Cameo were, in their earliest days, heavily influenced by the mighty P-Funk empire, but unlike George Clinton, Larry Blackmon's sharp ear for a pop hook overruled his fondness for extended, open-ended funk jams. In other words, Cameo were a singles band, something that could never be said of Parliament or Funkadelic. All of the group's best singles are collected on 1993's THE BEST OF CAMEO, from crossover smashes like the immortal "Word Up!" (always and forever the group's best four minutes), "Candy", and "She's Strange" (here in the seven-minute 12" version with a hip-hop breakdown excised from the hit) to earlier, horn-driven R&B hits like "Rigor Mortis". The focus on singles does mean that the group's facility for soulful Quiet Storm ballads is downplayed, but overall, THE BEST OF CAMEO is a solidly listenable introduction to this often-underrated band.|
Rovi