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.

Hey folks, we’re extending this for a couple weeks before starting our next series. So forgive the outdated intro and enjoy the music!

Howard Johnson “Knees” (from The Vision, 1985)

Robert Cass: Jimmy Jam & Terry Lewis only produced three of the eight tracks on Johnson’s third LP, The Vision (1985), but Lewis plays on a fourth track written and produced by Monte Moir, so half the album has Minneapolis roots.

Howard Johnson's album "The Vision"Appropriately enough, Johnson was part of a group called Niteflyte in the late ’70s and early ’80s before striking out on his own with a recording contract from A&M. “Knees” is terrific synthesizer soul, but who’s the British bloke talking over the start of the record? Johnson’s from Miami. Did the Commodores’ J.D. Nicholas end up in the wrong studio? (Skip to 1:56 here.)
Jeff Giles: I admit, the first time this track came up, I skimmed Johnson’s name and thought we were talking about Howard Jones for a second.
Michael Parr: Oh, thank God, it wasn’t just me.
Jeff Giles: I mean…Jam & Lewis could have produced the shit out of a Howard Jones record. Now I’m sad it didn’t happen.
MP: Can you fathom the depths of production nerdery that would have taken place had Howard Jones and Jam & Lewis worked together?
MJ: Man, it was hard keeping track of all of the “Howard Johnson”s in the mid ’80s. It’ll probably be the last time an R&B singer shares a name with a budget hotel chain that shares its name with the shortstop for the Mets.
RC: You’d think someone at A&M would’ve said, “About that name …” before signing Johnson, but no. Maybe the label figured it could give away free word-of-mouth copies of his first album in the lobby of Howard Johnson hotels if it didn’t sell at first.

MJ: “Knees” is, indeed, a pretty good song. Sort of similar-sounding to a lot of the stuff that’s on Alexander O’Neal’s first album.

As far as the British accent goes, maybe it was this guy.

RC: I’d forgotten about that! Was the name Ready for the World the band’s way of saying, “Somebody should book us for a world tour since we already know how to fake at least one foreign accent”?

MP: MJ, I believe it was you that shattered my world with the revelation that Ready for the World were not, in fact, from England.

RC: It reminds me a bit of Scritti Politti’s “Perfect Way,” but since both songs came out in ’85, I’m not saying Jam & Lewis ripped off Green Gartside, or vice versa. They were all drinking from the same funky water supply, that’s all.

JG: Scritti Politti is a cool comparison — everything about this track is impeccable, from that tight rhythm program to the candy-coated synth stabs. I’m not sure the song really deserves it, but I guess that speaks to the Jam & Lewis genius as well as the overriding aesthetic of the decade. Got half a song? Fix it in the mix.

RC: I would love to hear the voice-and-guitar (or voice-and-piano) demos of polished-to-a-sheen ’80s R&B songs like “Knees.” Just as seeing an editor’s marks on the final draft of a book or story you really enjoy can make you appreciate what a good editor brings to a writer’s work, so too can demos fleshed out by inventive producers, I would imagine.

Dr. Z: This one is completely new to me. I’ve never heard the artist or song before (as far as I know). “Knees” definitely bears the markers of its time – most notably a chunky bassline, equally thick synth snare. That’s not a bad thing, and it’s certainly not to say that other tracks in this series weren’t similarly evocative of their respective eras. From what I can dig up, “Knees” failed to chart, although the album containing it (The Vision) cracked the top 50 on the Soul chart; I have to imagine that “Knees” helped out with that.

What sticks out to me about the production aspect is actually the looming, swirling synths in the background. They don’t add much in the way of melody (the synth bass is center stage here), but it adds an interesting texture to a fairly straightforward dance cut.

And now I’m going to need to check out Howard Johnson records.

MJ: Start here.

RC: Nice … but “Knees” is better.¹

Z: YOUNT!

 

 

¹-The editor disagrees.