CrazySexyCool Reviews

CrazySexyCool is a definitive album from the nineties. The massive hit singles have the ability to relocate you to the exact place and time when you first heard these songs. The album only tracks actually sound fairly modern, with a few production retouches and an update in guest rappers it wouldn’t sound out-of-place on today’s radio. This isn’t just a milestone of mid-90s R&B/pop; this is a milestone album for any girl group. Never before or since has a modern girl group faced issues with such intelligence, humor and honest sexuality without resorting to silly power-slut clichés. And in a genre, girl group pop, that is better known for fantastic singles and shoddy albums, it’s refreshing to listen to an album that is great from start to finish.

TLC was a favorite group of mine throughout the nineties, I still adore them, and this album was the reason why. Those powerhouse singles like “Creep” or “Diggin’ On You” still bring a smile to my face. It doesn’t hurt that they’re well written, well produced and well sung. I’ve always liked that this album wasn’t polished to the point where you start to suspect how of it was made with computers and not by human work. T-Boz and Chili have a tendency to be just the tiniest bit flat on songs like “Kick Your Game” and “Let’s Do It Again.” It’s comforting to know that in our modern day and age of Auto-Tune and ProTools there was a time when vocal flaws, mistakes and imperfections were embraced as part of the artistic process. I miss those days.

The only misfire on the entire album is the cover of Prince’s song “If I Was Your Girlfriend.” The genius of that song was that Prince was singing it. By having a group of female singers cover the song it removes all of the psychosexual intrigues and complicated gender role-playing. It’s not even that it’s badly performed, it’s just competent. They’re outclassed vocally by Prince, but they have given it their best shot. It would have been better to keep it off the album and release it as a b-side, or as a bonus track.

I hinted at the blunt honesty and intelligence earlier, and I would like to talk about that for a moment. “Waterfalls,” the monster of a single, addressed inner city violence, AIDS and the dangers of self-destructive behavior. What modern pop single would so daringly tackle these issues? Their sensitive and heartfelt vocal performances helped make the song the huge hit it became, but I think that the smarts and honesty behind the song had a bigger impact. TLC would also promote safe sex, and were unafraid of painting a complicated portrait of modern female identity and sexuality. They weren’t just the virgin and the whore but each and every identity between and past these two common identities given to female performers.

Not since Diana Ross & the Supremes has a girl group produced such fantastic R&B/pop fusion. With this release and the solid, but not quite as great, follow FanMail, TLC has taken their place in the pantheon of great girl groups. DOWNLOAD: “Waterfalls,” “Creep,” “Sumthin’ Wicked This Way Comes”