Happy 20th Anniversary to En Vogue’s fourth studio album Masterpiece Theatre, originally released May 23, 2000.
Released in 1997, En Vogue’s succinctly designated third album EV3 was a reintroduction for the group. The only material to have emerged from the quartet in the four-year gap between Funky Divas (1992) and EV3 were two superlative singles—“Runaway Love” in 1993 and “Don’t Let Go (Love)” in 1996—with the second of those operating as the de facto launch point for EV3. Additionally, in this interim, Terry Ellis put forward her inaugural solo bid with Southern Gal (1995), a svelte, soulful affair that met with favorable press and modest sales.
Behind all this activity, contractual renegotiations were afoot with EastWest and the (then) foursome’s management. Reportedly unsatisfied with what was presented to En Vogue financially, Dawn Robinson split from the outfit as work was still underway for EV3. This left Ellis, Cindy Herron-Braggs and Maxine Jones to rework and finalize the long player sans Robinson.
While En Vogue’s enduring artistic-business partners Denzil Foster and Thomas McElroy turned in songwriting and production duties for EV3, the record marked the first time that Ellis, Herron-Braggs and Jones got to mix it up with different writers and trackmasters. David Foster, Kenneth “Babyface” Edmonds and Organized Noize were just some of the luminaries called in on their third LP, an eclectic outing that demonstrated that the ladies weren’t going to rest on their laurels.
With the conclusion of the EV3 promotional cycle in late 1998, brainstorming sessions kicked into gear for the trio’s fourth album; recording for that collection began in earnest in 1999. Operating under the working title of Something Old, Something New, Something Borrowed, Something Cool, the temporary appellation laid bare En Vogue’s ambition for this song set: fuse contemporary rhythm and blues with classical music, select film scores, a pop standard and an odd nursery rhyme. By the time of its reveal on May 23, 2000, its eventual nom de guerre Masterpiece Theatre cleverly nodded to the popular PBS television series of the same name that presented adaptions of various old school novels and biographies to viewers.
En Vogue would not carry forward with the solicitation of outside writing-production counsel for Masterpiece Theatre even after the successes won with EV3. Because this record represented a fresh challenge and a bigger gamble for them, En Vogue sought familiar territory—Denzil Foster and Thomas McElroy signed on to oversee the bulk of the construction on Masterpiece Theatre. Under the pair’s supervision, support production came courtesy of Michael Mani, Wayne Jackson, Mark Elliott, Dave Meezee, Mark Lomax and Marlon McClain. And while En Vogue’s writing input had decreased on Funky Divas and EV3 to a degree, Masterpiece Theatre saw them return to penning more of their own pieces; eight of its fourteen tracks feature En Vogue as co-writers.
The (supposedly) implausible juggling act of commercial approachability and inventiveness remained something that En Vogue could pull off effortlessly. In regard to their radio friendliness, En Vogue comfortably situate themselves on songs that seductively intertwine groove, beat and melody as evinced on “No, No, No (Can’t Come Back),” “Beat of Love” and “Latin Soul.” Each selection demonstrates that En Vogue hadn’t lost their touch at rendering cosmopolitan black pop of their own making with a little bit of help from an established source on occasion.
Drawing the spotlight back toward “No, No, No (Can’t Come Back),” the track’s funky disposition is on loan from the 1977 Brick turntable jam “Living from the Mind.” This pattern is repeated on “Falling in Love,” “Number One Man” and “Riddle” which tap Joe Sample’s “In All My Wildest Dreams,” The Staple Singers “Let’s Do It Again” and James Brown’s “The Payback” respectively. The latter sample for “Riddle” was not unfamiliar to En Vogue as it had fueled two of their prior charters: “Hold On” and “My Lovin’ (You’re Never Gonna Get It).” Unlike those two antecedent singles, “Riddle” saw En Vogue employ “The Payback” in tandem with the cited nursery rhyme “Ten Little Indians”; this peculiar mash-up between these two vintage musical and literary references shows just how Masterpiece Theatre breaks new ground.
The rest of the classical-to-traditional sample roll call for Masterpiece Theatre is as follows: “The Nutcracker, Act 2, No. 1 - Dance of the Sugarplum Fairy” (on “Love U Crazay”), “Moonlight Sonata” (on “Sad But True”), “Prelude in C-sharp minor (Opus 3, No. 2) (on “Love Won’t Take Me Out”), “Que Sera, Sera…” (on “Whatever Will Be, Will Be”) and “Habanera” (on “Those Dogs”). It is a thrilling mix that spans Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky, Ludwig van Beethoven, Sergei Rachmaninoff, Jay Livingston, Ray Evans and Georges Bizet—Foster and McElroy interpolate these established influences into En Vogue’s R&B matrix to yield exciting, esoteric results.
Guests—Kamil Marzette on “Love You Crazay” with Eklypse and Bobby McFerrin on “Those Dogs”—assist in further elevating the musical bar on Masterpiece Theatre, but it’s what En Vogue themselves bring to the table that matters most. Vocally, they deepen the link between the compositional complexities of the classical and contemporary elements at play. Specifically, the group positions the elaborate trifecta of “Love U Crazay,” “Love Won’t Take Me Out,” and “Whatever Will Be, Will Be”—the “En Vogue Love Suite”—as the creative centerpiece of Masterpiece Theatre.
Upon delivering the finished product to Elektra Records, the company which supplanted En Vogue’s previous imprint EastWest Records, the label was less than enthused with what they received. Masterpiece Theatre was the culmination of a year of hard work and instead of marketing the album appropriately, Elektra implemented a haphazard promotional campaign with disastrous consequences.
The long player’s first (and only) single “Riddle” was sent to radio in March of 2000; En Vogue did the typical rounds to rouse interest for the single, but with no real structural support from Elektra, “Riddle” got no traction. It became their first lead single from an album to miss the Top 50 of the U.S. Pop and R&B Singles Chart in a decade.
Masterpiece Theatre made retail landfall two months later; the mostly positive notices did not translate to raw sales and Masterpiece Theatre underperformed through no fault of En Vogue. In the immediate aftermath of the LP’s collapse, Elektra parted ways with the trio before Maxine Jones exited the fold in early 2001.
Twenty years later, En Vogue have found their way continuing to perform to sold-out crowds and releasing new music. Three accomplished records manifested (via the indie-label system) in the wake of Masterpiece Theatre: The Gift of Christmas (2002), Soul Flower (2004) and Electric Café (2018). These projects saw two new members enter the ranks of En Vogue: Amanda Cole and Rhona Bennett. Whereas Cole’s tour of duty with the group only lasted through The Gift of Christmas, Bennett has stayed on as a permanent member of En Vogue, her contributions to Soul Flower and Electric Café invaluable.
Reflecting on Masterpiece Theatre in my recent interview with Cindy Herron-Braggs and Terry Ellis, the latter singer-songwriter fondly remarked, “I feel like Masterpiece Theatre is our greatest work, we definitely pushed the envelope on that album. But that’s what we like to do because we love all types of music. Vocally, it was so challenging for us, which at the same time is what made it fun.”
Likely ahead of its time given the landscape of popular music at that time, En Vogue’s Masterpiece Theatre is a fine collection of smart R&B tunes that seems to be finding its audience through a whole new generation of listeners.
LISTEN: