Patrice Rushen - Watch Out! (1987)

Three women I wish I'd paid more attention to during the 1980s:

1. Angela Bofill
2. Brenda Russell
3. Patrice Rushen

Rushen is an accomplished pianist but I think ofttimes record management pushed her towards pop/R&B chart success. The record executive in this particular case is Clive Davis as this was Rushen's only album for Arista after leaving the Elektra label. The versatile Rushen is difficult to categorize and her current wikipedia entry calls her a jazz pianist and R&B singer, so let's just go with that. This 1987 album is firmly in the R&B camp. I'm not a huge fan of late '80s R&B production tropes, but there's some good stuff here regardless of trend-chasing synth sounds and drum programming.

Ratings/reviews:

• Billboard: "fails to coalesce into a uniformly strong showcase"
• CashBox: "a smooth, sensual collection of sophisticated R&B/pop crossover"
• R&B Report: "a winner"
• Philadelphia Inquirer (★★★): Rushen has developed into a formidable, versatile talent."
• The Virgin Encyclopedia of Jazz (1999): ★★★

Album chart peaks:

• US Billboard 200: #77
• Billboard R&B: #19
• CashBox: #60
• Rolling Stone: #45

Tracks: Three singles were released: Watch Out (#9 R&B, #22 dance), Anything Can Happen (#51 R&B), and Come Back To Me (#65 R&B, #37 dance). Those are three of my favorites here, along with All My Love and Tender Lovin'. There are tunes that try to capitalize on successes of mid-'80s Pointer Sisters (Breakin' All The Rules), Whitney Houston (Somewhere), New Edition (the aforementioned Anything Can Happen), and Prince (Burnin'). There's filler, but there's no track that will have you reaching for the skip button.

Personal Memory Associated with this CD: None, but I'll continue to pick up any CDs I see from the three artists listed above.

Previously revisited for the blog:
Signature (1997)

Fattburger - Sizzlin' (2003)

The uncredited blurb on the back insert claims this is "The definitive Smooth Jazz Supergroup at the top of their game!" I'm not sure about all that, but I will say this album is very easy to listen to. I wish I had found it back when it was released in 2003 as it would have fit in with the music I often listened to when I was working on my first graduate degree which was a lot of Chris Botti and Down to The Bone.

Album chart peaks:

• US Billboard 200: Did not chart
• Billboard Contemporary Jazz: #16

Tracks: Like I mentioned earlier, it all goes down smooth and easy. At various times, tracks echo back to music from Najee, Spyro Gyra, Tom Scott, Rippingtons, and George Benson. I'm not saying that it's all derivative, I'm saying that the group was hitting to all fields on this one.

Personal Memory Associated with this CD: None

Previously revisited for the blog:
The Best Of Fattburger (1992)

Wynton Marsalis - Marsalis Standard Time, Vol. 2: Intimacy Calling (1991)

The supposed second entry in Wynton's six volume 'Standard Time' series. For reasons unknown (to be honest, I didn't care to research), Volume 2 was released after the third volume in the series. In any case, as the subtitle "Intimacy Calling" suggests, this is a romantic listen and - although not all ballads - perfect for nighttime listening. But that model on the cover looks uncomfortable in that pose, don't ya think?

Complete credits and liner notes available at the Wynton Marsalis website.

Ratings/reviews:

• Billboard: "delicately and lovingly delivered"
• DownBeat (★★★★): "there's plenty to like about this record"
• The Penguin Guide to Jazz (5th ed., 2000):★★★
• The Rolling Stone Jazz & Blues Album Guide (1999): ★★★½
• The Virgin Encyclopedia of Jazz (1999): ★★★

Album chart peaks:

• US Billboard Top 200: #112
• Billboard Jazz: #1

Tracks:

1. When It's Sleepy Time Down South (1931) ✔
2. You Don't Know What Love Is (1941)
3. Indelible And Nocturnal (1991 Marsalis original)
4. I'll Remember April (1941)
5. Embraceable You (1930) ✔
6. Crepuscule With Nellie (1957)
7. What Is This Thing Called Love (1929)
8. The End Of A Love Affair (1951)
9. East Of The Sun (West Of The Moon) (1934) ✔
10. Lover (1932) ✔
11. Yesterdays (1933)
12. Bourbon Street Parade (1949) ✔

If you're using this album as a mood-setter for adult activities, you might want to skip the last track unless you plan on a victorious exit march from the bedroom to the kitchen à la NOLA second-lining. But you be you.

Exclusive CD longbox photo courtesy of
Dirk Digglinator of the Hambonian Archives.

Personal Memory Associated with this CD: None, but around the time this album was released I was snapping up Marsalis CDs fairly frequently so it wouldn't surprise me if I bought this one at some point in '91. And yes, Volume 3 will eventually appear in this space. Stay tuned.

Previously revisited for the blog:

Two Men with the Blues (2008)	Baroque Music for Trumpets (1988)
Standards & Ballads (2008)	Portrait of Wynton Marsalis (1988)
Live at The Village Vanguard (1999)	Marsalis Standard Time, Vol. 1 (1987)
Marsalis Plays Monk (1999)	Carnaval (1987)
In Gabriel's Garden (1996)	J Mood (1986)
Joe Cool's Blues (1995)	Black Codes (1985)
Baroque Duet (1992)	Baroque Music for Trumpet (1984)
Uptown Ruler (1991)	Hot House Flowers (1984)
Tune In Tomorrow (1990)	Trumpet Concertos (1983)
Crescent City Christmas Card (1989)

Chet Atkins, C.G.P. (1988)

I first noticed the "C.G.P." following Atkins's name on his 1985 album, Stay Tuned. I initially believed those initials stood for "Country Guitar Player" which I thought had a sort of folksy charm to it. I've since discovered that the initials represent "Certified Guitar Player." According to the following article, Atkins created this title and bestowed it upon himself and four other guitarists: Tommy Emmanuel, John Knowles, Steve Wariner, and Jerry Reed. Chet Atkins’ Certified Guitar Players.

In the late 1980s, Atkins 80s had a sort of makeover into a smooth jazzer and this album fits into that era. I thoroughly enjoy the aforementioned 1985 crossover album, Stay Tuned, but was somewhat disappointed in a subsequent release, Sails. I had never heard of this 1988 album prior to seeing it in the used CD bin, but I thought I'd take a chance because I had gift cards to burn and a CD addiction to feed. It should go without saying that the guitar playing here is impeccable. But it turns out C.G.P. is more like Sails than Stay Tuned, that is to say it's an innocuous mix of instrumental adult contemporary, smooth jazz, and crossover lite country with questionable mid-'80s production tricks/synth drums.

Peak on the US Billboard Top 200 chart: Did not chart

Tracks: Of the ten tracks here, I enjoy Put Your Clothes On, Which Way Del Vecchio, and a cover of The Lovin' Spoonful's Daydream. On the other end of the continuum, there's an uninteresting cover of John Lennon's Imagine (featuring Mark Knopfler) and the final track includes a rare vocal track from Adkins in a tribute to his late father. I find that track, I Still Can't Say Goodbye, hard to listen to, but I hope it was cathartic for Atkins.

Personal Memory Associated with this CD: None

Previously revisited for the blog:
Sails (1987)
Stay Tuned (1985)

INXS - X (1990)

It's no Kick, but how could it be, no matter how hard it tries? The results are uneven, but the good stuff is very good while the other tracks are easily forgettable. I'd rank this one behind Kick and Listen Like Thieves, about on par with The Swing.

Press of the time:

• CashBox: "full of singles that should fit into almost every format"
• Billboard: "there's nary a false step here."
• Musician: "instrumental finesse, sly shifts in dynamics and deep, deep grooves"
• Smash Hits (7 out of 10): "Not too remarkable in the innovation department, but 'X' is still pretty good."
• Rolling Stone (★★★½): "big-audience rock & roll that feels right for our time"
• Stereo Review: "the band's most flinty, knife-edged album of rock noir to date.

Album chart peaks:

• US Billboard 200: #5
• CashBox: #3

Tracks: The album starts off with a one-two punch of the two best songs, Suicide Blonde (#9 pop, #1 album rock, #1 modern rock, #25 dance) and Disappear (#8 pop, #6 album rock, #10 modern rock, #41 dance). Also good are Bitter Tears (#49 pop, #4 album rock, #6 modern rock), On My Way, and The Stairs, which might be the best song Simple Minds never recorded. The so-so filler is Who Pays The Price, Lately, and Know The Difference. And I flat-out skip the depressing By My Side, 

Personal Memory Associated with this CD: When this album was released, I was 24 years old, had been married for a little over a year, recently moved back to my hometown, and had started my second "adult" job: teaching instrumental music classes at the same middle school I once attended. Part of that particular job included helping with marching band at the high school from about 7:15 to 8:45 each morning before driving my new Nissan truck (5 speed manual!) across town to start teaching classes to around 200 students aged 11 - 14. That morning drive between campuses usually included a stop at Shipley's Donuts or Jack In The Box to pick up a quick breakfast (didn't JITB have some sort of "breakfast pocket" served in pita bread back then?). In any case, I have specific memories of hearing Suicide Blonde on the radio during that drive down 6th Street and being absolutely mesmerized by the harmonica lick. The decision that kept me from buying X on cassette that fall was probably based more on finances than music.

Previously revisited for the blog:
Kick (1987)
Listen Like Thieves (1985)

Roberta Flack - Softly With These Songs: The Best Of Roberta Flack (1993)

I've got most of these tracks on other discs, but this CD is a fantastic chronological compilation nonetheless. I think the track selection is a bit odd - I figured it would be skewed to the '70s, not the '80s - but then again, the compilation is titled "best of" not "greatest hits." I'm a big fan of the Flack-Hathaway duets and believe Where Is The Love is one of the best songs of the 1970's. I have to admit that it is quite a journey from the sparse beauty of track one to the pounding four-on-the-floor dance mix of track 17.

Peak on the US Billboard Top 200 chart: Did not chart

Tracks:

	Song	Year	Hot 100	AC	R&B
1	The First Time Ever I Saw Your Face	1969*	1	1	4
2	Will You Still Love Me Tomorrow	1972	76	15	38
3	Where Is The Love	1972	5	1	1
4	Killing Me Softly With His Song	1973	1	2	2
5	Feel Like Makin' Love	1975	1	1	1
6	The Closer I Get To You	1977	2	3	1
7	More Than Everything	1980
8	Only Heaven Can Wait (For Love)	1980
9	Back Together Again	1980	56		18
10	Making Love	1982	13	7	29
11	Tonight, I Celebrate My Love	1983	16	4	5
12	Oasis	1988		13	1
13	And So It Goes	1988
14	You Know What It's Like	1988
15	Set The Night To Music	1991	6	2	45
16	My Foolish Heart	1991
17	Uh-Uh Ooh-Ooh Look Out (Here It Comes) (Steve Hurley's House Mix)	1988	✝

*originally released in 1969, but charted in 1972 after being featured in the 1971 film, Play Misty For Me.
^✝#1 on Billboard's Dance chart

Missing Top 40 hits: You've Got A Friend (#29, 1971), Jesse (#30, 1973), and If I Ever See You Again (#24, 1978).

Personal Memory Associated with this CD: On today's listen, The Closer I Get To You took me right back to 6th grade and spending Friday nights at the local skating rink - "This next skate is ladies' choice!"

Previously revisited for the blog:
Original Album Series (2012)

Barry Manilow - The Greatest Songs Of The Sixties (2006)

"What do you get when you mesh Barry Manilow with an inspired set of retro songs perfectly suited for 50-year-old women? Massive nirvana." - Billboard, October 28, 2006, p. 80

Manilow and Rod Stewart successfully turned this sort of recording into a recognized late-career strategy. Since The Greatest Songs Of The Fifties hit #1, you can bet there was a sequel (and two more sequels following this one, but we won't get to those). It's more of the same, but with worse arrangements. One of those cover albums that leaves you longing to hear the originals. I'll just put this one back on the shelf and move on.

Peak on the US Billboard Top 200 chart: #2

Tracks:

	Song	Year
1	Can't Take My Eyes Off You	1967
2	Cherish/Windy	1966/7
3	Can't Help Falling In Love	1962
4	There's A Kind Of Hush	1967
5	Blue Velvet	1963
6	Raindrops Keep Falling On My Head	1969
7	And I Love Her	1964
8	This Guy's In Love With You	1968
9	Everybody Loves Somebody	1964
10	You've Lost That Lovin' Feelin'	1965
11	When I Fall In Love	1962
12	Strangers In The Night	1966
13	What The World Needs Now Is Love	1965

I can't knock the song selection, particularly the inclusion of three classics by Bacharach/David. Track 12, Strangers In The Night, was previously released on the 1998 album, Manilow Sings Sinatra.

Personal Memory Associated with this CD: None

Previously revisited for the blog:

The Greatest Songs Of The Fifties (2006)	Barry (1980)
Ultimate Manilow (2002)	One Voice (1979)
Here At The Mayflower (2001)	Greatest Hits (1978)
Summer of '78 (1996)	Even Now (1978)
If I Should Love Again (1981)	Tryin' To Get The Feeling (1975)