George HaffendenLegendary NYC producer John Morales is back with a new collection celebrating Teena Marie, featuring 18 of his M&M mixes.
“People know she was talented. I don’t really think they really knew the depth of her abilities” – John Morales
“Teena is somewhat underrated, and people don’t really know much about her,” says John in the album notes. “I set out to immerse people in her music and represent what she really did. That meant for me a dive into more than her R&B hits, to dig into her ballads and dance cuts. People know she was talented. I don’t really think they really knew the depth of her abilities, her complete confidence to take it upon herself to do everything – singing, producing, arranging, songwriting. Teena Marie was the total package.”
Teena Marie’s death in 2010 on Boxing Day came as a bit of a shock: she wasn’t that old, only 54, and her career was still going pretty strong. Her latest album Congo Square had some great reviews, and she was back touring internationally. We even had tickets to see her the following February in London. Sadly, of course, that never happened and what Teena would have done next remains a mystery.
Since her death, there’s not been a huge amount of material released by the Lady T. Her daughter, Alia Rose, completed an album Teena had been working on prior to her death, released as Beautiful in 2013. Motown/Universal meanwhile released a collection of previously unreleased material from her early days at Motown, titled First Love: Rare Tee.
Now, after years remixing Teena’s music, John Morales has finally released his own tribute, the exquisite John Morales Presents Teena Marie: Love Songs & Funky Beats – Remixed With Loving Devotion. And a more loving tribute you won’t find.
John has previously released several of his M&M mixes of Teena’s songs. On his Club Motown compilation, he first released his epic version of ‘I Need Your Lovin”, and his equally brilliant mix of ‘Behind The Groove’ was included on the expanded edition of the Behind The Groove album. Both tracks appear on John Morales Presents Teena Marie.
Only available to purchase on CD, vinyl or digital download (it’s not on streaming sites), you’d be well advised to put your hand in your pocket. It’s only 12 quid on iTunes and I can almost guarantee it’ll be the best £12 you’ll have spent this year.
Put together with outstanding care and attention, these new mixes really do remind you just how good Teena Marie was, both as a funk-protegee of Rick James, and also as a balladeer in her own right. But it’s also a little sad how Teena never really reached the starry heights her talent should have taken her too. Yes, she was an incredibly gifted singer/writer/producer, but she never became a household name. Perhaps because she was a white girl singing funk and R&B she never reached that stardom – she probably had more fans (at least in America, perhaps not in Britain) amongst the Black community than in the largely white pop mainstream.
Yet, John’s new collection seeks to remind us just how great Teena was – and how great the music still sounds in these fresh new mixes. Perhaps frustratingly for John, as he writes in the album, Teena’s post-Motown recordings were unavailable to licence for the project. As a result, the collection brings together some her classic Motown-era hits, as well as some rarer numbers that appeared on First Love. And sure, maybe it would have been nice to hear some of her post-Motown songs given the M&M treatment, I’m still convinced her best work was at Motown.
(If you wanted to hear John’s take on ‘Lovergirl’ from her time at CBS Records, check out his equally excellent collection M&M Mixes Volume 4).
There’s so many highlights on the album that’s it’s hard to pick out just a few, but here goes. The new M&M mix of ‘It Must Be Magic’ could be better than the original, with John opting to start just with Teena and the bassist laying down the groove.
Also from her It Must Be Magic album, ‘365’ is another excellent mix – one that, again, could be better than the original. The opening horns and strings arrangement is great, and Teena’s vocal just soars. Fans of The Temptations may also notice the booming bass vocals of Melvin Franklin, who also appears on ‘It Must Be Magic’ (reprising a line he first recorded for The Marvelettes on “My Baby Must Be A Magician” in the sixties). Melvin’s bass is irresistible, as he shadow’s Teena’s vocal throughout – and John appears to have found more of Melvin’s track to use than on the original mix.
(Melvin wasn’t the only Temptation to get in on the action, Otis Williams and Glenn Leonard also provided backing vocals throughout the It Must Be Magic album.)
And if that wasn’t enough, the new M&M mix of ‘Square Biz’ is stunning. Extended over 8 minutes, it’s somehow even funkier than the original. The same goes for ‘Behind The Groove’, an 8-and-a-half minute funk odyssey.
What are equally impressive are the slow jams, which really show off Teena’s voice. I’d always associated Teena with her funkier songs – probably as I came to Teena via the King of Punk-Funk himself, Rick James. But Teena was equally comfortable on the ballads, and John’s new mixes give her vocals more room to impress. ‘Aladdin’s Lamp’ is perhaps most impressive: the new mix doesn’t stray too far from the original, but somehow John has made the ballad funkier than on It Must Be Magic.
Of course, on the slow songs, the highlight is the extended mix of ‘Fire & Desire’, which first appeared on Rick James’ Street Sounds album. A live mix of this song from Rick’s 1981 performance in Long Beach, CA was released on a 12″ single a few Record Store Days ago, along with the M&M mix of ‘You And I’, by Rick. Both tracks are well worth checking out.
Teena claimed that during the session for ‘Fire & Desire’ she was pretty sick with a fever, but somehow managed to make it to the studio to deliver a knockout vocal, before taking herself off to the hospital to recover. And here on this mix, both vocalists have never sounded better.
Stripped back to spotlight both vocalists, John’s mix is a work of art, extended to 11 minutes of Rick and Teena pleading with each other. Diana and Lionel might have had ‘Endless Love’, but Rick and Teena were far better duetting partners, with a unique chemistry on record that few other artists at Motown shared, perhaps with the exception of Marvin and Tammi.
John Morales Presents Teena Marie is another classic set of mixes from the legendary DJ, maintaining his run of epically high-quality releases, reminding us of the incredible legacy that Teena Marie left behind. And, thanks to John, I’ve fallen in love with Teena Marie all over again.
You can purchase John Morales Presents Teena Marie at BBE Music (download, CD or vinyl) and is available to download on iTunes.