Ready For the World - Ready For the World (30th anniversary)

This month marks the thirtieth anniversary of the self-titled debut album from Ready For the World. This 1985 release peaked at number 17 on the US Billboard Album chart with a forty-eight week total run on that chart.

For the complete low down on this R&B smash, click here.

Beverly Hills Cop II (soundtrack)

Welcome to another edition of Soundtrack Sunday. And today (May 6th) we wish a very special happy sixty-seventh birthday to American rock musician Bob Seger.

After the huge box office success of the first Beverly Hills Cop film in 1984 and its smash hit soundtrack album (click here for my review of that record), Paramount Pictures re-teamed Eddie Murphy with Judge Reinhold and John Ashton for the sequel. Naturally, a soundtrack album was also released; the Beverly Hills II album debuted at number 8 on the US Billboard Hot 200 charts and spent a total of twenty weeks there (slightly more than half the time its predecessor spent on the charts which was forty nine weeks).

Ready For the World - Ready For the World

Founded by Melvin Riley (lead vocals, keyboardist) and Gordon Stozier (lead guitar), the R&B group Ready For the World came out of Flint, Michigan, in the middle of the 1980's. Their June 1985 self-titled debut Ready For the World did very well, reaching number 17 on the US Billboard Album chart (with a forty-eight week run) and number 3 on the US Billboard R&B charts. It achieved Platinum sales status. While they would release two more albums in the late 80's and one in the 90's, this debut was their best selling record to date thanks to a number of hit singles on the pop and R&B charts.

Being from Michigan, Ready For the World found a way to pick up that Minneapolis sound made popular by Prince, the Time, Alexander O'Neal and more, and merge it into their own compositions. There are many times listening to this album that some uninformed could confuse these songs for ones done by Prince as they share similar music elements and a penchant for sexually suggestive lyrics.