CAMEO Appreciation Post

batmonbatmon 27,574 Posts
edited May 2008 in Strut Central


These dudes kept it live during the early 80's while Hip Hop started to take over the radio waves in NYC. Disco was dyin, Slow jams were bubblin, and these cats stayed relevant through the changes in Black music.Slow Jams...checkSweat box funk...checkRadio hits...check...Progresive R&B...checkNew Wave/Punk Funk/Rick James steez....checkDerivative/minimilized P-Funk w/out the codes...checkCostumes...checkSex appeal...checkmid 70's to Skin Im In... Word Up doesnt even do them justice, even though they were referencin Rapp.
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  • JimsterJimster Cruffiton.etsy.com 6,885 Posts
    I have encountered their catalogue on my travels.

    Strangely, I found the earlier work cheesier than the later "Codpiece" era, which had hella cheese (no citation needed).

    "She's Strange" which is my fave cut by the band, is of this time, but that's the sound I like - they have that funk riff thing going on under it, but it's kinda stripped-down with less obvious chords over the top. Keeps it interesting.

    I accept Clown for these remarks in all currencies, but y'know, I will ride hard / like the wind for this track always.

  • DocMcCoyDocMcCoy "Go and laugh in your own country!" 5,913 Posts
    I saw Cameo in Manchester at the height of their success during the 80s. Audience was full of Northern soulboys & girls (as opposed to Northern Soul boys & girls), and they opened their set with "Alligator Woman". It was funny watching a simultaneous from about 3,000 people as they got hit off with a chunk of black heavy metal. They went on to absolutely smash it and, apart from an ill-judged "Tribute To Bob Marley", the rest of the set was straight - hit on top of hit, with an incredible version of "Hangin' Downtown" being a highpoint.

    Larry Blackmon is kind of slept-on as a progressive creative force in 80s black music. I'd even go as far to say he was second only to Prince during that period, yet it seems he's remembered by most people as the guy with the high-top fade and the codpiece.

  • KineticKinetic 3,739 Posts
    "Rigor Mortis" is the club funk joint to kill all club funk joints - 12" version is a monster.

    I have also been known to ride for "It's serious."

  • Jonny_PaycheckJonny_Paycheck 17,825 Posts
    I DONT WANT ANYBODY
    TO GET THE WRONG IDEA BOUT MAY
    I AINT GOT NOTHIN TO HIDE
    I WANT THE WORLD TO SEEE

    SINGLE SINGLE SINGLE SINGLE












    LIFE




    Love them dudes

  • HamHam 872 Posts
    SINGLE












    LIFE


    so insanely good.

  • batmonbatmon 27,574 Posts
    Larry Blackmon is kind of slept-on as a progressive creative force in 80s black music,yet it seems he's remembered by most people as the guy with the high-top fade and the codpiece.



  • erewhonerewhon 1,123 Posts
    I'm in a serious Cameo mode right now. Cardiac Arrest is on the turntable at home right now, in fact.

    When I was a freshman in high school, I made friends with a senior stoner dude in my art class who was crazy into them and even had a hand-me-down Cameo T-shirt. I was already pretty into a lot of disco and funk, but for some reason I wasn't sold yet on Cameo from listening to them through his headphones. Looking back now, it's hard to make sense of that.

    Anyone heard the L.A. Connection album Larry Blackmon produced? I found it recently, which is what got me pulling out the Cameo records again.


  • JuniorJunior 4,853 Posts
    SINGLE












    LIFE


    so insanely good.

    Shit yeah. I remember getting this on a Now! album in, I think, 85 and playing it to death. After that couldn't get enough of the band.

    Probably still got my plastic sleeve You Make Me Work 12" floating around somewhere as well.

  • Phill_MostPhill_Most 4,594 Posts
    i just downloaded almost all of their albums that i didn't already have on mp3 last week. they are indeed very underrated for a group that had so much success for such a long stretch of time.

    my top 5:
    back & forth
    rigormortis
    two of us
    she's strange
    hangin' downtown (thanks, primo)

    hate to leave off a lot of stuff like the early slow jams (sparkle, why have i lost you) and the early jams (shake your pants, i just want to be, etc... that stuff was when it came out). they had a lot of jams, though


  • HarveyCanalHarveyCanal "a distraction from my main thesis." 13,234 Posts
    I friggin loooooove me some Cameo.

    Especially this...


  • JacobWizzleJacobWizzle 1,003 Posts


    These dudes kept it live during the early 80's while Hip Hop started to take over the radio waves in NYC.

    Disco was dyin, Slow jams were bubblin, and these cats stayed relevant through the changes in Black music.

    Slow Jams...check
    Sweat box funk...check
    Radio hits...check...
    Progresive R&B...check
    New Wave/Punk Funk/Rick James steez....check
    Derivative/minimilized P-Funk w/out the codes...check
    Costumes...check
    Sex appeal...check

    mid 70's to Skin Im In...

    Word Up doesnt even do them justice, even though they were referencin Rapp.

    That video is crazy! Definitely one of my favorite groups period. They were one of the only groups to stay consistently good from the late 70's funk era to the stripped down mid 80's computer stuff. I probably like they're slow songs best. I know they are from the east coast but I always with them having West Coast music.

    TOP 10

    Why Have I Lost You
    We're Goin Out Tonight
    Two of Us
    Sparkle
    Single Life
    Back and Forth
    Hangin Downtown
    Flirt
    Candy
    Shake Your Pants (my neighbors used to blap this song everyday one summer bitd)

  • hogginthefogghogginthefogg 6,098 Posts
    I DONT WANT ANYBODY
    TO GET THE WRONG IDEA BOUT MAY
    I AINT GOT NOTHIN TO HIDE
    I WANT THE WORLD TO SEEE

    SINGLE SINGLE SINGLE SINGLE





    LIFE


    Ironically, "Single Life" always makes me think of my wife, for two reasons:

    1) She used to always play that record, then when the hook came in, mix in "Rumors" by Timex Social Club. That mix sounds soooo good and works incredibly well.

    2) She also plays the hell out of out Bad Azz "Wrong Idea" which is based on "Single Life." That record kills in the Bay.

  • djdazedjdaze 3,099 Posts
    every time I hear Shake Your Pants I want to hear this too


  • batmonbatmon 27,574 Posts



  • jamesjames chicago 1,863 Posts
    You know, I actually ride pretty hard for the late-period radio shit. The earlier stuff can be really fucking good, and is probably what I most often pull off the shelf, but "Word Up"? That shit sounds like it's from some other planet. Spaghetti-western electro (t)hump with an incredibly eccentric but nonetheless utterly committed vocal approach--there is very little out there that sounds like it. "And it was a hit!"(??pickwick33), which means that unlike other similarly (perhaps even more-) alien underground shit that was bubbling at the time, it fell upon ears that weren???t necessarily primed for it, which is intriguing to me. Shit, even stuff like "Candy" has that weird vibe. I mean, discos full of folks bus-stopping to ???Rigor Mortis??? is cool, but the idea of Larry Blackmon at full (or even semi-) freak slow-seeping into the bedrooms of unwitting bubblegummers is pretty compelling, too.

    (And yo, when is one of you remixer dudes gonna get off the bullshit and lace us grown folks with ???Shake Your Slacks???? You know: slow it down, stretch it out, maybe add a little flute, some slightly-behind-the-beat snapping. Cameo is dope and all, but I???m not tryna sweat out my good shirt. I need that Electraglide in Zinfandel type material.)

  • batmonbatmon 27,574 Posts
    alien underground shit that was bubbling at the time, it fell upon ears that weren???t necessarily primed for it, which is intriguing to me.

    I dont know bout that. All their singles before Word Up got major Local Black Exp radio play and the videos were all over NY HotTrax. Word Up was a step up but not by that much. They were able to minimize,concetrate & package all the quirky Funk they made previously. Plus the quasi-Hip Hop flavor was injected by 1986.



    Larry was clearly "Rappin".

  • jamesjames chicago 1,863 Posts
    alien underground shit that was bubbling at the time, it fell upon ears that weren???t necessarily primed for it, which is intriguing to me.

    I dont know bout that. All their singles before Word Up got major Local Black Exp radio play and the videos were all over NY HotTrax.

    I think you might be reading me wrong. The first part of the line you've quoted is "unlike [the] alien undeground shit..."

  • batmonbatmon 27,574 Posts
    alien underground shit that was bubbling at the time, it fell upon ears that weren???t necessarily primed for it, which is intriguing to me.

    I dont know bout that. All their singles before Word Up got major Local Black Exp radio play and the videos were all over NY HotTrax.

    I think you might be reading me wrong. The first part of the line you've quoted is "unlike [the] alien undeground shit..."

    my bad

  • edpowersedpowers 4,437 Posts
    1)why have i lost you
    2)she's strange
    3)candy
    4)single life
    5)back and forth
    6)rigor mortis
    7)flirt
    8)feel me
    9)please you
    10)smile
    10b)we're going out tonight

    "even gucci would be proud"



  • pickwick33pickwick33 8,946 Posts
    unlike (the) alien underground shit that was bubbling at the time, it fell upon ears that weren???t necessarily primed for it, which is intriguing to me.

    I dont know bout that. All their singles before Word Up got major Local Black Exp radio play

    YEAH, but "Word Up" was the first to get major White Experience play, where it probably stood out even more next to, say, Huey Lewis...

  • Jonny_PaycheckJonny_Paycheck 17,825 Posts
    Yeah Candy is my shit as well. West Coast classics right there.

  • willie_fugalwillie_fugal 1,862 Posts
    2 words (or more like one word twice):

    funk funk

  • yuichiyuichi Urban sprawl 11,331 Posts

    Now that's a show!

    Do you guys dance to yourselves when you hear Cameo? I know I do...

  • RAW_HAMBURGERRAW_HAMBURGER 1,438 Posts
    great thread...i have 1 of chocolate city promo t shirt of "we all know who we are" up for trade if any of you cameo fans are about it.

    this group had it all...modern soul cuts with amazing horns..slow jams, boogie, disco, and the later part of the 80s...shes strange is timeless, especially at the end when they go into the latin groove.

  • waxjunkywaxjunky 1,850 Posts
    I like "Candy," especially when he rhymes "attack" with "like" -- .

  • JacobWizzleJacobWizzle 1,003 Posts
    1)why have i lost you
    2)she's strange
    3)candy
    4)single life
    5)back and forth
    6)rigor mortis
    7)flirt
    8)feel me
    9)please you
    10)smile
    10b)we're going out tonight

    "even gucci would be proud"



    Is Cameosis their best album? i fucks with it heavy.

  • For some reason the synchronized bounce they do in this video gets me hype as a motherfucker


  • JimsterJimster Cruffiton.etsy.com 6,885 Posts
    I like "Candy," especially when he rhymes "attack" with "like" -- .

    They are thinking out of the box for rhyming. Check this from "She's Strange" (the Room 123 12" mix, natch):

    "Her mini skirt, it fit so nicely,
    you can't look once, you have to look twicely"
    [imaginary picture of Shakespeare giving the thumbs-up]

  • deejdeej 5,125 Posts
    good thread
    'shes strange' is serious

  • edpowersedpowers 4,437 Posts
    1)why have i lost you
    2)she's strange
    3)candy
    4)single life
    5)back and forth
    6)rigor mortis
    7)flirt
    8)feel me
    9)please you
    10)smile
    10b)we're going out tonight

    "even gucci would be proud"



    Is Cameosis their best album? i fucks with it heavy.



    Yes Cameosis is essential ...best imo........My uncles and aunts played "shake your pants" so much i asked moms to buy me the record when i was in the 2nd grade .......
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