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Rip It Up, Issue 74, 1 September 1983, Page 29

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Gwen Guthrie, Portrait (Island)

' This [ is Guthrie's second solo alburn and \ it [again] features the production and playing talents of ace rhythm partners' Sly Dunbar and Robbie Shakespeare. Portrait, like all good black music, aimed at both the heart and the* feet. As the old cliche goes, "If this doesn’t" move you, you're already dead". Killer dancefloor tracks like 'Peanut Butter, Hopscotch' and Sly Stone's 'Family Affair' mix with the sublime Aretha-sounding You're he One'. Ifj you are a fan of Sly and Robbie, just' listen to the stylistic progression from the last ' Guthrie set. Instead of the übiquitous syndrum sound, this album marks a return to a more "natural" rhythmic feel. Guthrie's Portrait, like Shalamar's The Look is modern funk at its best. KB Imagination,*! In the Heat of the Night (Powder works) HBBBSB Sylvester, All I Need (RCA) Sequins and pearls style camp, falsetto disco with riddums from both UK's Imagination and San Francisco's Sylvester. ' Both albums contain significant singles Sylvester's 'Don't Stop' (long version) and 'Do Ya Wanna Funk' (short version, why?) and Imagination's finest chart entries so far, 'Changes' (my fave) and 'Just An Illusion'. Sylvester's hardhitting synth rhythm section is fab on 'Be With You' (6.38) but too much on HM romp 'Hard Up'. As there's very little variation in pace or theme, ,with this wall of sound Sylvester's made his most consistent , dance album] yet^^^B^^^J Though less homogenous ... in sound than Sylvester, Imagination also have their very own niche producers Steve Jolley and Tony Swain define their distinctive if sometimes laboured sound. (Avoid

the over-produced imported Night ‘ Dubbin' remix LP.) But Lee John is a star not humourless and frumpy like the S.F. kid, an able , singer of an insubstantial song. The highpoints ■ (the two singles and the title track) ■are ominous but though no other tracks stand out, it's all very listen j able 80s lounge music in keeping with the groove of their neat singles. MC Prince Charles and the City Beat Band, Stone Killers (Virgin) Prince Charles, like the other Prince of funk, is no stranger to critical attention, however much of it seems a bit misconceived. There is nothing new or exciting here to . demonstrate that this Prince is the new "thang" of black dance. Rather, Stone Killers and the previous Gang War are more interesting for the way Charles and producer Tony Rose use.the influence of, other funk artists like | Earth, Wind and Fire? Rick Janfes/j Sugarhill and George Clinton]to] present a history,of black dance j music. The best and funkiest tracks are 'l'm A Fool for Love', 'Bush Beat' and 'Cash (Cash Money)'. But check , out George Clinton's mighty Computer Games album if you want the real blue blood of modern funk. KB June Pointer, Baby Sister(Planet) Younger sister maybe, though hardly a baby, what with a full decade's recordings behind her. Not surprisingly, June's retained producer Richard Perry whose svengali-like control has charted the Sisters' success. So not surprisingly.this sounds a lot like any Pointer Sisters' album large . dollops of showbiz-centred pop . smeared over a base of R&B, with a ballad or two as chasers. There's a couple of competent Motown covers, but the standout track is a bouncing • 'Ready For Some Action' which gains, courtesy of Norman Whitfield, one of his grand instrumental intros.- PT