LP Review: Ivory
Released: 1990
LP Charts: #27 R&B, #132 Pop
An R&B veteran releasing an album in 1990? You have every right to be worried. I know I was.
However, Teena Marie was way less embarrassing adjusting to and navigating through New Jack Swing than most R&B vets. After all, this is the lady who gave us “Square Biz” back in 1981. She was never averse to incorporating hip-hop to her music. So NJS itself wasn’t a problem for Lady T.
The trouble, as it has been since the mid-80s, was Marie incorporating electronic, mechanized, and synthesized music. She was clearly at her best, IMO, producing “live” instruments, not fleets of keyboards.
Let’s see how she handles the situation on Ivory…
“Here’s Looking At You” (#11 R&B) is harmless uptempo NJS. That’s already better than what many artists of Marie’s vintage were able to put out in 1990. “The Sugar Shack” goes beyond harmless and actually sounds a bit good. I can’t fully get over those awful keyboard stabs imitating horns, but the groove and beat are slammin’, yo.
The dance party lets up for “If I Were A Bell” (#8 R&B), a simple but effective ballad. Almost like a lullaby. Then comes “Just Us Two” (#42 R&B), which is some darn good cruisin’ music. I am delighted that these two songs largely eschew electronic music clutter for a real stripped down approach. Gives a clear, spacious sound, which I appreciate if you aren’t going to enrich my ears with horns and strings.
To this point on Ivory, every song was improving upon the one before giving the album, dare I say, some momentum. Sadly, “Mr. Icecream” breaks up that head of steam, but this song isn’t bad. Just boring, corny, and deathly average.
“Snap Your Finger” returns Marie to the right side of average. This midtempo groove wisely leaves plenty of space for the drums and bass to operate with minimal interference from cheesy keyboards.
And now we reach the point of CD fatigue…
As I have complained about before in other LP Reviews, and will complain about again in the future!, the advent of compact discs let musicians make TOO MUCH music. Ivory runs for nearly 70 minutes whereas Marie’s previous albums didn’t breach the 50-minute mark with the exception of Naked to the World, which clocked in at 55 minutes.
“Cupid Is A Real Straight Shooter” is a decent jazzy song. Pleasant even with its synth bass and sexy sax. But it’s the seventh full length track and when it finishes we’re now about 45 minutes into the album. In years gone by, this would have been the end of the album and I would be congratulating Lady T on a quality album.
Instead, we trudge on.
“How Can You Resist It” is a real treasure, relatively speaking. Marie totally ditches the R&B and NJS for a largely acoustic rock song reminiscent of early 70s Shuggie Otis. A nice touch of spice added to the album.
Next, Marie channels the late 80s British Soul movement, which was light years ahead of America at the time, on “Since Day One”. And I swear, SWEAR!, that I wrote that previous sentence before doing some research and discovering Marie co-wrote that song with Soul II Soul founder Jazzie B.
“Miracles Need Wings to Fly” is a ballad that needs a miracle to work. Okay that was harsh, but I had to make the joke. It’s an average, but useless song.
Beyond useless is “The Red Zone”. Easily the worst song here and also the longest running nearly eight minutes. I ain’t got time for this shit.
ALBUM GRADE: C+
Shockingly decent given the era it came out in. Credit to Teena Marie for not chasing trends too much. Too bad she didn’t chop off the two or three weakest songs here. Also too bad that even amongst the better songs nothing here was great or outstanding.
But if I’m giving an early 90s album a C+ grade, you know it definitely earned it. I really wanted to give this a B-, but “The Red Zone” is truly awful and the album runs for too long. Can’t overlook that.
The real shame is that this album did poorly commercially and put Marie on hiatus as she released just one album over the next dozen years. She finally made a permanent return in the mid-2000s, an era of music I like even less than the early 90s, so I won’t bother reviewing those albums right now, cuz it’s one 75-minute slog after another.
Song Scores
Here’s Looking At You: 6/10
The Sugar Shack: 6.5/10
If I Were A Bell: 7.5/10
Just Us Two: 7.5/10
Mr. Icecream: 5/10
Snap Your Finger: 6.5/10
Cupid Is A Real Straight Shooter: 6.5/10
How Can You Resist It: 7.5/10
Since Day One: 7/10
Miracles Need Wings to Fly: 5/10
The Red Zone: 3/10