Digital Roundup: 12/21/2015
Lisa Taylor, Secrets of the Heart: The music business is a fickle mistress, and there are occasions when an artist who seems to have all the necessary requirements to make it big - up to and including a major label deal - nonetheless ends up virtually nowhere. What's arguably even more frustrating, however, is when the artist succeeds just enough to make you relatively certain that their next album is going to be their big breakthrough…and then they vanish. That's basically the story of Lisa Taylor, who got her start as a member of Rose Royce, managed to score three solo hits on the Hot 100 R&B/Hip-Hop Singles and Tracks chart - “Secrets of the Heart” (#41), “Did You Pray Today?” (#40), and “Don't Waste My Time” (#94) - and then…poof! Well, not completely poof: she subsequently joined a group called Colour Club for an album, and then she retreated to singing backup vocals. Granted, they were backup vocals for Elvis Costello and Patti LaBelle, but given Taylor's talent, it's just a shame that she wasn't properly appreciated in her own right.
Terri Gonzalez, Is There Rockin' In This House: Over the course of his career, Nile Rodgers has taken a number of artists and helped turn them into hitmakers of the highest order. Terri Gonzales was not one of them, but these things happen. What matters is that the album is filled with a whole lot of funky fun that's in the same mold as the music that many of Prince's protégés were putting out at the time. Check out the title track and the album's other single, “Love Promises,” and you might just find the best funking album you've never heard before.
The Triplets, Break The Silence EP: If you've ever wanted an example of an artist trying one musical style, failing to take off in that style, and then scrapping everything and starting from scratch in a completely different style, then you'll want to hear this EP from The Triplets. Remember the sisters who brought you the soaring 1991 country-pop single “You Don't Have To Go Home Tonight”? Well, when they were on Elektra in 1986, they were dark, moody, and all about the synth-heavy rock, as evidenced by songs like “Boys,” “Message of Love,” and “Win Your Love.” Not that there's anything wrong with that, you understand. It's just fascinating to hear - and see, if you check out the video for “Boys” - just how much of a change they were willing to make in order to make it big.