A prelude to these album reviews: Con Funk Shun up to this point in their career had always written and produced their music. Even in the early days. And even when they were inspired by other groups. Con Funk Shun always did their own writing and production. That’s how they managed to still be themselves whether the results were fantastic or a touch derivative or incredibly pleasing or a bit underwhelming.
At least it was still Con Funk Shun no matter what.
That came to a screeching halt with Electric Lady and Burnin’. The band outsourced nearly all the writing and production on these two albums to LTD alum Billy Osborne and boy band kingpin Maurice Starr. I may have griped about some of Con Funk Shun’s other ‘80s albums, but I still found much to enjoy on them even if they weren’t as great as their pre-1980s material.
There is veeeeeeery little to enjoy here.
Be warned…
Electric Lady
Released: 1985
LP Charts: #9 R&B, #62 pop
After Fever (B-) provided us a glimmer of hope that Con Funk Shun had regained its footing, I am sad to report that Electric Lady sucks. Like legitimately awful in several spots as the band lost just about all sense of musical identity.
“Turn the Music Up” is a hackneyed (and at times annoying) attempt to sound like Midnight Star. Yet, it manages to be better than nearly all the other songs on this album.
The two recordings that manage to be unequivocally better than “Turn the Music Up” are “I’m Leaving Baby” and “Pretty Lady”.
Probably because they both are soft ballads eschewing BIG EIGHTIES DRUMS, “I’m Leaving Baby” (relying more upon warm keyboards) and “Pretty Lady” (relying more upon light percussion and rhythm guitar) rise above the morass. I still wouldn’t call either song outright good, but I certainly like hearing them, which is more than I can say for the rest of this album.
“Tell Me What You're Gonna Do” is horrific. It sounds like Eddie Murphy doing a Michael Jackson impression on vocals.
Okay, I gotta cut “Tell Me What You're Gonna Do” some slack. “Electric Lady” (#4 R&B) is TRULY horrific as Con Funk Shun rips off Cameo’s “She’s Strange.” That means some terrible attempts at rapping. I give Cameo a pass cuz their song had an insanely good beat. “Electric Lady” ain’t got nothing going for it.
Holy shit, they try rapping again on “Don't Go (I Want You Back)” and it’s even worse! But nothing compares to the tragedy that is “Circle of Love”. It is a big ‘80s ballad with BIG EIGHTIES DRUMS. And I don’t know who is singing the lead vocals, but it sounds nothing like Felton Pilate or Michael Cooper. If it’s either of them, I want to know who put a gun to their head and forced them to suck on the mic.
ALBUM GRADE: F
I beg you, listen to NOTHING on this album except “I’m Leaving Baby” and “Pretty Lady”… unless you want to laugh or cringe at how bad music in the ‘80s could get.
Song Scores
Turn the Music Up: 4/10
Rock It All Night: 4/10
I’m Leaving Baby: 6.5/10
Tell Me What You're Gonna Do: 3/10
Electric Lady: 3/10
Don't Go (I Want You Back): 2/10
Circle of Love: 0/10
Pretty Lady: 6.5/10
Burnin’ Love
Released: 1986
LP Charts: #25 R&B, #121 pop
Burnin’ Love isn’t as bad as Electric Lady, but Con Funk Shun lost even more of its identity in the process. On this album, they sound like a faceless R&B boy band. Thanks, Maurice Starr.
Take for example, “Burnin’ Love” (#8 R&B). A fine song, nothing particularly special, but no way in hell would have I guessed this was a Con Funk Shun song if I heard it randomly come on the radio, a streaming service, or some club sound system.
Offenses turn up—“Do Ya” has the stupid ‘80s stutter vocal effect; “Jo Jo” is a horrible merger of Klymaxx’s “Meeting in the Ladies Room” and Morris Day’s schtick with the Time—but more often than not the album is just aggressively bland.
Con Funk Shun broke up after this album. They deserved a better finale to their heyday than this overly produced, plastic ‘80s R&B that had very little soul and saddled the funk with too much gloss.
ALBUM GRADE: D
Song Scores
Do Ya: 4/10
Burnin’ Love: 6/10
How Long: 4/10
Jo Jo: 4/10
She’s Sweet: 5/10
She’s A Star: 4/10
It’s Time Girl: 4/10
You Make Me Wanna Love Again: 4/10