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EU Reviewed on this page: 2 Places At The Same Time - Livin' Large - Cold Kickin' It - Make Money Along with TTED labelmates Chuck Brown and Trouble Funk, E.U. ("Experience Unlimited") was key to the development of Washington DC's go go scene. Go go is a flexible style of dance music combining polyrhythmic Latin percussion with funky bass, chanted vocals and little splashes of horns, keyboards, and guitar. In their 80s prime, E.U. played it as well as anybody. The band was razor-sharp, with a great ear for hooks (written or purloined) and a lead vocalist, Sugar Bear, with a booming voice and a broad, jovial sense of humor. They were so good, in fact, that they attracted the attention of director Spike Lee, who featured them in his 1988 film School Daze performing the Marcus Miller-produced "Da Butt," a watered-down version of go go that was nonetheless extremely catchy. The hit propelled E.U. to national attention, but unfortunately it started them down the road to R&B mediocrity: their subsequent major label releases are full of routine synth-dance numbers and even syrupy ballads. In the early days of go go, it was hard to scrape together money for LPs, and some of the best E.U. tunes were only released as singles - for that reason, I recommend checking out compilations like Go Go Crankin and The Go Go Posse. Alroy and I caught the band in 1997 opening for War and reviewed the show here. (DBW) Personnel: Gregory "Sugar Bear" Elliot, lead vocals, bass; Ivan Goff, keyboards; William "Ju Ju" House, drums; Genairo "Foxxy" Brown Foxx, congas; Timothy "Shorty Tim" Glover, percussion; Valentino "Tino" Jackson, guitar; Darryel "Tidy Boy" Hayes, trumpet; Michael "Go Go Mike" Taylor, trombone; Jerry Parker, keyboards; Eric Handon, lead/backing vocals. Kent Wood replaced Parker, Edward "Junie" Henderson replaced Handon, circa 1989. Benny "Scooter" Dancy, sax, added 1990. Sometime between 1990 and 1996, Ellis Merriman replaced Henderson; Julian Sutton replaced House; David B. Gussom replaced Jackson; Maurice "Mighty Moe" Hagans replaced Brown Foxx; Nathaniel "Bouncey" Lucas replaced Glover; Hayes and Taylor left. 2 Places At The Same Time (1986) A live album, one side cut at New York's Irving Plaza and the other cut at home in DC. The New York side is hotter, actually: a stew of riffs and chants from Funkadelic, James Brown, and even the Jacksons ("Body"), plus E.U. originals like "Shake It Like A White Girl," blending together into an unflagging nineteen-minute shot of musical ecstasy. The high point is "Everybody Get On The Floor And Do Your Thang," with irresistable syncopation, heavy bass and searing lead guitar. The DC side repeats some of the same material, and though the crowd is more energetic, the band doesn't seem quite as keyed up. The album ends oddly, with a four-minute keyboard-led instrumental clearly recorded in the studio ("The Theme From Escape From Del Go-Go") - it's enjoyable but out of place. Produced, like most of TTED's output, by label head Maxx Kidd. (DBW) In 1988, E.U.'s performance of "Da Butt" appeared on the School Daze soundtrack. Livin' Large (1989) The band cashed in, taking their newfound fame to Virgin Records. Unfortunately, they lost sight of what made their sound work in the first place, adding crashing synths and drum machines and losing the groove. The album contains a remix of the song that made them famous ("Da Butt '89," with a brief quote from Led Zeppelin's "D'yer Maker"!), and a version of the Isley Brothers' "It's Your Thing" performed with Salt-N-Pepa, whose energy level is so high they show up the rest of the disc for the calculated claptrap it is. There are a bunch of "Butt"-style pseudo-go go tunes: repeated raunchy catchphrases, bass vamps, and cowbells ("Buck Wild"), but they're depressingly sterile and calculated (Marcus Miller's "Come To The Go-Go") - often all the tunes have going for them is Sugar Bear's good humor. Worse are the ballads sung by Junie Henderson, a dull cross between Luther Vandross and Philip Bailey ("Taste Of Your Love," "Don't Turn Around"). Fred Wesley arranged horns on the title track, and Melvin Franklin contributed vocals to a remake of "Shake It Like A White Girl." Larry Robinson produced the title track and "White Girl"; most other tracks were produced by various band members. (DBW) Cold Kickin' It (1990) Hardly. Junie Henderson gets most of the lead vocals, and the disc continues the worst excesses of Livin' Large, only heavier on ballads ("Got To Be Wherever You Are," "You Are"). Even the uptempo numbers are cheesy dance tracks that would seem more appropriate for New Edition ("I Confess," "Keep It Up" with mid-80s pop synths), with lyrics to match. New sax player Scooter also contributes a Bob Marley imitation on "M-O-N-E-Y." The one real go go tune is half-decent ("Hot Cakes"), but even that pales in comparison to the band's TTED work. No notable guests this time; production is by House, Goff, and new member Marvin Ennis. I can't think of a single reason a sane person would want to own this album. (DBW) Make Some Noise (1993) Make Money (1996) A party-hearty return to straightforward go go, produced by Goff, but it's embarrassingly shoddy. The layers of percussion are identical on nearly every track, and at times verge on the robotic. Where E.U. used to drop in someone else's riff to liven up the proceedings or signal a mood shift, here they just cover familiar tunes with generic go go arrangements - Curtis Mayfield's "Freddie's Dead" - and even remake their own early hit "Ooh La La La." They do occasionally lock into a solid groove, though ("I Can't Go For That," based on the Hall and Oates tune), and the two ballads ("Touch Me, Tease Me," "Hold You" - both sung by Ellis Merriman) are much less slick and more enjoyable than the Junie Henderson schlock. Not to mention the go go incarnation of "Rudolph The Red-Nosed Reindeer," present in two nearly identical versions. I don't think the disc accomplished its stated objective, but if you can't find a good go go album, this will at least give you a sense of what it's all about. (DBW) Click your thang.  Main page   New additions   Pop: 00s  90s 80s 70s 60s 50s  Latin/Jazz   Top 20: DBW JA   E-mail