R.J.'s Latest Arrival | Harmony
R.J.'s Latest Arrival | Harmony
Released on Golden Boy Records - 1984.
What up.
I had to break out R.J's Latest Arrival on you music heads this month. It can be cold outside, cool inside, warm on the couch or chilly on the corner of 53rd and Broke Street...'Shackles' will always warm up the soul and make you move something. It'll make you say 'yeah...that's what I'm talking about'!
This group from Detroit had the word 'Funk' registered to just about any cut they produced and published. I mean, they FELT it. They had a look, a charm, a charisma about themselves. A showmanship and a presence for a balanced attack of Electro Funk & R&B. Led by R.J. "The Wiz" Rice and backed by musicians Craig Harris, Paul Munroe, Dean Diperro, Rudy Famous & Lead Vocalist Dede Leitta, these party people made music alive and well back in 1984 with "Harmony". An 8 track effort full of keyboards, outer galaxy funk, and some forceful lyrical rap niche's that sounded almost like hip hop rather than standard ballads. Catchy unique phrases streaming throughout the vinyl. Whatever may be the case, it was still on & poppin' and that's all that mattered.
And it was at a time in the mid 80's when we stayed cool under the radar and bumped the jams LOUD in the ride. Pulling out all the 12" to 15" woofers in our trunk compartment. Back of my Oldsmobile Cutlass, I pushed 2 12" house speakers (I couldn't afford the woofers in the box then or NOW), My 6x9's was sitting up against the back seat dashboard. Haha..remember, you could SEE them from your frontend if you were behind me. No stability of the speaker. All of those wires hanging all over the place in trying to squeeze all the so called 1000 watts out of my Pioneer Cassette Car Stereo System. All of that distortion at times. That's when you know it didn't matter. As long as we was BUMPIN' steady. And all those custom installation dash kit combo's used to irritate me. Especially when the car stereo took too long to install. Got to READ your manual.
Anyways,
Did any of you remember the platonic, earth shakin' joint called 'Shackles'? ...C'mon now. Another creative that mimicked the track, 'Harmony' was primetime too. All background vocalist Robin Marie had to do is ride harmoniously in support with DeDe and we got ourselves the hot track of the month - Back to Back.
Those 2 tracks alone made the collective all worth the wait of gold. Break out the vocoder for 'Hot Roll' and you'll feel like you have just been blasted to Venus & Mars with the Jonzun Crew and Space Cowboy. I also grooved 'That's The Sound' with DeDe Leitta passing along a special message or too. You got to hear it.
Call it 'Feel Good' music if you must, 'cause 'Get It Up' pumped up the volume too. Mesmerizing beats compressed to a sonically tranced groove. All of the songs were wrapped up into a cinnabun of funk - along with 'Feel Desire' and 'Cry Like A Wolf'.
There was a slow jam however. It's the 'Let Me Love You' track. Didn't the title give it away?
I urge you to re-examine your entire funk stash. If R.J's Latest Arrivals' "Shackles" isn't in there, then I am afraid to inform you: Your so-called classic funk archive had been tampered with. Either someone came in and snatched it out when you turned your back, you lent it out to a homie and didn't get it back (of course - you should know better than that.) or you thought you were on top of all the releases & came across a brain-fart.
On behalf of T.U.M.S., I'm Charles. And I am OUT.
Peace,
Charles F. Sherard
The Urban Music Scene
Posted by Administration at 12/4/2010 1:24 PM 
Categories: Funk, Rhythm and Blues, Old School Soul, Electro Funk, Videos
Tags: 80s Music
Categories: Funk, Rhythm and Blues, Old School Soul, Electro Funk, Videos
Tags: 80s Music
Comments