Boomerang Week: Aaron Hall feat Charlie Wilson - Everything's Gonna Be All Right (1992)

Aaron Hall KILLED it, then Charlie Wilson BURIED it. New Jack Swing tuneage of the highest order.
It was also the first collaboration between teacher (Wilson, former frontman of The Gap Band) and pupil (Hall); a result of Wilson's 1991 release Sprung on Me. On that song, Charlie mimicked the Guy sound with his own distinct vocals, which was his pointed response to Hall not giving any credit to Wilson being his vocal mentor and being largely responsible for his distinctive vocal style.
This lead to the track Everything's Gonna Be All Right produced by Buster & Shiavone. While the title directly ties to a narrative  they are trying to reconcile with a woman, it no doubt also alludes to their own reconciliation.
A vocal powerhouse of a song; 'father' and 'son' in perfect harmony.

Boomerang Week: Babyface Feat. Toni Braxton - Give U My Heart (1992)

Give U My Heart is a duet recorded by Babyface and Toni Braxton for the Boomerang soundtrack. Essentially made to give Braxton a platform to showcase her talents, the collaboration was released as a single the same year, reaching no.29 on the Billboard Hot 100 and no.2 on the Billboard Hot R&B/Hip-Hop Songs (queued behind another song from Boomerang, Boyz II Men's End of the Road).
Other than the soundtrack, it can be found on two of Braxton's greatest hits albums, 2003's Ultimate Toni Braxton and 2007's The Essential Toni Braxton, and as a B-side on some versions of her 1993 single Another Sad Love Song.

Boomerang Week: Boyz II Men - End Of The Road (1992)

Let's get the elephant in the room out of the way: End of the Road first surfaced on the Boomerang soundtrack and of course took Boyz II Men to a whole different stratosphere. It still hasn't lost its power, even now.
Recorded in May 1992, it was the winner of the Grammy for best Song that year. Written and produced by LA & Babyface and Daryl Simmons, it is Boyz II Men's most successful single and replaced Endless Love by Diana Ross and Lionel Richie as Motown's most successful single. It was also the last Motown single to reach no.1 on the UK singles chart. The song is listed at no.43 on Billboard's All Time Top 100. It topped the U.S. charts from August 15 to November 7, 1992, setting a record for most weeks at number one with 13 weeks, beating Elvis Presley's 11-week hold with the AA-side Hound Dog / Don't Be Cruel. Presley's record had stood for 36 years.
However, two weeks after End of the Road left the top spot, Whitney Houston's I Will Always Love You reached number one, and remained there 14 weeks, one week longer than End of the Road; Boyz II Men's new record stood for only 17 weeks.
The group's next single I'll Make Love to You, however, would tie Houston's record, and their 1995 collaboration with Mariah Carey Boyz - One Sweet Day - would break it, logging 16 consecutive weeks.

20 not out: Boomerang Soundtrack 1992 - 2012

Its 20 years to the day since the film Boomerang was released. A film from an era when an Eddie Murphy feature was a must see, and the film that bought a certain Halle Berry to prominence.

All that and an absolutely BANGIN' soundtrack. Fans of LA & Babyface's work form an orderly queue here.

The idea of having a soundtrack album that not only is a commercial success in it's own right but exists almost as a separate entity to the film itself is nothing new. It's been going on for many years, from Beverly Hills Cop, to Michael Keaton's Batman (which actually had two, one each by Danny Elfman and Prince), but the 1990's produced a new wrinkle - the R&B soundtrack.
Between Mo'Money, Boyz In Da Hood, New Jack City, New York Undercover and a plethora of others, record companies discovered that they could not only showcase new talent and preview new tracks from established artists, but make a very nice little profit doing it. So much so, that the soundtracks to some of the films are remembered long after the film itself has faded from memory.
Boomerang isn't one of those films; it is a good film and hails from a time when Eddie Murphy made films that needed no excuse to watch.

Murphy played the character of Marcus Graham, a successful advertising executive and infamous womaniser. After his company merges with another, Marcus meets his professional and romantic match in Jacqueline, played by Robin Givens. As his work and love life begins to suffer, Marcus sets his sights on Jacqueline’s assistant, Angela, played by a then relatively unknown Halle Berry.
Directed by Reginald Hudlin, Boomerang featured an array of other noteworthy talent, including Martin Lawrence, David Allen Grier, Grace Jones, Eartha Kitt and Tisha Campbell.
In a previous interview about the film’s success, Hudlin noted, "Typically when it comes to Black characters, either you have to be a successful, smart business person, or you're hip, but you're never both.... And one of the reasons why the movie has had such enduring popularity is because the character is both. He's much more in the Cary Grant mode of business person."

Not only was the film a success (it grossed more than $131 million globally at the box office), but so was it's soundtrack. The album reached the top five of the Billboard 200 chart, and included the number-one hit End of the Road by Boyz II Men. The soundtrack also debuted singer Toni Braxton, with her trademark single Love Shoulda Brought You Home.
Boomerang is great ear candy and a perfect fit for one's musical time capsule. And this week we'll share with you tracks from this memorable album. In our opinion, the album can be played through in it's entirety (although I'd Die Without You by P.M. Dawn and 7 Day Weekend by Grace Jones aren't to our taste, so are not covered here) and still stand the test of time, 20 years on.

Cover To Cover: Stevie Wonder vs. Incognito - Don't You Worry 'Bout A Thing

THE STEVIE WONDER VERSION (1973):

Don't You Worry 'bout a Thing was a hit single from Stevie's 1973 album Innervisions, which reached no.16 on the Billboard Pop Singles chart and no.2 on the R&B chart in the US.
It begins with an unusual spoken bit of dialogue, in which Wonder portrays a slick character trying to impress a woman with his worldliness. "Cause like I been to, y'know, Paris, Beirut, y'know, I mean, uh, Iraq, Iran, Eurasia... y'know I speak very, very, um fluent Spanish - 'Todo 'stá bien chévere' - you got that?"
The tune is in E♭ minor, starting with a Latin piano intro. The song's second chorus begins with Stevie taking the vocals up an octave with two vocal overdubs singing the same line. He also sings two other background overdub vocals, mimicking a horn line with the Spanish phrase 'Todo 'stá bien chévere' which, loosely translated, means "Everything's really cool."
While it isn't regarded as the standout song on Innervisions (no surprise that Living For The City takes that title), Don't You Worry 'bout a Thing is still an act of genius from a genius; a playful song that reflects the lighter side of the album.

THE INCOGNITO VERSION (1992):

Anyone that covers a Stevie Wonder song is usually on a hiding to nothing; over the years, I've come to experience a phenomena I call 'The Wonder Effect'. In other words, an artist covers a Stevie track and makes a good job of it, but in most cases their version pales in comparison to the Stevie version. There are however a couple of exceptions to this constant (another of which we will come back to at a later date), the track below being one of them.

Incognito's version of Don't You Worry 'Bout A Thing was on their 1992 album Tribes, Vibes and Scribes; the track got to no.19 in the UK, no.46 in Germany and no.6 in The Netherlands. Jean-Paul 'Bluey' Maunick did the wise thing and produced the song in the trademark Incognito style, replete with a subtle bass underpinning, his horns doing their thing when necessary and the gorgeous vocals of Maysa Leak bring Mr Wonder's lyrics to life. Despite that, the only parts of the song that pay homage to the original are the Latin-influenced piano chords at the start and Maysa singing harmonies in an unmistakably Stevie style.

THE VERDICT:

The fact that a Stevie cover can run the original so close is compliment itself; the fact that there have been times I thought Incognito's version was superior is no fluke nor trick of the ear. Some may argue that their version is too polished and takes away from the innate 'stevieness' that nearly every song he does has. Bluey and Maysa have stamped their personalty all over their version, and a bloody fine song it is; it is a song I still listen to on a very regular basis and still do not tire of it. On a different day, I may have given it to the Incognito version purely on the strength of Maysa' vocals; were this a contest based purely on vocal performance that's exactly what would have happened.

But - just - I would say the original is still the better version. Stevie's version is so underrated due to the phalanx of classic songs on Innervisions, but it has it's own unique signature, one that hints at a concept that I for one would love to have seen explored more fully - Stevie doing a Latin album. If you've never paid full attention to his version, then I suggest you play it often; it deserves your attention and will find a place in your heart before you know it.

That said, both versions will always have a place on my playlist.

-DW