LP Review: Naked to the World
Released: 1988
LP Charts: #15 R&B, #65 Pop
Naked to the World might be Teena Marie’s most conventional R&B release yet. Of course conventional R&B by 1988 meant lots of smashing electronic percussion and even more keyboards. I miss the real horns…
Anyways, Marie acquaints herself better than most of her late 70s contemporaries in adjusting to the burgeoning New Jack Swing movement and its related sounds.
Let’s Dance
“Trick Bag” leads off the album and sounds like an extension of her dance numbers found on Starchild. That’s a good thing. 1984 dance music > 1988 dance music. In addition to Marie’s usual sassy nature, this song has a good guitar solo.
“Call Me (I Got Yo Number)” slows the pace a bit and finds Marie working with Rick James in the studio for the first time since 1981. It also finds her copping Skyy’s “Call Me”, a hit jam from 1981. Anyways, another solid song.
“Crocodile Tears” is some decent funk, but Marie used that dumb 80s trick of stuttering vocals that spoils a perfectly fine wah wah guitar. Yuck.
With a title like “Surrealistic Pillow”, Marie better deliver some psychedelic funk. And she does! At least what passes as psychedelic funk in 1988. And that means sounding like Paisley Park.
My God… HORNS! Plenty of horns! Thank you, “Work It” (#10 R&B). This is the Teena Marie I know and truly love. She’s playful all over this retro-jazz jam that’s still very much 1988. Anyways… horns! We got a trumpet soloing on this bad boy plus some jazzy guitar too.
“The Ball” is nowhere near as good but continues this mechanistic dance jazz.
Let’s Chill
After a decade in the spotlight, Lady Tee finally got a #1 R&B hit with “Ooo La La La”. Essentially dueting with a saxophone all song, Marie comes up with one of her catchiest hooks here (so catchy the Fugees would jack it a few years later). The music isn’t exactly groundbreaking, but sometimes you just need a song to chill to, and that’s “Ooo La La La”. If you wanna listen to this song, go for the 12” version was has a great call-and-response at the end that’s omitted from the LP version.
Rick James shows up again on “The Once and Future Dream”. Not as good as “Call Me” and this album runs for about 55 minutes, so if there’s one song you’re looking to cut, you found it right here. Honestly, you can also cut James’s vocals from this track. It truly sounds like Marie recorded this as a solo (she handles all the verses), but then decided to have Rick James record some “that’s right, preach on” backing vocals at the last minute.
Given its title, the closing “Naked to the World” has an underwhelming amount of sexiness goings on. It coulda had the right amount if Marie sang a little less and let the electric guitar solo a bit more. Then we woulda had the right balance of sexiness.
ALBUM GRADE: C+
All n all, a decent album from Teena Marie featuring two top 10 R&B singles and she still hasn’t embarrassed herself in the age of musical machines. That deserves praise all on its own.
Song Scores
Trick Bag: 6.5/10
Call Me (I Got Yo Number): 7/10
Ooo La La La: 8/10
Crocodile Tears: 6/10
Surrealistic Pillow: 6.5/10
The Once and Future Dream: 5/10
Work It: 8.5/10
The Ball: 6/10
Naked to the World: 6.5/10