Heavily in debt to MCA, who loaned the boys each $100,000.00 to buy out their agreement through the production company Jump and Shoot, New Edition were forced to continuously record albums and tour. The first in this repayment period was 1985's Count Me Out. While it did become certified platinum. Despite this, it was not as critically, nor financially successful as its predecessor.
Prior to its release in November, the group also played themselves in the film, Krush Groove (October 1985), where they performed, My Secret. However, it was right back to the studio upon the release of Count Me Out, where the boys would record their December released Christmas album, Christmas All Over the World. MCA kept them work non-stop for no other reason than to recoup their loan.
If there's one thing I've learned, it's when an artist is frequently in the studio, the efforts often dwindle as material dries up. Is that the case with New Edition? Possibly. I need to listen to the album first...
...Okay, I'm back.
Yes, that's the case with New Edition. Opening track, Count Me Out, is pretty solid. Overall, it's the peppier tracks which resonate the best with me, but I suppose I've never really been one for ballads to begin with.
I also found that when the boys focus on songs that most ten to twelve year old's would have knowledge on, that it was kind of dumb. Such was the case of track, School, where the kids recount their first days in school, and how they then grew to hate it. While it makes sense since some of the members of New Edition never finished school, I'm almost fifty at this point. School isn't even a thought in my head, so I simply can't relate anymore.
Overall, All For Love really doesn't deliver. The novelty of New Edition, if they had any, has kind of worn off at this point. I actually found myself starting to skip tracks that simply weren't resonating. The fatigue had set in, and I basically just didn't want to invest the time.
As for the boys, when you have a group of five individuals, each contributing their own styles, vocals, and creative juices, egos are going to form, and form they did within New Edition. Bobby Brown wasn't happy with his lack of lead vocals on All For Love, and would often cause trouble onstage as a result. He would do so by cutting in on Tresvant's leads during shows, perform raunchily onstage, or simply throw his microphone around.
With management annoyed, and his fellow bandmates unhappy with him, Brown was fired in December 1985. The irony here is that MCA then signed him to a solo artist deal, and released his first four albums. I guess being a nuisance can be overlooked when you become a 7X platinum selling artists, such as he did with 1988's Don't Be Cruel.
As for New Edition's follow-up, the aforementioned Christmas album, I'm going to skip that one for now. Instead, tomorrow, I'll dive headlong into 1986's Under The Blue Moon. As a quartet, can they deliver a better listening experience than All For Love? I guess we'll find out.
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| THIS WEEK ON THE CHARTS August 30, 1980 |
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| THIS WEEK ON THE CHARTS August 30, 1986 |
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