Record of the day: Alexander O’Neal, “Alexander O’Neal”

Alexander O’Neal
“Alexander O’Neal” (Sony CD 26489)

Jimmy Jam and Terry Lewis were the keyboardist and bassist respectively in Prince’s group until one night when they failed to show up on stage in time for a concert (they were stranded at the Minneapolis airport by a snowstorm) and were fired on the spot by the inflexible and angry leader.
At this point they decided to go it alone and started writing and producing songs for various artists, achieving colossal success with Janet Jackson’s albums and becoming within a few years the most successful production duo in the United States and founding a real empire, Flyte Time, which includes various recording studios, record companies and management and churns out hits in droves.

Although their former employer disparagingly referred to their songwriting style as Chocolate Music, it was this style that was imitated by dozens of other producers and became the soundtrack to African-American music in the 1990s.

One of the singers who benefited most from Jam & Lewis’ production skills is Alexander O’Neal, a vocalist who follows in the footsteps of Luther Vandross and Keith Sweat (even though he doesn’t have the same vocal qualities) by alternating romantic ballads that were clearly intended for reproductive purposes with pieces with a more funky and danceable character.
His records are particularly interesting for the quality of the compositions that Jam & Lewis have cut for him with
consummate sartorial skill, with the help of Monte Moir, who was their colleague in the band Time (which we already talked about a month ago), in the first three songs of this debut album.

Tunes like “A Broken Heart Can Mend,” “Look at Us Now,” and “If You Were Here Tonight” bear the fingerprints of the two, revealing a simple and sure-fire formula: vintage-sounding electronic drums, tasty keyboard-based arrangements, lightly embellished with percussion embellishments, immediately catchy harmonic turns, clever melodies, and sharper rhythms that push you straight onto the dance floor.
These ingredients have remained unchanged in dozens of productions made by Jam & Lewis over the years, ensuring the two’s continued success in the American charts (and beyond).

Carlo Boccadoro, composer and conductor, was born in Macerata in 1963. He lives and works in Milan. He collaborates with soloists and orchestras in different parts of the world. He is the author of numerous books on musical subjects.

This text is taken from “Lunario della musica: Un disco per ogni giorno dell’anno” published by Einaudi, courtesy of the author and the publisher.