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Shalamar - Friends / Go for it - The Sound of Los Angeles Records

I guess a lot of purists would dismiss Shalamar as being too contrived or too formulaic but for me they are so much fun. Ok they may not win awards for being gut wrenchingly soulful but they were professional, of an era, and yes they were soulful; both Howard and Jody have subsequently proven that they have excellent voices.

This set is the Friends album from 1982, plus two disco mixes of There it is and A night to remember, and Go for it from 1981 with bonus 12" mix of Appeal.

'Friends includes the classic 'A night to Remember' - two mixes. 'Don't try to change me' and 'I don't wanna be the last to know' feature Jody, as she was coming to the fore at this time - the latter being especially nice.

'Help Me' is slower and ballad-ic, but with the unmistakable Shalamar feel to it. 'On top of the world' and 'Playing to win' are good but not up to the heights of the 4 most popular tracks on the album. 'Friends' along with the other hits will be well known to all.

'I just stopped because I had to ' is an excellent slowie. Concluding the album are the massively known and always popular at 80's retro nites, There it is and the wonderful 'I can make you feel good'.

Some interesting sleeve notes regarding the history of 'Go for it' which wasn't a massive success but is very much in the same style as 'Friends'. It also includes 5 Jeffrey Danialls compositions including the excellent Jody led 'Go for it' which is slightly funkier and harder edged than the popular 'Shalamar' of 6 months later. Similarly, although laden with the Solar style string 'Appeal' (with excellent piano work) has a sparser feel to it. 'Final Analysis' is a sweet ballad.

'You've got me running' is Howard's turn to come up with a composition. 'Sweeter as the days go by' is actually my favourite cut but unfortunately on my copy jumps and runs all over the place. I hope that was just my copy and not a general fault.

Of the remaining tracks 'Good feelings' is a good track and 'Rocker' picks up the tempo again in good time disco style.

 Two excellent albums of an era, the first being supremely well known and popular. The second. not quite so well known or indeed polished ,but holding its own with some lesser known material

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