Sunday, March 2, 2014

The System - X-Periment

This month marks the thirtieth anniversary of X-Periment, the second studio album from the System. It spent five weeks on the US Billboard Album chart, peaking at number 182. This New York City based duo was Mic Murphy (guitar and vocals) and David Frank (keyboards and synthesizer).


Side one begins with the mid-tempo dance jam “I Wanna Make You Feel Good”; as a single it went to number 73 on the UK charts. Guitarist Paul Pesco co-wrote the track with the band and played on it.

“Dangerous” keeps the party going with a very tight electronic groove.

“Lollipops and Everything” brings it down a bit with a ballad about complete satisfaction in a relationship.

“Get Jumpin’” closes out the first half.

Side two starts with sly and smoking “Escape”.

“Promises Can Break” was the B-side to the single.

The title track “X-Periment” is next. This smooth groove is all about two people getting intimate.

The album closes with “Bad Girl”, a dance jam about a tempting flirt who likes to play by her own rules.

By my recollection, this was the first time I had heard the tracks from the System’s X-Periment album (at the very least as a complete collection). These songs are very much in line with the type of R&B that was popular in the dance clubs I frequented in the mid-80’s. As such, this is an album I would have picked up back in the day. The nice thing is that a lot of these songs can come across as very fresh because they have not been overplayed over the last three decades. That makes them perfect for spicing up those 80’s dance play lists.

Unfortunately, because the System never hit is really big here in the US, the only way to get a hold of this album is via an import. You can, though, give it a listen over on YouTube as I did. Hopefully, their back catalog will show up some day on the usual digital markets of iTunes and Amazon.

No comments: