MOG

Taken from their 10th album , which was also their second album-release on their own label , Atlanta Artists ( distributed through Polygram Records ). In my opinion one of the best ballads which Cameo created during their career. This project is interesting , because when recording the first 7 albums of the group , the productions included a fully line-up from about 10 to 11 bandmembers. The sound on those recordings are backed-up by strong & solid horn-arrangements. By the time of 1982 , the line-up was paced down to a core of 5 members and this unit moved away from New York in order to start their headquarters and new label in Atlanta , an area which became a rich pond for fresh talent in the following decades. The horns-driven sound from earlier albums was replaced by a more new-wave synthesizer-vibe which evolved in their album called Alligator Woman. This album received much recognition because of the drastic changes which Larry Blackmon had taken , all as a result of the crucial economics ... Larry simply couldn't afford to pay all the bandmembers from the earlier days , with the exception that during concerts though , they still represented with a full armed funkforce onstage.

After the Alligator Woman-project , they recorded the album Style in 1983 . This album was a direct follow-up of the sound which they headed to with the release of "Alligator Woman". As there were still some horns to be heard on the "AW"-project , on "Style"there were none and it was even more synthesizer-driven. Larry as an original graduated drummer from the Juilliard School Of Music , experienced with a new fabricated & electronic drum-kit from the Simmons-brand ... back then a favourite instrument used by various musicians in the scene. Larry also mentions this new designed drumkit in the liner-notes of "Style" : "There are no conventional drums used on this album , all drums are electronic. The new age sound."

Although a solid album , "Style" didn't get the recognition as it got with "Alligator Woman" , because the Reagonomics had even gotten worse. So after this unfortunate result , Larry focussed even more on his next project by moving back to New York in a more modest appartment , and by starting to do a daily routine of training early in the morning , and work intensively on the new album during the rest of the day. The project evolved in She's Strange and together with the former 2 albums , these 3 were the raw blue-prints for their next 2 albums which launched them in the commercial charts. "She's Strange" is the most known track from this album , but the album also contains the hard-hitting and political-driven "Talking Out The Side Of Your Neck" , an infectious jam called "Groove With You" with strong vocal harmonies , plus 2 slowjams like the jazz-flavoured "Love You Anyway" and another strong one on this particular post here , with guitarist Charlie Singleton starting the lead-vocals , followed by Tomi Jenkins and finally Larry Blackmon finishing it off together Charlie and Tomi ... this all accompanied by Kevin Kendricks on the warm Fender-Rhodes keyboards , and saxophonist Melvin Wells doing a solo towards the end. I was surprised to find a copy of it on YouTube. In the late 90's , Oran Juice Jones sampled this slowjam in his song "Make Love To Your Mind".

A final note , By reading the liner-notes of the album , it seems that this project was a dream-come-true for the late Bill Haywood , who was an artists-representative for Cameo at Polygram Records. The band remembers their friend on the back-cover by writing : "This is dedicated to the memory of Bill Haywood - the album he always wanted"

Peace , Sander