Flyte Bros LogoLast year, I joined Popdose‘s Jeff Giles and Robert Cass for a column called “‘Face Time,” in which we discussed essential (and some non-essential) cuts in the catalog of Kenneth “Babyface” Edmonds, one of the most prolific singer/songwriters of the ’80s and ’90s. ‘Face and his partner Antonio “L.A.” Reid were one of the big 3 production teams that ruled pop and R&B during that era. There was also Teddy Riley and his New Jack Swing camp, and perhaps most notably, Minneapolis’s James “Jimmy Jam” Harris III and Terry Lewis. The former members of Prince offshoot band The Time turned out to be legends in their own right, composing and producing hits for a who’s-who of the music industry and proving to be as (if not more) influential than their purple-clad benefactor.

So in 2014, Jeff, Robert and I (along two new team members, fellow Popdose editor/Popblerd podcast co-host Michael Parr, along with badass co-conspirator Dr. Z) are back to talk all things Flyte Tyme.

Patti LaBelle “The Right Kinda Lover” (from Gems, 1994 | #61 pop/#8 R&B | Amazon

MJ: And now, for a perfectly pleasant Patti LaBelle song…

Jeff Giles:  1. At the time this was filmed, Patti was only one year younger than Rue McLanahan was during the first season of Golden Girls.

2. That hat.

3. I wish everyone would stop talking.

4. The production here encapsulates everything about 1994 R&B the same way Jam & Lewis’ ’86 productions encapsulated that year.

RC: I give Patti credit for Blanche-ing it up — who says older men get to have all the fun? — but the “enhanced interrogation techniques” she uses on her potential suitors disturb me. Was Dick Cheney a big fan of BET’s Video Soul in the ’90s?

MJ: I have never seen this video before. Why is Vlade Divac in it?

Robert Cass: Is he the guy with the foreign accent at the beginning of the video who says something about “the league”? I figured he was an NBA player, but I’m disappointed Patti didn’t cast the guy who costarred with Billy Crystal in 1998’s My Giant.

I love Patti so much. This song makes me wonder why Jimmy & Terry never worked with Aretha.

JG: Goddammit, I wish Aretha had hired Jimmy & Terry to put together her new record instead of settling for her version of a Rod Stewart songbook record.

Is one of the guys from Color Me Badd in this video?

RC: I didn’t see any George Michael, Kenny G, Terence Trent D’Arby, or Vanilla Ice-looking dudes, so no. C’mon, Jeff, pay attention to the visual clues.

MJ: I don’t think so, but it’s possible! They all look like they came from the Random Video Dude Generator.

At any rate, ‘The Right Kinda Lover” is a good example of Jam & Lewis’s versatility. I’m glad they didn’t try too hard to “contemporize” Patti, as opposed to when Prince worked with her and gave her a backing track and lyric that may have been better suited to Sheena Easton (and I say that as someone who loves “Yo Mister” dearly.)

The answer to the Aretha question might be as simple as Miss Franklin’s fear of flying vs. Jam & Lewis only wanting to work in Minneapolis.

…I wonder if I’m the only person who prefers Patti to Aretha.

JG: I prefer Aretha to almost anyone.

MJ: As do most people, I think.

Michael Parr: If I sit and think about it, I’m more likely to listen to some Patti before listening to Aretha. That’s no disrespect to Aretha, and I’ll absolutely listen to her early (to mid) career material and swoon with all the abandon that it deserves. But if we’re talking ‘80s (and on) material, I’d probably reach for Patti before Aretha.

MJ: My personal preference would probably go towards Chaka <—- Patti <—— Aretha.

RC: If I had a choice of only listening to Chaka’s “Papillon (a.k.a. Hot Butterfly),” Patti’s “If Only You Knew,” or any song by Aretha on repeat for the rest of my life, I’d go with one of the first two options. I don’t think Aretha is overrated by any means, but I heard so many of her early hits on the radio growing up in the ’80s, when music from the ’60s was being heavily recycled for nostalgic baby boomers, that I got tired of them quickly.

JG: When Chaka’s on, she’s on. The denim Rufus record was one of the first bits of vinyl I bought after I got my turntable. I’d argue that her latter-day output is just as spotty as anyone’s, though.

MJ: I don’t know, man. I think her solo catalog is underrated.

Full circle alert: her last album was (largely) produced by Jam & Lewis. And is REALLY fucking good.

JG: Funk This? I remember liking chunks of it quite a bit — and also thinking it had quite a bit more spice than the AC stuff she’d succumbed to by the early ’90s.

(editor’s note: I LOVE this song.)

MJ: Also, I have zero level of anticipation for that Aretha album after hearing her massacre that Adele song.

MP: I was greatly disappointed.

JG: Listening to it made me feel the way I used to at the end of a very special sitcom episode. You know, where you’re really embarrassed for everyone and it hurts to watch?

MJ: Just to spite us all, it will be a #1 hit and win 5 Grammys.

JG: Followed by five more volumes of this bullshit.

wig animated GIF

MP: YOUNT!!!

 

Related articles