Krystol - Gettin' Ready (Expanded Version) (2012)

It was'nt unusual for a self established R&B artist/group to grab a group of female singers and throw them in the studio to record an album. Prince did it with Vanity 6 and Apollonia 6. Rick James did it with the Mary Jane Girls. Lakeside did it with Klymaxx. In 1984, the legendary Leon Sylvers III got these five Californian young ladies a deal with Epic Records and produced their debut album entitled Gettin' Ready. Unlike Vanity 6, Mary Jane Girls, and Klymaxx; the members of the group started out as semi-successful songwriters for Shalamar, Gladys Knight & The Pips, and Evelyn "Champagne" King just to name a few that were connected with Leon Sylvers. The girls had the talent and the album was well crafted, but Epic Records just was'nt promoting the album or the singles released. Although the group released three more albums, they was just labeled as another obscure R&B female group that was up against the overly saturated industry of The Pointer Sisters. Krystol had delivered some crazy funky tunes, Silverspoon style such as the mild dance hit, "After The Dance Is Through," the synth-eerie groove "Nobody's Gonna Get This Lovin' But You," the synth-pop crazied "Obsession," and the jammin' "You're The One For Me." "Information 411" is one of my favorites due to the whole song treading closer to the SOLAR sound. My all time favorite and argueably the most stand out track (besides "After The Dance Is Through") would have to be the two-steppin' afterhours ballad, "Same Place, Same Time." "Same Place, Same Time" was the album's third single and proved to be more popular on R&B Radio in New York than in Los Angeles (many youtubers reminesse the song being played to death on KISS FM in the fall of 1984). The other songs I did'nt mention were nice! Overall, I'm glad there was a re-release of the album on CD (in addition of the extended dance versions of the singles "After The Dance Is Through" and "Nobodys Gonna Get This Lovin' But You"). Leon Sylvers' sound changed more into a synth-pop funk sound that was fitting for younger artists like Krystol and Evelyn King, but longtime fans of Shalamar, The Whispers, and Dynasty were not following Krystol and and politics contributed the downfall of Gettin' Ready. The album had a little bit of the pop potential, but like I mentioned before, the industry was overly saturated with artists like Krystol and not many record companies wanted to fully invest in new black artists if they did'nt sound like The Pointer Sisters, Michael Jackson, Kool & The Gang, or Prince. Gettin' Ready could've been Leon Sylvers' comeback for hits, but it didn't happen.(amazon)