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Sheila's third effort will find you in the ocean
On her third effort, Sheila E. was still on Prince's Paisley Park label, under Prince's management team of Cavallo, Ruffalo, and Fargnoli, with yet another self-produced album "in association with David Z." Thus she has the "E" band, a group of totally different musicians, including Levi Seacer Jr. on guitar, bass, keyboards, and backing vocals. The result is a better album than Romance 1600, a mixture of upbeat Latin sounds and funk, with a smidgin of Prince-like influences, and regarding the albums I have by her, the second best, after The Glamorous Life, of course.

"He can't resist me beat," Sheila says of a guy she wants to snare in "One Day (I'm Gonna Make You Mine)," whose sound smacks of Prince's Parade period songs with bongos.

"Wednesday Like A River" is a mid-paced romance number with the lyricism of Prince, especially a physical experience as "physical poetry." Using water as an analogy for her growing passion, she sings "Wednesday like a river/Thursday rivers are lakes/Friday finds me in the ocean." What of Saturdays, I wonder?

"Hold Me" was the first single, a lush dark cafe-type string-synth ballad co-written with Eddie Minnifield, the sax-playing Eddie M. from her Romance 1600 album. She does this ballad well, and her voice soars a bit, but it doesn't compare to the silky and sultry "Noon Rendezvous" from her first album.

Quick-paced drums, dramatic synths, and a grinding guitar by Seacer mark "Faded Photographs." She barely avoids the cliche of a picture saying a thousand words with "your eyes say a thousand words to me." And the rest of him?

A slow drum and bass number with "Kiss"-style guitar, "Koo Koo" is her first attempt at a social protest song, with some of the love instead of war rhetoric popularized by Prince in such songs as "Free" and "Partyup." Apart from young girls who learned about life the hard way by having an abortion, the rap says it all: "Come and dig the Koo Koo war/rumor has it got started 'cause our leaders got bored/new toys with a laser, teach our children to kill." SDI, yes? And she raps it best with "A kiss on the lips is better than a knife on the back." One of the best songs here.

"Pride And The Passion" with whirling string synths and the atmosphere of a party in full swing, with some Prince-like sounds.

One of two randy songs by Sheila E., the funky beat-happy "Boy's Club" where girls dance with rich men who buy them drinks, and where the best thing to see is "a girl with four legs...you better look closer, there's someone her dress." This is this album's "A Love Bizarre," for comparison purposes.

"Soul Salsa" is an ethnic instrumental jam with timbales, bongos, congas, and other Spanish instruments. Sheila does the congas and bass while her father Pete, a former drummer for Santana, does the timbales, and other family members take other instruments. Seacer does the guitar and organ, while the sax and piano give this an early Miami Sound Machine-type sound.

"Hon E Man" features the swirling psychedelic string interlude found in Prince's "Pop Life," and some pounding drums and sax. The way she sings the song predicts Prince's "Gett Off" from Diamonds And Pearls, though it lacks the rap of the future song.

Prince used the analogy of an airplane to making love on "International Lover." The fun but naughty "Love On A Blue Train" doesn't quite accomplish that, but it's Sheila's first recorded act of congress on a moving vehicle. Hope her licence is up to date. I mean, "Let me take your ticket, I'll show you where to stick it" surely doesn't entail the conductor's hand. More like her hand, or somewhere else.

All songs were written or co-written by her, so that makes her stand out, but she doesn't do any drumming here. Not to worry-she'd have plenty of that to do on Prince's Sign 'O' The Time album, also released the same year as her album, and the accompanying tour. More upbeat and consistent than Romance 1600, Sheila E. shows Sheila E. putting on a party with an effective ballad, also incorporating some rap in her songs, not surprising as she had starred in Krush Groove.

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Decent, yet overlooked CD
Ok, I admit I'm a Sheila E. fan from way back (The Glamorous Life, her first), but I am very sorry this CD was overlooked by so many people. It has 10 tracks on it. The best song on the CD for me is definitely "Love on a Blue Train," which shows exactly how much talent Ms. E. has. It's a long, very musical offering with a great jazzy feel. Another of my favorites is "Wednesday Like a River." Sort of folksy jazz, if there can be such a thing. "Hold Me" is the power ballad on the CD, and I love it too. "Boy's Club" shows how much influence Prince had on her, what with the sexual innuendo, and Soul Salsa shows her Latin side. This is a great album for fans of the "talented chameleon performer" genre.