Crash (2004)

not a bad effort, if only for the production team

music albums

Crash

This outing by Sheffield's finest see them crossing the big pond in order to record under one of the most successful recording production duos of all time - (Jimmy) JAM & (Terry) LEWIS - themselves renowned musicians as members of Minneapolis groovers, The Time. Best known for their hugely successful production work on Janet Jackson's Control, Rhythm Nation and Janet albums, as well as producing heavyweight soul funkers Alexander O'Neal, Cherrelle and The S.O.S. Band, creating in turn, what was coined in the mid-late 1980s," The Minneapolis Sound " alongside former band member and good friend, His Holy Purpleness, Prince.

So how did our chipper trio fair amongst such RnB gargantuans? Not too bad, not too good either. First track to be lifted off the album was the wondrous, 'Human,' top 10 hit worldwide, topping the US charts in summertime 1986. Great start indeed. That, though, was that.

Apart from the final track,'Love Is All That Matters,' the album seemed to just vanish and with it, the last of the League's big time commercially-successful periods either side of the Atlantic. Why, I hear some of you ask? Well, what may have looked good on paper when choosing producers, may have been a classic example of leaving the tried and tested, music genre they had become synonomous with and perhaps should have stuck to familiar synthsoulpop as sadly, apart from the two tracks I have already mentioned bit off more than they could actually chew in terms of strength of songs.

For, despite a tremendous all-round effort, I for one couldn't name any other music title off this album and I guess that's what the fickle fans and general buying public must have felt too, considering how fast the album appeared on the cut price album shelves.

Not a patch on 'Dare,' but certainly worth a listening to again, there may be a grower or two just waiting to be discovered... Pop life can be so cruel at times.