If Mother’s Finest 1989’s ‘Looks Could Kill’ was a sellout to the corporate white egos at Capitol Records, then 1992’s ‘Black Radio Won’t Play This Record’ had the opposite effect.
Written by: gdmonline
ARTIST: Mother’s Finest
ALBUM: Black Radio Won’t Play This Record
LABEL: Scotti Bros
SERIAL: 72392-75235-2
YEAR: 1992
CD REISSUE: Discogs Reissue List
COUNTRY OF ORIGIN: USA
LINEUP: Joyce Kennedy – vocals * Glenn Murdock – vocals * John Hayes – guitars * Jerry ‘Wyzard’ Seay – bass, backing vocals * Derek Dion – drums, percussion, backing vocals
TRACK LISTING: 01 Like A Negro * 02 Power * 03 Generator * 04 Cry Baby * 05 Shirt * 06 The Wall * 07 Attitude * 08 Crack Babies * 09 Head Bangin’ And Boot Shakin’ * 10 Stop * 11 Move (Get Outta My Way) * 12 Love Peace And Freedom
WEBLINKS: Site Link
Background
If Mother’s Finest 1989’s ‘Looks Could Kill’ was a sellout to the corporate white egos at Capitol Records, then 1992’s ‘Black Radio Won’t Play This Record’ had the opposite effect. The album title should say it all. A metalized CD, which was designed to polarise Black Radio and its love affair with hip hop and safe R&B/soul genres. A two fingered ‘bird’, ‘Black Radio..’ is a right kick up the backside, and returns Mother’s Finest to the rockier side of the road. Let’s take a look at some of these tracks.
The Songs
Big grunty chants introduce us to ‘Like A Negro’, which is rallying cry to stop racism (still a big problem worldwide it appears). It’s early on, and MF give us a gorgeous acoustic ballad ‘Cry Baby’. Joyce is on form, and delivers one for the ages. It’s big and boisterous, the bottom end is thunderous.
Joyce sings the shirt off ‘Shirt’, literally, with woah woah chants not heard since the fancy days of Def Leppard. ‘The Wall’ is one of the most intense songs I’ve ever heard Mother’s Finest perform. It’s that good. ‘Crack Babies’ is one of MF’s songs which describes the awful situation of babies born to cocaine-addicted mothers. Not exactly Mary Poppins is it?
As per the songtitle, ‘Head Bangin’ And Booty Shakin’ is guaranteed to get the body moving no matter which way. The riffs are big, the bass poppin’ bigger, and then there’s the drums! ‘Stop’ is MF’s message against safe sex, and is delivered with maximum impact.
In Summary
This CD is probably the heaviest of Mother’s Finest entire discography. It didn’t enjoy box office success for several reasons (I think we all know what they are), but among the MF faithful, it holds its place as a solid album, and demonstrates the kind of power that some bands can only dream about. But that’s MF for ya!
Mother’s Finest on Video
Generator
Power
