The Pointer Sisters' 13th charting LP, 1985's
Contact, was an exercise in slick, edgy, synthesized pop. Both "Dare Me" and "Freedom," easily the best songs here, marched straight onto the singles charts. The former was an audacious, rough-and-ready come-on draped in a samba beat, wrapped in period trimmings, and brimming with sharp vocal harmonies. The latter, on the other hand, graced the R&B Top 30 with a quiet, soulful dream, riding a light beat and little instrumentation. Elsewhere, the band packs in the punches across a steady flow of up-tempo grooves that overlay synthesizers at almost every turn, most notably on "Twist My Arm," "Back in My Arms," and "Bodies and Souls." Listeners can only take a breather during the more restrained "Hey You" and "Contact." While it can be said that there is not one thing technically wrong with
Contact, neither is there anything that stands out as representative of the band at their best. Consummate performers, the trio is in excellent voice, their harmonies as pure as always. But by 1985 they seemed to have hit a plateau, not striving to change, but apparently happy enough to add synth pop R&B to a market already glutted with the stuff. ~ Amy Hanson