The Pointer Sisters, The Pointer Sisters

“Yes We Can, Can,” “Cloudburst,” “Jada,” “River Boulevard.”

Categorically American music.  Much as they must’ve appreciated their mid-’80s peak, their Blue Thumb material I have trumpeted in a variety of fora.  The first four songs on their debut album make a strong case with voices, taste and swing for the sisters as the best American vocal group of their era, backed by a kickass rhythm section.  Then, “Old Songs” is Van Dyke Parks’ proto-iPod playlist and “That’s How I Feel” Bobby McFerrin avant la lettre. 

From the golden age of Nostalgia, a vital music subgenre in the late ’60s and early ’70s where the Pointers, Manhattan Transfer, Bette Midler and a raft of mainstream (New Vaudeville Band) and outré (Tiny Tim, Bonzo Dog Doo Dah Band) outfits mined the 78s of the ”20s and 30s as well as Crescent City jukebox tunes, doo-wop and vocalese to produce a trippy, swinging postmodern amalgam of 50 years of recorded music.

1. frenchtwist liked this
2. mizred liked this
3. rrrick liked this
4. jerseylily liked this
5. thesobsister posted this