Cameo

[skooldem1]

Any Cameo fans here? My early favorites were "I just want to be" and "Sparkle". I know many were not to fond of their 80's output. From that era, I enjoyed, "Single Life", "Candy", and "Word Up".

[Jerry Oz]

I once played music at a party. I prepared 18 CDs of '80s R&B/Soul/Funk in advance, thinking of everything that I might want to play [[20 hours of music for a four hour jam, sounds about right...). Well Cameo comprised one and a half discs, more than 20 "essential" songs, so you should know that I love Cameo. And their '80s stuff was my favorite. One of the first albums that I bought was "Cameosis" and I was hooked as soon as I heard Aaron Mills' basslines on that record. I already liked them because of "Ugly Ego", but "Cameosis" kind of sealed me as a fan.

Well, moving on, they came out with "Feel Me" and "Knights of the Sound Table", both of which blew me away and are still among my favorite albums. Cameo could funk it up with the best of them and their ballads [[Why Have I Lost You, Feel Me, Sparkle, and more) were the smoothest of any soul outfit of the time [[rivaling Con Funk Shun).

As soulster can tell you, the economics of the time resulted in a pared down, but no less funky group. I will always love them especially because they followed up their only pop success [[Word Up) with an album that contained Skin I'm In, which is a song that tells my perspective on society better than any other song. Larry Blackmon is a half-notch below George Clinton on my list of musical idols.

I don't know who doesn't like '80s Cameo, but if they ever stop by, I'm cranking it up until they either leave or get on board.

[soulster]

I don't know who doesn't like '80s Cameo, but if they ever stop by, I'm cranking it up until they either leave or get on board.

I don't know anyone who doesn't like their 80s stuff, either. That's their best period, starting with the "Cameosis" album. Around here, the favorite was always the "Alligator Woman" album. Another favorite of mine is the "Style" album, but the reason people don't really remember it is because it is about the only one that never saw a domestic CD release, and it came out in 1983, a bad year for R&B.

[skooldem1]

Maybe I am confusing them with another band. I recall a conversation on here where some didn't like the 80's output from some band because they thought it was too commercial. Regarding the songs from Cameo that I mentioned I liked, I'd have to say I don't like "Word Up" as much as I use to.

[soulster]

"Word Up!" is fine, but it got into the ground. I can enjoy it once in a great while now, but I am still sick of hearing it.

[Ngroove]

Shake Your Pants....

[splanky]

Easily one of the most underated bands ever. Cameo evolved like any great act but even
in the 80's was still putting out product a funkaholic could enjoy and use to chase cat or
reflect upon. She's Strange. Single Life. Flirt was the sh*t and A Goodbye still takes me back
to another time, another life. Hell yea, I'm a Cameo fan. And though I know Larry Blackmon
always hated being compared to George Clinton I have to say those two both put out the
most diverse music of all R&B/Funk/Soul acts with the possible exception of EW&F....

[marv2]

I've enjoyed Cameo's music starting with "Rigor Mortis" in 1977 all the way through......

[Jerry Oz]

And don't forget the horns. Cameo had the tightest horn section ever when they still had the full band.

[nysister]

Candy: That base line does it for me!

[timmyfunk]

I can pretty much take any Cameo album up until Word Up. Skin I'm In not only represents their last great single, but it also features one of Fred Wesley's greatest horn arrangements.

[Jerry Oz]

Now I'm angry that I didn't read the liner notes well enough to know that was Fred Wesley. For some reason, the worst formatted liner notes were those on cassettes.

[staceys dad]

in 1977 this was a big play at BLACKPOOL MECCA and WIGAN CASINO 2 of the biggest NORTHERN SOUL clubs in the U.K....good times....

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8xyH4fzlYzk

[stephanie]

Unlike Kool and the Gang who got really pop in the JT years [[and I love them dont get me wrong) Cameo and Confunkshun were true groups who kept the funk when they got a little sanitized same for the BarKays. Marv this was the jam! I am going to have to take the train to New York you have the same brain I do when it comes to music.

[soulster]

Easily one of the most underated bands ever. Cameo evolved like any great act but even
in the 80's was still putting out product a funkaholic could enjoy and use to chase cat or
reflect upon. She's Strange. Single Life. Flirt was the sh*t and A Goodbye still takes me back
to another time, another life. Hell yea, I'm a Cameo fan. And though I know Larry Blackmon
always hated being compared to George Clinton I have to say those two both put out the
most diverse music of all R&B/Funk/Soul acts with the possible exception of EW&F....

In my old band, we just to jam to "Just be Yourself".

[splanky]

Now that was a mollyfocking jam and a 1/2....

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wXawvAxXrWQ

Actually I was also quite fond of Cameo's Alligator Woman too...

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=T8Sh9WSbO6s

having had a few of my own back then....

[Jerry Oz]

Man, you guys are big fans of the quartet version of the group. I love that iteration as well, but I still dig me some "Sparkle", "Cameosis", "On the One", "Shake Your Pants", "I Just Want to Be", "Rigor Mortis", "Why Have I Lost You", "We're Goin' Out Tonight", "Keep It Hot", "Freaky Dancin'", "Your Love Takes Me Out", "Don't Be So Cool", and "Feel Me". A whole stage full of bruhs and just jamming their asses off back in the day.

[soulster]

Man, you guys are big fans of the quartet version of the group. I love that iteration as well, but I still dig me some "Sparkle", "Cameosis", "On the One", "Shake Your Pants", "I Just Want to Be", "Rigor Mortis", "Why Have I Lost You", "We're Goin' Out Tonight", "Keep It Hot", "Freaky Dancin'", "Your Love Takes Me Out", "Don't Be So Cool", and "Feel Me". A whole stage full of bruhs and just jamming their asses off back in the day.

A lot of those songs sound like the quartet version of the band.

[Jerry Oz]

Good point. But for the most part, the rhythms were different, the horns were PHAT on those albums, Blackmon played real skins, Aaron Mills' bass damned near defined the group, and Wayne Cooper' s falsetto rivaled Philip Bailey's. I'm not saying that version was better, but I loved those records as much as their later output.

[soulster]

I like it all. First time I heard Cameo was in the fall of 1980 when "Shake Your Pants" was hot. "We're Going Out Tonight" was my favorite cut. Soon after, "Keep It Hot" was the jam. But, I never really cared all that much about the "Feel me" album. But, I loved "Knights Of The Sound Table". I figuratively wore that album out! "Don't Be So Cool". Wow! And them "Alligator Woman"? Man! Good tunes.

I loved "Style" and wondered if I was the only one who even heard it. The singles from it didn't get too far. I think it was also the first album that totally featured the new, trimmed-down version of the band. And, it was a digital recording, from all I can determine.

I wasn't so big on "She's Strange"

One of my first 30 CDs was "Single Life" in 1985, and I was pleased that it was a nice, crisp, clean, and powerful all digital DDD recording. "Word Up" from 1986 didn't disappoint me, either.

But, after that, it was all downhill. There was "Machismo", and "Emotional Violence", were both boring. They had worn the formula out. Larry Blackmon wore out the macho image, too.

I still have not warmed up to their earlier songs.

[Jerry Oz]

I co-sign to most of what you wrote except for "Feel Me". That might well be my favorite album by the band. I did like the early stuff, as well.

[tsull1]

One of my favorite groups of all time, my 2nd favorite funk group [[behind Ohio Players ... I consider EWF funk-soul-pop). I love "Candy" as noted earlier in this thread, the awesome bass line.

One song I really like, not a love ballad, but a slow song with great atmosphere is "Hangin' Downtown" off the "She's Strange" album. Awesome tune.

[splanky]

One of my favorite groups of all time, my 2nd favorite funk group [[behind Ohio Players ... I consider EWF funk-soul-pop). I love "Candy" as noted earlier in this thread, the awesome bass line.

One song I really like, not a love ballad, but a slow song with great atmosphere is "Hangin' Downtown" off the "She's Strange" album. Awesome tune.

The dual combination of Parliament-Funkadelic is actually my favorite funk entity of all time
but slew of other acts including Cameo and The Ohio Players follow. The thing that gets a
bit complicated is that many of these groups went through evolutions and sometimes people liked one era of a group though not so much another. When you say OP I wonder
did you like the Junie Morrison Westbound period more or less than the Billy Beck Mercury
time. Also, EWF ended up in pop but through their history they blended more musical styles
than almost any other group with the rare exceptions of P-Funk as a collective and Mandrill.
Someone posted a disco tune from Cameo and though a number of acts did it, those usually
were my least favorites out of anyone's discography. Have to say, too that I agree with you on Hangin' Downtown. In fact I liked the whole She's Strange album. Talkin Out The Side Of
Your Neck was/is still a killer track for me.....

[Jerry Oz]

I thought that that album was about when the band began to decline, although they still had songs on each album that I liked. I liked Talkin' Out the Side of Your Neck more until I saw the video. I still like the song, but for some reason, that video took away from it and that's the first thing I think of when I hear the song. I was also let down with the vid for Skin I'm In, but the song is so powerful that nothing could alter my perception of it.

Yeah, I'm simple minded in some regards... But bands should consider the production of their videos more. They should only do them if they enhance the songs, not just because they made a song and need to do a video to tell us which singles are on the album.

[soulster]

the Billy Beck Mercury
time.

What do you mean? He was a member in both the Westbound and Mercury eras.

[soulster]

I thought that that album was about when the band began to decline, although they still had songs on each album that I liked. I liked Talkin' Out the Side of Your Neck more until I saw the video. I still like the song, but for some reason, that video took away from it and that's the first thing I think of when I hear the song. I was also let down with the vid for Skin I'm In, but the song is so powerful that nothing could alter my perception of it.

Yeah, I'm simple minded in some regards... But bands should consider the production of their videos more. They should only do them if they enhance the songs, not just because they made a song and need to do a video to tell us which singles are on the album.

I solved that problem. I managed to avoid a lot of videos by R&B artists.

For me, their drop-off point was right after the "Word Up!" album.

[Jerry Oz]

That song became my least favorite Cameo song after I loved it initially. I couldn't walk into a club without hearing it twice a night and it rotated every hour on local radio programming. Not just the black stations or clubs, either. It became the successor to Kool & the Gang's "Celebration" as the song by an R&B band that Yuppies "discovered". I still think it's to his credit that he didn't try to mine pop success once the band broke through.

[splanky]

What do you mean? He was a member in both the Westbound and Mercury eras.

Soulster, Billy Beck was NOT a member of The Ohio Players during their Westbound tenure
though the company did try to pull a fast one by releasing material, the Rattlesnake album
if I remember, after Junie had left the group and they moved over to Mercury. Billy was still
playing organ in church when they recorded Pain, Pleasure and Ecstasy...

Jerry, I agree with you about that being when the group started to decline but I didn't fret
it much because I know all groups do eventually and Cameo had a great run. At far as the videos the band never had absolute control over them or their image, few acts did then.
Even Larry's infamous codpiece was the idea of some woman in marketing but that takes
nothing from the quality of the music for me and those tracks still slay most of what's being
throw at my ears today...

[Jerry Oz]

True enough. The proof that they were a great band? Rhino Records has two "greatest hits" collections and I like every song on both almost equally. And there were a bunch of songs that they missed.

[soulster]

True enough. The proof that they were a great band? Rhino Records has two "greatest hits" collections and I like every song on both almost equally. And there were a bunch of songs that they missed.

Rhino??? You sure about that? Polygram, and now Universal always owned the right s to the Mercury era catalog. They never did any Westbound material, either.

[Jerry Oz]

Good catch. They were both part of Mercury's "Funk Essentials" series. Brain is farting a lot in my old age...

[tsull1]

The dual combination of Parliament-Funkadelic is actually my favorite funk entity of all time
but slew of other acts including Cameo and The Ohio Players follow. The thing that gets a
bit complicated is that many of these groups went through evolutions and sometimes people liked one era of a group though not so much another. When you say OP I wonder
did you like the Junie Morrison Westbound period more or less than the Billy Beck Mercury
time. Also, EWF ended up in pop but through their history they blended more musical styles
than almost any other group with the rare exceptions of P-Funk as a collective and Mandrill.
Someone posted a disco tune from Cameo and though a number of acts did it, those usually
were my least favorites out of anyone's discography. Have to say, too that I agree with you on Hangin' Downtown. In fact I liked the whole She's Strange album. Talkin Out The Side Of
Your Neck was/is still a killer track for me.....

Well, I discovered The Ohio Players growing up with Skin Tight and Love Rollercoaster and many others. Like many groups, then I went back and discovered the earlier stuff last. Once I found the Westbound stuff I felt it was awesome, but I still liked the Mercury stuff a little better. [[I liked all the album covers from both eras!! )

[soulster]

Well, I discovered The Ohio Players growing up with Skin Tight and Love Rollercoaster and many others. Like many groups, then I went back and discovered the earlier stuff last. Once I found the Westbound stuff I felt it was awesome, but I still liked the Mercury stuff a little better. [[I liked all the album covers from both eras!! )

Same here, tsull. I had heard "Funky Worm" in 1973, of course, but they made no major impact until "Skin Tight" came out on Mercury. In fact, it was because Mercury was a major record label with better distribution and record PR that allowed the Ohio Players music to get exposed. That was when I discovered them. "Jive Turkey [[Pt. 1)" was actually the first single from the album, but it just didn't hit like "Skin Tight". It's very fortunate that they released the next album "Fire" just a couple of months later to keep up the momentum.

Recently, I went back and discovered the Westbound era recordings, which were excellent. The albums may sound like they were looking for a sound, but they weren't. They didn't want a "sound". They wanted to play whatever they wanted, kind of like George Clinton. The band didn't want to be pigeonholed.

[Jerry Oz]

Their "Unsung" episode was great. They went into the studio with plans on recording records, but sometimes they didn't even have the song composed or lyrics written before they got there. Their producer must have had a lot of faith in them.

[soulster]

Their "Unsung" episode was great. They went into the studio with plans on recording records, but sometimes they didn't even have the song composed or lyrics written before they got there. Their producer must have had a lot of faith in them.

That's almost right. Ohio Players composed their songs entirely in the studio and left it up to engineer Barry Mratz to put it all together. You can tell by the way their records sound. Long jams, sloppy edits, sparse, sometimes nonsensical lyrics.

But, the band produced themselves. They didn't have a producer. Look at the record label.

[glencro]

Was confused for a minute...was about to say WAIT Cameo had an UNSUNG and I missed it. Even though they need to have one. Their earlier music was straight up funky and danceable. "Sparkle" iis still a great ballad. I never knew why they went from being a band to becoming a small group but they made great music as both. This was a favorite

[daddyacey]

That's almost right. Ohio Players composed their songs entirely in the studio and left it up to engineer Barry Mratz to put it all together. You can tell by the way their records sound. Long jams, sloppy edits, sparse, sometimes nonsensical lyrics.

But, the band produced themselves. They didn't have a producer. Look at the record label.

I was 15 when "Pain" came out in 71. Here in N.Y. it was played on the Black radio stations [[the single version) and at parties we jammed to the 6 min L.P. version. The other tracks on that L.P. were just jams ,true. The bald woman on the cover made a big buzz at the time. "Pleasure" from 72 was also played on Black radio [[Frankie Crocker) and noticed for the cover ,but the group started having a following with the tracks we chilled out to ,"Varee Is Love" ,"Walt's First Trip" and "Funky Worm". "Ecstasy" ,from 73 is the last of the original WESTBOUND trilogy and contained the "MONSTER" title track that would define the template for the 74 MERCURY album "SKINTIGHT". Ecstasy, [[the track) ,is 2:27 of nasty tight FUNK ever recorded by the group and is the refined and tight OHIO PLAYERS style and sound that only needed the money and quality studio environment to florish. That and the then new interest of the "major" labels in marketing Black Music ,following the major recordings of Haye's [[HBS) in 69 , Gaye, Mayfield and Wonder in 70-72 [[released by non-majors Stax, Motown and Curtom) is why some people only know of O.P. tracks from 74 forward. The 71-73 tracks are important as a window into how the O.P. got to SKINTIGHT and forward. To this day there are no WESTBOUND reissues of O.P. or Junie Morrison albums, compared to the FUNKADELIC albums of the same period. Only the PHONOGRAM anthology is available ,and to tell the truth the MERCURY tracks other than SKIN TIGHT , HEAVEN ,FIRE ,HONEY ,TOGETHER and O-H-I-O and a few others are polished FUNK jams.

[soulster]

To this day there are no WESTBOUND reissues of O.P. ... albums, compared to the FUNKADELIC albums of the same period. Only the PHONOGRAM anthology is available ,

That is not true. They were issued on CD several years ago, and I have a couple of them.

[splanky]

As compilations Westbound material was re-issued. Not entire albums as far as I know.
Junie's solo work has also been put on cd and is well worth checking out. I have most of it on vinyl though and want it on cd. Nobody wrote changes like Junie. That's how he was able to
come up early OP stuff like Pain ON THE SPOT!...

[soulster]

As compilations Westbound material was re-issued. Not entire albums as far as I know.
Junie's solo work has also been put on cd and is well worth checking out. I have most of it on vinyl though and want it on cd.

Yes, entire albums.

[daddyacey]

I found the albums on Collectors Choice website. How is the sound quality?

[JM27]

Alligator Woman and Style badly need to be reissued on CD [[they're short albums so could fit on 1 CD). The original Japan CD issue of the former isn't that good [[all a bit too harshly EQ'd).

[soulster]

[[all a bit too harshly EQ'd).

That's been my experience with several Japanese imports that I have. That's why I do needledrops.

[timmyfunk]

You can basically give me anything up to Single Life. Word Up is a little too hollow for me [[except Candy).

Last great Cameo single-Skin I'm In.

[daddyacey]

"Last great Cameo single-Skin I'm In."

Yeah , they showed they ass on that track for sure. The horns and bass are just criminal on that track. The last time I played it ,a neighbor of mine knocked on my door and asked me to play it again. lol

[timmyfunk]

"Last great Cameo single-Skin I'm In."

Yeah , they showed they ass on that track for sure. The horns and bass are just criminal on that track. The last time I played it ,a neighbor of mine knocked on my door and asked me to play it again. lol

And it also represents one of the last great horn arrangements by one Fred Wesley.

[Jerry Oz]

The words represent my mindset regarding race in America as well as any song in the last 40 years. That whole song is raw and honest.

[splanky]

And it also represents one of the last great horn arrangements by one Fred Wesley.

That's only true if you restrict your listening taste to funk and pop. What I'm sure a lot of folks here do not even know is that Fred Wesley as well as Pee Wee Ellis have gone on to
working with a number of singers in jazz and so called world music including jazz singers
like Carla Cook and Mali's queen of wassoulou music Oumou Sangare...

[timmyfunk]

My musical tastes are never restrictive. I'll check out some of her stuff.

[splanky]

I doubt if you'd be able to enjoy Oumou's music. Wassoulou rhythm is different from The One and she doesn't sing in english. People usually have to approach any music new to
them from their own perspective. For recent pop soul fans this might be an introduction:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vBpInJbiw6M
For funkateers maybe Yala...

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=byXvJzLQJdo