Emerald City is the seventh album by Teena Marie

Teena Marie

Mary Christine Brockert, better known by her stage name Teena Marie, was an American singer, songwriter and producer...

. It was released in 1986. The album is a stylistic departure for Marie, with strong rock

Rock music

Rock music is a genre of popular music that developed during and after the 1960s, particularly in the United Kingdom and the United States. It has its roots in 1940s and 1950s rock and roll, itself heavily influenced by rhythm and blues and country music...

 and jazz

Jazz

Jazz is a musical style that originated at the beginning of the 20th century in African American communities in the Southern United States. It was born out of a mix of African and European music traditions. From its early development until the present, jazz has incorporated music from 19th and 20th...

 influences favored over her established soul

Soul music

Soul music is a music genre originating in the United States combining elements of gospel music and rhythm and blues. According to the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame, soul is "music that arose out of the black experience in America through the transmutation of gospel and rhythm & blues into a form of...

/funk

Funk

Funk is a music genre that originated in the mid-late 1960s when African American musicians blended soul music, jazz and R&B into a rhythmic, danceable new form of music. Funk de-emphasizes melody and harmony and brings a strong rhythmic groove of electric bass and drums to the foreground...

 style, and is a concept album. This proved puzzling for fans and critics, and the album sold poorly, peaking at #20 on the US Black Albums chart and #81 on the Billboard Albums

Billboard 200

The Billboard 200 is a ranking of the 200 highest-selling music albums and EPs in the United States, published weekly by Billboard magazine. It is frequently used to convey the popularity of an artist or groups of artists...

 chart. Two singles, "Lips to Find You" and "Love Me Down Easy," were released. These reached #28 and #76 respectively on the Black Singles chart, but neither charted on the Billboard Hot 100

Billboard Hot 100

The Billboard Hot 100 is the United States music industry standard singles popularity chart issued weekly by Billboard magazine. Chart rankings are based on radio play and sales; the tracking-week for sales begins on Monday and ends on Sunday, while the radio play tracking-week runs from Wednesday...

. However, "Shangri-La," while it never became a single or charted anywhere, became a staple of quiet-storm programming blocks on adult R&B radio.

Stevie Ray Vaughan

Stevie Ray Vaughan

Stephen Ray "Stevie Ray" Vaughan was an American electric blues guitarist and singer. He was the younger brother of Jimmie Vaughan and frontman for Double Trouble, a band that included bassist Tommy Shannon and drummer Chris Layton. Born in Dallas, Vaughan moved to Austin at the age of 17 and...

 played the guitar solo on "You So Heavy" and Stanley Clarke

Stanley Clarke

Stanley Clarke is an American jazz musician and composer known for his innovative and influential work on double bass and electric bass guitar as well as for his numerous film and television scores...

provided bass on "Sunny Skies".

Track listing

All songs written by Teena Marie, except where noted.

1. "Emerald City" – 4:10
2. "Once Is Not Enough" – 5:47
3. "Lips to Find You" (Bendrix, Marie) – 5:11
4. "You So Heavy" (Marie, Penny "P.J." Johnson) – 5:07
5. "Shangri-La" (Marie, Johnson) – 5:04
6. "Batucada Suite" – 5:06
7. "Love Me Down Easy" – 5:24
8. "Sunny Skies" – 7:14