Music : Word Up!
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Binding: Audio CD
EAN: 0042283026520
Label: Mca Special Products
Manufacturer: Mca Special Products
Number Of Discs: 1
Publisher: Mca Special Products
Release Date: July 22, 2002
Sales Rank: 15664
Studio: Mca Special Products
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Rating:  -
always been a Big fan of Cameo and there Brand of Funk. this was the Album that finally took them over and brought in a whole new Audience. but they stayed on the Groove. the title cut was the cut that kept them respected and tight with the fast charging Hip-Hop crowd that was making there pressence felt through support of a whole new croup of Rap Acts emerging. this cut got folk's attention big time. Cameo was one of the few Acts from the world of R&B that kept the Bass thumping in there Music despite all the Cleanness that was being accepted for R&B during that time. Cameo's Funk Never Went beige and neither did Rick James, Bar Kays,Lakeside, Frankie beverly and Maze,Gap Band. only those acts didn't lose the Soul from the Funk Guard. but the next single 'candy' was the One that made a lasting impression stil felt to this day. that was the cut. Larry Blackmon was in full OOWWWWWW Mode here. then my Jam "back and forth" was a real Bumping Jam. Cameo was on the funk back during a time when Funk wasn't still being fully accepted. Larry BlackMon and Crew stayed on the Street Groove and didn't lose the groove. Right ON!
Rating:  -
Cameo--as a group and in terms of ideas--really hit it's best period in terms of popularity and creativity from late 1983 to early 1987 with it's three albums in that period. "She's Strange", "Single Life" and "Word Up" had the group pared down from it's Earth, Wind, and Fire-sized band of the late 1970s to the Larry Blackmon/Tomi Jenkins/Nathan Leftenant core that carried these albums. "Word Up" is, in many ways, Blackmon's Magnum Opus--"Strange" was very good, "Single Life" was brilliant (Besides, can we ever forget the video for the title track--with Blackmon in the wedding dress?), but "Word Up"--the catchprase in the New York clubs in the mid-80s-- had those quirky lyrics that Blackmon created mixed with those stone dead funky beats and the hard-rock guitar...and, of course, the Morricone whistle in the title track and "Back And Forth". Plus the video for "Word Up"--remember LeVar Burton as the cop trying to catch Blackmon? Plus, I think this was the first video in which Larry wore the infamous fire-red codpiece...
Which leads me to saying something that many will consider sacrilege. The best track on this album ISN'T the title track (Allow me a second to duck), it's "Back And Forth". Why? First of all, it's just a great beat--many Old Schoolers think this was easier to do the Electric Slide to than "Word Up" (Cabbage Patch, y'all!!!). The vocal arrangement, especially in the chorus with Leftenant echoing Blackmon ("Back {back} and forth (and forth)..."). ... Read More
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That's right! Cameo's 'Word Up!' CD is now 20 years old, and I agree with Funkman, there SHOULD'VE been a reissue of 'Word Up' by Polygram, but they must be on da pipe again, so I remastered the joint MYSELF, and included Extended Remixes for 'Word Up!', 'Candy', and 'Back & Forth'. If you have proper CD audio enhancing software, you can do the same thing. The 3 extended remixes I used can be found on Cameo's 'Funk Essentials - 12 Inch Collection' CD, which is also a must have in it's own right. Cameo...WHERE ARE YOU ?? WE NEED DA FUNK!!
Peace, SD
(of 'Chaka's World')
Rating: -
This the album that broke Larry and the boys 2 the mainstream.Larry himself said "the only difference between this album and the previous 11 is that the record company finally gave it a major push,not bad after all these years huh?".This album shows why cameo had survived along with zapp,prince,and a couple of others,"The Synthesizer" Blackmon embraced it instead of running from it. he brang cameo into a new direction "Electro Funk" you could not run from hearing "Word Up" on the radio in 86.There should be a special addition of this album with notes and interviews of how this funk masterpiece came together.I've said before and I'll say it again BET are insulting Cameo buy not giving them a lifetime achievment award.
Rating: -
I love this album and it comes when I think personally the tail end of the Nu Wave R& B genre (soon to be replaced by New Jack Swing and later Hip- Hop)with the smash crossover Word Up. This album is the final trio of great albums starting with 1984's "she's strange" and ending with this statement the last gasp of a great genre.
Cameo was now pared down to a three piece group with other players from the cameo universe (Charlie Singleton, Bernard Wright and Aaron Mills)and It brims with the electro funker title track (with great horns ending the song)and the rocker " Candy" which is one of the great songs they have recorded. with it's searing guitar solo and the videos were even better with great visuals .And the ballads "Back and Forth" and "Don't Be Lonely' are excellent songs. while the album "single life" was in the middle of the "nu wave r&b craze this album completes it. If I was a "jheri curled nU Wave soilder" I would "run" not "walk" to the store and get this great album.
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