Minus one

En Vogue return as a trio on EV3

by Franklin Soults

"Behind every successful girl group, there's a successful male producer." This little pop truism might seem like the inverse of the clichŽ "Behind every successful man, there's a successful woman," but actually the two ideas share a condescension toward women that underscores male prerogatives both centerstage and backstage in a sexist world. This inequity was a cultural norm back in the golden era of girl groups, when the Shirelles, the Supremes, and their contemporaries had little choice but to grin and bear it (adding, perhaps, to the blend of pain and poise that made them so affecting). Today, however, it's no surprise that En Vogue -- one of the best and most successful neo-girl groups of the '90s -- have chosen instead to rebel.

Their long-awaited third album EV3 (EastWest) isn't exactly a declaration of independence, but Thomas McElroy and Denzil Foster, the gifted duo who wrote and produced almost every cut on En Vogue's first two albums, have been demoted from executive producers to hired guns, working on just five of the album's 12 cuts -- a remarkable change when you consider the rumor that the two men put together the group totally by audition. Now, five long years after the triple-platinum Funky Divas (EastWest), En Vogue are reserving the executive-producer title for themselves (together with Elektra/EastWest chairwoman Sylvia Rhone). It's as if these stylish, silky-voiced young women wanted us to know they've seen too much to be called anyone's girls anymore.

One of the changes wrought by those years is right there in the album's plain title: intentionally or not, it's a reminder that the original foursome has been reduced by one. In the predictable words of the press release, original member Dawn Robinson "left the fold amicably in pursuit of a solo career," leaving Terry Ellis, Maxine Jones, and Cindy Herron Braggs to withstand the transformations of half a decade. The press release, natch, glosses over these as quickly as possible: "Cindy, now married, took time to start a family, as did Maxine . . . Terry took the occasion to release a solo album . . . The group [also] took time off to rest and sort out business affairs." Think about it -- you wonder they didn't just pack it in.

Unfortunately, EV3 doesn't give much cause to be thankful they didn't. Not that the record is bad, really. The new production and songwriting crew of Ivan Matias, Andrea Martin, and colleagues proved their market potential with the 1996 hit single "Don't Let Go (Love)," a fat, mid-tempo power ballad that's also included on the new album. Although Matias and company pump that same formula dry on another of their four numbers (as does reigning schlockmeister Dianne Warren on her assigned track), there's still enough lighter material to carry the groove to side two, where Foster and McElroy take over and hit cruise control with upbeat and smooth urban pop that catches the speed of impassioned youthful romance as it's just beginning to settle down into graceful adult love.

In spirit, this tasteful approach fits in nicely with the confident and sexy grown-up female pop celebrated by Time magazine in a July 21 cover story whose headline read: "Jewel and the Gang: Macho is out. Sensitivity is in." The problem is, neither Time's enthusiasm nor En Vogue's professional commitment can make this style measure up to the unabashed girl pop of En Vogue's youth. The tough R&B of "Hold On" and "My Love (You're Never Gonna Get It)," the hard rock of "Free Your Mind," the sassy hip-hop of "Whatta Man" (almost as much En Vogue's triumph as Salt-N-Pepa's), the sublime balladry of "Runaway Love": these may have lacked the drama of "You Keep Me Hanging On" and "Will You Still Love Me Tomorrow?", but their giant-economy-size hooks, their self-possession, and their fresh-scrubbed elegance made them every bit as sweeping in scope. They spoke not only to a black, urban audience but to a broader market of white suburban youth who, by the mid '90s, had made black pop the most commercially viable format in music. Whereas Jewel and her sensitive sort may turn out to be only anomalous blips on the screen, En Vogue and protŽgŽs like SWV and TLC have already made their mark in the democratization of an entire genre.

It's too bad EV3 doesn't recall that sweeping achievement more often, too bad there aren't more cuts like the first single. Whatever" was written and produced by Babyface, the most sensitive and sophisticated ladies' man in pop, with a multifaceted groove that's helped propel EV3 into the pop-album Top 20. Restrained but sultry, smooth but softly edged with menace, it's both pure Babyface and totally En Vogue, male producer and female performers backing each other up all the way.