Customer Reviews

Black & White

5 star:		(4)
4 star:		(1)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

although SLOW HAND was the big hit off BLACK AND WHITE that is just a start. this release shows the amazing styles and genre's of music the
POINTER SISTER'S CAN create. just listen to "take my heart take my soul"
one of my favorite songs ever. the vocals are powerhouse and the production is clear perfection. such a full, rich sound. and it that song can make anyone smile. amazing! all the songs are in top form. "should
i do it" has that 60's girl group sound. "someday we'll be together"
(not the supremes song) what beautiful melodies. the whole CD is
a fantastic trip into blues, soul, pop, ballads, and produced to '
perfection and the POINTER SISTERS did it all so easy. another
solid release

A rare reissue of the Pointer Sisters 1981 hit album, BLACK AND WHITE, re-released for a short while on CD in the early 90's , sounds great & contains some excellent songs. It reached #12 on Billboard , and is one of their biggest sellers, no doubt for it contains their classic , slow & sultry hit SLOW HAND. This CD does have great sound, reprints the inner sleeve, and is a great addition to the Pointers CD catalog.

There is more of a mix of stlyes on this CD than the previous SPECIAL THINGS album. I love the uptempo songs the best here, especially TAKE MY HEART TAKE MY SOUL, with a very fun upbeat Ruth lead vocal that is very catchy; WE'RE GONNA MAKE IT, another funky positive upbeat tune with a positive lyric written by the Pointers [ they opened with this song at a concert in 1982 that I saw ] , and it's kind of a precursor to I'M SO EXCITED. WHAT A SURPRISE is another original Pointer song, that is mid-tempo light funk, but they put on the 45 version instead of the full album version. It's missing a couple of lines. What a shame. Plus, this album has another hit single , SHOULD I DO IT, an oldies sounding song that is sung by June, and was also covered by Tanya Tucker.

The absolute killer cut here though has got to be : FALL IN LOVE AGAIN. This is an absolute essential Pointer Sisters track sung by June that she just owns. Few could sing like June when she really got into it, and she seriously gets down on this amazing track with a fiery mix of June's dynamic lead vocals, an electric guitar solo, and the build up with the backgound vocals , musicians & June's take-it-home ad-lib vocals at the end. A real Pointer deep cut, and undoubtedly one of the best tracks they ever cut! It's worth owning this CD to have this song, and it's one of June's best lead vocals that she ever did.

There's also a few other nice songs, more in the mid-tempo vein, including SOMEDAY WE'LL BE TOGETHER [ not the Diana Ross & The Supremes song ], SWEET LOVER MAN [ originally cut by Formerly of The Harlettes ], and GOT TO FIND LOVE. If you can find this CD at a good price, get it, because it's one of their best albums, and the CD was only available in print for just a little while.

The Pointer Sisters had many incarnations throughout their career. Starting with 4 sisters they sang doo-woop, nostalgic r@b. Their style has always been hard to define for they can sing anything with a range that is limitless. Eventually Bonnie went solo and the sisters also went a little more mainstream. Each release along their journey was a classic and this release was no exception. It fell into the pop r@b genre before hitting rock and ultimately first class r@b dosco.

The single here is SLOW HAND and it is a sensuous playful r@b track. The harmonies these sisters provide are always amazing. The set starts off with SWEET LOVER MAN a sweet uptempo r@b gem led by June. The whole set varies from pure magical pop to 60s doowop group style byt all with a modern r@b flair. Even today none of these tracks are dated. WE'RE GONNA MAKE IT and WHAT A SURPRISE are harmonizing gems. SOMEDAY WE'LL BE TOGETHER, TAKE MY HEART-TAKE MY SOUL and GOT TO FIND LOVE are vocal masterpieces. Bottom line this cd is a total must for any Pointer Sister collection or collection of quality music. This music will have you dancing and grooving to tunes of the highest quality.

One of the most important contributions The Pointer Sisters made to the world of female trios in their time was their ability to be diverse and somehow make it all sound as if it were one distinctive sound that was theirs. And manage to do it with just about every album. Richard Perry kept tha tradition going starting with the hard rocking Energy and Priority at the closing of the 70's and their turn to a blockbuster pop/soul act with Special Things the year before this. On this album the Pointer's really hit their stride with an album that was that has everything and,in my opinion is one of the prime pop albums of the year.The first track "Sweet Lover Man" says it all about why I like these ladies so much. It's of course this upbeat mixture of latin funk,pop,gospel harmonies and......this slightly surreal and dreamy melodic structure,almost like the first few minutes of being awake after an unusual dream. The powerful yet mildly otherworldly vocals of the late June on the song is one of the big reasons for this effect.There are the usual assortment of covers-all of them hits that got this album on the charts such as the 80's pop-country of "Slow Hand" of course as well as the retro 60's "Someday We'll Be Together" and "Should I Do It" with it's hammy 50's flavor,that one actually serving as an interesting harbinger of a retro 50's movement in music and lyrics in the decade as it progressed. Even so these are very good songs but truth be told none of them are my favorite songs on this album. Deep voiced Ruth,my favorite of the sisters vocally gets a turn at this great high-powered gospel drenched R&B song in "Take My Heart,Take My Soul".June and Anita with David Foster wrote "We're Gonna Make It" themselves,another preview of things to come as the sound if not the more organic instrumentation predate the clipped,new wave inflected sound of their smash Break Out by a couple years. One of my favorites on this album is "What A Surprise". As was typical of R&B albums during 1981 in particular,the Pointer's did an early experiment with rap here on a sensual pop-funk jam.Paul Jackson's tangy guitar riffs on the breakdown are even more icing on the cake.There's also another country inflected pop tune in "Got To Find Love",with more of an upbeat soul twist and the sassy funk-rock of "Fall In Love Again". Of the bonus cuts the unrealeased "Holdin' Out For Love",also with a unique sounding arrangement is a very catchy funk-soul tune. The Pointers always seemed to be able to gather a little from pop music past along with possibilities for the future and bring them squarely into the present. It's an age old tradition of black music in America,a futurist journey that always seems forever unseen or misunderstood. However in the Pointer's case it's baught so far out into the forefront you not only cannot help hearing it but your too busy having a good time to pick knits.

Length:: 0:47 Mins

This 1995 reissue of a classic Pointer Sisters CD is a perfect example of how not to remaster music. It sounds flat and empty. My advice is to pick up a vinyl copy instead, until someone at BMG gets their act together and remasters all the Pointer's Planet material at today's standards. It can't be that hard - just listen to some of the Hip-O-Select reissues of even earlier Pointer material - fantasic full rich sound, that you'd think was recorded today using the best facilities. This CD is a major disappointment.