Tuesday, August 8, 2017

"Amnesia" by Shalamar

Song#:  2125
Date:  11/17/1984
Debut:  88
Peak:  73
Weeks:  9
Genre:  R&B



Pop Bits:  After two of this trio's members departed, sole survivor Howard Hewitt sought out two new members and soldiered on. Right out of the box the new line up had a hit with "Dancing in the Sheets" (#17 Pop/#18 R&B), which appeared on the soundtrack to Footloose. The trio then followed that song up with this first single from their album Heartbreak. Unfortunately, it just couldn't catch on and stalled early at R&B (#49) and Pop.

ReduxReview:  After the rockin' guitar introduces the song, it settles into a groove that sounds similar to something The Pointer Sisters might have done. The falsetto chorus is okay and the production chugs along just fine, but it's a little too fast for the Dance chart and neither Pop nor R&B wanted to host it. Probably the best part is the instrumental break, which most likely got cut a lot for the single version. While it's a pretty good album opener, it just wasn't something that was gonna catch on.

ReduxRating:  5/10

Trivia:  One of the new members of the trio was guitarist Micki Free. The Native American ended up with the Shalamar job thanks to Kiss member Gene Simmons, who had seen Free perform with his early band Smokehouse. When offered the Shalamar position, Simmons encouraged Free to take it. After Shalamar broke up, Free then formed the hard rock band Crown of Thorns with Jean Beauvoir (formerly of The Plasmatics). That band would release eight albums between 1993 and 2008. Free's distinctive look got the attention of comedian Dave Chappelle, who mimicked Free during a skit about Prince on The Chappelle Show.

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