With "Love Or Physical", a splendid new album for Capitol Records, that perennial love duo Nick Ashford & Valerie Simpson are definitely back in gear. After a couple of years absence, during which time the couple (who have been married now for over fourteen years) gave birth to a daughter, Asia, Nick and Val are feeling great about their new product, especially since the first single, I'll Be There For You" is giving them one of their biggest U.S. hits in years.

BELIEVE me, it's just a matter of time before Glenn Jones breaks through and enters the proverbial winner's circle for life! I've been saying this for two years now and felt it was timely now that RCA has just released Glenn's third LP, entitled "Take It From Me".

OFTEN, when a lead vocalist leaves a successful group, it comes as surprise to the rest of the world. However, there are usually very strong underlying reasons that simply didn't come to the attention of the public. Certainly, that was true of the Lionel Richie-Commodores and Jeffrey Osborne-LTD splits. And, to a lesser degree, it's the case in the {safm}Howard Hewett{/safm}-Shalamar parting of ways.

As his official Geffen Records' bio states, "John White sings with the authority and control of some of R&B's finest vocalists ..." and after listening to the gentleman's debut LP, "Night People", it would be tough to disagree.

IN WHAT could justifiably be called their third incarnation, perennial favourites Kool & The Gang have undergone a pretty major personnel change. With the departure of James "J.T" Taylor, the group have drafted in not one, but THREE lead vocalists. As Robert "Kool" Bell, Dennis "D.T." Thomas and one of the group's new additions, Gary Brown reveal, the veritable musical institution is now in transition.
"With three different vocalists, we can pursue three different musical directions," says D.T. "We had our first decade which was a lot of musical experimentation with a lot of emphasis on a more instrumental sound and then the second phase which featured J.T.'s vocals and now we're taking both those elements and putting them together for this new cycle."   

To soul fans, and particularly Soul and Funk Music.com visitors, Alyson Williams is no newcomer. Featured on duets with Def Jam labelmates Tashan, Chuck Stanley and Oran 'Juice' Jones and part of the "Soul Songs" tour in 1987, the soulful lady left an indelible impression on European music lovers through her varying different musical excursions.
Now, you'll be pleased to know, you can get a whole album which features (for the most part) the truly amazing vocal talents of Ms. Williams: her debut LP has finally been released in the States, where only the more discerning record buyers have noted her name hitherto.

Master drummer/producer Norman Connors has been away from the recording scene for almost six years now but out of studio doesn't mean out work. The man who first brought the likes of Phyllis Hyman, Michael Henderson and Glenn Jones to public attention vai his mid-Seventies albums for Arista and Buddah is quick to point out that he's been performing pretty consistently throughout that time.

Here are some Liners from October '87 from the B&S Magazine. 

It's one of those times in Larry Blackmon's pretty long, fairly illustrious career when everything must seem to be happening so frustratingly slowly.

Last year saw his band Cameo consolidate ten years of powerful, consistent music with their biggest selling album to date, "Single Life" — not to mention their first hit singles in the U.K., "Single Life" and "She's Strange" — and it now seemed that, at last, Cameo were destined for true international recognition.

MUSIC was far from Mary Davis' mind when we sat down to mega-chat just recently. The remainder of the SOS Band were off doing their own thing leaving The Two Davises to chat over sandwiches and coffee.
Mary is a freindly, charming lady and, despite the relatively early hour, she looked as if she had just stepped out of a photo session. My sweatshirt was no match for her silk! With Mary and the band spending so much time touring, it wasn't surprising to learn that London was one of her favourite places.

Maybe we're not in the mood for message records right now. Even so, "Crack Killed Applejack" is a powerfully persuasive insight into the tragedy of American basketball star Len Bias, who, after a distinguished high school record, becomes addicted to crack, thereby ruining his life. It eventually killed him.

Pieces Of A Dream is emerging as a highly pertinent tag for the supremely talented group of musicians who create music under that banner.

For the generation of black music fans of the last decade, it has been a personal pleasure to watch this band emerge and develop 'before our very eyes', so to speak.

They came together as teenagers under the guiding hand of mentor Grover Washington Jr. (probably as big an inspiration as any for the enthusiast who's spread his wings wider than the commercial edge of the genre), and started playing a form of jazz that introduced all the musical aspects this generation has enjoyed into one sound. Pieces Of A Dream almost personified what — in this country at least — was considered best in black music, and they became as a mirror for the music's followers.