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For a band best known for a song called "I Can't Wait," Valerie Day and John Smith have kept fans waiting an awfully long time.
Today, they announced the first nu Nu Shooz album since Reagan was in office.
But when you release a song enduring enough to keep the publishing checks rolling in decades after release, what's the rush?
Thirty years after its biggest hit, though, Nu Shooz is reactivating. The Portland-based New Wave R&B duo will release Bagtown on May 21, the band's first album of original material since 1988's Told U So. (Unless you count the collection of orchestral material the group released as "the Nu Shooz Orchestra" in 2010.)
As we detailed in an our oral history of "I Can't Wait" in February, Day and Smith, the couple behind Nu Shooz, effectively retired from pop after getting dropped by Atlantic Records in the late '80s. Both stayed active in music, in one form or another. Day performed with the Oregon Symphony Pops, percussionist Obo Addy and pianist Michael Allen Harrison, among others. Smith went on to do commercial work, composing for Adidas, Taco Bell and ESPN. And of course, "I Can't Wait" has maintained a place in pop culture, most recently getting remixed by Questlove for a Target ad.
With their son going off to college, though, the recording studio behind their home in the West Hills started to look more and more appealing. No full songs from Bagtown have been formally released, but according to the press release, the album "turns back the clock to an earlier era of funk, the Mid-70's sounds of Philly Soul, Steely Dan, and jazzy vocal groups like Manhattan Transfer." You can hear a snippet in the teaser video below—and also find out the bizarre origin of the album's title.
Nu Shooz will celebrate the release of Bagtown at Star Theater on May 21. Get tickets here.
Willamette Week