Juiciest Fruit
Dave Marsh wrote about ‘Juicy fruit’ from James Mtume (former percussionist of Miles Davis) in his excellent book ‘The heart of rock and soul’ (the 1001 greatest singles ever made): ‘Dirty records from the early days of R&B are more widely celebrated, but Hank Ballard never got any of his “Annie” records this far up the charts. Of course, he also didn’t come up with a riff half as exciting or danceable as the shattered-glass synth part here’. ‘Juicy fruit’ went to number 45 on the Billboard pop charts and reachend the number 1 spot on the R&B charts in 1983. Together with guitarist Reggie Lucas James Mtume wrote and produced quite a lot very good disco songs, like 'Don't stop dancin' for Stephanie Mills in 1979. It's on a new compilation album of Stephanie Mills, called 'Feel the Fire: The 20th Century Collection'.
The song 'My love won't let you down' from Nathalie was written and produced by Peter Godwin. In the 1970s he was one half of Metro (the other half was Duncan Browne). In 1977 they made a very interesting self-titled album, some kind of missing link between glam rock and new wave. After their split Peter Godwin came up with a few superb electro songs, like 'Images of heaven' and 'Emotional disguise'. Especially the French version of the latter is great! Nathalie (from Belgium) sings a few French words as well: 'Mon coeur qui craque'. Peter Godwin lived in Paris for a while, so he picked up some of the French culture and language for his music.
Whatever happened to Angel Grant? She made such a good record in the 1990s together with producers Jimmy Jam & Terry Lewis (SOS Band, Janet Jackson and Alexander O’Neal), but disappeared after her self-titled debut album without leaving any trace until last year. She then came up with 'I wonder', an outstanding single. Hopefully she will deliver a new album as well. I included her beautiful song 'Deeper', but there are many more gems on her first album.Fruity tracklist:
Mtume – Juicy Fruit (1983)
Stephanie Mills – Don’t Stop Dancin’ (1979)
Nathalie – My Love Won’t Let You Down (1983)
Serge Ponsar – Out In The Night (1983)
Alexander O’Neal – Criticize (1987)
Ashford & Simpson – Solid [Eddy’s Extended Edit] (2011)
Eddie Kendricks – Get The Cream Off The Top (1975)
Westhell 5 – Je T’aime… Moi Non Plus (2009)
Serge Gainsbourg & Jane Birkin – Je T’aime… Moi Non Plus (1969)
C.J. & Co – Burning Drums Of Fire [A Tom Moulton Mix] (1978)
Irene Reid – A Certain Kind Of Woman (1970)
Elaine & Ellen – You Made Me Do It Again (1980)
Oddisee – The Carter Barron (2011)
Angel Grant – Deeper (1998)
Kelly Rowland – Keep It Between Us (2011)
Alice Keys – Juiciest [Mixtape Version] (2002)
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