Shotgun Willie (1973), Nelson's first album for Atlantic, was evidence of the shift of his musical style, and although it initially didn't sell well, it earned good reviews and cultivated a dedicated cult following. By the fall of 1973, his version of Bob Wills' "Stay All Night (Stay a Little Longer)" had cracked the country Top 40. The following year, he delivered the concept album Phases and Stages, which increased his following even more with the hit singles "Bloody Mary Morning" and "After the Fire Is Gone." But the real commercial breakthrough didn't arrive until 1975, when he severed ties with Atlantic and signed to Columbia Records, who gave him complete creative control of his records. Willie's first album for Columbia, The Red Headed Stranger, was a spare concept album about a preacher, featuring only his guitar and his sister's piano. The label was reluctant to release with such stark arrangements, but they relented and it became a huge hit, thanks to Nelson's understated cover of Roy Acuff's "Blue Eyes Crying in the Rain."

 

Following the breakthrough success of The Red Headed Stranger as well as Waylon Jennings' simultaneous success, outlaw country -- so named because it worked outside of the confines of the Nashville industry -- became a sensation, and RCA compiled the various-artists album Wanted: The Outlaws!, using material Nelson, Jennings, Tompall Glaser, and Jessi Colter had previously recorded for the label. The compilation boasted a number one single in the form of the newly recorded Jennings and Nelson duet "Good Hearted Woman," which was also named the Country Music Association's single of the year. For the next five years, Nelson consistently charted on both the country and pop charts, with "Remember Me," "If You've Got the Money I've Got the Time," and "Uncloudy Day" becoming Top Ten country singles in 1976; "I Love You a Thousand Ways" and the Mary Kay Place duet "Something to Brag About" were Top Ten country singles the following year.

 

Nelson enjoyed his most successful year to date in 1978, as he charted with two very dissimilar albums. Waylon and Willie, his first duet album with Jennings, was a major success early in the year, spawning the signature song "Mammas Don't Let Your Babies Grow Up to Be Cowboys." Later in the year, he released Stardust, a string-augmented collection of pop standards produced by Booker T. Jones. Most observers believed that the unconventional album would derail Nelson's career, but it unexpectedly became one of the most successful records in his catalog, spending almost ten years in the country charts and eventually selling over four million copies. After the success of Stardust, Willie branched out into film, appearing in the Robert Redford movie The Electric Horseman in 1979 and starring in Honeysuckle Rose the following year. The latter spawned the hit "On the Road Again," which became another one of Nelson's signature songs.

 

Willie continued to have hits throughout the early '80s, when he had a major crossover success in 1982 with a cover of Elvis Presley's hit "Always on My Mind." The single spent two weeks at number one and crossed over to number five on the pop charts, sending the album of the same name to number two on the pop charts as well as quadruple-platinum status. Over the next two years, he had hit duet albums with Merle Haggard (1983's Poncho & Lefty) and Jennings (1982's WWII and 1983's Take It to the Limit), while "To All the Girls I've Loved Before," a duet with Latin pop star Julio Iglesias, became another major crossover success in 1984, peaking at number five on the pop charts and number one on the singles chart.

 

Following a string of number one singles in early 1985, including "Highwayman," the first single from the Highwaymen, a supergroup he formed with Jennings, Johnny Cash, and Kris Kristofferson, Nelson's popularity gradually began to erode. A new generation of artists had captured the attention of the country audience, which began to drastically cut into his own audience. For the remainder of the decade, he recorded less frequently and remained on the road; he also continued to do charity work, most notably Farm Aid, an annual concert that he founded in 1985 designed to provide aid to ailing farmers. While he career was declining, an old demon began to creep up on Willie -- the IRS. In November of 1990, he was given a bill for 16.7 million dollars in back taxes. During the following year, almost all of his assets -- including several houses, studios, farms, and various properties -- were taken away, and to help pay his bill, he released the double-album The IRS Tapes: Who'll Buy My Memories?. Originally released as two separate albums, the records were marketed through television commercials, and all the profits were directed to the IRS. By 1993 -- the year he turned 60 -- his debts had been paid off, and he relaunched his recording career with Across the Borderline, an ambitious album produced by Don Was and featuring cameos by Bob Dylan, Bonnie Raitt, Paul Simon, Sinead O'Connor, David Crosby, and Kris Kristofferson. The record received strong reviews and became his first solo album to appear in the pop charts since 1985.

 

After the release of Across the Borderline, Nelson continued to work steadily, releasing at least one album a year and touring constantly. In 1993, he was inducted into the Country Music Hall of Fame, but by that time, he had already become a living legend for all country music fans across the world. Signing to Island for 1996's Spirit, he resurfaced two years later with the critically acclaimed Teatro, produced by Daniel Lanois. Nelson followed up that success with the instrumental-oriented Night and Day a year later; Me and the Drummer and Milk Cow Blues followed in 2000. The Rainbow Connection, which featured an eclectic selection of old-time country favorites, appeared in spring 2001

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JULIO IGLESIAS

 

Julio Iglesias was the most popular Latin singer of the '70s and '80s, selling over 100 million albums around the world. Iglesias was a smooth, romantic crooner and his appeal translated to many different countries in many different languages.

 

Initially, Iglesias planned to be a lawyer. As he studied, he was a goalkeeper for the Real Madrid football team. His career as an athlete was ended after an automobile accident in the mid-'60s. While he was recovering, Iglesias started playing guitar and writing songs. Before he began a musical career, he finished his law studies at Cambridge University. In 1968, he was a contestant at the 1968 Spanish Song Festival at Benidorm, singing his original song "La Vida Sigue Igual." Iglesias won the first prize at the contest, which led to a record contract with Discos Columbia, an independent record label.

 

During the '70s, he toured Europe and Latin America, gaining a large fan base with hits like 1975's "Manuela." By the end of the decade, he was extremely popular -- so popular, CBS International sought out a contract with him. He signed with the label in 1978. Iglesias began to record not only in Spanish, but in Italian and French as well. At the turn of the decade, Julio Iglesias began to pursue the American and British markets by concentrating on his English recordings. His efforts began to pay off in 1981, when his cover of "Begin the Beguine" became a number one hit. It was quickly followed by the compilation record Julio, which became a big success in England and America. However, his major crossover success was 1984's 1100 Bel Air Place, a collection of duets. Featuring the Top Ten hit duet with Willie Nelson "To All the Girls I've Loved Before," the album sold over three million copies in America and peaked at number five on the pop charts; it also spawned "All of You," a hit duet with Diana Ross. Iglesias' popularity continued to grow throughout the '80s, although he only had one more pop crossover hit, 1988's "My Love," a duet with Stevie Wonder.

 

By the 1990s, he had stopped courting the English pop market and concentrated on recording mainly in Spanish, as well as a handful of other languages. His popularity did not diminish at all in his third decade of recordings -- he was still capable of selling millions of records and selling out concerts around the world

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DIANA ROSS

 

As a solo artist, Diana Ross is one of the most successful female singers of the rock era. If you factor in her work as the lead singer of the Supremes in the 1960s, she may be the most successful.

With her friends Mary Wilson, Florence Ballard, and Barbara Martin, Ross formed the Primettes vocal quartet in 1959. In 1960, they were signed to local Motown Records, changing their name to the Supremes in 1961. Martin then left, and the group continued as a trio. Over the next eight years, the Supremes (renamed "Diana Ross and the Supremes" in 1967, when Cindy Birdsong replaced Ballard) scored 12 number one pop hits. After the last one, "Someday We'll Be Together" (October 1969), Ross launched a solo career.

 

Motown initially paired her with writer/producers Nickolas Ashford and Valerie Simpson, who gave her four Top 40 pop hits, including the number one "Ain't No Mountain High Enough" (July 1970). Ross branched out into acting, starring in a film biography of Billie Holiday, Lady Sings the Blues (November 1972). The soundtrack went to number one, and Ross was nominated for an Academy Award.

 

She returned to record-making with the Top Ten album Touch Me in the Morning (June 1973) and its chart-topping title song. This was followed by a duet album with Marvin Gaye, Diana & Marvin (October 1973), that produced three chart hits. Ross acted in her second movie, Mahogany (October 1975), and it brought her another chart-topping single in the theme song, "Do You Know Where You're Going To." That and her next number one, the disco-oriented "Love Hangover" (March 1976), were featured on her second album to be titled simply Diana Ross (February 1976), which rose into the Top Ten.

 

Ross' third film role came in The Wiz (October 1978). The Boss (May 1979) was a gold-selling album, followed by the platinum-selling Diana (May 1980) (the second of her solo albums with that name, though the other, a 1971 TV soundtrack, had an exclamation mark). It featured the number one single "Upside Down" and the Top Ten hit "I'm Coming Out."

 

Ross scored a third Top Ten hit in 1980 singing the title theme from the movie It's My Turn. She then scored the biggest hit of her career with another movie theme, duetting with Lionel Richie on "Endless Love" (June 1981). It was her last big hit on Motown; after more than 20 years, she decamped for RCA. She was rewarded immediately with a million-selling album, titled after her remake of the old Frankie Lymon and the Teenagers hit, "Why Do Fools Fall in Love," which became her next Top Ten hit. The album also included the Top Ten hit "Mirror, Mirror."

 

Silk Electric (October 1982) was a gold-seller, featuring the Top Ten hit "Muscles," written and produced by Michael Jackson, and Swept Away (September 1984) was another successful album, containing the hit "Missing You," but Ross had trouble selling records in the second half of the 1980s. By 1989, she had returned to Motown, and by 1993 was turning more to pop standards, notably on the concert album Diana Ross Live: The Lady Sings...Jazz & Blues, Stolen Moments (April 1993).

 

Motown released a four-CD/cassette box set retrospective, Forever Diana, in October 1993, and the singer published her autobiography in 1994. Take Me Higher followed a year later, and in 1999 she returned with Every Day Is a New Day. 2000's Gift of Love was promoted by a concert tour featuring the Supremes, although neither Mary Wilson nor Cindy Byrdsong appeared -- their roles were instead assumed by singers Lynda Laurence and Scherrie Payne, neither of whom ever performed with Ross during the group's glory days

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ARETHA FRANKLIN

 

Aretha Franklin is one of the giants of soul music, and indeed of American pop as a whole. More than any other performer, she epitomized soul at its most gospel-charged. Her astonishing run of late-'60s hits with Atlantic Records -- "Respect," "I Never Loved a Man," "Chain of Fools," "Baby I Love You," "I Say a Little Prayer," "Think," "The House That Jack Built," and several others -- earned her the title "Lady Soul," which she has worn uncontested ever since. Yet as much of an international institution as she's become, much of her work -- outside of her recordings for Atlantic in the late '60s and early '70s -- is erratic and only fitfully inspired, making discretion a necessity when collecting her records.

Franklin's roots in gospel ran extremely deep. With her sisters Carolyn and Erma (both of whom would also have recording careers), she sang at the Detroit church of her father, Reverend C.L. Franklin, while growing up in the 1950s. In fact, she made her first recordings as a gospel artist at the age of 14. It has also been reported that Motown was interested in signing Aretha back in the days when it was a tiny start-up. Ultimately, however, Franklin ended up with Columbia, to which she was signed by the renowned talent scout John Hammond.

 

Franklin would record for Columbia constantly throughout the first half of the '60s, notching occasional R&B hits (and one Top 40 single, "Rock-a-bye Your Baby With a Dixie Melody") but never truly breaking out as a star. The Columbia period continues to generate considerable controversy among critics, many of whom feel that Aretha's true aspirations were being blunted by pop-oriented material and production. In fact, there's a reasonable amount of fine items to be found on the Columbia sides, including the occasional song ("Lee Cross," "Soulville") where she belts out soul with real gusto. It's undeniably true, though, that her work at Columbia was considerably tamer than what was to follow, and suffered in general from a lack of direction and an apparent emphasis on trying to develop her as an all-around entertainer, rather than as an R&B/soul singer.

 

When Franklin left Columbia for Atlantic, producer Jerry Wexler was determined to bring out her most soulful, fiery traits. As part of that plan, he had her record her first single, "I Never Loved a Man (The Way I Love You)," at Muscle Shoals in Alabama with esteemed Southern R&B musicians. In fact, that was to be her only session actually at Muscle Shoals, but much of the remainder of her '60s work would be recorded with the Muscle Shoals Sound Rhythm Section, although the sessions would actually take place in New York City. The combination was one of those magic instances of musical alchemy in pop: the backup musicians provided a much grittier, soulful, and R&B-based accompaniment for Aretha's voice, which soared with a passion and intensity suggesting a spirit that had been allowed to fly loose for the first time.

 

In the late '60s, Franklin became one of the biggest international recording stars in all of pop. Many also saw Franklin as a symbol of black America itself, reflecting the increased confidence and pride of African-Americans in the decade of the civil rights movements and other triumphs for the black community. The chart statistics are impressive in and of themselves: ten Top Ten hits in a roughly 18-month span between early 1967 and late 1968, for instance, and a steady stream of solid mid- to large-size hits for the next five years after that. Her Atlantic albums were also huge sellers, and far more consistent artistically than those of most soul stars of the era. Franklin was able to maintain creative momentum, in part, because of her eclectic choice of material, which encompassed first-class originals and gospel, blues, pop, and rock covers, from the Beatles and Simon & Garfunkel to Sam Cooke and the Drifters. She was also a fine, forceful, and somewhat underrated keyboardist.

 

Franklin's commercial and artistic success was unabated in the early '70s, during which she landed more huge hits with "Spanish Harlem," "Bridge Over Troubled Water," and "Day Dreaming." She also produced two of her most respected, and earthiest, album releases with Live at Fillmore West and Amazing Grace. The latter, a 1972 double LP, was a reinvestigation of her gospel roots, recorded with James Cleveland and the Southern California Community Choir. Remarkably, it made the Top Ten, counting as one of the greatest gospel-pop crossover smashes of all time.

 

Franklin had a few more hits over the next few years -- "Angel" and the Stevie Wonder cover "Until You Come Back to Me" being the most notable -- but generally her artistic inspiration seemed to be tapering off, and her focus drifting toward more pop-oriented material. Her Atlantic contract ended at the end of the 1970s. Aretha moved to Columbia Records and by 1985, she made a comeback with a new album "Who's Zooming Who." The album title track made it #16. Another song from the same album "Freeway of Love" made it to #3 and was used as a theme song for Coca-Cola commercial. The third hit was a duet with Annie Lennox, "Sisters Are Doing It For Themselves," made it to the Top 40. She released another album "Aretha" in late 1986 and made it to #1 "I Knew You Were Waiting (For Me)," a duet with George Michael and written by Simon Climie (who later formed Climie Fisher).

 

Many of her successes were duets, or crafted with the assistance of newer, glossier-minded contemporaries such as Luther Vandross. There was also another return to gospel in 1987 with One Lord, One Faith, One Baptism.

 

Critically, as is the case with many '60s rock legends, there have been mixed responses to her later work. Some view it as little more than a magnificent voice wasted on mediocre material and production. Others seem to grasp for any excuse they can to praise her whenever there seems to be some kind of resurgence of her soul leanings. Most would agree that her post-mid-'70s recordings are fairly inconsequential when judged against her prime Atlantic era. The blame is often laid at the hands of unsuitable material, but it should also be remembered that -- like Elvis Presley and Ray Charles -- Franklin never thought of herself as confined to one genre. She always loved to sing straight pop songs, even if her early Atlantic records gave one the impression that her true home was earthy soul music. If for some reason she returned to straight soul shouting in the future, it's doubtful that the phase would last for more than an album or two. In the meantime, despite her lukewarm recent sales record, she's an institution, assured of the ability to draw live audiences and immense respect for the rest of her lifetime, regardless of whether there are any more triumphs on record in store

[dxb96]

:thumbsupsmiley: ,i like 80s music , its still the best around , i have quite a collection from the cure , depeche mode , aztec camera ,,, is there any free site we can dowload some more mp3s

[hitman531ph]

:thumbsupsmiley: ,i like 80s music , its still the best around , i have quite a collection from the cure , depeche mode , aztec camera ,,, is there any free site we can dowload some more mp3s

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

 

Try bearshare. It's P2P.

 

Depeche Mode eh? It was one of my favorites in the 80s.

 

The albums, Speak & Spell were very synth-pop. When Vince Clarke left the group, Martin Gore continued on. The second album departed from the highly synth-pop sound and moved to a darker type of sound beginning with A Broken Frame (1982), Construction Time Again (1983) and Some Great Reward (1984), which produced their first US hit "People are People". A greatest hits compilation came out called The Singles 81-85 in 1985 which included the 1983 non-album single Get the Balance Right, It's Called a Heart and the British #1 hit Shake the Disease. But the darkest-sounding DM album of the 80s was 1986's Black Celebration. 1987 saw the release of a less dark sound Music For The Masses which produced British and US Hits, "Never Let Me Down Again", "Strangelove" and "Behind the Wheel". DM closed out the decade with the release of their Pasadena concert performance, Depeche Mode 101.

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PET SHOP BOYS

 

Postmodern ironists cloaked behind a veil of buoyantly melodic and lushly romantic synth pop confections, the Pet Shop Boys' cheeky, smart, and utterly danceable music established them among the most commercially and critically successful groups of their era. Always remaining one step ahead of their contemporaries, the British duo navigated the constantly shifting landscape of modern dance-pop with rare grace and intelligence, moving easily from disco to house to techno with their own distinctive image remaining completely intact; satiric and irreverent -- yet somehow strangely affecting -- the Pet Shop Boys transcended the seeming disposability of their craft, offering wry and thoughtful cultural commentary communicated by the Morse code of au courant synth washes and drum-machine rhythms.

 

Pet Shop Boys formed in London in August 1981 when vocalist Neil Tennant (a former editor at Marvel Comics who later gained some notoriety as a journalist for Smash Hits magazine) first met keyboardist Chris Lowe (a onetime architecture student) at an electronics shop; discovering a shared passion for dance music and synthesizers, they immediately decided to start a band. Dubbing themselves the Pet Shop Boys in honor of friends who worked in such an establishment -- while also obliquely nodding to the sort of names prevalent among the New York City hip-hop culture of the early 1980s -- the duo's career first took flight in 1983, when Tennant met producer Bobby "O" Orlando while on a writing assigment. Orlando produced their first single, 1984's "West End Girls"; the song was a minor hit in the U.S. but went nowhere in Britain, and its follow-up, "One More Chance," was also unsuccessful.

 

Upon signing to EMI, the Pet Shop Boys issued 1985's biting "Opportunities (Let's Make Lots of Money)"; when it too failed to attract attention, the duo's future appeared grim, but they then released an evocative new Stephen Hague production of "West End Girls," which became an international chart-topper. Its massive success propelled the Pet Shop Boys' 1986 debut LP Please into the Top Ten, and when "Opportunities" was subsequently reissued, it too became a hit. Disco, a collection of dance remixes, was quickly rushed into stores, and in 1987 the duo resurfaced with the superb Actually, which launched three more Top Ten smashes -- "It's a Sin," a lovely cover of the perennial "Always on My Mind," and "What Have I Done to Deserve This?," a duet between Tennant and the great Dusty Springfield. A documentary film titled It Couldn't Happen Here was released the following year.

 

Also in 1988, Pet Shop Boys issued their third studio LP, the eclectic Introspective; the single "Domino Dancing" was their final Top 40 hit in the U.S. The following year, the duo collaborated with a variety of performers, most notably Liza Minnelli, for whom they produced the 1989 LP Results; they also produced material for Springfield, and Tennant joined New Order frontman Bernard Sumner and ex-Smiths guitarist Johnny Marr in the group Electronic, scoring a hit with the single "Getting Away With It." The Pet Shop Boys reconvened in 1990 for the muted, downcast Behavior, produced by Harold Faltermeyer. 1991 saw the release of their hit medley of U2's "Where the Streets Have No Name" and Frankie Valli's "Can't Take My Eyes off You," and was followed in 1993 by Very, lauded among the duo's finest efforts to date. After a three-year absence, the Pet Shop Boys resurfaced with Bilingual, a fluid expansion into Latin rhythms. Nightlife followed in 1999 and sparked the dance club hit "New York City Boy." On the success of that, they also toured the U.S. for the first time in eight years. While on tour, Tennant and Lowe were also collaborating with playwright Jonathan Harvey. Since 1997, the three had been crafting a musical surrounding gay life and societal criticisms. Closer to Heaven made its West End debut in 2001 and had a successful run for most of the year. The Pet Shop Boys' score of the original cast recording, Closer to Heaven, was also a hit in the U.K. They still had time to make a record for themselves, too. In April 2002, Tennant and Lowe issued their follow-up to 1999's Nightlife, the vibrant album entitled Release. Sanctuary celebrated the Pet Shop Boys' lasting power, releasing the delectable Disco 3 compilation in February 2003. Disco 3, a sure collector's item for PSB loyalists, included various remixes and new cuts. Felix da Housecat's star-studded tweaking on "London" is brilliant and videos make this release a sure bonus

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DE LA SOUL

 

At the time of its 1989 release, De La Soul's debut album, 3 Feet High and Rising, was hailed as the future of hip-hop. With its colorful, neo-psychedelic collage of samples and styles, plus the Long Island trio's low-key, clever rhymes and goofy humor, the album sounded like nothing else in hip-hop. Where most of their contemporaries drew directly from old-school rap, funk, or Public Enemy's dense sonic barrage, De La Soul were gentler and more eclectic, taking in not only funk and soul, but also pop, jazz, reggae, and psychedelia. Though their style initially earned both critical raves and strong sales, De La Soul found it hard to sustain their commercial momentum in the '90s as their alternative rap was sidetracked by the popularity of considerably harder-edged gangsta rap.

De La Soul formed while the trio -- Posdnuos (born Kelvin Mercer, August 17, 1969), Trugoy the Dove (born David Jude Jolicoeur, September 21, 1968), and Pasemaster Mase (born Vincent Mason, March 27, 1970) -- were attending high school in the late '80s. The stage names of all of the members derived from in-jokes: Posdnuos was an inversion of Mercer's DJ name, Sound-Sop; Trugoy was an inversion of Jolicoeur's favorite food, yogurt. De La Soul's demo tape, "Plug Tunin'," came to the attention of Prince Paul, the leader and producer of the New York rap outfit Stetsasonic. Prince Paul played the tape to several colleagues and helped the trio land a contract with Tommy Boy Records.

 

Prince Paul produced De La Soul's debut album, 3 Feet High and Rising, which was released in the spring of 1989. Several critics and observers labeled the group as a neo-hippie band because the record praised peace and love as well as proclaiming the dawning of "the D.A.I.S.Y. age" (Da Inner Sound, Y'all). Though the trio was uncomfortable with the hippie label, there was no denying that the humor and eclecticism presented an alternative to the hardcore rap that dominated hip-hop. De La Soul quickly were perceived as the leaders of a contingent of New York-based alternative rappers which also included A Tribe Called Quest, Queen Latifah, the Jungle Brothers, and Monie Love; all of these artists dubbed themselves the Native Tongues posse.

 

For a while, it looked as if De La Soul and the Native Tongues posse would eclipse hardcore hip-hop in terms of popularity. "Me, Myself and I" became a Top 40 pop hit in the U.S. (number one R&, while the album reached number 24 (number one R& and went gold. At the end of the year, 3 Feet High and Rising topped many best-of-the-year lists, including The Village Voice's. With all of the acclaim came some unwanted attention, most notably in the form of a lawsuit by the Turtles. De La Soul had sampled the Turtles' "You Showed Me" and layered it with a French lesson on a track on 3 Feet High called "Transmitting Live From Mars," without getting the permission of the '60s pop group. The Turtles won the case, and the decision not only had substantial impact on De La Soul, but on rap in general. Following the suit, all samples had to be legally cleared before an album could be released. Not only did this have the end result of rap reverting back to instrumentation, thereby altering how the artists worked, it also meant that several albums in the pipeline had to be delayed in order for samples to clear. One of those was De La Soul's second album, De La Soul Is Dead.

 

When De La Soul Is Dead was finally released in the spring of 1991, it received decidedly mixed reviews, and its darker, more introspective tone didn't attract as big an audience as its lighter predecessor. The album peaked at number 26 pop on the U.S. charts, number 24 R&B, and spawned only one minor hit, the number 22 R&B single "Ring Ring Ring (Ha Ha Hey)." De La Soul worked hard on their third album, finally releasing the record in late 1993. The result, entitled Buhloone Mindstate, was harder and funkier than either of its predecessors, yet it didn't succumb to gangsta rap. Though it received strong reviews, the album quickly fell off the charts after peaking at number 40, and only "Breakadawn" broke the R&B Top 40. The same fate greeted the trio's fourth album, Stakes Is High. Released in the summer of 1996, the record was well reviewed, yet it didn't find a large audience and quickly disappeared from the charts. Four years later, De La Soul initiated what promised to be a three-album series with the release of Art Official Intelligence: Mosaic Thump; though reviews were mixed, it was greeted warmly by record buyers, debuting in the Top Ten. The second title in the series, AOI: Bionix, even featured a video hit with "Baby Phat," but Tommy Boy and the trio decided to end their relationship soon after. De La Soul subsequently signed their AOI label to Sanctuary Urban (run by Beyonce's father Matthew Knowles), and released The Grind Date in October 2004

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MELLOW MAN ACE

 

A Hispanic rapper actually born in Cuba, Mellow Man Ace focused on lovers rap with occasional bilingual delivery and a heady gift for novelty rhymes. Born Ulpiano Sergio Reyez in 1967, he left Cuba with his family at the age of four and resettled in Los Angeles. With production from the Dust Brothers and Def Jef, Mellow Man Ace recorded his debut album Escape from Havana, releasing it in 1989 on Capitol. Almost one year later, the single "Mentirosa" became a Top 20 hit with Ace rapping over a crafty hook from Santana's "Evil Ways." Also a part of the Latin Alliance project (and the brother of Cypress Hill's Sen Dog), Mellow Man Ace recorded one additional album, The Brother with Two Tongues, then virtually retired from the field, but 2000 brought forth the release From Darkness Into Light.

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NENEH CHERRY

 

The stepdaughter of jazz trailblazer Don Cherry, vocalist Neneh Cherry forged her own groundbreaking blend of pop, dance, and hip-hop which presaged the emergence of both alternative rap and trip-hop. She was born Neneh Mariann Karlssson on March 10, 1964, in Stockholm, Sweden, the daughter of West African percussionist Amadu Jah and artist Moki Cherry. Raised by her mother and her trumpeter stepfather in both Stockholm and New York City, Cherry dropped out of school at age 14, and in 1980 she relocated to London to sing with the punk group the Cherries.

Following brief flings with the Slits and the Nails, she joined the experimental funk outfit Rip Rig + Panic, and appeared on the group's albums God (1981), I Am Cold (1982), and Attitude (1983). When the band broke up, Cherry remained with one of the spin-off groups, Float Up CP, and led them through one album, 1986's k*ll Me in the Morning. The band proved short-lived, however, and Cherry began rapping in a London club, where she earned the attention of a talent scout who signed her to a solo contract. Her first single, "Stop the War," railed against the invasion of the Falkland Islands.

 

After attracting some notice singing backup on the The's "Slow Train to Dawn" single, she became romantically and professionally involved with composer and musician Cameron McVey, who, under the alias Booga Bear, wrote much of the material that would comprise Cherry's 1989 debut LP Raw Like Sushi. One song McVey did not write was "Buffalo Stance," the album's breakthrough single; originally tossed off as a B-side by the mid-'80s pop group Morgan McVey, Cherry's cover was an international smash which neatly summarized the album's eclectic fusion of pop smarts and hip-hop energy.

 

A pair of hits -- the eerie "Manchild" and "Kisses on the Wind" -- followed, but shortly after the record's release Cherry was sidelined with Lyme disease, and apart from a cover of Cole Porter's "I've Got You Under My Skin" for the 1990 Red Hot + Blue benefit album, she remained silent until 1992's Homebrew. A more subdued collection than Raw Like Sushi, it featured cameos from Gang Starr and R.E.M.'s Michael Stipe; as well as writing and production assistance from Geoff Barrow, who layered the track "Somedays" with the same distinct trip-hop glaze he later perfected as half of the duo Portishead. While the album was not as commercially successful as its predecessor, Cherry returned to the charts in 1994 duetting with Youssou N'Dour on the global hit "Seven Seconds." After another lengthy layoff spent raising her children, she resurfaced with the atmospheric Man in 1996

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NU SHOOZ

 

The husband/wife team from Portland, OR -- guitarist/composer John Smith and vocalist Valerie Day -- attracted some attention on the R&B and disco circuit in the late '80s. "I Can't Wait" reached number two on the R&B charts and number three pop in 1986 for Atlantic. But they were so linked to trendy sounds that by the third single, "Should I Say Yes?," it was evident that the game would be up soon, and it was

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LISA LISA & CULT JAM

 

Lisa Lisa and Cult Jam were one of the most musically diverse and successful recording acts of the '80s. With hits produced and written by Full Force, the six-man performing/songwriting/production team from East Flatbush/Brooklyn, NY, they scored million-selling hits with dance-based tracks ("I Wonder if I Take You Home"), beautiful ballads ("All Cried Out"), and unabashed pop tunes ("Head to Toe," "Lost in Emotion"). They were one of the early exponents of what later became hip-hop R&B. With five gold singles, two number one singles on both the R&B and the pop charts, two platinum albums, and inclusions on various compilations and movie soundtracks, Lisa Lisa and Cult Jam were the most successful act of Full Force's "One Big Family" roster of acts.

Born Lisa Velez on January 15, 1967, in New York's Hell's Kitchen, Lisa Lisa, the youngest of ten children, dreamed of becoming a recording star while working at Benetton, a New York City clothing manufacturer where she folded sweaters. After hearing that Madonna was discovered by top dance-pop producer Jellybean at the Fun House, a non-liquor-serving hangout for rappers and breakdancers, she'd sneak out of the family apartment after dark hoping to be discovered in the same way. That's where she met percussionist Mike Hughes, who played with Full Force and was a roadie for the band. He was thinking of forming a group and invited the aspiring 16-year-old singer to the group's Brooklyn/Flatbush home for an audition. Velez's older brother Raymond told him she couldn't go unless he accompanied her. One evening, the two clandestinely met without telling Raymond and took the subway, en route for the FF audition.

 

Lisa Lisa and Cult Jam's success seems like kismet, since Full Force and their manager Steve Salem were already thinking along the same lines. With New Edition being in their heyday, FF and Salem had decided that they'd form a group that was also inspired by a Motown group. In essence, since there was a "new edition" of the Jackson 5, they'd create a new edition of the Supremes. Meeting Full Force -- Paul Anthony, Bowlegged Lou, B-Fine, Baby Gerry, Shy-Shy, and Curt-t-t -- who were built like pro football linebackers, was quite an intimidating experience for Velez, who was visibly nervous. After singing some songs Hughes wrote, she sang Sheena Easton's "For Your Eyes Only," the title theme from the 1981 Roger Moore James Bond movie. With that, FF were sure that they'd found the singer that they were looking for. Not a powerhouse vocalist or a "super" singer, but one that average teenage girls her own age could sing along with and easily imitate when they heard her records.

 

Signed to Full Force's management and production company, the group dubbed her Lisa Lisa and added Hughes and his friend, guitarist Alex "Spanador" Moseley, as Cult Jam. Combining their signature beat, which was influenced by Stax/Booker T. & the MG's/Al Green drummer Al Jackson Jr. (whose work on Otis Redding and Carla Thomas' "Tramp" was sampled by early rap and hip-hop artists ad nauseam) with the electro sound of Kraftwerk/Afrika Bambaataa's "Planet Rock," the first single Full Force produced on Lisa Lisa and Cult Jam was "I Wonder if I Take You Home." Billed as "Lisa Lisa and Cult Jam with Full Force," the group was signed by N.Y.-based label Personal Records. The label leased "I Wonder if I Take You Home" to the European division of CBS Records for the compilation album Breakdancing.

 

Stateside club DJs began playing the single from the import LP. The U.S. division of CBS, Columbia Records, released the record with it quickly becoming a chart-topper on Billboard's Hot Dance/Disco chart. The single went gold, crossing over to the R&B chart, peaking at number six, and the pop chart at number 34 in summer 1985. The follow-up, "Can You Feel the Beat," made it to number 40 R&B in late 1985. Their third single, the beautiful ballad "All Cried Out" was billed as "Lisa Lisa and Cult Jam with Full Force featuring Paul Anthony and Bowlegged Lou," and it went gold, going to number three R&B, number eight pop in summer 1986.

 

Their debut album, Lisa Lisa and Cult Jam With Full Force (which included the standout tracks "Behind My Eyes," the flip side of "All Cried Out," and "You'll Never Change," the B-side of "Head to Toe") went platinum. Lisa Lisa and Cult Jam's next album, Spanish Fly, went platinum, peaking at number seven pop and included two Motown-influenced gold singles; a combination of the sound of the Supremes, Lulu ("To Sir With Love"), with a sprinkling of the 5th Dimension and FF's hard-driving beats, "Head to Toe" parked at number one R&B for two weeks and hit number one pop in spring 1987, and with its strong Mary Wells influence, "Lost in Emotion" held the number one R&B spot for two weeks and made it to number one pop in summer 1987.

 

Other hits from Spanish Fly were the ballad "Someone to Love Me for Me" b/w "Spanish Fly" (number seven R&, "Everything Will B-Fine" (number nine R&, and the top-notch LP track "Face in the Crowd." Lisa Lisa/Full Force also had a track in the Chevy Chase movie Caddyshack 2, "Go for Yours," in summer 1988. Lisa Lisa and Cult Jam's 1989 LP Straight to the Sky yielded the singles "Little Jackie Wants to Be a Star" (number three R&, "Just Git It Together," and "Kiss Your Tears Away" b/w "Dance Forever."

 

For their next album, Straight Outta Hell's Kitchen, the production chores were split, with Robert Clivillés and David Cole of C+C Music Factory producing side one of the LP and Full Force side two. The catchy Clivillés and Cole-produced single "Let the Beat Hit 'Em" hit number one R&B and went gold in summer 1991. The FF-produced follow-up, "Where Were You When I Needed You," charted number 65 R&B in fall 1991. One standout track on the LP is a cover of the Isley Brothers' "Sensuality."

 

Lisa Lisa resurfaced as a solo act on Pendulum, charting with "Skip to My Lu," number 38 R&B in late 1993, and "When I Fell in Love" from the LL 77 album. Lisa Lisa guested on Full Force-produced LPs. Most notably "Love Scene," the last track on Full Force's second LP, Full Force Get Busy 1 Time!, and the flip side of "Old Flames Never Die" and "Sisters" from Cheryll "Pepsii" Riley's "Me, Myself & I," which included her 1988 number one R&B single "Thanks for My Child."