LP Review: Lady T
Released: 1980
LP Charts: #18 R&B, #45 Pop
Teena Marie steps out of the shadows, literally, on this LP. As you can see, she is actually on this album cover. An improvement on her first album, which had some nondescript painting to perhaps hide the fact to Black audiences that Marie was White.
Marie also stepped out the shadows figuratively.
On that debut, Wild and Peaceful, Rick James had done most of the writing and producing. Well, this time around Marie wrote or co-wrote every thing except the ephemereal ballad “Now That I Have You”. That song sounds like it was tailor made for Minnie Riperton, which is no surprise since her husband, Richard Rudolph, co-wrote that song and produced this album.
(Riperton, for those unfamiliar, was an amazing singer. However, she died of breast cancer in 1979.)
Two other fine ballads are “Aladdin’s Lamp” and “Why Did I Fall In Love With You”. The former is styled as old-style R&B mixed with sweet 70s soul, while the latter goes all in on the 70s soul finishing with some jubilant percussion/drumming juxtaposed to the lamenting lyrics. Also “Why Did I Fall” has some smooth ass guitar licks.
There’s more great stuff to be found beyond the ballads.
References to Xanadu aside, “Behind the Groove” is a disco banger and it’s great to hear Marie outside the confines of Rick James. You’d never have something this variety of fresh and vibrant coming out of the James camp.
“Behind the Groove” charted poorly on American radio (#21 R&B, nothing on the pop side), but has nonetheless become one of Marie’s more endearing songs cuz it burned up the dance floors (#4 disco) and became her biggest hit in the UK (#6).
Meanwhile, “You're All The Boogie I Need” is as mindlessly stupid as the title suggests. Which is fine by me since it’s a dance track.
The album isn’t without its ho-hums. “Lonely Desire” plods along in unremarkable mid-tempo funk. “Can It Be Love” also plods along, but even slower since it’s a mild-mannered ballad. At least Marie would later revisit this song’s basic structure to create the stunning “Dear Lover” in a few years.
Marie inserts a touch of bawdy rock & roll with “Young Girl In Love”. Clearly not a very good song since I have it in this section, but it provides variety. I’d rather differentiated ho-hum than the same ole ho-hum.
We nearly escaped any embarrassments on this album, but the closer, “Too Many Colors (Tee's Interlude)”, makes sure to squeeze in some unbearable schmaltz. It actually starts out fine enough. There’s dramatic harp, strings, woodwinds, and piano… but at the 2:35 mark, nine-year-old Maya Rudolph asks Teena Marie when will the world be better or some shit and Marie’s voice cracks hoping for a better world. Too corny for my cold heart.
However, Marie gets a pass here cuz that track is billed as an interlude and (oddly for an interlude) comes as the album closer. Charitably, I view it as bad bonus material instead of something essential to the album.
ALBUM GRADE: B-
As you can see from the album grade, my gripes with this album are outweighed by the meritorious content I do find here. Even the lesser songs are listenable, with the lows on this album generally being equal to the highs on her debut.
So yeah, we be looking at an artist gaining fuller control over her music and the music sounding better as a result. That trend continues in spades on Marie’s next album.
Behind the Groove: 8/10
Now That I Have You: 8/10
Lonely Desire: 5/10
Aladdin’s Lamp: 7.5/10
You're All The Boogie I Need: 7/10
Can It Be Love: 6/10
Young Girl In Love: 6/10
Why Did I Fall In Love With You: 8.5/10
Too Many Colors (Tee's Interlude): 4/10