Girls Will Be Girls

Klymaxx were one of the first projects Jam and Lewis took on after Prince fired them from The Time. Unsurprisingly his influence hangs over this album and there are plenty of Minneapolis funk licks present. By the time of its 1982 release, disco had died and the soul and r’n’b tradition was taking a number of different directions including boogie, electro, quiet storm, hip hop and Latin freestyle. All these genres heartily embraced the latest studio technology as did Jam and Lewis here, enthusiastically blending live bass and keys with shiny digital synths and stringent drum machine rhythms. Girls Will Be Girls is probably Klymaxx’s best album, packed with quality street soul and boogie, classy and funky in equal measure.