Life Love & Pain

Club Nouveau | Format: Audio CD

Product Details

• Audio CD (October 25, 1990)
• Number of Discs: 1
• Label: Warner Bros / Wea
• ASIN: B000002LAU
• Also Available in: Audio Cassette  |  Vinyl
• Average Customer Review: 3.9 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (15 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #30,350 in Music (See Top 100 in Music)

Track Listings

1. Jealousy

2. Why You Treat Me So Bad

3. Lean on Me

4. Promises, Promises

5. Situation #9

6. Heavy on My Mind

7. Let Me Go

8. Pump It up (Reprise)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Life Experiences, October 30, 2005

By 

Carltouis Stevenson (Angeles Mesa, Los Angeles) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Life Love & Pain (Audio CD)

Life, Love & Pain are the three elements found within this eight song release from Club Nouveau. Produced & written by Jay King, Thomas McElroy & Denzil Foster (two of which contributed to En Vogue's fame) constructed timeless material for any generation to enjoy. "Jealousy" starts off by the rumors being spread and confronting bad talk and lies. Used in a hip-hop / rap sample, "Why You Treat Me So Bad" has the formula of a classic ballad. The remake of the Bill Withers' hit "Lean On Me", the Club made it faster and as stated by the vocals "...we be jammin', we be jammin'..." As another life situation approaches, it seems hard to deal with some and easier with others. "Situation #9" would fall on a scale of 1-10 an eight or nine. Thinking of someone constantly would hence the title, "Heavy On My Mind". The subtle piano and slow drum track created a dark atmosphere for the ballad "Let Me Go" as the woman in the group takes the lead. "Pump It Up (Reprise)" is the instrumental from "Lean On Me" with words and chants to pump the crowd.

4.0 out of 5 stars Life,Love,Pain And Club Nouvou, November 8, 2011

By 

Andre S. Grindle "Andre' Grindle" (Brewer Maine) - See all my reviews
(TOP 1000 REVIEWER)    (REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Life Love & Pain (Audio CD)

At some point during the mid 1980's,it became apparent that any major future developments in R&B/soul music was going to involve some incorporation of hip-hop rhythms and rapping. From the development of new jack swing on,that's a standard that has stuck with R&B to this very day and shows no signs of letting go. Even retro movements such as neo soul almost seem to require some hip-hop reference. During about 1984-1986 this transition was on the cusp of occurring. All the same there concept of music being based about craft and melody over beats was still heavily ingrained in the culture. And that's what keeps people saying how much "better" music seemed to be even in the mid 80's-that the craft of music was equal in importance to the rhythm and tempo. What Jay King,Denzil Foster and everyone else involved in this album ended up with is probably the precise period of time when that transition began to take hold.

Now it needs to be understood this is NOT,I repeat NOT a formuliac type of new jack swing release in the order of their third album New Beginning. In fact only two songs here fit into that category at all. "Lean On Me" and the reprise "Pump It Up". What amazes me about this track is the beat is slower and the drums are very echoed as opposed to being overly gated. It actually winds up more as a gospel flavored attitude than a hip-hop one. Most of these tracks such as "Jealousy",'Situation#9","Heavy On My Mind" and "Why You Treat Me So Bad" are sleek late 80's dance-funk more of the Jam/Lewis order. But at the same time one of them are so over produced and are so well written and sung they get that same flavor you would get from an SOS Band during their Sands of Time era. "Promises,Promises" is actually an excellent unexplored direction-with it's P-Funk inspired cartoon voices,Minneapolis style funk references and general social/satirical quirkiness.

The underlying effect of all these songs is the fact that a person from the street culture could still be romantically and culturally elegant. Again coming from that same sort of place that's a direct line from the Motown era attitudes about music and style. This was the earliest sort of fusing of R&B/funk with hip-hop and disco-dance styles that would soon become something of the rage with the advent of house/DJ oriented music. But this was still highly produced,studio centric music we're dealing with at this stage. Later fusions would more over assume elegance within the street culture itself,rather than that coming from without. But groups such as Club Nouveau really took this decades musical ethics of style and surface value very much to it's own advantage,exploring it's existence rather than embracing it to survive. I compare it to Chic who utilized the disco sound as a matter of satire and became very much respected for it many years after that backlash. I think that's why Club Nouveau survived well into the 90's while a lot of their contemporaries didn't. Having the capability of self satirizing,even in the lightest sense isn't going to hurt you.

3.0 out of 5 stars Lean on Me, April 26, 2011

By 

big david "big david" (Texas) - See all my reviews

Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: Life Love & Pain (Audio CD)

CD was bought for "Lean on Me." Everything was fine as far as the seller is concerned. I'm just not a big fan of Club Nouveau.