The Toy Box

Retro Spins: Jody Watley - Jody Watley

Born to choir singer, and radio evangelist, Jody spent her time growing up in a household that frequently entertained high-profile musicians, such as Sam Cooke, Joe Tex, and Jackie Wilson, the latter who became her Godfather. She'd perform with him on-stage at the age of eight, giving her a taste of a future to come. At the age of eleven, she'd form the dance trio, Black Fuzz, where she would hone her skill with the moves.

She would be approached by Parishioner of Cornerstone Institutional Baptist Church, Glenn Stafford one morning, and presented an offer at the age of fifteen to join him as his dance partner on Soul Train. Watley would become a regular on the program by 1975. After teaming up with dancer, Jeffrey Daniel, she grew in popularity among fans of the show.

In 1976, Don Cornelius and his then business partner Dick Griffey formed Soul Train Records and bought masters for a record called "Uptown Festival", a disco medley of Motown classics that was billed with the name "Shalamar". Gary Mumford would provide lead vocals, with both Watley and Daniels backing him up. While the record would be successful, the label would soon fold. Griffey would form SOLAR Records in 1978, with Shalamar and the Whispers as his first signed artists.

By this point, Mumford had departed from the band and was replaced by Gerald Brown. This trio would record Shalamar's second album, Disco Gardens, which featured Watley's first lead vocal song, Take That To The Bank.

Departing in 1979, Brown would be replaced by new lead singer, Howard Hewett. With Watley and Daniels, this would become the classic lineup of Shalamar from 1979 to 1983. Together, they recorded Big Fun (1979), Three for Love (1980), Go for It (1981), Friends (1982) and The Look (1983). Despite the success that followed, the band members had a lot of contention amongst themselves, which wasn't helped by the lack of payments from SOLAR. Both Watley and Daniel would leave after the subsequent tour for The Look.

Watley relocated to London, and took on session work for multiple acts, such as Musical Youth, Gary Langan, Anne Dudley and J. J. Jeczalik (who later became Art of Noise). She eventually got the chance to record two singles, putting them out under the name Jody in 1984, and would be one of the few American artists, among members of Kool & The Gang, to perform on Bob Geldof's Band Aid project.

Returning to the USA in 1986, Watley would sign with MCA Records, and work with Prince protege André Cymone and Bernard Edwards of the group Chic to complete her self-titled debut, released in 1987. Upon its release, the album would reach number ten on the Billboard 200. The record would spawn three hit singles, Looking For A New Love (peaking at number two on the Billboard Hot 100), Don't You Want Me (peaking at six), and Some Kind Of Lover (peaking at ten). Minor hits, Still A Thrill, and Most Of All, also evolved. The album also became noteworthy for the George Michael duet, Learn To Say No.

Two Grammy Awards nominations would come at the 30th Annual Grammy Awards in 1988, with Watley winning Best New Artist. However, this came with a bit of controversy, since the artist had technically already released solo work, as noted above. Watley's win was also negatively compared to the Grammy snubs of Whitney Houston and Richard Marx.

With all of that said, it's time to dive into today's Retro Spin.

I purchased Jody Watley's debut album for the song, Looking For A New Love, which was subsequently the opening number. Frankly, I had completely forgotten about the hit, Some Kind Of Lover, and was pleasantly surprised to find it tucked in a couple tracks later. I love finding forgotten memories.

As a whole, the album is very dance friendly, and being produced and co-written by Cymone, adopts a lot of the beats reminiscent of a Prince album from the era. By that, I mean the common beats produced on the Fairlight CMI. This familiarity, coupled with the hits, makes it both easy, and enjoyable to listen to the album.

The George Michael duet was a welcome hidden gem. It was just nice to hear his voice again, while also getting something "new". Keep in mind that Watley's album came out in between the breakup of Wham, and several months before Michael's massive solo album, Faith. So, his future as an artist at this point was in unknown territory.

Overall, the album was enjoyable. However, the majority of the tracks honestly forgettable. Nothing bad, but also nothing beyond the three noted tunes above that were good. Frankly, in typing this, I don't even remember how the Michael / Watley song went, but I have only ever heard it once.

Jody would release her follow-up album, Larger Than Life, in 1989, and while sales would drop considerably from her previous album, would still end the decade on a high note. She would also be among the few artists to survive the 90's, but at this point, we're getting too far ahead. First, we have to stop and play through the aforementioned decade ending album, which will happen tomorrow.

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Disclaimer: They Toy Box does not endorse or contribute to piracy. Retro Spins posts are intended for educational and entertainment purposes only. None of the music discussed here is available for sale, downloading or distribution.

Comics Corner: Web Of Spider-Man 8

Title: Web Of Spider-Man
Issue Number: 8
Release Date: November 1985

Highlights

First appearance of Smithville Thunderbolt, AKA Fred Hopkins, Roxanne DeWinter, Ludlow Grimes, Marge, and Irving Stein
First appearance of the location Smithville
The prologue takes place thirty years ago
After a rough day at work, Fred finds a meteorite piece that gives him super powers
Fred makes a costume for himself out of old long johns, and sets to task on avenging the weak
Robbie declines to buy Peter's photos of Spider-Man, saying he'd have to publish a Spider-Man story every day for the next year and a half to use all the photos he already has
Robbie sends Peter Parker to Pennsylvania to get some photos of the new hero
Just as he arrives in town, Peter learns of a fire at the old Elk Lodge, and immediately leaps into action as Spider-Man
As Thunderbolt rescues the kids inside, and exits out the front, Spider-Man goes in through the back, and is jumped by the towering giant, Ludlow Grimes
When Ludlow realizes Spider-Man isn't Thunderbolt, he simply leaves him alone
Thinking it was Thunderbolt who jumped him, Spider-Man throws a tracer on the man
Roxanne DeWinter sees Peter with his camera, and yells at him that he's on her turf
When Roxanne finds out Peter is with the Bugle, she buys him a soda, and says the two should work together, mainly so that she can get her own foot in the door at the Bugle
Peter declines, telling her he works better alone
Peter follows his tracer to Fred's house, and confronts him, finding his Thunderbolt suit, and taking his tracer back
Fred explains that over time his powers have faded, and he's needed to use his scientific brain to develop an exobody, which not only give the appearance of muscles, but does also increase his strength
To stay relevant, Fred has been creating his own disasters, ones which he knew he could control
Fred explains how he used smoke, but no real fire to give the illusion of danger at the lodge, while also weakening the wall so he could break through it
Spider-Man's senses tingle, and he hears a noise coming from the front door, whipping it open, Roxanne snaps a photo of Fred in his costume without his mask on
In a cliffhanger ending, Ludlow crashes through the wall, pronouncing that he (too) is the Smithville Thunderbolt

Low Points

The dialog in the prologue for the story is so choppy, with many panels only having one or two words, it's difficult to read
Racial slurs in this issue - Not cool, Marvel

Oddities

None

Rating (based on a 1 through 5 Stans grading system)

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Retro Spins: Pete Townshend - White City: A Novel

Despite only being 1985, Pete Townshend's, White City: A Novel, would be his last. A concept album at its core, focusing on the story of low-income housing, and the families within White City, a district near where the artist grew up.

To support the record, Townshend starred alongside Andrew Wilde, and Frances Barber in the film, White City: The Music Movie, directed by Richard Lowenstein. Though it was dubbed an interesting movie, overall, it was critically panned, widely considered a poor movie with an incoherent story. To be fair, most critics felt the same way about The Who's Tommy, which became a cult classic.

While the guitar work on the opening track gave me the feel goods, and hooked me, admittedly, the overall premise was goofy and fell flat. I'm sorry, but singing for five minutes about, Give Blood, comes off more as a commercial for the Red Cross than a serious song.

As the album played out, I frankly lost interest in it, instead more interested to peruse the many Christmas related cartoons which would soon fill my television as December 2025 approached. I checked in mentally here and there, and while I could appreciate the solid instrumentation, the songs just weren't doing it for me.

When White City ended, I was actually a bit surprised, because the whole listening session felt relatively short. This wasn't a bad thing, all things considered.

It's a flat ending for me in my trip with Pete Townshend, but it's also something I'm not too upset about. I picked this album up for a buck on a whim at a local used CD store. It's not like I actively sought it out, so I'm okay with this outcome. Would I have like something hidden within it? Sure, but no big loss.

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