No interest in a Teena Marie release?

[Kamasu_Jr]

Hip O Select has scheduled a release on Teena Marie - First Class Love- for Tuesday [[June 28th). I've seen very little discussion of this set which appears to include previously vaulted material from Lady T. Was she too modern to be appreciated here ?

[soulstevie]

no, she wasn´t, at least not for me. But these releases aren`t too interesting to me. "Lady T" only contains three versions of "Behind the groove" including a new remix. For that I don´t have to buy the CD again. Irons in the fire contains one live track I don´t already own from "It must be magic" and "Street songs deluxe". Oh yeah, the new mix and the longer "Springtime"-reprise. Well I can live without that. I `d need to find them very cheap to buy them. I will consider First class love but again not for that price.

[Jimi LaLumia]

she was always a bit too be-boppy for me...

[Kamasu_Jr]

she was always a bit too be-boppy for me...

Makes sense to me. Teena Marie often cited Sarah Vaughan as a major influence and Sarah definitely hung with Dizzy Gillespie and Miles, all bee boppers.

[soulster]

I love Teena Marie, but the "Lady T" album doesn't interest me too much. Isn't "Irons In The Fire" supposed to be reissued too? That's the one i'm interested in!

[Jimi LaLumia]

I appreciate her talents, God rest her soul, but this period is where Motown lost me entirely, and the 'new wave' scene took it's place,for me anyway

[marv2]

They did a nice tribute to her last night on the BET Awards.

[splanky]

Originally Posted by Jimi LaLumia
she was always a bit too be-boppy for me...

Makes sense to me. Teena Marie often cited Sarah Vaughan as a major influence and Sarah definitely hung with Dizzy Gillespie and Miles, all bee boppers-Kam


Which meant she had great taste to my ears, folks but to each it's reach....

[RossHolloway]

I will definitely buy these releases by Teena Marie. I consider her part of my holy trinity of singers along with D. Ross and B. Holloway. And if you think that Teena was "too be-boopy" then you really haven't heard too much of her music. She really was a brilliant artist. I had a chance to see her 3 times in concert and was blown away each time.

[kenneth]

I will definitely buy these releases by Teena Marie. I consider her part of my holy trinity of singers along with D. Ross and B. Holloway. And if you think that Teena was "too be-boopy" then you really haven't heard too much of her music. She really was a brilliant artist. I had a chance to see her 3 times in concert and was blown away each time.

RossHolloway, which of her albums that's available would you recommend for a good overview of her career? I had one of her later releases, the one where on the cover the guy is giving her his phone number, and liked it. But I'm not sure if that LP was most representative of her style.

[RossHolloway]

RossHolloway, which of her albums that's available would you recommend for a good overview of her career? I had one of her later releases, the one where on the cover the guy is giving her his phone number, and liked it. But I'm not sure if that LP was most representative of her style.

Well my all time favorite album by Teena is Emerald City released in 1986. I was a senior in high school when my sister came home from college with the 45 single Lips To Find You and that was when I fell in love with Teena.

So you're say you're leaving for the souther tip of Spain,
to soak up local colour and forget my name.
To live inside the major not the minor chord,
and forget how we made love in a 57 Ford.
Well I've got lips, lips to find you.

The entire album showcases both the singer and songwriting side of Teena-and if I'm remembering correctly she plays most of the instruments on the album as well. At times she's powerfully soulful, then funky, then she rocks out on the song You're So Heavy- that has an electrifying guitar ending by Stevie Ray Vaughn- that if it doesn't move you then you're not alive. She sings a torch song and gets jazzy on Sunny Skies and Shangri-La will make you into a trrue believe of Teena's extraordinary singing ability. This is an album I can play from beginning to end and never skip a track. This is not a Rick James inspired type Motown album, but one where you get a true sense of her artistry and her musical influences. It's diffent than all the albums she did before, some say too experimental and not commercial enough, but I think this was her masterpiece, some fans got it, others didn't. As I read somewhere, it's like Teena and Prince got together and wrote and recorded an album together. This album made me her fan for life. This album is not what she had done in the past, but I think after you listen to it a time or two, you will sink into it's groove and really feel and understand where she was coming from. It's been a couple months since I've listen to it and now I can't wait to get home from work and put it one and put it on loud! lol.

And the album you're referring to is her album Robbery, her first post-Motown album in 1983. A great album, but Emerald City is that times a million [[to me at least).

[kenneth]

Thanks RossHolloway! Great lyrics up above.

Ah yes, the album I was thinking of is "Robbery." I loved the album and loved the cover as well.

I'll seek out "Emerald City." Thanks again, Kenneth

[whitesoxx]

My experience is that if a thread does not deal with "classic" Motown artists [[i.e. before 1975-ish) it quickly disappears to the bottom of the list. But I love Teena and was devastated when she passed. I was going to see her in concert in February, but alas, it wasn't meant to be...

Emerald City is actually my least favorite album of hers as it relies too much on the mid-80's synthesizer sound that was hip then, but not so now. If you want to have a nice overview I would suggest picking up the "Icon" Universal release and the "Super hits" Sony release, both are dirt cheap and have her best tracks from both eras, but no liner notes unfortunately. See what tracks you like and take it from there. My favourite albums by Teena are her Motown releases plus "Robbery" and "Starchild", along with the brilliant later "Sapphire" album.

There are some very nice Japanese mini-LP cd's out of her Epic albums and with the two Hip-O remasters all of her Motown albums have now been remastered although "Wild and Peaceful" is now hard to get at a normal price these days. I am assuming Sony will put out a 2-cd "Esssential" collection sometime in the future.

I am awaiting delivery of the three Hip-O releases that I do think are worth having as the original Lady T and Irons In The Fire cd's don't sound that great. True, the bonus tracks could have been more exciting, but that did not deter me from ordering the cd's.

[RossHolloway]

My experience is that if a thread does not deal with "classic" Motown artists [[i.e. before 1975-ish) it quickly disappears to the bottom of the list. But I love Teena and was devastated when she passed. I was going to see her in concert in February, but alas, it wasn't meant to be...

Emerald City is actually my least favorite album of hers as it relies too much on the mid-80's synthesizer sound that was hip then, but not so now. If you want to have a nice overview I would suggest picking up the "Icon" Universal release and the "Super hits" Sony release, both are dirt cheap and have her best tracks from both eras, but no liner notes unfortunately. See what tracks you like and take it from there. My favourite albums by Teena are her Motown releases plus "Robbery" and "Starchild", along with the brilliant later "Sapphire" album.

There are some very nice Japanese mini-LP cd's out of her Epic albums and with the two Hip-O remasters all of her Motown albums have now been remastered although "Wild and Peaceful" is now hard to get at a normal price these days. I am assuming Sony will put out a 2-cd "Esssential" collection sometime in the future.

I am awaiting delivery of the three Hip-O releases that I do think are worth having as the original Lady T and Irons In The Fire cd's don't sound that great. True, the bonus tracks could have been more exciting, but that did not deter me from ordering the cd's.

Some of Teena's "fans" didn't embrace her Emerald City album, and I can see how some thought the masterpiece was too out of the box for them and not enough of the Teena they had grown to know and love. But to me it just showcased the best of Teena and how she stretched as a artist and didn't just play it safe. But of course a Greatest Hits collection is always the best way to start when discovering or exploring an artist.

[tomato tom]

Ive always found her music a bit hit and miss for my taste. I loved the Wild & Peaceful album, but found her later ones a bit spotty. Sorry, just my point of view..Paulo xxx

[Nothing But Soul]

For what it's worth, emusic.com has just added First Class Love: Rare T for $8.99 to download the two-album set or .79 per track. They've also added the expanded edition of Irons in the Fire for $6.99 or .79 per track.

[Motown4Ever518]

I just received and have been playing a copy of her 1997 Greatest Hits Collection covering the Epic label years and feel that after she left Motown, her songwriting abilities grew tremendously. From where I sit, the slow, mid tempo songs are outstanding. She loses me with the uptempo songs from that era. It probably doesn't help that my ex-wife loved the song "Lovergirl", was she trying to tell me something? I think that in retrospect, had she been with another label other than Motown, they would have pushed her as on a level to Prince. At Motown she appeared to get a little lost in the merchandising mix. It's unfortunate that it is in her passing[[may she rest in peace), that we are talking about her. I am sure she would have been delighted to have been the topic of conversation while she could see it. Thanks for post Kamasu.

[soulster]

RossHolloway, which of her albums that's available would you recommend for a good overview of her career? I had one of her later releases, the one where on the cover the guy is giving her his phone number, and liked it. But I'm not sure if that LP was most representative of her style.

You didn't ask me, but her best two albums were on Motown, not Epic. Those two are "Irons In The Fire" and "It Must Be Magic". There's some good material on the first two, but the ones I mentioned are solid from beginning to end.

[gordy_hunk]

2-3 years ago, I would have been ordering these as soon as I knew about them.

However, these days, I ask myself 'how often will you play this CD', and if the answer is 'rarely' [[or 'if ever'), then I just won't buy them, because there's no longer any value in having the CD.

It is because of this perspective on my vinyl and CD collection, that almost all my Motown material is being sold off.

For me, the issuing of these CD is now too late [[even if it is a good price).

But Teena Marie was - I believe - vastly underrated at Motown, and tracks such as 'Behind the groove' and 'I need your lovin' are two of the finest tracks that were issued in the final decade of independent Motown before BG sold it.