ARTIST: Teena Marie
TITLE: Robbery
LABEL: Epic/Legacy
GENRE: R&B
BITRATE: 204kbps avg
PLAYTIME: 1h 09min total
RELEASE DATE: 2005-07-12
RIP DATE: 2005-07-18
Track List
----------
01. Robbery 5:23
02. Playboy 5:21
03. Shadow Boxing 6:48
04. Midnight Magnet 6:03
05. Fix It 4:44
06. Ask Your Momma 5:25
07. Dear Lover 5:17
08. Stop The World 4:16
09. Casanova Brown 6:01
10. Playboy (12-Inch Remix Bonus 5:48
Track)
11. Midnight Magnet (Instrumental 5:56
Bonus Track)
12. Fix It (12-Inch Remix Bonus 8:17
Track)
Release Notes:
A protracted absence from the studio (a one-year release gap in the '80s was
equal to a five-year gap in the early 2000s) caused by a notorious legal dispute
with Motown did little to stall Teena Marie's momentum. Robbery, Marie's fifth
album and first for Epic, didn't perform nearly as well on the pop chart as
1981's It Must Be Magic, but the devout black following remained, which
obviously had no problem with Marie's discreet slipping of a little more rock
and Latin jazz into her R&B. Epic wisely let their new acquisition do her thing
-- it's the first album written completely by Marie, and the gradual development
in her sound would pay off tenfold with 1984's crossover hit "Lovergirl."
(Meanwhile, Marie's ex label was nurturing D.O.A. projects like Monalisa Young's
Knife and High Inergy's Groove Patrol.) So is Robbery merely transitional? Not
at all. While directing a rotating cast of support, including but not limited to
the Average White Band's Steve Ferrone, go-to Brazilian percussionist Paulinho
da Costa, and undervalued keyboard wiz Patrice Rushen, Marie comes up with a set
of songs that rivals anything she did for Motown. There's a little bit of
everything here. It's varied but focused, however, highlighted by the torrid
mid-tempo groove "Midnight Magic," the club hit "Fix It," and a trio of
excellent ballads in "Dear Lover," the particularly elegant "Casanova Brown,"
and one of the finest Minnie Riperton tributes -- whether intentional or not --
in "Shadow Boxing." Though the album contains some of the then up-to-date
technology that flawed a lot of other albums released in 1983, Marie knew not to
go hog-wild with it.
All tracks have been digitally remastered.