Minnie Riperton - Stay In Love/Minnie (1977/1979)

Note: the CD I listened to was the 2004 UK reissue.

Many years ago while visiting a fantastic record store in Chicago, I purchased a similar Riperton Twofer (Perfect Angel/Adventures in Paradise) disc and it gets a lot of spins around here. One of those many, many spins led to the ordering of this similar CD. If a little bit is good, more is better, right? And while it's not quite as good as the earlier stuff, there's still nothing to skip among these two albums and they make great companions to the earlier disc. Since I first received this disc, I normally listen to both discs in succession and it usually makes for a wonderful afternoon of soul, R&B, soft rock, and in the case of the later albums, disco. Both compilations are highly recommended.

---

STAY IN LOVE (1977)

Subtitled "A Romantic Fantasy Set to Music," this album was produced by disco legend Freddie Perren. I dig the disco feel throughout but the critics didn't care for it because of the critical bias against disco at the time.

Press of the time:

• Stereo Review: "Riperton's singing is, as usual, just fine - it's the rest you'll have to block out."
• High Fidelity: "Aretha she ain't, but Minnie she is - and that's a plus"
• Billboard: "uncluttered and easy to listen to."
• CashBox: "unquestionably an album for romantics"
• Record World: "not so much a concept album as one given over to a particular subject and outlook - the many sides of love"

Album chart peaks:

• US Billboard 200: #71
• Billboard R&B: #19
• CashBox: #81

Tracks: Three singles were released: Wouldn't Matter Where You Are, Young Willing And Able, and Stick Together (#57 R&B, #23 dance), a collaboration with Stevie Wonder using the pseudonym El Toro Negro. I think the best cut is Young Willing And Able, followed closely by Gettin' Ready For Your Love, Stick Together, But as I wrote earlier, don't skip any tracks.

---

MINNIE (1979)

This was Riperton's first album on the Capitol label and the last to be released during her lifetime. This is the better of the two albums included on this CD.

Press of the time:

• Stereo Review: Best of the Month
• High Fidelity: "too ornate and cure to be convincing, despite a fine set of pipes"
• CashBox: "it is the warmth and vitality she conveys via her singing approach, along with her striking compositions, that truly merit attention"
• Record World: "she has a way with ballad material that makes a song all her own"
• Billboard: "may be this singer's strongest work on disk to date."

Album chart peaks:

• US Billboard 200: #29
• Billboard R&B: #5
• CashBox: #43
• Rolling Stone: #37

Tracks: Two singles were released: Memory Lane (#16 R&B) and Lover And Friend (#20 R&B). Those two songs are also the first two tracks on the album and it's a heckuva way to open a LP. Such great, timeless grooves. I also enjoy the bossa feel of Never Existed Before, the highly danceable tunes Love Hurts and I'm A Woman, plus the disco funk of Dancin' & Actin' Crazy. The album closes with a cover of The Doors' Light My Fire and José Feliciano drops by the studio to help out.

---

Personal Memory Associated with this CD: None

Previously revisited for the blog:
Perfect Angel/Adventures in Paradise (1974/1975)

Minnie Riperton - Perfect Angel/Adventures in Paradise (1974/1975)

"IT'S NEW TO ME" WEEK (OCTOBER 20-26, 2013)

Note: the CD I listened to was the 2004 UK reissue.

Prior to purchasing this 2-fer disc, I was only familiar with Riperton through her presence on various compilation and soundtrack discs and her 1975 #1 hit, Lovin' You. I've only had this CD for a few weeks, but I've listened to it almost every day since its purchase. Tooting my own horn, this was a smart (if not overdue) purchase. I doubt I would have bought these albums at the time of release, but I sure wish I would have come across them in the '80s around the same time I was discovering early '70s Stevie Wonder or, at the very least, when all the acid jazz groups of the '90s were copping Riperton's sound.

Is it soul? R&B? Soft rock? Let's take the easy way out and just call it a beautifully simple combination of all three. Riperton's impressive vocal range would be enough to make her a star, but I'm also impressed by the varied songwriting here. Not a bad crew of backing musicians here, either: Stevie Wonder, Michael Sembello, Deniece Williams, Larry Carlton, Joe Sample, and Tom Scott.

---

PERFECT ANGEL (1974)

Press of the time:

• Rolling Stone: "most of the songs are too temperately paced"
• Robert Christgau (B): "she achieves a sensuous spirituality that may be overdomesticated but at least seems real-life."

Album chart peaks:

• US Billboard 200: #4
• Billboard R&B: #1 (3 weeks)

Tracks:  The Perfect Angel album is better than its follow-up, but it's a very close race. There's not a bad track on the Perfect Angel album (tracks 1-9); my favorites are Reasons, Take A Little Trip, Perfect Angel, and, of course, Lovin' You.

---

ADVENTURES IN PARADISE (1975)

Press of the time:

• Rolling Stone: "fulfills its intention to be joyously uplifting."
• Record World: "unique vocals surrounded by lushly mellow music"
• Stereo Review: "Riperton is a good-time girl, and her new album provides a good time."

Album chart peaks:

• US Billboard 200: #18
• Billboard R&B: #5

Tracks:  Tracks 10-19 make up 1975's Adventures In Paradise. Top tracks on the latter album include Baby This Love I Have, Love And It's Glory, and Inside My Love.

---

Personal Memory Associated with this CD: None