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 Teena Marie - Congo Square Nov 02, 2009
Great album, great songs. Inspirational, as usual. I like the guest artists, like Faith Evans and Howard Hewitt.
1 of 1 found the following review helpful:
Excellent product Sep 13, 2009
Everything arrived on time. Excellent delivery! This is by far one of Tina's best records.
1 of 1 found the following review helpful:
 Congo Square - 4.5 stars Sep 06, 2009
As a virtual lifelong fan of Teena Marie I must say that it is fantastic that she is still interested in putting out great music! The music on this album is a great balance of the ballads that I love to hear from her mixed in with a few hip hop references of today. Somehow when Teena sings a line about her man "poppin' his collar" at their wedding, it does not sound trite or like she's trying to hard to stay "down", it just sounds like the inimitable Lady T!
This album as others have mentioned this album is more in the vein of her last two releases in that the funky tunes that we love to hear from back in the day have been replaced by smoother r&b tracks. This isn't a bad thing because her songs still sound as relevant as anything that younger r&b divas are releasing (but better cause Teena can sing a lot of them off the planet).
The album gets off to a great start with 5 outstanding tracks:
THE PRESSURE f/ MC Lyte - I love how smooth both ladies sound on this track and the fact that the rapper doesn't overtake the track
CAN'T LAST A DAY f/ Faith Evans - love this duet. Teena's soaring vocals mixed with Faith Evans' laid back cool vocals
BABY I LOVE YOU - Lady Tee breaks out her rapping skills
EAR CANDY 101 - catchy lyrics & arrangement
LOVER'S LANE f/ Howard Hewett - wonderful pairing, it was great to hear Howard & Teena together
Other standouts to me are: MARRY ME, MILK N' HONEY (sung with her daughter, Alia Rose); YOU BABY; CONGO SQUARE; SOLDIER; MS CORETTA & THE ROSE N' THORN
Like I said, as a fan I appreciate the new music and think it's great that she is able to produce music that is still as relevant to me as the first songs of hers I ever heard!
2 of 2 found the following review helpful:
Congo Square Aug 31, 2009
I always loved Teena Marie. She is a great singer and songwriter. She did it again! The album boasts all of the panoramic musicality us fans can desire. This is her fresh alignment with Stax Records. This record is a passionate, accessible and autobiographical adventure that cruises smoothly from southern soul and smoky jazz to dance floor funk. Her songs morph in styles from sassy and sexy to sublime. She created an album with a title inspired by an historical American locale where Black slaves gathered on Sundays to recharge their spiritual batteries after 6 days under the lash;speaks volumes of her singular stature within the black community that has embraced her as its own. This album should be promoted more.
2 of 2 found the following review helpful:
Lady Tee's STILL Got Her Ear (Candy) to the Street! Aug 30, 2009
I have been a fan of Lady Tee's since 1979 when she first climbed out the box with "I'm A Sucker for Your Love." I've seen evolutions of sorts in her music/product since then and have had many favorites (of hers) over the years, namingly "Irons in the Fire" from 1980 and "Robbery" from 1983. In general, to be a 50-somethin' white woman who has consistently charted in R&B deems marvel. I mean, really...Angela Winbush used to write, produce, arrange and perform her own stuff and for The Isley Brothers, but where is she today? Teena, on the other hand, has been there and is STILL HERE today, 30 years later, still charting, still touring, still doing what she's always done: writing, arranging, performing and producing. Sure, she could easily have gotten with the likes of Jimmy Jam & Terry Lewis as well as Babyface over the years, but she doesn't need any of those top notch producers because she's one herSELF and she's ALWAYS produced herself, save for Rick James (her mentor) and Dick Rudolph (Minnie Riperton's husband) back in the day. The Pioneer Award she won earlier this year, was no fluke and despite the Grammy Awards which have eluded her for years for singles and albums which were rich with soul and served up straight out of R&B Camp in the racially tense times of the early 80's when a white artist couldn't be taken seriously for so passionately delivering R&B as convincingly as any Black artist, her receipt of this highly coveted honor so far exceeds the value of ANY Grammy Award in the category of Soul and/or R&B. This woman is a one-woman show and she is a master musician, lyricist and performer. This being said, "Congo Square" continues in the same vein as the street-saavy, current, Hip Hop-tinged "La Dona," and "Sapphire" CD's. Okay, okay...so she dabbles with a little bit of auto-tuning. Who doesn't today? And besides, she certainly doesn't dabble to the point where it's for such obnoxious, trendy effect. The ones who use it today, NEED it. She doesn't, therefore, she's entitled, and rightfully so, it enhances the Hip Hop flavorings which she has in place to good effect. The songs are CLASSIC Lady Tee. CLASSIC. Most artists today rely on samples of other artists in their songs, Teena Marie has been sampling herSELF on her OWN records for YEARS using her OWN music. The music on Congo Square is excellent in so far as that it remains current while rooted in the R&B of today and yet still able to capture elements of the R&B of yesteryear. No one can do this so fluidly and so adroitly as Teena Marie. I'll skip reviewing each/every song on the CD where it's already been done here, however, I WILL SAY that my favorites are: "Can't Last A Day," "Ear Candy 101," "Milk 'n Honey," "The Rose 'n Thorn" and quite a few others as well. I find "Lovers Lane" and "Marry Me" to be as majestic as anything else she's ever composed, arranged and produced. Truth be told, she never really even NEEDED Faith Evans or Howard Hewitt. By herself, she can deliver ANY SONG "solo" with the highest results. With outside production (e.g. "Lead Me On" produced by Giorgio Moroder, 1986,) the results are not as polished nor are they as desirable. She only need rely on herself (which she does) and that is what makes Congo Square yet another brilliant feather in her ultra cool, ultra HIP(HOP) R&B cap. What is sad in the music industry today is the complete absence of great vocalists(There are only a few, mind you.) who uphold tradition as well as talent. Teena falls right in with Chaka, Miss Patty, Gladys, Minnie and a small handful of others. Sad how the "greats" (Jennifer Holliday, Cheryl Lynn and Rachelle Farrell to name a few) are so outnumbered and so under-honored by the current day roster of talentless, tone deaf and "looks only" examples. It's sad for the music and it's sad for the generation that put them up there to begin with. They are so undeserving. I seek not to offend. Truth is beauty. Teena Marie is truth, passion, poetry, rhythm and more than anything else, "The Ivory Queen of R&B."
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