Take 6 - Live (2000)

Note: this CD released using HDCD encoding. Recorded live at the Blue Note in Tokyo, Japan, October 4-6, 1999.

Not much to say about this one. If you like Take 6 (I do), you'll like this live recording (I do). And if you wonder if they can bring the close a cappella harmony vocals in a live setting, the answer is yes.

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

Tracks: My top picks today are If We Ever Needed The Lord Before (We Sure Do Need Him Now), How Sweet It Is To Be Loved By You, and Mary.

Personal Memory Associated with this CD: None. I once had tickets to see the group and something came up so I gave the tickets to a friend. That was most likely in 2017.

Previously revisited for the blog:

The Standard (2008)	Join the Band (1994)
Beautiful World (2002)	He Is Christmas (1991)
Greatest Hits (1999)	So Much 2 Say (1990)
Brothers (1996)	Take 6 (1988)

Quincy Jones - From Q With Love (1999)

Q sure had his hand in a lot of good stuff, huh? Questionable track selection but Jones has earned the right to do as he pleases. I hope you don't mind if I just sit back and enjoy instead of pecking at this keyboard.

Billboard, February 27, 1999, p. 24

Peak on the US Billboard Top 200 chart: #72

Tracks:

Volume 1:

Song	Album	Year	Hot 100	R&B	AC
Setembro (Brazilian Wedding Song)	Back On The Block	1989
The Secret Garden (Sweet Seduction Suite)	Back On The Block	1989	31	1	26
I'm Yours	From Q With Love	1999		73	27
Baby, Come To Me	Every Home Should Have One	1982	1	9	1
You Put A Move On My Heart	Q's Jook Joint	1995	98	16
Velas	The Dude	1981
Moody's Mood For Love	Q's Jook Joint	1995
Liberian Girl	Bad	1987
Love Dance	Give Me The Night	1980
One Hundred Ways	The Dude	1981	14	10	5
Rock With You	Q's Jook Joint	1995
The Lady In My Life	Thriller	1982
The Shadow of Your Smile	Sinatra at The Sands	1966

Volume 2:

Song	Album	Year	Hot 100	R&B	AC
How Do You Keep The Music Playing?	It's Your Night	1983	45	6	5
Something I Cannot Have	From Q With Love	1999		87
Human Nature	Thriller	1982	7	27	2
Everything Must Change	Body Heat	1974
I'm Gonna Miss You In The Morning	Sounds...and Stuff Like That!!	1978
Everything	From Q With Love	1999
Just Once	The Dude	1981	17	11	7
If This Is The Last Time	From Q With Love	1999
Somewhere	Hey Now Hey (The Other Side of the Sky)	1973
Heaven's Girl	Q's Jook Joint	1995
Prelude to The Garden	Back On The Block	1989
Sax In The Garden	From Q With Love	1999
At The End Of The Day (Grace)	Q's Jook Joint	1995

Personal Memory Associated with this CD: see individual album links above

Previously revisited for the blog:
Back On the Block (1989)
The Dude (1981)
Explores the Music of Henry Mancini (1968)

Take 6 - Greatest Hits (1999)

Not really a greatest hits CD, more of a compilation of a few hits, a few previously unreleased tracks, and some material released on others' albums. Overall, it's not a bad pick-up for me as it fills in some gaps in my collection. However, newbies are directed to the group's previous compilation, 1995's 16 track Best Of Take 6. Or, better yet, get yourself of copy of the group's debut album, stat.

Man-oh-man these guys are good.

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

Tracks:

• I L-O-V-E U (from So Much 2 Say)
• Destiny (previously unreleased)
• One and the Same (previously unreleased)
• Fly Away (from So Cool)
• Mary (from Take 6)
• Biggest Part of Me (Ambrosia cover from Join The Band)
• The Best Stuff in the World Today Café (previously unreleased)
• Septembro (Brazilian Wedding Song) (from the "Boyz n the Hood" soundtrack, also available Quincy Jones' album Back On The Block)
• A Quiet Place (from Take 6)
• Oh Thou That Tellest Good Tidings To Zion (from Handel's Messiah: A Soulful Celebration)
• U Turn (from Joe Sample's album Spellbound)
• Spread Love (from Take 6)
• So Much 2 Say (from So Much 2 Say)

I feel like ranking the tracks today, admittedly biased towards a capella cuts:

1. Spread Love
2. A Quiet Place
3. I L-O-V-E U
4. Mary
5. So Much 2 Say
6. U Turn
7. Biggest Part of Me
8. Septembro
9. Fly Away
10. Destiny
11. The Best Stuff in the World Today Café
12. Oh Thou That Tellest Good Tidings To Zion
13. One and the Same

Personal Memory Associated with this CD: None

Previously revisited for the blog:
The Standard (2008)
Beautiful World (2002)
Brothers (1996)
Join the Band (1994)
He Is Christmas (1991)
So Much 2 Say (1990)
Take 6 (1988)

Take 6 - Join the Band (1994)

These guys all have beautiful voices and have the ability to produce some intricate a capella harmonizations. I've been a fan of them and that style since the group's debut album. However, this album is heavy on slick, over-produced backing tracks and finds the sextet sounding like a boy band on many of the songs. A very, very good boy band but a boy band nonetheless. As always, the group is at its best when they stick to a capella gospel. Stick to your strength, guys. Regardless of my thoughts, this album won the Grammy award for Best Contemporary Soul Gospel Album.

Album chart peaks:

• US Billboard 200: #86
• Billboard R&B: #17

Tracks:  The keepers here are My Friend (featuring Ray Charles), It's Gonna Rain, I've Got Life, and a reworked version of Ambrosia's Biggest Part Of Me. The penultimate track, Why I Feel this Way, isn't a great song, but it features Stevie Wonder so it is elevated enough to be memorable. Avoid the track Harmony because it inexplicably includes the rapping of Queen Latifah (nothing against Latifah, but the rap is sorely out of place here).

Personal Memory Associated with this CD: None

Previously revisited for the blog:
The Standard (2008)
Beautiful World (2002)
Brothers (1996)
He Is Christmas (1991)
So Much 2 Say (1990)
Take 6 (1988)

Blog post #1200

Take 6 - Beautiful World (2002)

I don't know whose idea it was, but putting Take 6 together with Marcus Miller was pure genius. Mostly covers from the '70s & '80s, this is the only Take 6 album I truly tolerate that has a lot of instruments; provided mainly by Miller, but there are stellar contributions from David Sanborn, Kirk Whalum, and Vinnie Colaiuta. Occasionally, a lyric is changed to make the message more deliberate, but overall, this is a fantastic covers album complete with tight-knit vocal harmonies and innovative takes on standards in the pop, gospel, & soul styles with an uplifting message. Any album with a jazz bass clarinet solo can't be bad, can it? (Check out track 9).

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

Tracks: The best covers here are Takin' It To The Streets, Grandma's Hands, Don't Give Up, Someday We'll All Be Free (featuring Lalah Hathaway), and Lovely Day. We're also treated to versions of Wade In The Water and Peace In The Valley that harken back to the group's a capella gospel beginnings.

Personal Memory Associated with this CD: None

Previously revisited for the blog:
The Standard (2008)
Brothers (1996)
He Is Christmas (1991)
So Much 2 Say (1990)
Take 6 (1988)

Take 6 (1988)

The group's debut album, to me, is still their best. I had never heard anything like it before. I've never heard anything like it since. Surely the first a capella album I ever purchased, it's also the first gospel album I ever bought. This album won Grammys in both jazz and gospel categories. The group then went on to experiment with adding instruments to their sound (they were trying to grow, I get it), but I prefer their straight-up a capella sound.

Album chart peaks:

• US Billboard 200: #71
• Billboard R&B: #41

Tracks: It's too short - 10 tracks in under 37 minutes, but I never skip a track. Ever. My favorites are Spread Love, If We Ever, He Never Sleeps, and Let The Words.

For more information on the brief life of the CD longbox,
go visit The Legend of the Longbox.

Personal Memory Associated with this CD: I bought this CD after seeing the video for the song Spread Love on VH1 in 1988 (didn't they have a "jazz brunch" or something similar program back then?). I was fascinated with the a capella vocal harmonies and listen to the CD several times the day of purchase. At that time, I would wake up in the middle of the night and all I could hear in my mind's ear were these harmonies. I didn't mind. In fact, I wish that would happen again. These days, when I wake up in the middle of the night, needless thoughts of my job enter my mind and disturb my slumber.

When I think of what I was listening to in 1988, it ranges from Top 40 to dance to indie to neoclassical to fusion to jazz to Take 6 and everything in between. I was much more open-minded about music back then and I was excited to try anything and everything new. I'd at least give new music a chance before dismissing it. I don't do that anymore and that bothers me. I'm getting old and set in my ways, but regarding new music, I'd like to return to my 1988 mindset.

Previously revisited for the blog:
The Standard (2008)
Brothers (1996)
He Is Christmas (1991)
So Much 2 Say (1990)

Take 6 - He Is Christmas (1991)

When this CD was released 20 years ago, I was excited to hear a Christmas album from my favorite gospel group. However, it is too brief (10 tracks in 35 minutes) and too inconsistent for me to recommend. The tight harmonies are fantastic, as always, but more care should have been used when selecting the material. The group released a second Christmas CD in 1999, but I've never heard it because I'm afraid it will be disappointing like this one. [update: I've now heard subsequent Take 6 Christmas releases and have been pleased with both.]

Album chart peaks:

• US Billboard 200: #100 (Jan 4, 1992)
• Billboard R&B: #84

Tracks: My favorite tracks are the two simple, traditional Christmas carols sung with nontraditional, a capella harmonies: Hark! The Herald Angels Sing and O Come All Ye Faithful. There's also a good take on the gospel classic, Amen. I appreciate that the group chose to include Sweet Little Jesus Boy because you rarely get to hear that song. Avoid The Little Drummer Boy and 'Twas The Nite.

Personal Memory Associated with this CD: Once I purchased this CD, I took it to the middle school where I worked at the time and played it as 12-year-old students entered the room. I'd like to think that I expanded their musical tastes, but they probably just thought I was a crazy old man listening to weird music. Of course, those same students were digging on Color Me Badd and C+C Music Factory around then, so what did they know?

Previously revisited for the blog:
The Standard (2008)
Brothers (1996)
So Much 2 Say (1990)

Blog post #450

Take 6 - The Standard (2008)

The best a capella group I've heard. Ever. And on this release they give us only a smattering of instruments. Thanks for that, guys. I was getting tired of generic R&B arrangements covering up your harmonies. Usually, Take 6 sticks to their gospel roots, but on this CD, as evidenced by the title, they give us an album of jazz standards. They also bring in quite a few guest artists: George Benson, Jon Hendricks, Al Jarreau, Roy Hargrove, Aaron Neville and Brian McKnight. If you're a fan of the TV show The Sing-Off, you should turn off that derivative crap and listen to the real deal here while turning your speakers up to 11.

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

Tracks: While they're almost all top-notch, my favorites here are Sweet Georgia Brown, Straighten Up And Fly Right (with George Benson), Someone to Watch Over Me (with Shelea Frazier & Roy Hargrove), and A Tisket A Tasket (with archival vocals from Ella Fitzgerald, which is kinda creepy, but the song's enjoyable if you are able to forget that Ella passed in 1996 and her vocals here were recorded in 1938). I normally don't think that Marvin Gaye songs should be covered, but the version of What's Going On (with Brian McKnight) proves to be the best track on this album. That track is followed by a gorgeous arrangement of Shall We Gather At The River that never fails to give me goosebumps. I'm not sure why the group included Back To You on this disc because it is sorely out of place.

Personal Memory Associated with this CD: None.

Previously revisited for the blog:
Brothers (1996)
So Much 2 Say (1990)

Take 6 - Brothers (1996)

Probably my least favorite Take 6 CD of the 7 I currently own. Even so, a bad Take 6 album is still better than most other gospel music. By this time in the group's career, I bought each new release hoping they would return to the a cappella gospel sound of their first album. Unfortunately, that wasn't the case here. What a waste of talent.

Album chart peaks:

• US Billboard 200: Did not chart
• Billboard R&B: #71

Tracks: There are great covers of Earth Wind & Fire's Sing A Song (secular) and Paul Davis' Do Right (even though the lyrics are scripturally unsound). Of the other tracks, I like You Don't Have To Be Afraid and Delilah. There's no a cappella number, although there's a nice a capella break in the otherwise mediocre Can't Stop Thinking 'Bout You. Other than that, I don't care for any other tracks, mainly because they sound like they could have been recorded by any other R&B vocal group.

Personal Memory Associated with this CD: None

Take 6 - So Much 2 Say (1990)

NUMBERS WEEK (MARCH 14-20, 2011)

Take 6 is a fantastic a cappella gospel vocal sextet. They later abandoned their a cappella roots and recorded with instruments. Fortunately, this CD is a cappella save for the final track. The tight vocal harmonies are extraordinary (and all this was before the dreaded auto-tune was invented). I highly recommended listening to this CD with high quality noise reduction headphones. This album was the group's second and following its release, one of the original members left and the group started using more and more instruments in their recordings. So, IMHO, the group's first two CD's are their best. This doesn't quite measure up the debut, but a solid effort nonetheless. Would love to see these guys live.

Billboard, September 22, 1990, p. 74

Album chart peaks:

• US Billboard 200: #72 (Nov 10, 1990)
• Billboard Contemporary Jazz: #2
• Billboard R&B: #22
• Billboard Gospel: #8
• Billboard Contemporary Christian: #2
• CashBox Jazz: #1

Tracks: The best tracks are I L-O-V-E U, Come Unto Me, and I Believe, but all are worth a listen. Come Unto Me is absolutely gorgeous and probably the best cut on the CD. Sunday's On The Way paints the hilarious picture of Satan having an ultimately doomed party in hell to celebrate the crucifixion. The final track, Where Do The Children Play?, is a depressing way to end the CD, unfortunately.

Personal Memory Associated with this CD: In fall 1990, I listened to this album often in my dark gray Nissan truck as I travelled down Nichols Ave from Meadow Chase apartments to my new job in BCISD.