Word: lp
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Dates: during 1980-1989
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Nice timing too. In fact, Diamond's song is a fine introduction to UB40's sun-splashed funk, as long as listeners follow its affable lead and plunge into such originals as Sing Our Own Song (on the 1986 LP Rat in the Kitchen) or Dance with the Devil on the most recent album. It is on those tunes, righteous and rhythmic, that the band really proves itself. Red Red Wine may be a good song to hang your hat on, but on a UB40 tune like Sing, a band could proudly stake a reputation...
INDEED, the musical content of the film is a sharp break; all of the tunes are taken from the Sign "O" the Times LP, and none of Prince's voluminous repertoire is played, save a few bars of "Little Red Corvette." But this is what seems to give Sign "O" The Times, the movie, its overall character. It would be foolish to clutter the conceptual Sign with leftovers from Parade...
Blades gained national acclaim in 1985 when he won a "Best Album" Grammy for his salsa LP "Escenas." His lyrics often describe political oppression in Latin American and the problems facing working people in the United States barrios...
...course, what consumer-oriented American benefit LP would be complete without an overblown, melodramatic ballad. The idea of Whitney Houston singing "Do You Hear What I Hear" is initially promising, a pure pop voice made to sing simple ballads. This production is more like "We Are the World: The Sequel," with choir-like backup vocals and a very similar melody. There's the same slow beginning and spare verses building to an overpowering climax of Whitney, backup singers, and treacly violins all at once...
...magic of this LP is that even this melodramatic treatment works in the context of the album's Christmas spirit and sense of current pop history. Just as Perry Como's Christmas LPs please our parents, and Phil Spector and Motown Christmas records serve the baby boomers, A Very Special Christmas is meant for us, capturing the true pop sounds and commercial spirit of a today--for a good cause...