High Inergy - Groove Patrol (1983)

 Groove Patrol was the eighth and final album by High Inergy. It was unique among their albums because instead of using a plethora of producers, the entire album was produced by the same production team. It featured the song, "He's a Pretender," that was a Top 30 Dance single on Billboard and one of their few recordings to hit the Hot 100 pop charts. Smokey Robinson also appeared on two songs. The song, "So Right" was also the title track of the group's previous album. "Groove Patrol" peaked at #62 on the R&B charts.

 Although High Inergy never really achieved the mainstream success that had been forecast for them, they continued to record and release albums regularly for the better part of a decade. Groove Patrol would not only be their last, but would also give the band their highest chart position since 1978. Released in the first half of 1983, Groove Patrol inevitably capitalized on the burgeoning new wave movement, as the band swapped their disco grooves for synthesizers and that ineffable early-'80s drum sound. The problem so many bands -- High Inergy included -- had with utilizing that formula is that unless you were a true visionary, the resulting songs often sounded like insta-pop: canned, flat, and lifeless. That said, this set isn't terrible; it's just not stellar. The trio, always of good voice, had more than mastered their vocal chops by this time and the result on that front is strong. But even the presence of Smokey Robinson on two songs doesn't make it sound like they are having much fun at the party. But that certainly doesn't mean there aren't standouts. The band is best heard on the fairly gutsy and fully new waved "He's a Pretender." "Groove Patrol" and a cover of the Supremes' "Back in My Arms Again" are also strong and have an edgy soul sensibility. But both suffer because they also sound like so many other great songs that the end result is distracting. Groove Patrol was quickly lost in the quagmire of releases of the early part of the decade, and like so many others of the era, in trying to bridge two very different decades, it fell quietly away.