****** - Verified Buyer
4.5
For those who don't know, Martha Wash & Izora Armstead parted ways after their 5th LP THE WEATHER GIRLS was released in 1988. Both wanted to pursue a solo career, so Izora released a 12" single called "DON'T LET LOVE SLIP AWAY" (on the I'nd Label), and Martha went on to work for Civilles & Cole, etc. (see the review for the Weather Girls "SUCCESS" LP for more info). The 12" single failed to make much noise on the charts so Izora and her daughter Dynelle decided to move to Germany and become the second version of the Weather Girls. They released their debut cd "DOUBLE TONS O' FUN" in 1993 and from this cd came 4 singles: a new version of "IT'S RAINING MEN", "(WE'RE GONNA) PARTY", "CAN YOU FEEL IT", and "WE SHALL ALL BE FREE". Izora co-wrote 9 of the 12 songs and it was a huge hit overseas. They covered an old classic on this cd by Sly and The Family Stone called- "I WANT TO TAKE YOU HIGHER". Also in 1993, the group CHOCOLATE released their own version of "IT'S RAINING MEN" and had the Weather Girls sing lead on that! The cd being reviewed here is their 2nd cd and it is called "THINK BIG" and it was released in 1995. This cd is full of great dance songs and Izora co-wrote 7 of the 13 songs, Dynelle co-wrote 6. As usual, they cover some oldies- "STAR" featuring JIMMY SOMERVILLE ("STAR" was originally done in 1979 by Sylvester), "BOOGIE NIGHTS" (originally done in 1976 by the group HEATWAVE), and "DO YA THINK I'M SEXY?" (originally recorded by Rod Stewart in 1978). The singles that came off this cd were: "THE SOUND OF SEX", "STAR", "OH, WHAT A NIGHT". I believe "WE CAN STAND TOGETHER" was the last song released off this cd.Their next release was the 1998 cd called "PUTTIN' ON THE HITS" and featured 14 oldies remade into dance songs. In 1999, they released a cd single called "BIG BROWN GIRL" (which didn't come off of a cd). In 2002, the group The Disco Brothers released a cd single called "GET UP" featuring the Weather Girls on lead vocals. Also in 2002, the Weather Girls released a 12" single called "YOUR LOVE" with Wackside. It was from their work-in-progress album. In 2003, they appeared on the german tv show COMEBACK UNITED and Dynelle sang a duet with Limahl (ex-lead singer of Kaja Goo-Goo) called "DON'T GO BREAKING MY HEART"- this track is available on the rare, hard to find 2-cd set called THE BEST OF COMEBACK UNITED. Izora experienced health problems into 2004, and she passed away in a California hospital on Sept. 16th, 2004. Dynelle then joined with her step-sister Ingrid and they finished the album Izora and Dynelle were working on, and released a single from it called "WILD THING", followed by the full length album at the end of 2004 called "TOTALLY WILD". In May of 2008, Ralph Falcon released his huge club hit "BREAK YOU" which spent one week at #1 on the American dance chart. The song features the Weather Girls (Dynelle and Ingrid), but it is Dynelle (called Baby Izora by her European fans) who really shines on the song- especially the original version. The song is from Ralph Falcon's upcoming Oct. 2008 2-cd release called HOLLYWOOD TO HIALEAH. Hopefully there are more songs on it that feature the Weather Girls.
