Troop
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Album Summary
Now here's a debut that came out of the City of Angels and landed like a slow jam on a Saturday night — Troop's self-titled first album dropped in 1988 on Atlantic Records, and it introduced this quintet of Pasadena, California brothers — Allen McNeil, Steve Russell, Rodney Benford, John Harreld, and Reggie Warren — to R&B lovers across the nation. Produced by the masterful hands of Louil Silas Jr. and Reggie Calloway, this record was sculpted with care, wrapping the group's silky tight harmonies in a sound that sat right at the crossroads of new jack swing energy and that smooth, late-night quiet storm feeling. These young men came to the table with something real, and Atlantic Records gave them the platform to let the world hear it.
Reception
- The debut performed respectably on the R&B charts, building a devoted fanbase among young Black audiences who connected deeply with the group's smooth vocal delivery and their earnest, romantic lyrical sensibility.
- Critical reception acknowledged the unmistakable vocal chemistry running through the album and praised the polished, refined production work, while some observers noted it as a strong but still-emerging statement from a group clearly destined for bigger things.
- The album established Troop as a credible new voice in late-1980s R&B, generating enough momentum to confirm that this was not a one-moment act but a group with genuine staying power in the harmony vocal tradition.
Significance
- Troop's debut arrived at a defining crossroads in Black music, when new jack swing was reshaping the entire R&B landscape — and this album planted a flag for the smoother, harmony-centered side of that movement, proving there was still a sacred space for vocal groups rooted in feeling over flash.
- The fact that these young men came out of Pasadena, California carried real weight in an era when the East Coast largely set the tone for R&B vocal group culture — Troop helped shine a light on the West Coast as fertile ground for this kind of soulful, polished harmony work.
- This debut laid the essential foundation for Troop's identity as one of the defining vocal groups of the late 1980s and early 1990s, establishing romantic devotion and close-knit harmonies as the beating heart of everything they would go on to create.
Tracklist
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A1 Mamacita 97
5:35
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A2 My Heart 103
4:52
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A3 Still In Love 135
5:03
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A4 Happy Relationship 111
4:24
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B1 I Like That 99
4:10
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B2 Young Girl 112
6:03
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B3 She's My Favorite Girl 111
5:12
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B4 Watch Me Dance 117
4:49
Artist Details
Troop was a smooth R&B and new jack swing vocal group that formed in Pasadena, California in the mid-1980s, bringing together five young brothers — Steve Russell, Rodney Benford, Allen McNeil, John Harrold, and Chance Howard — who could blend harmonies so tight they'd make your soul stand at attention. Their 1989 slow jam classic All I Do Is Think of You, a silky cover of the Jackson 5 tune, climbed the charts and cemented their place as one of the defining acts of the late-80s R&B era, earning them a devoted following and a gold album with their sophomore release Attitude. Troop may not have gotten all the mainstream recognition they deserved, but in the world of Black music and culture, they were very much a part of that golden wave of harmony-driven R&B that bridged the gap between classic soul and the new jack sound taking over the airwaves.
