Cameo - Style (1983) - €7,99

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Style is the ninth album by the funk/R&B band Cameo, released in 1983. It was their first album to introduce their "Atlanta Artists" label, with which they maintained their distribution through Polygram Records.
At the time, Cameo was going through a transition, having gone from five members (Alligator Woman, 1982) to four, with an extreme makeover in their sound.
Their former big funk band sound was now being replaced by all the elements of the electronic age (i.e., keyboards, synthesizers and Simmons drums). Their music was self-proclaimed as "21st Century Bebop" and the band prided themselves on the use of non-conventional drums.

&B was experiencing a year of transition in 1983. Soul music was evolving into urban contemporary, R&B producers were becoming increasingly high tech, and horn funk was losing ground to synth-funk and electro-funk.
Also, the hip-hop factor could not be overlooked -- some old-timers insisted that hip-hop was a passing fad, but younger R&B producers realized that rap was becoming the music of choice for many young African Americans and paid close attention to hip-hop production techniques. Inevitably, all of these things affected Cameo.
Released in 1983, Style is more high-tech than 1979's Secret Omen or 1980's Cameosis but not as high-tech as 1985's Single Life or 1986's Word Up! It is also an LP that finds singer/producer Larry Blackmon leading a downsized Cameo -- while the band had ten members at the start of the 1980s, it only has four on Style: Tomi Jenkins, Charles Singleton, Nathan Leftenant, and Blackmon himself. (And by Single Life in 1985, Cameo would only be a trio.)
Having cut way back on the horns on Style, Blackmon makes sure that keyboards and synthesizers play a major role on snappy funk items like "Cameo's Dance," "Aphrodisiac," "Slow Movin'," and the hit title song. On Cameo's late-'70s albums, keyboards took a back seat to horns -- on Style, it's just the opposite.
Even on a remake of the standard "Can't Help Falling in Love" (a ballad that had been recorded by everyone from Elvis Presley to Doris Day), Cameo is more technology-minded. Style isn't among Cameo's essential albums, but it's an enjoyable effort that will appeal to die-hard fans.


Side A
A1. Aphrodisiac - 5:00
A2. This Life Is Not For Me - 3:30
A3. You’re A Winner - 3:30
A4. Can’t Help Falling In Love - 3:05
A5. Interlude (Serenity) - 1:30

Side B
B1. Style - 5:12
B2. Cameo’s Dance - 3:23
B3. Let’s Not Talk Slot - 3:31
B4. Slow Movin’ - 3:24
B5. Heaven Only Knows - 3:37


Companies, etc.

Credits

Notes
Release:  1983
Format:  LP
Genre:  Funk
Label:  Casablanca Records
Catalog#  811 072-1
Prijs:  €7,99

Vinyl:  VG
Cover:  VG

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