Friday, December 13, 2013

June Pointer - Baby Sister

After working with her sisters for a few years, at age thirty June Pointer decided to do a solo album in 1983. The result was Baby Sister which we will be looking at today to celebrate its thirtieth anniversary.


Side one opens with “Ready for Some Action”, the album’s first single. It has a funky opening riff with a slight touch of the Twilight Zone to it. It then explodes into an awesome dance track about restless youth. The original album cut clocks in at six minutes, but later CD releases included the single edit as well. I prefer the album cut myself.

“I Will Understand”, the B-side to the second single, keeps the party going with another great jam. I would suspect many club deejays would have flipped the single to play this one too.

Things slow down a bit with the ballad “To You, My Love”.

“New Love, True Love” closes out the side strong with another one to groove to. I really like the piano and percussion on this one.

Side two starts with bouncily optimistic “I’m Ready for Love”. While it carries a similar theme to the opening track of side one, this one has a very different upbeat energy to it.

“You Can Do It” slides in with a seductive, sultry style. She gives her man an open-invitation to anything and everything.

The ballad “Always” tells that tale of loving someone from afar and hoping that he notices that there is someone more attentive waiting.

“My Blues Have Gone” is a celebration of a new love.

The final track “Don’t Mess with Bill” was also the catchy second single. This one presents advice from one girl to all others - “better stay away from my man“.

I have to say that upon my very first listen, I was instantly a fan of Baby Sister. The quality on June’s solo debut has all the elements that I love out of a Pointer Sisters album: solid dance tracks and smooth ballads. This one quickly jumped to the top of my “to download” list.

2 comments:

Anonymous said...

"Ready for Some Action" was the first single. "Don't Mess with Bill" was the second.

Martin Maenza said...

Thanks for the clarification. I am correcting that now.