The Gyrlz "Love Me Or Leave Me" {1988 Uptown Records/Capitol Records}

In the beginning of the New Jack Swing era, or "NJS" for short, {circa 1987-88}, Keith Sweat burst loose with his ground breaking worldwide hit single, the Teddy Riley written and produced, "I Want Her". Less than a year later, Teddy, protagonater of this new and exciting sub genre of R&B, unleashed to the world, his trendsetting group, "GUY" for Andre Harrell's Uptown Records boutique record company.

BTW, noted author and screenwriter, Barry Michael Cooper, of the hit Mario Van Peebles hit 1991 movie, "New Jack City", coined the phrase 'New Jack Swing'. It's worth noting, Uptown Records Founder/CEO, Andre Harrell, had 3 production & distribution (P&D deals) for his then fledging imprint. One with the then called MCA Records (Guy, Heavy D & Boyz), one with Warner Bros. Records (Al B.Sure !) and with Capitol Records, for this record here.

During this same time period in 1988, this ground breaking NEW JILL SWING group made their critically acclaimed Uptown/ Capitol Records debut, "Love Me Or Leave Me". They consisted of (As they appear on the cover from left to right) Terri Robinson, Tare Geter-Tillman, and last, but certainly not least, Monica Payne. They were Al B. Sure's background singers during his meteoric rise to success in 1988.

Album production chores were largely handled by an extremely talented musician/producer in his own right, Kyle West, with the exception of one track. Teddy Riley produced the very danceable, "Wishing You Were Here". The Gyrlz' good friend, Al B. Sure! lent a hand on his former singer's album by co-producing a beautiful ballad with Kyle titled, "It's Over". Let's check out of the highlights of this hip hop influenced NJS classic, that strangely, never got the full recognition it deserved at the time.

The first single, "If It's Games You're Playing", is a fun, upbeat, hip hop influenced track that sets the overall tone of the entire record. The song, and most of it's instrumentation comes courtesy of Kyle West, and his saavy musical production skills. What stands out the most on this particularly track musically are the clavinet stabs, keyboard fills, and the funky bass synth bounciness. Add some drum programmed crispy snare drum, hi-hat, and tom-tom rolls in that mix, and you have an instant classic on your hands. Another aspect that brings this song home, and pretty much throughout the album, is Terri Robinson's pleaful, heartached, slight raspy, but great sounding nonetheless, lead vocal. The added background vocals of Tara and Monica, add the harmony and charm to this fantastic opener. The lyrics, as you can tell from the title alone, deals with the confusion of an unsure relationship with, well, whom else, a knucklehead :-( .... {SEE ACCOMPANYING VIDEO BELOW}

The brilliant Teddy Riley produced track, "Wishing You Were Here", is by far one of the standout tracks on what should've been a Gold album, at the least. This Monica Payne led vocal takes you on a NJS trip as she yearns the company of her "always on the go" lover. The trademarked sound of Teddy wraps your earlobes in a heavy kick drummed, percussion soundscaped rhythm pattern. The additional background vocals of the talented Tabitha Brace add the youthful appeal this song exerts. Throw in a tight snare drum, upper mid rangy bass synth, and sporadic digital orchestra sample hits, the volume on the Sony Cassette Walkman is sure to be turned up. {For those not old enough to remember, the Sony Walkman was the iPod of that time period}

"Jam Jam (If You Can)". From the very first notes to the last ones heard, you'll have NO OTHER CHOICE but to Jam Jam !! This track represents NJS to the highest degree ! Those same aforementioned orchestra hits, bass synth melodies, drum programmed sounds, James Brown samples, are what NJS was made of, and that was SHEER FUN ! Once again, the Korg M1 synthesizer solos were second to none during this time, as they are featured here in this song. Terri executed one of her most rhythmically dynamic performances on Jam Jam, as she got to flex her full vocal range. Monica, Tara, and once again, Tabitha Brace, provide those background vocals that blend in perfect harmony with Terri's lead. {SEE ACCOMPANYING VIDEO BELOW}

The Gyrlz takes the pace down a bit with the toned down, but yet "funky feeled", "Love Stories". This time around, Kyle West's droned synthesizer demands your utmost attention as it stands front and center in the mix. The "punched and bruised to your face" programmed kick drum, does exactly just that, KNOCKS YOU IN THE GRILL! The electric piano patch, synthesizer fills, and whipper snapped snare drum, keeps the groove "dead in the pocket", as you'll move than likely bob your head to this mid tempo'd ballad. Monica Payne's lead vocal is sexy cool, but yet mellow at the same time. The background vocal fills perfectly falls right in line in the choruses and vamps. Good song !

Album's title track, "Love Me Or Leave Me", we find ourselves back in the safety net of the New Jack Swing ! This track is like the Allstate Insurance Company slogan, "YOU'RE IN GOOD HANDS" ;-) .... The kick drum, though distorted, works well the tempo of the usual suspects of the bouncy bass synth, tom tom rolls, and synthesizer effects and fills. James Brown's "funky" sample. You just gotta love the way Kyle triggering a sample of Monica's lyric of 'Love Me' .... i.e."Lah Love Me Or Leave Me ..... Laaah Lah Lah Love Me Or Leave Me". You just have to hear it yourselves to get full effect .... and trust me, you'll know what I'm talking about when you hear it.

So there you have it ! A ground breaking album from the First Ladies Of New Jack ....ooops, I meant :-( ....... NEW JILL SWING ! ;-) As with anything new and fresh, many record companies thereafter sought out their own versions of The Gyrlz and spawned countless New Jill Swing groups, with various degrees of success. But it's these three ladies that laid the foundation for many of those groups to have, what seemed like, short lived careers.

But I cannot say that about Tara, Monica and Terri. Though this was the last proper"Gyrlz" recording, Terri Robinson and Monica Payne, five years later in 1993, regrouped to form yet ANOTHER ground breaking act, this time as duo, simply calling themselves, "Terri & Monica". You're probably saying to yourselves, "Well, what about Tara ?" Tara signed on to become Terri & Monica's manager during this period. So as you can see, they never truly broke up, they just reinvented themselves, as true artists should do if they want to maintain their careers.

Terri & Monica's only commercially released album on Epic Records, "Systa", gained both critical and consumer acclaim. It fell in line with the then burgeoning Neo Soul soul sound of the early '90's, and gained worldwide acceptance, but strangely did not fare well sales wise, as this album too, should have gone Gold at the least. To read my review of this now classic album, please click on the following link where you'll be directing to the other urban music website I write for, TheUrbanMusicScene.Com : http://backintheday.theurbanmusicscene.com/2010/03/23/terri--monica--systa.aspx

Throughout the '90's, Terri Robinson emerged as a powerhouse songwriter as her songs and background vocals are heard on some of that decade's biggest R&B/Hip Hop hits. There was a second Terri & Monica album entitled "Suga" in 1996 that was recorded. A single and video titled, "Sexuality" did culminate, but unfortunately, the full length album, for whatever reason, was not commercially released.

Let's take a peak at some of Terri Robinson's accomplishments, as both a writer, and performer..... a retrospective if you will.

Did you know it was Terri's and Tabitha Brace's vocals on the DJ Eddie F. produced, Heavy D & The Boyz, original opening theme song to Keenan Ivory Wayans hit '90's sketch comedy show, "In Living Color" ? Check it out and hear for yourselves :

Terri also recorded a duet with Anthony Hamilton for the soundtrack of the hit '90's police drama program, "New York Undercover". Here's the audio only track :

Now, let's go through the extremely impressive list of artists Terri either wrote songs for, and/or, recorded background vocals with. They'll either be in still picture form, or audio/video clips .... this could take a while, so set aside some time please.

But before I continue with the long list of other artists Terri's worked with, let me feature the Terri & Monica video, "Sexuality", from the unreleased Epic 1996 album, Suga.

The cover to the unreleased "Suga" album

Now back to our regularly scheduled Terri Robinson retrospective

Millie Jackson's Daughter, Keisha Jackson

You can clearly hear Terri on co - background vocals on this Heavy D & The Boyz "Truthful" track

Terri & Monica contributed a song to this Money Train soundtrack "It's Alright"

Anthony Hamilton's VERY first album "XTC"

"The Kings of Hip Hop" - Compiled and Mixed by DJ Premier & Mr. Thing

Phew ! Exhausted from reading all of that ! LOL ! :-) ..... I know that's right ! ;-) ... and Terri is STILL to this day writing songs, that'll never stop for her .... and thank goodness for that ! :-) .... It's come to my attention Monica Payne recorded a solo album for DreamWorks Records in the '90's that was never was released. They need to stop that !!!

Talented artists such as Monica Payne and Terri Robinson are a rarity in today's urban landscape. If anything, the industry in whole need to bring back the New Jack/Jill Swing sound to weed out the trite we're currently being hit with at Urban radio. That sound was fun, upbeat, not too sexually explicit, but sexy enough to NOT go overboard like it is now. One could only wish.

But let's cherish and keep alive a sound and culture that was truly the last bastion of INTEGRITY LADENED R&B mankind will ever see again. With that being said, I'd to personally thank the writers, producers, artists, even record company executives at the time, that believed in the NJS sound and made it possible to be enjoyed by the millions the world over.

I'd like to thank Ms. Vanessa Fluffy Murray-Yisrael, a former staffer at Uptown Records, for her more than kind advice and direction to help me track down those partially responsible to make the NJS sound what it is today.

I'd also like to Thank Monica Payne, Tara Geter-Tillman, and last, but certianly not least, Terri Robinson for their GOD given talents and what they were able to provide to the soundtracks of all our lives ! The New Jack Swing Movement is indebted to you ladies !

Musically Yours,

Ran Man