Pointer Sisters - Break Out

All i can manage to push from my lips is a string of absurdities. Mine's more like obscenities, but i hear ya, sisters. 

I know i love the Pointer Sisters, but i honestly forgot how much i love the Pointer Sisters. A lot a lot. 

I quite like the ironic twist of their most successful and popular album being called Break Out, especially since it was their 10th. The Sisters didn't like the title at all because it made them think of breaking out in a rash, or breaking out of prison. They got no say in what it was called, it's a "producer's album." That might strike you as unfair, but we aren't going to dig into it this time. Instead, we'll conceptualize the process with the understanding that the Pointer Sisters were highly successful and super popular performers. Remember, early on The Tubes were their frequent warm up the crowd opening act. The key point is they were performers, not recording artists. They had a massive audience, and that means there was a measurable market for Pointer Sisters albums whenever someone wanted to pay them to make one. You don't throw garbage songs at a big name act like that, and these are good songs. Remember, it's 1983, so the slightly dated and possibly cheesy synths you're hearing cost nearly as much as a new car or a small house. After multiple Grammy's and high selling hits over a 40 year career, whatever else happened in their lives and whoever did or didn't make more money than them, none of the 4 sisters or their kids were struggling to pay rent from the mid 70s on. 

Then we gotta talk about the insanity of buying this record yesterday, listening to it on youtube during my lunch break, then hearing Neutron Dance at the store after work. Again, Coincidence, you're pushing all the buttons. 

They've had lots of loss and sadness in the last decade, not to mention that damned Universal fire, but my favorite comment came from the early 2010s when they were asked about making a new album. They said "it's not like the old days, when you had proper deals, a real producer, you'd pop into the studio for a week, then just go promote it on tour." Like being the Pointer Sisters was just a thing they did, while simultaneously pointing out that the "business" as you know it today is understatedly subpar. Richard Perry certainly seemed to know what he was doing in the producer's chair. My 2 dollar copy sounds like i paid 1.99 too much, but skips don't bother me as much as you might think they should. 

My favorite Pointer Sisters track? Automatic, of course, did you forget that's how i led off?