Mother's Finest - Looks Could Kill (1989)

For If Looks Could Kill, funk/rock band Mother's Finest was teamed with producer/songwriter Attala Zane Giles (Con Funk Shun, Vesta, Gladys Knight). Lead singer Joyce Kennedy has a voice that would sound great just singing the phone book. The first single, "I'm 'N' Danger," mixed new jack with metal flourishes and gave the band their highest charting single; going to number 11 R&B on Billboard's chart in summer 1989. The Giles-produced slow jam "Cherish Your Love" has the same kind of slinky allure found on the producer's sides with Vesta. Kennedy's then-husband, group leader Glenn Murdock produced the power, piano-based ballad "Dream Come True." A small section of the grinding "For Your Love" echoes the Beatles' "Hard Days Night." Other standouts are the swaggering "Brave and Strong" and the driving "Heartbreaker."