Customer Reviews

Genie

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

 

 

I AM VERY PLEASED THAT THESE CD'S ARE NOW READILY AVAILABLE TO US IN THE U.S. BUT THEY HAVE BEEN AVAILABLE IN EUROPE FOR THE LONGEST TIME. AMAZON HERE NEEDS TO CATCH UP WITH THE REST OF THE WORLD. THIS IS BB&Q AT THEIR BEST. THE LATE CURTIS HAIRSTON DOES MOST OF THE LEAD VOCALS AND HE WAS JUST AMAZING.

The voice of Curtis Hairston, lead singer of BBQ is the soundtrack of my coming of age. Songs such as "Genie" and "Dreamer" remind me of urban summers of house parties, cookouts, and true community......prior to the destructon that the crack epidemic bought to the Northeastern sections of America. Curtis died at a young age but his music lives on in this Greatest hits cd!

Up until 2007, I had never even heard of the "Brooklyn, Bronx and Queens" Band. Well, I had heard several of their songs over the years, but never knew the band/group that performed them, well, that's my loss!

This album, 'Genie' is a good effort from the band. My favorite, of course is the Title Track, 'Genie.' I can listen to this song (which captures 80's (slightly) up tempo, ballads), over and over again. To me, Genie rates a 'five-star' rating, but the rest of the tracks fall a little short. Not bad, but not great either (but that's just my opinion - you may think differently!).

I rate this album, three stars!

B.B.&.Q came with the hit "On The Beat" in 1981 but the CLEAR hit is "Genie" in 1986.
This Whole Album is off the hook to me. The Song "Genie" is my favorite but "Won't You Be With me Tonight", "Minutes Away", "On The Shelf", "Dreamer" & "Riccochet" are all Good jams too.
If you like groups like Starpoint, Loose Ends, Change then you won't go wrong with this Cd.
Trust me!

It's a very eighties album (that, in my case, it's lovely), with some dance songs and some others relaxing that complement each other very well. The bonus tracks, featuring remixes of some songs of the album, are an interesting addition -especially, the Shep Pettibone mixes-.
It's worth it. I recommend it.

I was looking for anything by the late great vocalist, Curtis Hairston and came upon this jewel of funk, dance and soul. It will not let you down when it comes to that classic funky sound!! Purchase this for sure! The title track alone it worth the price, but there is so much more that this recording offers.

It's about time someone started giving 80's funk it's due,i never thought i would be buying this or any other B.B.&Q. Band project on cd.Now all 4 of their projects have been released in the last 5 years,this being the last from the fine people at Vinyl Masterpiece.These people do a great job in releasing rare 80's funk that is not as well known as some of the more mainstream 80's groups like Midnight Starr,Lakeside and the Gap Band you get the picture.This cd was originally released in 1986 and was the first release for the group on Elektra.The players Kae Williams,Timmy Allen, Mike Campbell and Kae Williams Jr. have all played with the group at one time or another,Curtis Hairston who is the lead vocalist on 7 of the cd 8 song is the only member who is making his first appearance on a B.B.&Q. project.Let me tell you he does a fantastic job with his soulful gift.The songs Genie,Minutes Away and the huge club hit Dreamer remixed by Shep Pettibone are the stand outs for me.One of the bonuses of this addition of the Genie cd is 4 bonus mixes of Dreamer,2 great remixes by Ben Liebrand one of Riccochet with male vocals and a mix of Main Attraction which has a vibe similar to the S.O.S.Band's The Finest.All N' all this is a fine example of top quality 80's club funk that no fan of this style should be without.

Crisp and clean like the producers and engineers intended it to be. I stumble across this group by accident one day looking for some good music from back in the days. I actually bought the PTG/ Vinyl Masterpiece's version first as it was available. At their website, you can listen to samples. So, I checked it out and the first track caught my attention. After it arrived, I listened to the rest and realized I had heard, "Dreamer," before when it first hit the airwaves back in '85. I said, "Man, I remember this song, I used to hate this song!" I hated it because they used to play it soooo much, but I did dig it. It's great after not hearing it for 23 years.

Now, a comparison between the two versions:
PTG's version is undoubtedly taken from the master tapes, as far as the album part of it goes (maybe? - lol) The bonus tracks were taken from the vinyl 12"es, but the downside is "Dreamer" is on it 4 times (not including the album's version.) I would have been cool with the long version itself as one of the bonus tracks. It's a solid effort. *Why no artwork from the original LP? Well, it is, on the euro releases. In fact, this includes both front covers. (*OOPS! Please see comment one for correction...)

Collector's Choice is equally as solid with a couple of extras. No bonus tracks, but one suprise is this one secretly includes the 12" version of "Dreamer" instead of the album version (even though it's listed on the artwork.) All tracks are recorded from the master tapes and includes some liner notes minus apostrophies, lol- you'll see what I mean later. *Right away, you'll see the original U.S. artwork. Just too bad this one didn't happen first because the huge pluses are that it's domestically available now and costs much less than the import version. In my book, this one is a winner for a classic album being reissued. It's cool to have bonus tracks, especially previously unreleased ones, but it's better when they're from the true sources (not vinyl...)

All in all, I hope to keep seeing more of an effort of getting these reissues domestically. Please support these reissues as much as we can because it's good music, and it's not easy what these companies do, especially when it's done the right way. Collectors, Iconoclassic, Reel Music, Hip-O, Wounded Bird, and many others are doing it at home, so check their websites often and join their newsletters. Contact them without hesitation with any questions or ideas for future releases, many are independently owned and can be reached by way of MySpace or email and they WILL hit you back. Gone