Retro Spins: Expose - What You Don't Know

 

It's a big year for Retro Spins at The Toy Box. This year I'm playing catch up in a big way, and presenting an all new post EVERY SINGLE DAY! That's right! Three hundred sixty-five posts of 80's goodness. Join me, won't you? Kicking off 2025 is Expose.

The trio of girls, Jeanette Jurado, Gioia Bruno, and Ann Curless, wasn't a story of success, fame, and fortune at first. Instead, it was a story very reminiscent of what happened to New Edition. While the money rolled in from the success of their 1987 debut, Exposure, the performers themselves were paid pittance wages, earning a mere $200.00 each for each live show. Eventually, the record label would intervene, and an undisclosed settlement was reached.

With renegotiated contracts, the girls began work on their second album, 1989's What You Don't Know. Monetarily, it wasn't as successful as their first. However, commercially, it garnered several chart toppers, and eventually was certified gold.

Sadly, their momentum would be halted suddenly in 1990, when Bruno began having throat problems from a benign tumor on her vocal cords. Shows were abruptly cancelled to allow her time to heal. However, the matter got so serious that she ultimately lost her voice, and couldn't sing for years, and had to keep talking to a minimum.

Bruno would eventually be replaced by Kelly Moneymaker, and Expose would return in 1992 with their self titled album. Though more mature in its sound, and eventually certified gold, it was not the critical success expected. The group never officially disbanded, but to date, have not released any new albums.

And with that, I fire up 1989's What You Don't Know, which punches me right in the face with the title track, and sets the tone for a good time. In listening to it, I can definitely see what the critics were talking about. It's decent, but it certainly doesn't deliver with the force that their debut Exposure had.

With that said, I'm definitely a fan of the title track, Tell Me Why, When I Looked At Him, and Your Baby Never Looked Good In Blue. Those alone are worth the price of admission, and make this a must own record for me.

In looking at my playlist for 1989, it's almost prudent that Your Baby Never Looked Good In Blue is the second to last track for the decade. It's the perfect closure to an era of music that meant so much to me. It's all the more fitting that the track that follows it, Youth Gone Wild by Skid Row, is a perfect segue into things to come from the 90's. But, I suppose that unto itself is a whole other story.

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