Review: Cameo - Real Men...Wear Black

Alright, I know I've been single-mindedly concentrating on 90s funk recently, and haven't even begun to do anything about the 60s or 70s on this blog, but while I'm on the subject, I've just got to give a review about this album. In my humble opinion, this Cameo album is the very best of their discography, and one of my top 10 albums of all time.

This album, "Real Men...Wear Black" was released in 1990, two years after the "Machismo" album in 1988, and four years after their worldwide smash hit and album "Word Up!". Cameo have made a lot of changes in their sound, since they started out as a huge disco-funk collective from New York. (They originally wanted to call themselves "The New York City Players") However, Cameo usually changed to their own liking and not to what the trend dictated; this album pretty much proves it. When New Jack Swing came on the scene in 1988, many of the funk acts went straight to that sound, some of whom even ditched their funk sound entirely for the NJS trend. Cameo could have made a very convincing jump to New Jack Swing, as Teddy Riley's sound was arguably similar and influenced by Cameo's "Word Up!" style. But they didn't, and instead produced this album, which only incorporated the loosest of New Jack Swing influences that compliments the style of funk that Cameo are so renowned for.

The term, "All killer, no filler" gets bandied about a lot these days, but with this album, it's absolutely correct. Not one single track on this album is a dud for me.

The album starts out with the longest jam: a song over six minutes called "Close Quarters" - possibly Cameo's most mellow groove of all time. It has a really nice swingbeat drum machine working alongside with some really nice guitar grooves by Charlie Singleton, but ends up showing more and more layers and event to the song. At 1:48 in the song, Larry Blackmon gives a very brief and loose rap accompanied by a classic Cameo hard-clap drum, where Larry Blackmon once again shows his brilliantly comical and goofy nature by giving a very tongue-in-cheek piece of self-aggrandisement. After this very brief rap ends, the unusual mood of the song is set with some vocal echos and synths. Then at 2:57 the song briefly heads into an ultra-mellow and soulful vocal hook by Tomi and Larry with some great atmospheric synths, followd by another of Larry's loose raps. My favourite part of this song however, is the ultra smooth and mellow piano solo at 4:11 that just totally comes from nowhere and is completely unexpected. A lot is going on this song and shows how Cameo's writing talents can often dig very deep into some very unusual and powerful territory.

The next song, "I Want It Now" is a more uptempo and speedier groove, which became the hit for this record. This song features the sound of record scratching; at the time, this technique was pretty much unique to New York, and New York hip-hop at that. Cameo were possibly one of the first funk groups to include record scratching into their songs. The keyboard work in this song really makes this song; the very quick orchestral piano jabs that are indicative of the small New Jack Swing influence and the classic Cameo style synths which are unusually unique to them and their funk.

This next track is an absolute belter. The third song on this album, "Me" comes with an insanely hard drumbeat comprised of Cameo's synthesized clap sound, a loose bass drum swingbeat rhythm and some quick screams from the Cameo horn section by Nathan Leftenant. Cameo's lyrical styles are on full form here as Larry Blackmon sings with a very direct and sincere message about being who you want to be and getting on with life. ("What you think of me, won't mean that much you see!") This song is funky as hell, but then goes into deep soul once again with a beautiful vocal hook on the chorus by Larry and Tomi, along with some smooth synth work. Cameo bassist Aaron Mills also does some nice work on this song, reinforcing the groove in the background. At a time when the R&B music scene was rapidly becoming shallow and stereotypical, Cameo took funk to its deepest level with this highly moving and beautiful song, but keeping it hard-hitting at the same time.

The fourth song "Attitude" is one of Cameo's classic 80s style funk jams and comes with some very infectious claps in the background. This song features Cameo's more crazy side with Cameo's usual provocative lyrics about an egomaniacal partner. ("All the people are laughing but you don't know why! If you could figure it out, you'll know just what it is, but you're too busy looking at yourself to know that shit!") On this song, this time Tomi Jenkins delivers a rap with Larry Blackmon's rhythmical shouts in the background to strengthen the groove.

The next song, "Get Paid" is slightly new territory for Cameo. Cameo have thrown their weight into politics for quite some time, but this is the first time Larry Blackmon raps for the entire song at an incredibly fast pace, talking about "The United States of Denial", and the many issues facing the average American public, and how they differ with the priorities of the overbloated establishment figures such as the incumbent president of the time, George Bush Sr. and others. This song differs from the other songs on the album, in the sense that this song is quite a stripped down, minimalistic sound compared to the rest of the album, which is full of highly layered sounds. The great thing about Cameo in this particular song, was their ability to comment on the political issues but not preach, which differed from their hit song from the Machismo album "Skin I'm In", which felt just a bit preachy. (Great song, nonetheless.) Near the end of the song, they changed the subject into the classic party style lyrics, ("Let's change this subject for one moment, if you're ready to party let's get on it! We'll get back to this in a minute, and when we do, we'll get with it!") which shows a sense that Cameo deep down recognise political "issues" for what they really are: guff. ("No explanation needed!")

Cameo then go into a really soulful groove with "Am I Bad Enough"; this is a really, REALLY nice fast paced love song with some absolutely stunning vocal work by Larry and Tomi. Some really nice keyboard work again on this song, with the mellow synths in the background and foreground. The New Jack Swing orchestral piano jabs are used in this song as well, to keep the pace nice and quick. Aaron Mills and Charlie Singleton are working in the background again with guitar and bass. This song is a very beautiful song by the funky New York group, and shows the very elegant side of their nature.

"Time, Fire & Space" is the only slowtempo song on this album, and even for Cameo's standards, it is really, really unusual. I've absolutely no idea what they had in mind when writing this song, or how they did it, but it is absolutely stunning. Listen to this song, and you will get a trip to another dimension!! I can't even describe the mood of this song accurately, to be honest, but the title perhaps says it all. On the surface, it's a slowjam/love ballad, but I suspect Cameo were trying to do something else with this song. The synths on this song are highly spooky and unusual, and along with the vocals of Larry and Tomi, this song just does something else.

The next song "Nan-Yea" brings a fierce and tough groove with some nice guitar licks from Charlie Singleton, great bassing from Aaron Mills and some really funky lyrics. Some classic funk brought with a very high quality to it by the legendary Cameo.

And finally, Cameo end with a slowjam song "Just A Broken Heart". It would be hard to describe this song as a slowtempo song, as Cameo chose a very unusual and lively drumbeat with this song. Some really smooth synths, guitar and bass work on this song, with Tomi Jenkins taking over for the vocals on the verses. The classic and unique vocal harmonies of Cameo stream in on the chorus, making this song a beautiful end to a beautiful album. This album was undoubtedly Cameo's finest hours, and they had many, MANY fine hours throughout their discography!!