Customer Reviews

Workin' Overtime

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

 

 

In the late 1980's Diana returns back to Motown.

Tracklisting:
1) Workin' Overtime
2) Say We Can
3) Take The Bitter With The Sweet
4) Bottom Line
5) This House
6) Paradise
7) Keep On (Dancin')
8) What Can One Person Do
9) Goin' Through The Motions
10) We Stand Together

Diana commented at the time 'Workin' Overtime': "It's a new day for both Motown and myself. For me, it's an opportunity to put back into the music industry some of the knowledge that i've gained. I especially want to use my experience to guide younger talents as they start their careers. My return also reflects my belief in Motown as a label capable of tapping the energy and style of today's youth".

The Results, Sadly the album was a commercial disaster. With all its hype, it disappointed a lot of fans and although it climbed to No.23 on the U.K album charts it just went by unnoticed.

When I first got this album, I thought the only good song on it was the title track, Workin' Overtime. But recently, I have the album another chance and listend to it all the way through again, and now I've really come to like several of the songs. Yes, it's dated New Jack Swing music, but there are good songs. Say We Can and Paradise are fun dance tracks, Going Through The Motions is a good mid-tempo song and This House is a beautiful New Jack Swing ballad. The rest of the songs I don't really care for, but 5 of the 10 tracks are good, so I give this a solid 3 star rating.

I first bought this album not long after it was released in 1989. I was a teenager at the time, loved Diana...and while I wasn't a big fan of the song, I was thrilled to see the title track getting heavy rotation on BET and attention from R&B radio.

I bought the album and was VERY disappointed. It came across as overproduced, a somewhat cheesy production (even in 1989!) that sounded like faux Hip Hop, and amateurish songwriting- some of it downright embarrassing. The R&B/dance female stars of this point were the likes of Jody Watley, Karyn White, Vanessa Williams. And played alongside their recent albums, WORKIN' OVERTIME suffered in comparison.

20 years forward, I bought the album again (trying to complete my Diana collection), and gave it another chance. And try as I may, I still don't like it.

The album opens with the title track, an R&B Top 10 hit that failed to crossover. It IS one of the best tracks on the album, even if the lyrics are a bit on the vapid side and the cheese still permeates. It's catchy and harmless fun.

As it fades out, you suddenly hear Diana exclaim "Hey Nile, put up the horns!" The shrill sound of (synthesized) horns chimes in, and you know you're in trouble when you hear Diana declare "right on" and "it's happening". I don't know where Diana or Nile Rodgers were spending time in 1989, but NO ONE was using that terminology by that point. Okay, it might've sounded contrived to have her say "it's dope" or "fly", but this just makes her sound stuck in a time warp. The song is "Say We Can", which actually isn't a bad number once you get past that intro. The production (faux horns notwithstanding) is lively, the lyrics are inoffensive and the melody simple and clear.

It goes downhill on the next track, "Take the Bitter With the Sweet", where a fairly decent production is ruined by some lousy lyrics (are those backup singers really saying "take the bitter with the sweet, TWEET"!? What's the TWEET for?) and Diana's voice straining to get through parts of it, screaming uncomfortably high at the bridge.

This is a problem throughout the album- her vocals are really high at points. More often than not she can pull it off, but this is just too close for comfort.

Next is actually one of the best tracks of the album, "Bottom Line". Infectious, sly and sexy, the song has a great commercial production (reminiscent of Jody Watley's "Real Love", slowed down a bit), decent lyrics and a great hook. It's also doubtless one of (if not THE) most commercial numbers on the album. Diana sounds comfortable and at ease (probably moreso than any of the other uptempo tracks).

What's shocking is, Motown wanted THIS to be the leadoff single. Diana fought for the title track and ultimately won. One can only imagine what the project's fate may have been had "Bottom Line"- which had the potential to cross over- been the single to introduce the album.

Side A closes with "This House", one of the better Nile Rodgers lyrics here, a tender moment that, by this point, is sorely needed. I don't think it was a good choice for 2nd single, but, for a singer who made as much of a name with ballads as with dance songs, this is a welcome respite.

Side B commences with another agreeable dance song, "Paradise". Although the Shep Pettibone remix is better, this is enjoyable and spacious, with a clear, simple lyric. None of these superlatives can be given to "Keep On (Dancin)'", easily the worst song on the entire album. The melody is nearly non-existent, the lyrics are so sophmoric, cliched and poorly grouped it sounds like poetry from an 11 year old, and Diana is once again straining to hit ridiculously high notes. The song is, quite honestly, painful in parts.

"What Can One Person Do" is only marginally better than it's predecessor. The lyrics are (once again) trite and vapid, and Diana is straining to hit notes again. At least the song has more structure and melody than the last one.

"Goin' Through the Motions" is closer to "Say We Can" and "Bottom Line"- it's uptempo, but Diana is in a more comfortable zone vocally and, while still mediocre, it's a vast improvement over the last two songs. Unfortunately, the ballad and album closer "We Stand Together" returns us to the same issues we've had throughout. The lyrics are soooooo contrived and clumsy ("in the words of a playright, 'one is not enough to experience the act called love'..." HUH?), and Diana is straining more than she has on any of the preceding songs, ESPECIALLY as she finishes the above-quoted line. It's really, really bad.

20 years on, it hasnt aged well, at all.

Aside from a couple of all-too-brief standouts, this is probably the worst studio album of Diana's 40 year solo career.

I luv Ms. Ross, but I honestly only like a few songs off of this album. Poor wanna-be hip hop tracks, but should be in any Ross fan's collection.

"Workin' Overtime" is one of those albums that is truly in the middle ground: not good enough to be considered "great" and not bad enough to be a "bomb."

On several tracks, the singer sounds strained as if she has to "scream" in order to overcome the trademark bass lines of the Chic sound, so common in Rodgers/Edwards productions.

The album is in no way as dynamic as 1980's "Diana," the album that yielded mega-hits "I'm Coming Out" and "Upside Down."

It's a keeper for those diehard fans, like myself, that, at one time, couldn't resist buying anything with Miss Ross's name on it.

Diana had hit rock bottom musically in the late 80s. Her 1987 album Red Hot Rhythym and Blues was a flop, and this album, an attempt to stay trendy and youthful, did even worse.

In my opinion, it's Diana's worst album. Diana tries her best but producer Nile Rodgers surrounds her voice with hip-hop/R&B beats that sounded dated even in 1989. By this time, Rodgers had peaked as a producer. The magic that he brought to Chic projects and to albums by singers such as David Bowie and Madonna was no longer there.

The title track is not bad, and the single "Paradise" is actually much better in its remix version. But there's not much else to recommend.

Thankfully, Diana's albums in the 90s showed a re-energized Diana, particularly "Take Me Higher" and "Every Day is a New Day". Those are excellent albums and I recommend those over this dreary collection.

Well, after the break up with RCA, she returned to MOTOWN now without Gordy!. Workin' Overtime was an album that tried to update Diana to the New Jack Swing and the new rhythms of the late 80's kind of Ross Paula Abdul. Produced by Nile Rodgers, this long time awaited reunion of Diana with the creator of her best album yet, failed short to be a reminiscence of that glorious album. Full of filler cuts without any true outstanding singles this album is not that bad, it just a feel good album that sadly fades fast out of your memory. Diana will stand out more fairly in Take Me Higher or Everyday is a New Day.

In the 1980's, Diana Ross' diva-like status increased rapidly. By the close of the 80's, Diana Ross became something more of a novelty celebrity because of her solid past at Motown Records as she began having trouble selling records in the latter half of the 80's.

After a shaky stint at RCA Records between 1981-87, Ross returned to her roots in 1988 - Motown Records. In a deal with Berry Gordy who was now retiring from the company, she became part owner in stock and was to maintain an active role in all of her recording work which was partly a reason she had left Motown Records in the first instance.

Predictably, the Motown publicity machine churned out stories of a grand come-back for the Soul Diva. For her highly anticipated return-to-Motown album, Ross worked with Nile Rodgers, one half of the 70's disco group Chic who had worked with Ross back in 1980 on the classic diana album which still remains her biggest selling solo album to date.

Hip Hop had become a renowned new musical trend in black music by the late 80's. After the surprisingly disappointing sales of her excellent 1987 studio set, Red Hot Rhythm And Blues, it must have perharps seemed a logical step for Diana to take. To her credit this was Diana Ross being adventurous.

The results were an album comprising of ten tracks that were all produced by Nile Rodgers and was released as Workin' Overtime.

The results were rather differing. Jamming, streetwise grooves with short beats and pounding funk were coated with razor sharp and sassy performances from Ross who really managed to quite effectively update and modernise her over-all style and sound. However the albums shortcomings came in the fact that there was a distinct over-crowding of too may sound-alike numbers.

The first batch of titles on the album: Workin' Overtime, Say We Can, Take The Bitter With The Sweet and Bottom Line are instantly contagious numbers with driving beats and dominating Hip-Hop musical arrangements.

The title track, Workin' Overtime was the premiere single. It instantly met a negative reaction from critics with some claiming that she was merley mimicking the likes of Janet Jackson in a too highly concious bid to be perceived as youthful and trendy. Workin' Overtime didn't even crack the U.S Top 100, though did enjoy some success in the U.K where it briefly entered the Top 40 charts, peaking at No.32.

Say We Can and Take The Bitter With The Sweet continue in vastly the same formula as Workin' Overtime though both work well with an undeniably catchy hook to both of them.

The bouncy Bottom Line imposes a threat of the album becoming too formulaic at this point though the track is still another infectious number though the mood steers direction with the delightful soft-Funk sounds of This House which contains nice musical arrangements but is flawed in some way with its slightly syrupy lyrics.

Paradise is more Pop/R&B flavoured than Hip Hop but with its distinctley commercial feel it was inevitable that Motown would choose to issue this track as a single though this too quickly slid into the dumper.

Keep On Dancin' and What Can One Person Do were two other contemporary Hip-Hop numbers that sound dated now whilst there is slight more ignition and spark in Goin' Through The Motions.

The album then bows out with possibly the best track on the album, We Stand Together, an easy-going R&B/Pop number that was slightly similar to This House though boasted a a strong and assertive vocal performance from Ross who enhances her introcate, delicate soprano to vast effect.

On the whole, Workin' Overtime was certainly a noble and ambitious experiment and though there are areas where it works it does admitedly sound dated now. This album was deleted from Motowns catlogue in the early 1990's following disastorous sales in the U.S where it failed to crack the Top 100. However once again the publics reaction in the U.K was more favourable where despite the lack of any major chart hit (only Workin' Overtime cracked the Top 40), the project briefly entered the Album Top 30 Charts, stalling at No.23.


Ian Phillips

Released in 1989, the album Workin' Overtime represented Diana Ross's return to Motown Records, the company that had raised and groomed her. In 1981, when she left the company, she was arguably at the pinnacle of her career. However, by 1989, she had not had a U.S. top 40 hit in 5 years.

It is perhaps this need for a hit that led Diana to experiment with hip-hop, a form of music that made stars out of Bobby Brown and Jody Watley, and would soon launch Janet Jackson's U.S. career into the stratosphere. Though the album failed to succeed because of the incongruity between Ross's diva image and the street-based underpinnings of hip-hop, it is one of the better works of her solo career. Indeed, the title track of the album was the 8th biggest hit of her solo career on the U.S. R&B Charts, reaching #3. It was a staple on many urban radio stations in the late-1980s.

The album is dominated by beat-heavy tracks reminiscent of Janet Jackson's soon-to-be-released Rhythm Nation. Diana's vocals are clear and energetic, and are far superior to the languid vocals that characterized her years at RCA Records. On "Take The Bitter With The Sweet," "Keep On (Dancin')," and the title cut, Diana sings with the energy she exhibited on "The Boss" album (though admittedly her voice in 1989 was not as supple as it was ten years earlier).

Despite the youth-oriented nature of the instrumental tracks, the subject matter of many of her songs is far more mature than that of her then-contemporaries, many of the tracks -- including the impeccable dance-floor cut "Paradise" -- center on personal struggle, achievement, and personal reflection.

The CD also features two strong R&B/soul ballads. The album's closer "We Stand Together" is one of the true highlights. It features Diana belting her heart out against a stark instrumental track, calling for unity "Stand Up, Stand Tall, And Be Counted." It is one of her better 1980s performances. "This House" is a personal reflection about days-gone-by (the video featured clips from her early days at Motown).

If the listener can get past the idea of Diana Ross as a hip-hop star and listen to the quality of her vocal performances and her phenomenal lyrical interpretations, s/he will find that this album is an overlooked treasure in Diana's legendary catalog of music. I highly recommend it. This is the CD that made me a Ross fan.