E.U. Albums (4)
What The Critics Say
Go-go is a musical form some have figured to be chart-resistant, thanks to its propensity for extended jams as heavy on percussion as melody. But with the smash 1988 single "Da Butt," E.U. proved that go-go could cross over, and this follow-up album was crafted to drive that point home. Overseen by the usual committee of producers (including Marcus Miller), the keyboard-laden Livin' Large is just about as studio slick as go-go can get and still keep its infectious swing. The biggest flaw is glaring: the drumming of William "Juju" House, the band's funky heartbeat, has mostly been replaced by unpleasantly clean mechanical grooves. That this unfortunate situation doesn't doom the album is in large part thanks to vocalist Gregory "Sugar Bear" Elliot, whose charisma and nasal "ows" can't help but generate smiles. There are also some pretty decent tunes inside the dressed-up arrangements; the remake of the Isley Brothers' "Shake Your Thang," featuring Salt and Pepa, was a deserving hit, and a redone "Da Butt," while slightly inferior to the original, still packs a rump-shaking wallop. Even the slow jamming "Taste of Your Love" and "Don't Turn Around," while having little to do with go-go, are surprisingly nice. After this effort failed to herald a commercial breakthrough, go-go largely went back to Washington D.C. and went about its business, but Livin' Large was a brave and, for the most part, successful attempt to widen the genre's reach. ~ Dan LeRoy, All Music Guide
What The Critics Say
This album was released just as go-go appeared on its way to a national breakthrough, and listening in retrospect, it's easy to understand some of the optimism. Essentially a pair of side-long extended jams (with a short studio piece, "The Theme From Escape From Del Go-Go," tacked on for good measure), it does a more than adequate job of capturing the percussive power generated by one of the best-ever go-go bands in its prime. That neither performance was recorded in front of a hollering hometown crowd in D.C. is the only real drawback, but with producer E.T. Thorngren at the board, the great sound quality is an acceptable tradeoff. "N.Y. Comes to Boogie," recorded at New York's New Music Seminar, is the better of the two long cuts. It's a seamless, 20-minute workout that folds in bits of everything from "Dance to the Drummer's Beat" to "La Di Da Di," showing off the ten-man band's musical versatility, and proving that go-go's swinging, steamrolling beats could absorb just about any music (a lesson hip-hop would later take much, much further). "Sho Nuff Bumpin'," despite the presence of some imported Washington fans, isn't quite as memorable, but unbeatably charismatic vocalist Greg "Sugar Bear" Elliot and dynamic drummer William "Juju" House could make much lesser material than this great. Though not an unqualified go-go masterpiece on the order of Trouble Funk's Live, Two Places at the Same Time makes a nice substitute. ~ Dan LeRoy, All Music Guide
