"Goldmine" by The Pointer Sisters

Song#:  2916
Date:  11/01/1986
Debut:  84
Peak:  33
Weeks:  13
Genre:  Dance-Pop, R&B



Pop Bits:  Although The Pointer Sisters' 1985 album Contact would be a platinum seller, it signaled a dip in their popularity. The album featured only one Pop Top 40 entry, "Dare Me," which got shut out of the Pop Top 10 at #11 (#6 R&B). This was a disappointment since their previous LP, the multi-platinum Break Out, generated four Top 10s. Undeterred, the Sisters went back into the studio for an eighth time with producer Richard Perry and recorded their twelfth studio album Hot Together. This first single was issue out ahead of the LP. The track was a mediocre hit getting to #17 at R&B, #27 AC, and making the Pop Top 40. It did better at Dance where combined with another album track, "Sexual Power," it got to #7. It was the worst start to one of their albums since 1979's Priority failed to get a single on any of the charts. The lack of an out-of-the-box hit certain hurt album sales and the LP stalled at #48.

ReduxReview:  The old adage "if it ain't broke, don't fix it" can apply to a lot of things, but it is not always the best approach in pop music. Hot Together is an example of that. The Sisters kept their formula going of working with Richard Perry and seeking out dance-pop/lite-R&B tunes from hit songwriters, some of whom wrote tunes for their previous albums. The problem is that by this point in time the formula was wearing thin. They stayed the course and didn't venture off the set path, which was a mistake. Contact should have been their last album with Perry. The results should have been a tip off that they needed a change. They needed a hot new producer like Narada Michael Walden or maybe even Jam & Lewis to keep them going. That didn't happen and what we were left with was a bland, heard-it-before album full of average material like this first single. This song nearly sounded out of date when it was released. I'd call it a "cute" little tune, but there was just no way it could compete with the trio's biggest hits. Unfortunately, it was all downhill after this.

ReduxRating:  4/10

Trivia:  The opening track on Hot Together, "My Life," was co-written by Adele Bertei, David Paul Bryant, and comedian/actress Sandra Bernhard. Bernhard's star was rising thanks to her breakout supporting role in the 1983 Robert De Niro/Martin Scorcese film The King of Comedy. She would often sing in her one-woman shows and her love of music led to lyric writing. Most of her co-writes were for her own performances/recordings, but this is one tune she was credited on that made it to another artist. Bernhard's 1987 off-Broadway show Without You, I'm Nothing would garner her rave reviews and three years later it would be turned into a critically acclaimed film. Her 1998 show I'm Still Here...Damn It! would make it to Broadway. However, she is often best known for her recurring role as Nancy on the hit sitcom Roseanne. Nancy is often cited as one of the first openly bi-sexual characters in a recurring role on a US TV series. Bernhard has appeared in numerous TV shows and films over the years and in 2018 she began a recurring role as nurse Judy on the hit FX series Pose.

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