
Three women I wish I'd paid more attention to during the 1980s: Rushen is an accomplished pianist but I think ofttimes record management pushed her towards pop/R&B chart success. The record executive in this particular case is Clive Davis as this was Rushen's only album for Arista after leaving the Elektra label. The versatile Rushen is difficult to categorize and her current wikipedia entry calls her a jazz pianist and R&B singer, so let's just go with that. This 1987 album is firmly in the R&B camp. I'm not a huge fan of late '80s R&B production tropes, but there's some good stuff here regardless of trend-chasing synth sounds and drum programming.
Ratings/reviews:
- Billboard: "fails to coalesce into a uniformly strong showcase"
- CashBox: "a smooth, sensual collection of sophisticated R&B/pop crossover"
- R&B Report: "a winner"
- Philadelphia Inquirer (★★★): Rushen has developed into a formidable, versatile talent."
- The Virgin Encyclopedia of Jazz (1999): ★★★
Album chart peaks:
- US Billboard 200: #77
- Billboard R&B: #19
- CashBox: #60
- Rolling Stone: #45
Tracks: Three singles were released: Watch Out (#9 R&B, #22 dance), Anything Can Happen (#51 R&B), and Come Back To Me (#65 R&B, #37 dance). Those are three of my favorites here, along with All My Love and Tender Lovin'. There are tunes that try to capitalize on successes of mid-'80s Pointer Sisters (Breakin' All The Rules), Whitney Houston (Somewhere), New Edition (the aforementioned Anything Can Happen), and Prince (Burnin'). There's filler, but there's no track that will have you reaching for the skip button.
Personal Memory Associated with this CD: None, but I'll continue to pick up any CDs I see from the three artists listed above.
Previously revisited for the blog:
Signature (1997)












