Tamara and The Seen - curing your long cold nights

As a tried and true Prince fan I'm not sure how I missed Ta Mara and The Seen.... This white girl-fronted MN-based band from the mid-80s slipped through my fingers (though now that I think about it...I definitely remember seeing this in the "cut out bins" of Golden Oldies and just presuming it was crap based on the oh-so-classy cover art.

  Margie Cox made an appearance on Prince's 90s 1-800-NEW-FUNK compilation with the outstanding "Standing At The Alter" but I somehow never connected that she had a long-standing Prince connection that was worth exploring.

  Well some youtube digging can cure all ills and after a brief indoctrination, I'm here to share. I think this one is my favorite, which definitely has a "Lovergirl" feel. Prince didn't actually have anything to do with it - it was produced by The Time's Jesse Johnson - but it's dripping with the Minneapolis sound. The ending reminds me of "Nasty Girl" and I love that she bites off a bit of Aretha's "Since You've Been Gone" in the vamps.

  Ta Mara & The Seen - "Long, Cold Nights"

  I like this one too...HELLO 80s video!! "Affection"

  And here's a snippet of the 90s track, which actually was written/produced by Prince - "Standing At The Alter"

Bigger than a Honda and Bigger than a Subaru

An oft forgotten slice of 80s cheese that is do for a revisit. Sometimes confused with "Freeway of Love," I remember this song being huge but apparently it only peaked on the R&B charts (April 1988). A cover of a Bruce Springsteen B-side, Bette Midler wanted to include this on an early 80s album but was rebuffed by Springsteen's people. And the whole song is actually a naughty little metaphor...something that completely went over my head at age 13.
Side note: the single version here was remixed by Clivilles & Cole. And...is that Khandi Alexander whipping her hair back and forth at 1:48?

Natalie Cole - "Pink Cadillac"

Such a Pretty Mess on My Dress

World's most ridiculous song. After being kicked off the Purple Rain set by Prince and quickly being replaced by (one in a long succession) of lookalikes (this time Apollonia), Vanity moved to Motown to record a solo record. I think it's sort of amazing that she released this song as a pop single in 1984. Um, it's about someone ejaculating on her clothes. That was 25 years ago, people. Like, um, wow!

It's been well documented that she had a pretty serious drug problem at this time and has since cleaned up (maybe too much - I think she's a Christian evangelist now). But her bad choices are our YouTube fodder. And check-out all the video's popped champagne corks, falling pearls, etc, just to drive the visual metaphor home.

Thanks, Vanity!

Vanity - "Pretty Mess"

Don't Forget Maxine Nightingale

Why hello early 80s soul diva resurgence...nice to see you again.

What, you only know "Right Back Where You Started From" and "Lead Me On"? Me too! How handy that we've discovered this gem from one of her latter full length albums (from her heyday) that sounds very Pointer Sisters "Fire"/"Slow Hand"...but, let's be honest, not as good.

Maxine Nightingale - "Work On It"

Put a little love in your heart

So I just watched Scrooged for the first time. Not good.

I think we all remember the Annie Lennox/Al Green collaboration from the film. I, for one, was rocking the 45 back in the day.

Would Annie and Al the final word on this song? Hardly. How about Donna Summer, Olivia Newton-John, The Bee Gees, The Fonz, and more 70s stars than you can shake a stick at....

True to form, Andy Gibb brings this sing-a-long to a grinding halt. The randomness of this is definitely worth checking out.

"Put A Little Love In Your Heart" http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NeJcePrcRDs