Burnin' Hot
Xavion's sole album, mixing hard rock with soul and funk.
Burnin' Hot, the sole release from American rock band Xavion, came out in October 1984 on Asylum and Elektra Records. The record fuses hard rock, heavy metal, soul, and funk with dance beats, and has been seen as an African-American answer to Michael Jackson's "Beat It" and Prince's Purple Rain. It peaked at number 201 on Billboard's Bubbling Under chart, while the first single "Eat Your Heart Out" got medium MTV airplay.
Quick Facts
- Artist
- Xavion
- Released
- September 1984
- Studio
- Ardent Studios (Memphis, Tennessee)
- Genre
- Hard rock
- heavy metal
- pop
- funk
- soul
- R&B
- Length
- 36:53
- Label
- Asylum, Elektra
- Producer
- Chris Lord-Alge, Jim Delehant
Facts from the source article.
Background and recording
Xavion began in 1982 when keyboardist Derwin Adams and drummer Michael "Slugger" Tucker formed a songwriting partnership. They expanded the lineup with vocalist Dexter Haygood, lead guitarist Kevan Wilkins, bassist Skip Johnson, and secondary keyboardist Johnnie Woods. The band gained attention performing on the fraternity and sorority party circuit in Austin, leading to a contract with Elektra Records in December 1983. The group was noted for its aversion to recreational drugs, set by Adams as de facto leader. Burnin' Hot was recorded at Ardent Studios in Memphis, produced by Chris Lord-Alge and Jim Delehant with Xavion co-producing. Lord-Alge and his brother Tommy engineered with Joe Hardy; mixing occurred at Unique Studios in New York City, and mastering at Atlantic Studios. Manager Tommy Mottola receives an album credit.
Composition
Burnin' Hot combines hard rock and soul with a club-style dance backing, featuring screeching guitars, punchy vocals, pounding drums, and flimsy lyrics. The group's root influences include Jimi Hendrix, Led Zeppelin, and Deep Purple, with additional inspiration from Prince, evident in percolating keyboards and bubbling guitar. Music critic Chuck Eddy described the album as one of several explicit heavy metal moves by African-American musicians after Michael Jackson's "Beat It", alongside Shalamar's "Dead Giveaway" and Kool & the Gang's "Misled". Eddy contends that Burnin' Hot embellishes every Hall and Oates melody with a curt AOR solo. Tom Harrison similarly saw the album as a product of the slipstream created by "Beat It", believing the hard-rock influence on Prince's Purple Rain and Michael Jackson's Thriller inspired emerging black recording artists. Kent Zimmerman felt an onslaught of black performers interpreting hard rock was inevitable after Prince's success, noting shared elements of special effects, theatrics, and costuming.
Release and promotion
Burnin' Hot was released in September 1984 through Elektra and Asylum Records. The album cover is a typical heavy metal design and avoids showing the group. Elektra advertised with a magazine advert stating the LP would "ignite even the most passive listeners". In November, the album reached number 201 on Billboard's Bubbling Under the Top 200 Albums chart. The first single "Eat Your Heart Out" received afternoon play on KSJO and its music video medium rotation on MTV. In January 1985, "Get Me Hot" reached number 70 on the black radio singles chart published by Black Radio Exclusive, and number 55 on Cashbox's Top Black 100 Contemporary Singles chart a month later. In June 1984, Xavion signed to support Hall & Oates on their "Live Thru' 85" tour, their first major tour. The first leg spanned 37 dates, largely in the Northeast and West Coast. Adams said the group shortened two songs to fit their 30-minute set, planning a show with explosions and fog. By November 1984, the group dedicated afternoons to interviews and evenings to tour rehearsals. At the opening show in Bangor, Maine on October 26, Xavion's six-song set began with a medley of "Self-Built Hell", "You're My Type", and "Can't Get My Connection", followed by "Get Me Hot", "Eat Your Heart Out", and the title track. At the St. Paul Civic Center on November 19, Adams quoted synthesizer beeps from Prince's "Erotic City". At the Sioux Falls Arena the next evening, the band wore black leather and animal skins, and half-clad Johnnie Woods performed bumps and grinds.
Critical reception and legacy
Jonathan Takiff of the Colorado Springs Gazette called Xavion an explosive rock 'n' roll force in the same vein as Prince, proving anew that black people rock without compromise. Roger Catlin of the Omaha World-Herald described Xavion as a black band that carries off a marriage between hard rock and solid soul, comparing the album's heavy mix to Run-D.M.C.'s "Rock Box", though noting the band was in a formative stage. Tom Harrison of The Province felt Burnin' Hot resembled a cross between the Isley Brothers and Van Halen, calling it protean hard rock with a dance-club bottom and heavy-metal guitars. Prentis Rogers of The Atlanta Journal deemed Xavion soul brothers in the rock band gettin' down, taking obvious cues from Prince, and found the album largely straight rock with some funk. Jack Brandt of Images wrote that despite occasionally rough lyrics, Burnin' Hot is a fine debut album of semi-original concepts, highlighting the slower closing track "Get Me Hot" as the most creative and unique song. Some critics questioned audience acceptance; Rogers wondered which audience would take to the album, while Harrison felt it might satisfy neither black nor white audiences. Kent Zimmerman of The Gavin Report noted black radio's reaction would be interesting since there is nary a funk lick on the whole disc, and compared Xavion to Mother's Finest.
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