 Bill Summers & Summers Heat Take every dragged-out moment from the Gap Band and throw in the swagger of Rick James on his least coherent day, and you start approaching the misguided world of Bill Summers and Summers Heat. Jumpy, synth-driven early-80s funk provides the bed for poorly-recorded vocals of all sorts. "Kinky Dink" kicks things off in a way Rockwell might have liked, but I did not. The second cut, "Seventeen" features the hook "She's only seventeen/He's only thirty-five," and that about sums it up. Track three is "Baby, Don't Take Your Love Away," and Ashford & Simpson knockoff that couldn't have been pleasing even in 1982 (when Seventeen was released). I have already dignified the song more than it does for itself musically. "Take a Chance," "We Want Heat" … ecch, I'm already bored even mentioning the song titles. Side two opens with the Prince ripoff "Buck's Bizarre" which continues the album's lame streak. It's one of those songs that seems to make "irony" out of money-hungry professional types. Hm, what a new idea. "The Studio" is about as inventive as its title, which I can only imagine refers to the obvious fact that it was written in the studio. Unfortunately for Bill Summers, it may be the best cut on the album. "Stronger Than the Two of Us" is another Ashford & Simpson ripoff, then "Old Oak Tree" provides a welcome burst of soothing listenability. It's pure 1981 (the album was released in 1982) and notable only for being the one track that didn't give me a headache. Of course, it was followed by "Throw It Down, Shake Your Body," of which the less said the better. Tacked onto the end of the album is the interesting "Orisha Ache," which features Pete Escovedo on percussion, and must have been included by a frantic MCA executive trying to think of any possible way to sell the album. "Oh, Pete Escovedo plays on it? Great, we can put his name on the sleeve! NOW we got a hit!"
Review by Louis Purvis |