I only knew Teena Marie from her great song Lovergirl way back in the day; but a couple weeks back I just happened to acquire her two Greatest Hits albums, Motown 1985 and Epic 1991, on a whim and I am floored; jeepers this lady absolutely had an incredible voice. How did I miss out on her for all these decades? Seriously she was amazing. Favourites: - Deja Vu I've Been Here Before - It Must Be Magic - I Need your Lovin' - Square Biz - Ooh La La La - Out on a Limb The lady had soul in spades. I got to explore her catalogue.
That's great. There's certainly a lot to discover with Lady Tee. I'm still discovering material I'd never heard -- like this duet with Bobby Womack (originally recorded by Billy Peston & Syreeta Wright)!
Which albums should I chase up? Your top 3? Both Greatest Hits albums (Motown and Epic) are excellent.
In general, I don't like greatest hits albums. The longer/albums versions are almost always better - especially in Teena's case. Also with Teena, unlike say The Beatles, everyone has their personal favorites that very often don't correspond with the popular consensus or best selling lps. My favorites are Ivory (1990) From start to finish the album keeps me intrigued and entertained. It doesn't contain much of her best material but as an entire album I still think it's her strongest. And almost no one agrees with me. Ha. La Doña (2004) Her first album on the Cash Money label (and highest charting) which featured a new up to date sound for Teena. She adopted some of the "dirty south" feel to her eclectic r&b repertoire. It Must Be Magic (1981) Classic Motown album that's more rounded out (imo) than her previous first self-produced album, Irons In The Fire (1980), which is a runner up (or 4th fave).
She's one of the few artists that it only took one song (Lovergirl) to get me to track down almost the entire catalog. It's just that good.
I spun a 1985 US Motown reissue of Irons in the Fire tonight and sparks literally flew in the entire room. Fabulous pressing. One of the memorable R&B albums of the 1980s.
I obviously love Teena but this is a train wreck. There's a particularly obvious vocal edit at 2:25 that just makes things worse. Throughout, words are mangled and pitch is even off in certain places. This was not the tune for them. It's a very rare Teena miss and it's as much her miss as it is Bobby's. Ed
1. "It Must Be Magic" - If only for "Where's California", you MUST have this album. Thankfully, there's far more than that. "Cradle Rob..." is an absolute scream and the rest just flat-out cranks!. It's her very best, IMHO. 2. "Ivory" - I'm with @ando here on this one. It's a great record. "How Can You Resist It" is quite unexpected from her but she pulls it off nicely. Love the spoken bits too. This one's a real journey and a "must" for any Teena fan. 3. "Lady T" - This is another must. "Why Can't I Get Next to You" and "Aladdin's Lamp" are favorites of mine. A great album all around. Ed
Question, CD pressings? It seems only the 2012/13/14 remasters are easily available; are these compressed or not? I have suspicion they will be. Are original CDs the way to go? (even though they will be harder to track down). What are the best sounding versions of her albums?
It's not that bad. Not a great recording, certainly. Though you're on to something with the train wreck description. Why the speed? Teena usually took her time on ballads. Bobby is simply not in good voice. Neil Diamond could at least anchor a Streisand duet with a soulful spoken delivery (since, like Bobby, he couldn't match his partner's vocal swooping on You Don't Bring Me Flowers, for instance), but Womack is downright hoarse in parts. Funny.
I remember from the beginning back in 1979 when I saw Teena and Rick James on Soul Train together singing "I'm Just A Sucker For Your Love", and her singing "Don't Look Back". But, I didn't become a fan until her second album "Lady T". I co-DJ'd an after-basketball party at the local high school and played "Behind The Groove" and "I Need You Lovin'". I soon went out and bought that "Irons In The Fire" album and it, along with the next years' It Must be Magic" became my two favorite Teena marie albums. I believe they are her absolute best albums. You can't get any better than "Tune In To Tomorrow"! Whew! I may be of the minority opinion here, but I thought her music went down a couple of notches when she signed with Epic Records. The music seemed less inspired. The Robbery" album is still quite good, but I think she took a real nosedive with "Starchild". I think the reason most of the pop audience regards "Starchild" in such high regard is because it's all they really know. She got MTV exposure, had a #1 pop hit, and it was her first album on CD. After 1984, I only really liked a song here and there like "Lips To Find You" and "Trick Bag". She just started putting out ballad after ballad, and lost the funk that originally put her on the map. She was so good playing on, writing, arranging, and producing her own records that she out-funked her mentor, Rick James! Has anyone mentioned that she was a multi-instrumentalist, and could play just about any instrument? Aside from her recorded material, that little frame had the best pipes! A lot of people don't like melisma, or "over-souling", but, so what! She was a master at it. Listen to "Tune In Tomorrow"! She learned from the greats like Sarah Vaughn, Dinah Washington, and Nancy Wilson. And, she grew up around Black people. Aaa..no...that's not being racist, that's all about influence! I just found this thread and haven't read through it yet. Has anyone mentioned that she had a little part in an episode of The Beverly Hillbillies yet? Oh, my favorite songs: I'm Gonna Have My Cake And Eat It Too the entire "Irons In The Fire" and "It Must be Magic" albums. "Gotta love "Cradle Rob And Me". Robbery Fix It Help Youngblood Get To The Freaky Party Fire And Desire (with Rick James - there's a beautiful story about the recording of this song) Casanova Brown Lovergirl Lips To Find You Trick Bag I may not have given too much time to her later ballads, but that story I mentioned: Teena was extremely ill with pneumonia, but made the effort to come into the studio to sing her duet on "Fire And Desire". She was in serious pain when she did that song, but executed it beautifully! LIsten to the recording! She went directly to the hospital after she laid down that vocal in one take! Not only is that professionalism, but a sign of the serious love she had for Rick, even though she had ended their relationship because of his drugs use and sleeping around. Until the of his life, she would pop up in his concerts and sing the duet with him. I know it broke her heart when he suddenly passed away when it seemed he was finally back, and with a new album in the works.
It's as much her as it is him though. Sorry...LOL!! Teena is forever awesome and I've felt that way for decades but she wasn't good here. As good as she was, even she couldn't sing everything. This just wasn't for her. It certainly wasn't for Bobby. Given all the great stuff she gave us, she was entitled to a dud and this is clearly it. Ed
Would like to share this wonderful memory of Teena and Rick at the 2004 BET Awards. Rick gets off to a flying start with his glory note, but Teena quickly realizes that he didn't have much left after that, so she steps up and carries him across the finish line. She never sounded more amazing. And the clip shows the love they had for each other, that went beyond music.
My favorite is "Wild & Peaceful". Still have the LP and play it regularly. The CD is expensive and rare.
Since Stevie Ray Vaughan's been on my front burner thought I'd revisit this jam that features him on lead guitar. It's a downer of a song, imo, at least without the context of the songs which proceed and follow it (quite different effect within a single play of Emerald City. I like Teena's performance but Stevie really makes it swing. Gosh, I wish I could hear either late great musician talk about the collaboration.
Great tune! I've always liked it. He killed on it and she sounds great. Very underrated album. "Lips to Find You" is cool too. Ed
Bless her heart, she really got him through this. I hadn't noticed before how bad he sounds. He had very little energy and seemed medicated. Teena could have carried ten men with the fire she was putting out! Scary good vocal performance from her. She forced everyone to listen to it. Ed
I think You need to be in a certain space to appreciate Emerald City. Emotionally it moves like a lost, funky llittle r&b girl in the big city trying to find the dude who dropped her. That's almost literally what it is. It's Teena's Black Orpheus - with all of that film's associations intended. She's moving in the shadow of that pain. And I'm not sure if it's purged until Ivory, really. So it's a dark album that stays dark for much of its running time save a brief respite with Butucada Suite. If you're in the mood for that terrain it can feel great, if not it'll probably flow right past you. I think it's time for you to call my name, Just say the word, darling There's no need to explain. - Love Me Down Easy
Simmer Down popped up on my shuffle. I wish Teena had released more reggae influenced jams. Stop The World has a nice island feel. Had she got together with a serious reggae producer for a complete album I think it would have been a smash. She had a real feel for that laid back vibe.
Thanks for talking about Lady T!! Soooo under appreciated. I was lucky to see her numerous times on the west coast from 2000 to 2011 when I lived out there. She was really amazing in concert as she and her band went into magical jams that I sure miss now. She was the REAL No one like her! And there was nothing like her at the end of the night alone on the keyboard. She was immensely talented and I often say that she was the female Van Morrison. What other singer had the chops to play guitar, keyboards, congas and produce her own music? She sings the most beautiful love songs and can get down on jams that would move a mountain. She's a poet that had a huge gift of song. I'm also a huge Stevie Ray fan...seen him 5 or so times but never really got into Emerald City except that 'Sunny Skys' has to be one of my faves. She has so much great music La Dona, Sapphire, Passion Play are JAMS Congo Square is really great too and Marry Me blows me away. HipoSelect put out First Class Love: Rare Tee that any fan should get The 1st four classic albums are amazing records that mean a lot to me but do check out the rest of her albums. When she passed away, I was at my best friends house discussing life on his birthday until 3 or 4 in the morning. When I woke up the next day I heard the news, and it really knocked me down. Hope she is leading some jams up there!!
Love talking about great music - and musicians - Teena's definitely in that category. Yeah, I regret to say that I only saw her live once out here on the East Coast at the Trenton Jazz Festival. Seems odd to think of Teena in New Jersey, outside of Brick City (Newark), but there she was - bringing it. Totally responsive and fully animated - all over the stage. I'm not sure if we were all so exited to see her or if she was especially pumped but she gave her all. I can't remember a specific song that stood out EXCEPT Dejavu (I've Been Here Before). Well, she must have been cause she really got into that. Unforgettable. Somebody published a snippet from that night in Trenton. Teena: Trenton, Welcome to Chocolate City wit this little itty bitty! Fired up.
Yeah, Give It to Me was where I first heard her. Like many others I thought she was African American. Those little interjections of hers were priceless. I have Give It on 12" as well as the LP. I have several of her albums on LP but one album I almost never hear mentioned is Passion Play from 94. Sadly there is no vinyl version. I find it a wonderful album and it does not suffer from the overproduction of certain of her albums particularly when she went to Epic. Just tragic that she went so young. Teena Marie Passion Play CD
