Romance 1600 by Sheila E

Romance 1600, Sheila E.'s second album, hit the shops on August 26, 1985, on Warner Bros. and Paisley Park, and it's the sound of the Oakland percussionist refusing to let the success of The Glamorous Life slow her down. She cut it fast, between January and February 1985, and produced it herself alongside Prince, and the whole thing moves with a restless, sticky-fingered energy: funk grooves, splashes of jazz and Latin rhythm, pop hooks, and her drums and percussion cracking right up front where a lot of singers would stick a synthesizer.

The prize is "A Love Bizarre", a sweaty, strutting funk workout that became another international hit for her. It's a record by a musician first and a pop star second, the kind of player who had already put in four years with the George Duke Band before anybody put her face on a sleeve.

Written with AI assistance from RockLists chart data, MusicBrainz and Wikipedia.