Pointer Sisters: Break Out (Deluxe Edition)

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Posted September 1, 2011 by J Matthew Cobb in Reviews 1.0
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Pointer Sisters’ magnum opus gets double-disc celebration

Before Break Out, the Pointer Sisters were wrestling with cover songs of rock royalty (Bruce Springsteen’s “Fire”), cutesy pop (“He’s So Shy”) and following up on their Grand Ole Opry obligations (“Slow Hand”). The family group had done everything under the sun except remained a viable presence on R&B radio and furthermore, an act without a solid album. Sure the Pointers had hit singles on their shoulders, but they hadn’t achieved the task of delivering a solid full-length album. When producer Richard Perry revealed 1983’s Break Out, Anita, June and Ruth got their wish. With four Top 10 hits and with black radio anchoring tightly to “I Need You” and “Baby Come and Get It,” the Pointer Sisters scolded the mouths of critics by beating the odds, finally unveiling the perfect centerpiece for the growing electronic/dance genre of the Eighties. A year later, Planet Records pulled a smart move by re-releasing the LP with a slightly altered update including a remix of “Jump (For My Love” and also adding the previously released “I’m So Excited” to the mix in the heat of the album’s peaking success. That idea is now considered normal practice in the world of deluxe editions; helping to add more time to the stop watch.

Almost thirty years later, UK’s Big Break Records gives Break Out its buoyant honors with a double-disc affair sporting remastered tracks, 12” remixes, single versions and the unveiling of the track that got away from Michael Jackson (“Nightline”). Enclosed inside the digi-pack is a glossy 24-page booklet with extensive liner notes featuring colorful fan club eye-candy along with interviews with the Pointers, principal songwriters and a foreward from Perry. The most recent U.S. CD version is a pale knock-off when compared with BBR’s supersized combo. On that edition, the dance tracks are subdued to a whisper. In BBR’s hands, the synths and drum programming beats burst with disco-burning animation.  With the long version of the emotionally-drenched ballad “I Need You,” the instrumental of “Jump,” an extended “Automatic” and a ferociously funky seven-minute mix of “Baby, Come and Get It,” this deluxe edition has everything inside to get dance floors excited again.

J MATTHEW COBB

HIFI DETAILS

  • Release Date: 29 August 2011
  • Label: Big Break Records
  • Producers: Richard Petty
  • Spin This: “Jump (For My Love),” “I’m So Excited,” “I Need You,” “Automatic”

About the Author

J Matthew Cobb

Managing editor of HiFi Magazine

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