Teena Marie

This is a little late as she died two months ago but I wanted to say a little something on the very talented R&B singer Teena Marie. Now anybody growing up in 1984 was familiar with her monster hit, "Lovergirl" as that song was inescapable. For many years, though, she slipped under my radar. I was aware that she had critically acclaimed albums but I just didn't get around to checking her out. Then when I got an XM Radio one of my most frequently played stations was XM 64 The Groove I heard her song, "Square Biz", which is one of the catchiest songs I have heard, with an amazing groove. Unfortunately, though, it took her death and the comments I read in the retrospectives on her career for me to finally check her albums out. The shame is that most of her albums are out of print and her catalog was allowed to disappear. On Amazon.com many of her albums are very expensive, partly from being out of print and partly due to interest in her on account of her death.

I was able to pick up two of her early '80s albums on Motown, Irons In The Fire and It Must Be Magic, both of which are really good, especially It Must Be Magic. That album is one of the catchiest albums I have heard. "Square Biz". the title track, "Revolution" and "365" are all songs that stay in the head once you've heard them. Now I have to get her Columbia albums, which are out of print. Emerald City sounds particularly interesting as it adds more of a hard rock sound to her music. I was able to pick up two compilation albums of her Columbia years, Funk Biz and Love Songs. Both are full of really good songs that slipped through the cracks. She had an amazing voice and I wish I could have gotten heard some of those songs earlier. "Love Me Down Easy" in particular is a great song that I've been listening to over and over again.