Emerald City by Teena Marie

Emerald City is the seventh album by Teena Marie, released in 1986. It is a stylistic departure for her, with strong blues and jazz influences favored over her established soul/funk 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 chart. Two singles, "Lips to Find You" and "Love Me Down Easy", were released. They reached #28 and #76 respectively on the Black Singles chart, but neither charted on the Billboard Hot 100. 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 played the guitar solo on "You So Heavy", Bootsy Collins provided vocals on the title album track, and Stanley Clarke provided bass on "Sunny Skies". The album has been reissued by SoulMusic Records in 2012, with 5 bonus tracks.