Shirley Jones - Always In The Mood
Who can ever forget about the vocals coming from Manhattan Records recording artist Shirley Jones? The Lead singer from her sibling group, "The Jones Girls"? Her solo debut, "Always In The Mood" dropped some earlier sultry, romantic ballads with the support from producers Bunny Sigler, Dexter Wansel, Kenneth Gamble & Leon A. Huff, just to name a few. In a period where slow ballads often dominated the airwaves & help elevate various careers of mature vocalists, male & female, in that mainstream market, Ms. Jones sparkled with a hit single in "Do You Get Enough Love?" & the album sustained great record sales in 1986 & abroad...
Track Listing:
~ Do You Get Enough Love?
~ Breaking Up
~ Last Night I Needed Somebody
~ She Knew About Me
~ Always In The Mood
~ I'll Do Anything For You
~ Surrender
~ Caught Me With My Guard Down
Many of these songs, as it relates to the titles, were easy to identify. Especially when it came down to the songwriting/lyrics. As though as if it was all just a matter of writing a love letter. That's what "Do You Get Enough Love?" reminded me of. Smooth & soft, with a quiet & seductive feel. Allow Shirley's voice to cascade & pull you into her world of music. Just as much as you will hear it again in "Breaking Up" - a mid tempo production suggesting one should not think about 'breaking up' when things are going pretty well, despite issues & problems in relationships. Rather, 'we outta be making up'...
"Last Night I Needed Somebody" back in the day made me believe at one time or another, thinking it was the voice of one of my all time female R&B vocalists - Ms. Stephanie Mills who swooned the composition. It was Ms. Jones & as beautiful & given the intent of the title, the melody hooked me into a feeling to sway with my headsets on, back & forth. That's right! Lightning struck twice when "She Knew About Me" flowed in & how well this track sequenced right after the other. It touched upon my listening emotion.
Then, Shirley went for hers on the dancefloor with pick up tempo cuts, "Always In The Mood", "I'll Do Anything For You", "Surrender", & "Caught Me With My Guard Down". The beat really slammed when Zane Giles guided the funk into the jam - "I'll Do Anything For You", while Larry Davis served his musical arrangements to the same vibe in "Surrender" - handling the Drum Programming, Guitar, Percussions, Keyboards....You Got It!
This album was meaningful in more ways than one. Although Ms. Jones didn't pop another album out until 2007 with Cherrelle & Jean Carn called Ladies Night, The Always In The Mood LP is a keeper & another one of those projects that is hard to grab a hold of. A monumental keepsake & a testiment to the way Soul lovers grooved out of control back in the early to mid 80's - encompassing both sides of a record, either by Romance or by Dancing the night away.
Available as an Import on Amazon.
T
The Urban Music Scene
Interesting,
she is a very beautiful woman, with a great voice
Anyway, thanks for the post
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