Spend the Night

A brief six-song CD originally released in the '70s, and reissued by J-Bird Records on CD, by ex-cover girl and ex-David Bowie backing singer Ava Cherry. The title track, co-written by Cherry, is a slow, vamping, romantic tune that's pleasant but unspectacular. "If You Want My Lovin'" chugs along like a freight train carrying a shipment of cardboard boxes: if it arrives on time, fine; if not, who really cares; the longer you listen the more mundane it gets, the chugging beat never changing once in nearly five minutes. Another Cherry composition, "You Are," has a little more going for it, with its eerie, floating feel and Cherry's feathery, sensual vocal. A remake of Patrice Rushen's "Forget Me Nots" is more pleasing than Rushen's bouncy, cutesy original; Cherry's rendition is slower, sexier, and more soulful, her husky vocal making the song a bonafide keeper. She tries hard, but "Gimme Gimme" never rises above the filler level no matter how long they stretch it out. "Say" has a dark, hypnotic bassline that makes it instantly likable; the lyrics are a romantic plea, and the backing singers ooh and ahh in all the right places. Cherry keeps busy as one of Luther Vandross' backing singers, sharing the stage with Lisa Fischer and Kevin Owens.