Alex Henderson

Tashan

Chasin' a Dream [Expanded Edition]

The 1980s saw considerable changes in the way that R&B was produced. The types of instrumentation one typically associates with 1970s R&B—the orchestral string arrangements of Philadelphia International Records, the punchy horn sections of Parliament/Funkadelic, the Bar-Kays, the Ohio Players and Tower of Power—went out of fashion at urban radio stations, and urban contemporary (that is, post-1970s R&B) became a high-tech world of synthesizers, sequencers and drum machines. Even Cameo, who were the epitome of a horn-powered funk band in the late 1970s, downsized and adopted a much more electronic approach. Yet the more things change in music, the more they stay the same—and in the 1980s, there were some R&B singers who combined the high-tech production techniques of urban contemporary and hip-hop with a passion for 1960s and 1970s soul. One such artist was Tashan, whose 1986 debut, Chasin’ a Dream, was arguably a precursor to the hip-hop soul that made Mary J. Blige, Lauryn Hill, Erykah Badu, R. Kelly and D’Angelo famous in the 1990s.

Tashan, during a March 2013 interview, recalls that when Def Jam/Columbia Records released Chasin’ a Dream 27 years ago, he found himself in an unusual position: he was a romantic soul singer on what was primarily a hip-hop label. Def Jam, which was headed by producers Russell Simmons (older brother of Run-D.M.C.’s Joseph “Run” Simmons) and Rick Rubin, was the home of rap giants like LL Cool J and the Beastie Boys. Def Jam also had R&B singer Oran “Juice” Jones (who scored a major hit in 1986 with “The Rain”) and thrash metal/death metal band Slayer, but first and foremost, Def Jam was a hip-hop label. And that was fine with Tashan, who was an enthusiastic proponent of hip-hop at a time when many R&B singers still didn’t know what to make of it. Born Thomas Jerome Pearse in Poughkeepsie, New York on April 30, 1962, Tashan was in his early twenties when Brooklyn rappers Whodini featured him on their 1983 recording “Yours For a Night” and when he appeared on the Fat Boys’ self-titled debut album the following year.

But while romantic grooves such as “If Words Can Express,” “So Much in Love,” “Strung Out on You,” “Love Is…..” and “I Don’t Ever” employ hip-hop’s  production style, the songs themselves leave no doubt that Tashan’s roots were 1960s and 1970s soul. The influence of Marvin Gaye, Maze & Frankie Beverly, Teddy Pendergrass, the Isley Brothers and other pre-1980s soul icons is impossible to miss.

“In the 1980s, I really got into rap music,” Tashan remembers. “So when Russell Simmons gave me the chance to make the Chasin’ a Dream album, I wanted to combine soul/R&B singing with the sound of hip-hop. Timing is everything in life, and I’ve been told that some of the stuff I did in 1986 was a little bit ahead of its time.”

Although hip-hop-influenced neo-soul is the main focus of Chasin’ a Dream, Tashan brings a definite rock influence to the title track. Tashan explains: “When I did that song, I wanted to pay homage to people like Jimi Hendrix. A lot of people get confused and forget that rock & roll was as much a part of black culture as R&B and soul were.”  

Tashan describes “Ooh Wee Baby” as “my first pop-sounding record.” Meanwhile, “Thank You, Father” reflects his gospel roots. Tashan notes: “I envisioned ‘Thank You, Father’ as a contemporary gospel record for 1986. It paid homage to my upbringing in a Baptist church. My mother raised me in the choir, and I was a gospel singer growing up.”

“Got the Right Attitude” is a romantic male/female duet with singer Alyson Williams. Tashan explains: “Alyson was the first female artist I ever really got a chance to record with. She was another R&B singer who came out of hip-hop. I think ‘Got the Right Attitude’ would have made a great single, but hindsight is always 20/20 vision.”

FunkyTownGrooves’ expanded 2013 edition of Chasin’ a Dream contains four bonus tracks: two different versions of the title song (including the version that was released as a single in 1986) and two remixes of the haunting “Read My Mind.” Although Chasin’ a Dream fell through the cracks commercially in the United States, the album received more attention in the U.K.—and Tashan remembers that Jazzie B., leader of England’s popular neo-soul outfit Soul II Soul, had nothing but praise for “Read My Mind.”

“When I first performed in England,” Tashan recalls, “I had no idea that the Chasin’ a Dream album was so well-received over there. And when I finally got to meet Jazzie B, he told me that ‘Read My Mind’ really influenced Soul II Soul a lot. I wish that more people here in the United States had heard Chasin’ a Dream when it came out, but I was thankful that in England, people were able to appreciate what I was doing.”

Tashan followed up Chasin’ a Dream with On the Horizon in 1989 and For the Sake of Love (which employed the London Symphony Orchestra) in 1993. In 2002, The Best of Tashan: A Retrospective, 1986-1993 was released in the U.K. by Expansion Records.

These days, Tashan is operating his own independent label, Powerkingdom Music, and is selling his more recent recordings via his website, Tashan7.com (including the albums Pourin’ Like Rain, All or Nothin’, Life Goez On and Girl, Be Quiet). Tashan, now 50, is still recording hip-hop soul after all these years. But in 2012, he showed another side of his artistry by forming a rock-oriented band called Tommy Rock. 

“I’m still staying true to the type of music that I like, and I just happen to like hip-hop, soul and rock & roll,” Tashan asserts. “And I’ll throw in a gospel record here and there. The records I’m doing now exist because Chasin’ a Dream exists, and having the opportunity to make that album back in the ‘80s was one of the most fulfilling things I could have done.”

—Alex Henderson, March 2013

Alex Henderson’s work has appeared in Billboard, Spin, Creem, The L.A. Weekly, JazzTimes, Jazziz, AlterNet, Cash Box, HITS, CD Review, Skin Two, Black Beat, The Pasadena Weekly, Black Radio Exclusive (BRE), Music Connection, Latin Style, The New York City Jazz Record and many other well known publications. Henderson (alexvhenderson.com) has also contributed several thousand CD reviews to The All Music Guide’s popular website and series of music reference books.