Rene & Angela: "Wall To Wall"

Man, Rene & Angela are rocking some wicked sweet Moog synths on the back cover of this album.  Smooth, modern boogie grooves dominate, with very few pauses in the action, sidestepping the then-common R&B format of funk-funk-ballad-funk track order.  Angela Winbush’s powerful vocals, along with the duo’s flawless harmonies, make this stand out from the pack of similar projects being released in the early ‘80’s, and the strong songwriting takes the whole thing to the next level.  The title track is a fantastic dancefloor call-to-arms, paving the way for a slew of other sweat-soaked boogie funk cuts, like “Good Friends” and “I Love You More.”  Then there’s the slow-but-slinky funk of “Secret Rendezvous” and “Wanna Be Close To You,” the latter of which borrows the bass-line from Lakeside’s “Something About That Woman” (or is it the other way around?), and uses it to great effect, getting at something much more seductive, more paranoid, more pleading, and in the end more desperate.  The album closes with a pair of dreamy soul ballads that send the music off in fine style, particularly on “Come My Way,” where the twin lead vocals dance around each other like two shy singles at a club.  Rene & Angela themselves, in terms of influence and fame, seem to be something of a forgotten group, which is too bad, ‘cause this LP is hot.