Customer Reviews

In Full Bloom

5 star:		(10)
4 star:		(0)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

Although the hit "Car Wash" brought this group attention from mainstream audiences, it is this album that keeps them there. Cover to cover this album is full of tunes that keep you moving to the beat. "Wishing on a Star" in the pole position, is a smooth, sexy string/horn marriage that is a steppers and skaters dream. Ditto for "Ooh Boy" and the philly-sound inspired "Your My World Girl." But the funk... (and they didn't get a 3 on it) is the bomb! The thumping bass, tight horns, and driving rhythmns (and yes, another clap thing) on "Do Your Dance," keeps you on the floor. The sleeper "You Can't Please Everybody," brings funk ala Sly Stone-style, while the prophetic "It makes You Feel Like Dancing" lives up to its name. Overall, a solid album. If you lost it or never had it, you owe it to yourself to get it!

Wishing on a star, Ooh Boy and Do your dance(my favorite) make this album a 1970's soul classic!!!!

Some quality R&B from back in the day - and it still sounds so good. A definite must for your collection. PLUS it's got the "album version" of "Wishing On A Star." Slow jams afficionados know this version is the best. It's got that extra riff at the end (unlike the crappy radio edit you always hear).

THis Album Still Sounds Great After All Of These Years.The Grooves Never End&the Slow Jams Are Steady.I'm Glad this is on Disc.This Band Has SOme OF The Most TImeless Songs ever.

Rose Royce made it clear on this album that not only was their life after Car Wash for them and producer Norman Whitfield but that they fully intended to forge ahead with their sound. By the time the 70's was at it's midpoint synthesizers and electronics had become an enormous part of funk music,especially in the hands of people such as Stevie Wonder and Billy Preston. While that had come into play to a certain degree on previously,the fact that Rose Royce were one of the few bands ever to debut on a soundtrack recording meant that they were going to save certain types of experimentation for their next album,if any. Turns out they were so big from the start a sophomore set was almost guaranteed. So it was basically on this album that Rose Royce...well basically became Rose Royce as it were.

While very even keel in terms of fast and slow songs,this album is primarily devoted to funk. It showcased that this was what they intended to base their sound in. But right away the bands unique sense of reinventing their influences within their groove became apparent when they unconventionally opened this album with the ballad "Wishing On A Star". It's one of the finest crafted slow numbers they ever did and deservedly one of their classic songs. "Ooh Boy" and "You're My World,Girl" are the two other ballads here. And the most soulful of them too,very much in the spirit of Chicago and Philly styles of 70's soul balladry. On the funk numbers,needless to say it really comes to a head. On "Do Your Dance" and "It Makes You Feel Like Dancin" represent Rose Royce's signature funk sounds where every part of the band became a purely rhythmic element-chugging like a freight train with the percussion,synthesizers,bass,guitar and cosmic vocal harmonies. It's very much a futurist concept to how modern hip-hop producers such as Timbaland and The Neptunes approach their style of funk as well.

"You Can't Please Everybody","Love,More Love" and "Funk Factory" are potent reminders of their more straight ahead,horn based danced funk sound they already showcased on their debut. Weather on cosmic electronic/space harmony based funk to chunky,hardcore brassy grooves and ballads this outfit proved to be one that had it all,could do it all and did it all when it came down to it. Gwen Dickey proved the master of funky femininity,wrapping her very girlish but very confident voice. Even though she would come to represent some interpersonal issues within the band in the coming years,at this point she was very much part of the "funk factory" the band were starting to become. One wonders,if things had been different if Whitefield records could have had Rose Royce be part of a movement that would do for funk what Motown had done for R&B. They were very innovative and experimental in their genre of music. But also were very commercially viable. In many ways that style seemed to end with them rather than begin with it as Ricky Vincent's "united funk" era was coming to an end with albums such as this. But still,the deed was done.

LOVE IT....I CANT GET ENUFF IF IT.....ROSE ROYCE, MUSIC LEGENDS!!!!! THEY DONT HV BANDS LIKE THS NO MO'.

Aside from the Car Wash soundtrack this is the only original RR album from their classic period ('77-'82) that was released on CD. I'm glad that at least this one made it, because it's their best album. It's choc full of everything that makes up a classic R&B album - smooth melodies, rich instrumentation, funky grooves and a production style that brings out the best of all these ingredients.
According to my copy Warner Bros released this CD under the moniker of 'black music-ol' skool' and that's exactly what it is - it shows the younger R&B fanbase how it's done. The single Wishing on a star is the highlight here, but I also love the funk workouts like Do your dance, It makes you feel like dancin' and Funk Factory, which all have an incredible groove.

As glad as I am with this disc, it's a shame that other original RR albums never got a CD release. The fact that there are numerous RR comps that don't even contain the original versions of their hits makes it just hard to believe that their classic albums aren't available in digital format. Maybe RR is regarded too much as a faceless studio concoction. That may be true to some extent, but there's no doubt that these musicians could play and that singer Gwen Dickey got the chops.
So here's still hoping for CD releases of albums like Strikes again, Rainbow Connection, Jump street and Stronger than ever (even though the last one originally was a CBS release). Hopefully someone at Rhino will get up and do what needs to be done.

Amazing vocals and lots of great memories when I listen to this CD. Classic 70's music. Highly recommended.

I was one of the priveleged peopled able to hear this album late 1977 when it originally came out.It was bad then it's bad now.Mr. Whitfield,this is the kind of album you shoulda been making the Tempts in the early 70's instead of half baked albums like "1990" and "Masterpiece".There isn't a weak song on this album.Rose Royce were a BAND meaning they could get away with eight and a half minute jams like "It Makes You Feel Like Dancing" & "Do Your Dance".The Tempts were a VOCAL GROUP.Nuff said on that.If you have only Rose Royce album in your collection (and if you listen to funk then you need at least one)this is the one.

On a scale of 1 to 5, this album is off the chart! From the first cut to the last, this is a classic album and now it's on cd. Wonderful!