System (the) - The Pleasure Seekers

Name: The System
Album: The Pleasure Seekers
Year: 1985
Style: Synth, R&B, 
Similar Bands: Stevie B, Color Me Badd, Nu Shooz, Scritti Politti, Generationals, Billy Ocean
"One-Word" Review:80's synth pop club floor scene
Based Out Of: NYC
Label: Mirage, Atlantic, Warner

Cover, Sleeve, Record

Back, Sleeve, Record

The Pleasure Seekers (1985)

1. The Pleasure Seekers 4:39 (single)
2. It Takes 2 4:12
3. Big City Beat 3:25
4. Love Won't Wait For Lovin' 4:47 /
5. This is For You 4:57 (single)
6. My Radio Rocks 3:43
7. Did In By A Friend 3:11
8. I Don't Run From Danger 4:45

Album Rating (1-10): 6.0

Members & Other Bands:

• Mic Murphy - Vox, Produced, Wrote, Arranged (Kleeer, Flowchart, Sass, Howard Johnson, Lenny White, Chaka Khan, Howard Jones, Nona Hendryx, Natural Selection, Tom Jones, Mtume, more)
• David Frank - Keys, Produced, Wrote, Arranged (Kleeer, Orch on the Half Shell, Linear, Carole Davis, Rick James, Mtume, Robert Palmer, Scritti Politti, Chaka Khan, Phil Collins, Steve Winwood, Billy Squire, Billy Idol, Nona Hendryx, Aztec Camera, Ashford & Simpson, Phoebe Snow, Natalie Cole, Sheena Easton, Vanessa Williams, Marc Anthony, Eric Clapton, Michael McDonald, Katy Sagal, Dionne Farris, Notorious BIG, 98 degrees, Destiny's Child, Christina Aguilera, Vitamin C, O-Town, Victoria Beckham, S Club, Pussycat Dolls, Jordin Sparks, Brie Larson more)
• Paul Pesco - Guitar (Madonna, Hall & Oates, John Blackwell Project, Dave Weckl, C+C Music Factory, Joan Baez, Chaka Khan, Norma Jean, Michael Bolton, Force MDs, Eddie Murphy, Grandmaster Flash, Afrika Bambaataa, George Benson, Pointer Sisters, Sheena Easton, Jellybean, Whitney Houston, Steve Winwood, Fat Boys, Gregory Hines, Stephanie Mills, Don Johnson, Cyndi Lauper  more
• Audrey Wheeler - Vox (Unlimited Touch, Blue Moderne, Jellybean, Robin Gibb, Kurtis Blow, Fat Boys, Debbie Harry, Jermaie Stewart, Boogie Boys, Little Steven, Blow Monkeys, Melba Moore, Billy Ocean, Millie Jackson, Donny Osmond, George Benson, Eddie Murphy more)
• Denise Chaplin - Vox
• Jimmy Maelen - Percussion (Roxy Music, Peter Gabriel, James Taylor, Alice Cooper, John Lennon, The Jacksons, Talking Heads, Ambergris, Shobizz, Hollywood Vampires, Latin Dimension, BJ Thomas, more)
• Tom Lord-Alge - Engineer, Mixing
• Chris Lord-Alge - Mixing
• Acar Key - Assistant
• Dennis King - Mastering
• Bob Defrin - Art Direction
• Steve Fraser - Mic's hair
• Roy Volkmann - Photos

Unknown-ness: I have heard of this band; only saw their name on a sleeveless 45, but never heard anything by them. From the cover, it looks like it will have a Fun Boy Three vibe, so even though it is 85- which is apparent by the clothes, I'm going to guess it is on the tail end of new wave, but dancey.

Album Review: The album has a computer-generated 80's radio friendly r&b dance sound...everything sounds synthetic, and the beats have lots of 80's Casio effects processed in. The style has been adopted by some of the current Caribbean-yacht rock synth bands of today, but it also sounds like late 80's Stevie B Miami dance music.

This was basically a duo, hiring session musicians to fill in the rest, but were at the forefront of using synth as the spotlight sound. They gained notoriety for having their music in film & TV, on Miami Vice, Coming to America, Beverly Hills Cop, and they were in Real Genius. They worked with Scritti Politti, Phil Collins and Chaka Khan and their songs were used by musicians like Tupac Shakur and the Notorious BIG. They went back & forth being together and splitting apart as a duo, and have their own recording studio.


Stand Out Track: The Pleasure Seekers

Links:

spotify full album
Wiki

Discogs

Allmusic

Miami Vice Fandom

Rate Your Music

Website

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Charlie - s/t

Name: Charlie
Album: s/t
Year: 1983
Style: Powerpop, Arena Rock
Similar Bands: Journey, Foreigner, Bad Company, Styx
"One-Word" Review: That's Journey, Right? RIGHT?
Based Out Of: London, UK
Label: Mirage, Atco, Atlantic, Warner

 Cover & Record

Back & Record

Charlie (1983)

1. It's Inevitable  3:52 (single)
2. Tempted 3:57
3. Spend My Life With you 4:14
4. Never Too Late 4:31
5. Playing To Win 4:06 /
6. The Heartaches Begin  4:09
7. You're Everything I Need 7:02
8. This Time 4:19
9. Can't Wait 'Til Tomorrow 4:00

Album Rating (1-10): 7.0

Members & Other Bands:

• Terry Thomas - Writer, Guitar, Backing Vox, Producer, Mixing (Magic Mixture, Axe, Bad Company, Foreigner, Tommy Shaw, Fastway, Giant, Richard Marx, Doctor Rockit, Biran Howe,  Sons of God Quartet, Janus Stark, Flash Terry, Anja Garbarek, White Trash)
• Terry Slesser - Lead Vox (Back Street Crawler, Beckett, Crawler)
• John Anderson - Bass, Backing Vox (Axe, Black Cat Bones, Shaun Guerin)
• Robert Henrit - Drums, Percussion (Argent, John Verity Band, Phoenix, Barnet Dogs, Kinks, Roulettes, Unit Four plus Two, Ziggy Byfield and the Blackheart Band, Colin Blunstone, Roger Daltrey, Leo Sayer, Duncan Browne, Michael Fennelly, Adam Faith, Limey, Russ Ballard, Dave Davies, Ian Matthews, Mike Berry, Kazuo Takeda, Francie Conway, Zombies)
• Steve Gadd - Drums
• Kevin Beamish - Producer, Engineer
• Bruce Barris - Asst. Engineer
• David Thoener - Mixing Engineer
• John Davenport - Asst. Engineer
• George Marino - Mastering
• Jay Anning - Art Direction
• Pete Turner - Cover Photo
• Felix Krish - Bassic Info
• Andy Clark - Digital Dexterity
• Richard Cottle - Digital Dexterity, Sax (Abbacadabra, Glamorama, Manic MC's, Obsession, Respect, Royal T, SFX, Shaft)
• Adrian Lee - Digital Dexterity
• Chris Parren - Digital Dexterity
• Nick Payne - Sax (Bill Wyman's Rhyth, Kings, Bootleg Kings, Moon, Q-Tips, Paul Young, John Slaughter Blues Band, Lonnie Donegan, Mick Abrahams, Culture Club, Anthony More)
• Bud Prager - Mgmt
• Dave Thomas - Mgmt

Unknown-ness: Never heard of Charlie. Pretty tough name to search for, but I like the dark desert highway energy on the cover + font...like a shady version of the show Night Rider. I'd love if this goes in a dark, synth-wave direction verging on disco, alas, no synth on the back cover credits.

Album Review: The band has gone through 9 different line ups since starting in 1970 with six albums preceding this one, and they are still active through 2015. Based on the vocals and production, I would have never guessed they were from London, but this was mainly a Terry Thomas outfit, but for this album, under US label requirements, they needed to find a new singer, and Slesser was auditioned in, sounding just like Steve Perry. They blame their lack of UK success on the rise of punk, and found fairer lands here in the US, with four minor hits. There is a lot of hair energy in this album, lots of power chords and high kicks in tight leather pants. Save the monster power ballad "Spend My Life With You." "Never Too Late" has a little bit of Tina Turner's "Simply the Best" in it.

Stand Out Track: Never Too Late

Links:
Terry Thomas Wiki
Charlie Wiki
Discogs
Allmusic
History
Terry Thomas Interview
Bad Cat Records
Steve Hoffman Music Forum

The M-Zee Band - Doctor Rhythm

Name: The M-Zee Band

Album: Doctor Rhythm

Year: 1981

Style: Humorous R&B/Rap/Funk

Similar Bands: Busboys, Capt Sky, Cameo, Stevie B, Chromeo

"One Word" Review: Funkin' Innuendo

Based Out Of: NYC, NY

Label: Mirage, Warner, Atlantic

 Doctor Rhythm - Cover & Record

 Doctor Rhythm - Back & Record

Doctor Rhythm (1981)

1. Doctor Rhythm - 5:44
2. Who's Funkin' You - 4:30
3. Bop Box - 5:45/
4. Sure Shot - 4:41
5. I'm Savin' It For the One I Love - 4:37
6. Fun House - 5:40
7. Street Beat - 5:02

Album Rating (1-10): 6.0

Members & Other Bands:

Michael Zager - Producer, Arranger, Synth & Keys (10 Wheel Drive)
Deirdre O'Hara - Production Coordinator

Jolyon Skinner - Bass, Vox (Touch)

Alvin Fields - Backing Vox

Wayne Cooper - Backing Vox (Cameo)

Alfred Adams Jr - Drums (Fantasy)

Michael Campbell - Guitar (Change)

Jimmy Maelen - Percussion (Ambergirls, Shobizz, The Latin Dimension)

Bob Defrin - Art Direction

Jay Mark - Engineer

Carla Bandini - Engineer

John Convertino - Asst Engineer

Matthew Weiner - Asst Engineer

Jerry Love - Exec Producer

Dennis King - Mastering

David Kennedy - Photography

Pete Canarozzi - Programming

Eltesa Weathersby - Nurse Git Down
Jebadiah - Claps
Wiff - Claps
Rick Rock - Claps
Wrong Way Weathersby - Claps
Sir Fig Newton - Claps
A Cappella Angelina - Claps
Ambassador Orlando Charisma - Claps
Rock & Roll Bob - Claps

Unknown-ness: I’ve never heard of this band. But I love the idea of what is inside via the cover art. A crazy looking doctor/nurse sitting in what appears to be a bathtub with a stethoscope held up to a sizable boom box. I mean, how more specific of the style do you need? How bout including the album name Doctor Rhythm, and have the Dr in question staring right at it. If this is not come sort of crazy themed R&B concept, then I’ll be super-surprised.

Album Review: M-Zee stands for Michael Zager, who’s had a few self-named R&B Disco acts in the past, and has produced a lot of famous singer from Whitney Houston and Luther Vandross to Herb Alpert and the Spinners. There is, unfortunately, a lot more promise and possibility on this album than what is delivered.

“Doctor Rhythm” starts with a funky beat and a twinkling synth. It gets real Shaft like with an ambulance alarm, and a nurse’s announcement for Dr. Rhythm to show up. It is a slow and steady, close-dancing disco song with a plot and storyline for this Dr. to help cure anyone lacking funk. There is a little too much growl-R-rolling in his energetic singing. It teeters on the brink of absurdity and punny humor with the conversation between Nurse Git Down & Doctor Rhythm @ 4:30. Lack-Funk-Cosis is a real disease that only Dr. Rhythm can cure. Perhaps a distant cousin to Doctor Worm.
“Who's Funkin' You” takes a similar tempo with more wha-wha watery guitars, and is an obvious a play on words with the phrase I wanna funk you. It skips along the line of innuendo and plays on words, employing the popular 70-80’s rap context of explaining who the singer is, how great he is, and what he is here to do.
“Bop Box” was the single of the album, and is in reference to a Boom Box. It is a slowish funk (not fast, disco) song that explains what a Bop Box is and what it does. It’s a virtual commercial, selling the benefits of bringing your jams with you. The chorus has a nice build up, which crashes back down to the verse very quickly. It is smooth, and dare I say funky for lack of alternate adjectives. There are some great supporting vocals layered below the main vocals and hooks.

“Sure Shot” begins the second side with the same steady tempo R&B song with a quieter, hushed tone. The bass hook is shorter and catchier than the rest of the album yet, coupled with short verses that all end with the title as punctuation.
“I'm Savin' It For the One I Love”has a jazzy guitar start off the song, with a keyboard that sounds a little like the MASH intro. The song is full of honest sentiment, and female backing vocals. It is a little mystical in the synth production. There is a little dialogue section where a “hot” girl comes back for our hero singer, and now we know why he’s saving it...supposedly. The song does have a religious tone to it, but it does not say saving it for marriage…just for the love, which, I guess, to stay within the self-inflicted rules, could change daily.
“Fun House” – enters with a drum beat and real funky bass groove. Plucked electric guitar follows up, and it sounds like a Chromeo song. It is a really fun intro. But the song just becomes another repetitive story song about a Fun House, which is, in actuality, just a week metaphor for the hero/singer’s apartment. And at the end he just seems to come off really pathetic and begging for a girl to just come over.
“Street Beat” has a darker, almost thriller vibe to its introductory bass line. But the guitar lightens it up, and the song follows the recipe we’ve become used to on this album. Not fast, not danceable, except for a slow, close-dancing organic groove sort of movement. The secondary section is very smooth and follows a light disco melody, but the dark sinister bass and the wood block percussion are what define this song.

Stand Out Track: Doctor Rhythm

Links:
Discogs

Funky Town Grooves

Soul & Funk Music

Allmusic

Rate Your Music

Philfunk

Michael Zager Wiki

Listen to The Album Via Grooveshark