I remember a gig I did at a darkly-lit club right near Flatbush Avenue in downtown Brooklyn, New York City, back in the late 1980s. I was to be the DJ to fill in between the sets of Joyce Sims, whose record "Lifetime Love" was kicking much ass on the radio at the time. I never got to actually meet her that night (so far as I can recall; I think there was some kind of mix-up with the club management). Back then she was featured on Sleeping Bag Records with notables like Nocera, whom Joyce told me she has recently been in touch with her and who is still singing. Sleeping Bag was known by spinners for 12" pressings of danceable early Hip-Hop, R & B and freestyle. "They gave me my break", she says.
Another of her hits back then, "Looking For A Love," is a permanent tune-wedgie in my brain (probably because it is the one that I never acquired on vinyl). Her home studio rehearsals caused that same condition in her daughter, by the way, a testament to the old adage "practice makes perfect." Joyce took time away from the spotlights to absorb the deaths of her parents and raise her two kids since her last hit in 1990.
So imagine my pleasant surprise when I found out that she is back with a "New Beginning" courtesy of Florida's Vessel Entertainment and the very big thinker Rick Papaleo. This is a fourteen-song album, with a separate extended play CD that highlights remixes of the lead single, "What The World Needs Now." Yes, THAT one – originally by Burt Bacharach. Wow! Asking why she would pick that formerly tired old classic once sung by Dionne Warwick to redo, it then came to me that during these troubled worldly times, that is exactly what the planet needs more of, and now there is a whole generation who probably is ignorant to who Dionne Warwick is, let alone this classic song. Well, when I was privileged to talk to her about it, she was at first taken aback; then admitted that this is the message in her music. We need more singers to carry a message these days a la Marvin Gaye and "What's Goin' On," don't you think? Which brings me to one of the bonus tracks on this congeries, "Save The Children," also a Gaye title back in 1972; hers is original and she told me that she got her "inspiration just by listening to the news."
Check out "I'll Always Be Here For You" (track four), which is a ready-made CHR or mainstream format radio record. I also like the repetitive verse with a little Hip-Hop monologue on "Why."
Welcome back to the new message-oriented, international recording artist Joyce Sims! This is a great comeback effort; a mix of familiar standards, new material, and reworked versions of her signature material from the past like and extended mix of "All And All." The opening track, "Come In," is a familiar reminder of her funky sound, and a lyrical invitation for us to check her new stuff out. She told me that she had just that in mind; similar to Sly's "Heard You Missed Me, Well I'm Back" theme.
Then she goes right into describing some of her "New (spiritual) Beginning" on track two. There is a similar club-gospel feel on "I Praise his Name" (track five) which includes a Junior Vasquez redaction. When I asked if this bouncy, house-feeling danceable gospel was composed that way on purpose, she replied "It was intentional because a lot of people, they don't want to go to church; they don't want to be preached to. So, it's not that I want to preach to you – when I wrote "I Praise His Name," it was a personal song. I wrote it with the intention of people hearing it, and not having to go to church to hear [the message].
On this disc is also an updated version of the late 1980s hit "Come Into My Life." You will recognize many similarities to those classics on this – it's her unique style. Long before the Lil' Kims, Foxy Browns, and Aaliyahs came along, Joyce always had a little "edge" to her work, and a unique tonal progression which became her signature sound. That audio autograph is still present, while the edge is somewhat redirected by dint of her family life's losses and experiences – this album is the story as a result.
I know her return to ab ovo will be a galvanic second time around if she sticks with it and her new management team. As she sings, "Actions Speak louder than words" – except in this here space, my reader. Dig her website, www.joycesims.com., for more. I can't help but bless her five stars on the comeback tip!
