New Edition

Heart Break

My Coming of Age Soundtrack

Review Score:

(10/10)
In June of 1988, I was 15 yrs. old. I had been a New Edition fan since their very first song 5 years earlier "Candy Girl." At that time, I was also a big fan of the production duo Jimmy Jam & Terry Lewis, from their spellbinding work with the likes of Alexander O'neal, Cherelle, SOS Band, and my #1 diva at the time, Janet Jackson. When it was announced that not only would Jam & Lewis produce NE's entire album, but that the peerless Johnny Gill was being added to the group, I counted the days until its release.The set hit stores on JUne 20, 1988, and I purchased the casette 2 days later. I was immediately hooked, having already sent the first single "If it Isn't Love" to the top of my own billboard-esque Top 15 chart for what was then a record-breaking 8 weeks. Heartbreak was truly a masterpiece, indeed NE's finest hour and arguably Jam & Lewis'. Uptempo cuts like the title track, "Where It All Started" and "Crucial" set the stage for Side B's collection of all slow tunes. Starting with "You're NOt My Kind of Girl," which quickly became their 2nd #1 hit on my chart, with it's midtempo and heavily percussive, as would be the production duos trademark bottom, and continuing to the set's most enduring track "Can you Stand the Rain" with Gill's standard setting co-lead vocal. Equally intoxicating were "Competiton" and especially "I'm Coming HOme' which again epitomized the seductive percussion of Jam & lewis. The set closed with "Boys To Men", NE's declaration of the maturity and coming of age that this first-rate collection demonstrated. I did my own coming of age that year, relocating to NYC and beginning my first sexual relationship, and this casette followed me through those turbulent, bittersweet times. Even now, 12 yrs. later, playing the cd transports me back, mind, body, & soul. Proof indeed that it has stood the test of time and deserves to be considered a classic in modern R&B.

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