El New York Chico

Alex Honda says:

It’s been many years since I’ve played my BRENDA K. STARR CD but I recently popped it in and I was taken aback to those carefree days of my youth.

I owned the cassette back when it was released and I wore it out. Luckily a friend of mine found the CD in a used store and bought it for me.

Although the album is pretty strong as far as 1980s dance beats are concerned, I really think the first five tracks are the best.

The first three songs “Breakfast In Bed,” “You Should Be Loving Me,” and “What You See Is What You Get” are infectious uptempo numbers with Starr cooing on BIB and seducing on YSBLM. Then the circus like drum/bongo/pom-pom intro to WYSIWYG cues the listener to the really big number that is “What You See…”

Starr slows it all the way down with the beautiful ballad “I Still Believe,” IMO the best version, about still loving someone after the relationship has gone. I think Starr’s version has more emotion in it than Mariah Carey’s.

“Giving You All My Love” starts the uptempo grooves again and for some reason this song reminds me of E.G. Daly’s “If You Want My Love (Say It, Say It!).

Anyway, I understand that Brenda K. Starr is still recording but only Spanish songs. If you find this CD get it!
Rating: 5 / 5

Daniel J. Hamlow says:

Once, when waiting for something on MTV, I caught the tail end of Club MTV, and saw some girl singing an R&B/dance song, wearing some really torn jeans. Turned out that it was Brenda K. Starr, and that the song I’d heard was “Breakfast In Bed,” the opening track of her self-titled album. A fair vocalist, but definitely no Whitney, Starr still had what it took to contribute to the 80’s dance scene along with the Jets, Expose and the Cover Girls. “Let me the one to start your day with breakfast in bed,” runs the last chorus line in that first song I heard from her. As long as it ain’t over easy, sure. “Giving You All My Love” is similarly paced.

And yes, she was the one who did “I Still Believe” before Mariah Carey put it on her #1s album. I favour this original due to its simple arrangements. This reached #13 on the pop charts. Okay, Mariah’s version went to #4 in 1999, sue me, but I grew up with Starr’s version. Still, if anyone was to remember BKS, it would be through this song. The song’s producer was Deodato, who scored a #2 hit with “Also Sprach Zarathustra,” the theme from 2001 back in 1973. He also produced the bounciest song here, the don’t drink and drive number “Drive Another Girl Home,” which also sports a decent guitar solo in the bridge. Now there’s a way to put down a popular-with-the-ladies, macho, stoned, on a “one way ego trip” loser. Why wasn’t this released as a single?

The followup single was “What You See Is What You Get,” another upbeat number that the Jets could also have done, which incorporated a salsa beat mixed with the club beats. It got as high as #24 and would prove to be Starr’s last Top 40 hit. However, given the infectiousness of this song and my lack of dance chart statistics, chances are that she would’ve fared better on the dance/club charts as opposed to the Hot 100, as Jellybean Benitez was the song’s mixer.

The other songs make potential 12″ mix material, i.e. decent filler, but not much else stands out. After one more English language album, Starr went into Spanish language tropical salsa music. Not a bad album, with a consistent sound.
Rating: 4 / 5