The Brothers Johnson
Right On Time
1977 A&M Records SP-4644
Runnin’ For Your Lovin’ 5:05
Free Yourself, Be Yourself 4:26
“Q” 3:25
Right On Time 3:50
Strawberry Letter 23 4:58
Brother Man 3:10
Never Leave You Lonely 3:02
Love Is 4:20
A1 Runnin’ For Your Lovin’ 5:05 (George Johnson, Louis Johnson)
Backing Vocals – Alex Weir, George Johnson, Mortonette Jenkins Drums – Harvey Mason Horns – Tower Of Power Horn Section Keyboards, Synthesizer – Dave Grusin Percussion – Ralph MacDonald Guitar, Bass – George Johnson, Louis Johnson
A2 Free Yourself, Be Yourself 4:26 (George Johnson, Louis Johnson)
Backing Vocals – George Johnson, Jim Gilstrap, Louis Johnson, Richard “Jose” Heath* Drums – Harvey Mason Horns – Tower Of Power Horn Section Keyboards, Synthesizer – Ian Underwood Percussion – Ralph MacDonald Rhythm Guitar – David T. Walker Guitar, Bass – George Johnson, Louis Johnson
A3 “Q” 3:25 (Louis Johnson, George Johnson)
Keyboards, Synthesizer – Dave Grusin Percussion – Ralph MacDonald Guitar, Bass – George Johnson, Louis Johnson
A4 Right On Time 3:50 (Quincy Jones, George Johnson, Louis Johnson)
Backing Vocals – Alex Weir, George Johnson, Jim Gilstrap, Louis Johnson, Richard “Jose” Heath Drums – Harvey MasonHorns – Tower Of Power Horn Section Keyboards, Synthesizer – Dave Grusin Lead Vocals – George Rhythm Guitar – David T. Walker Guitar, Bass – George Johnson, Louis Johnson
B1 Strawberry Letter 23 4:58 (Shuggie Otis)
Backing Vocals – Alexandra Brown, Denise Trammell, George Johnson, Jim Gilstrap, Louis Johnson, Oren Waters, Stephanie Spruill Drums – Harvey Mason Guitar, Soloist – Lee Ritenour Keyboards, Synthesizer – Dave Grusin, Ian Underwood Percussion – Ralph MacDonald
B2 Brother Man 3:10 (Louis Johnson, George Johnson, Dave Grusin)
Drums – Harvey Mason Keyboards, Synthesizer – Dave Grusin Percussion – Ralph MacDonald Guitar, Bass – George Johnson, Louis Johnson
B3 Never Leave You Lonely 3:02 (Louis Johnson, Valerie Johnson, Peggy Jones)
Drums – Harvey Mason Guitar, Bass – George Johnson Lead Vocals – Louis Percussion – Ralph MacDonald Guitar, Bass – Louis Johnson
B4 Love Is (Louis Johnson, George Johnson, Quincy Jones, Peggy Jones)
Backing Vocals – Alexandra Brown, Denise Trammell, George Johnson, Jim Gilstrap, Oren Waters, Stephanie Spruill Keyboards – Dave Grusin Percussion – Ralph MacDonald Guitar – George Johnson Guitar, bass – Louis Johnson
Horns arranged by Greg Adams
Alto Saxophone – Lenny Pickett
Tenor Saxophone – Emilio Castillo
Trumpet – Greg Adams
Trumpet – Mick Gillette
Baritone Saxophone – Stephen Kupka
Produced and arranged by Quincy Jones
Synthesizers programmed by – Ian Underwood, Michael Boddicker
Art Direction – Roland Young
Creative director – Ed Eckstine
Engineer – Norm Kinney
Assistant Engineer – Chuck Trammell
Engineer, Remix – Don Hahn
Mastered By – Bernie Grundman
Book photography by – Andy Kent, Dennis Callahan, Neil Preston, Randy Alpert,
Ron Phillips, Jim McCrary, Patricia Reynolds, James Fee
Design – Phil Shima
Produced for Quincy Jones Productions
Recorded from February 1st to March 21st, 1977 at A&M Recording Studio “B” Hollywood, California
This post is right on time to break the silence of nearly two months without a blog post. Flabbergasted Vibes (the blog) is on life support and the plug could be pulled any day, if not by me than by a Higher Power. There’s been enough dying in 2016 without adding this place to the list, but my enthusiasm is definitely at low tide in the grand ebb and flow of things.
Sure, it seems like the world has come unstuck – personally, professionally, politically – but none of it is really a surprise. I don’t have much to say about this particular album at this particular moment. Spinning a well-worn dusty classic is about all I’ve got left, and I’m finding even that doesn’t cut it on most days. But if you are pressed for time on your way to the fallout shelter and unable to deliberate at length, you could do worse than randomly grabbing this off the shelf with a few other long-players. I hope you had the foresight to equip your survivalist shelter with a working turntable and speakers. And a bicycle, for generating electricity off the grid, obviously.
The instrumental reliability of The Brothers Johnson is beyond dispute, and here they have some big cheeses in their pantry to help serve up the funk – Harvey Mason on drums, the Tower of Power horns, Ralph McDonald on percussion, David Grusin and Ian Underwood on keyboards. And, of course, the whole thing is greased with Quincy Jones’ aural butter to keep the smooth proceedings from ever getting so hot that they scorch. Burnt, crispy funk was not Quincy’s thing. The title-track, which strives a little too hard for silliness, is maybe a little boring and could use a little extra grit. It’s hard to fault anything else though. The highlight is naturally their cover of the Shuggie Otis’ song Strawberry Letter 23 . Shuggie has always been “a musician’s musician,” and it’s not as if he was an unknown when he recorded this song for his second LP in the early 70’s. But the fact that it wasn’t the huge hit it could have been the first time around just meant that the world got to enjoy it twice. The Brothers Johnson version, which came out a full six years later, is remarkably faithful to the psychedelic spirit of the original. Maybe it is less cryptic and more mysteriously happy. Quincy’s production pushes it into heavenly and exciting places, and it sports an epic layered guitar solo by Lee Ritenour too. Has Tarantino ruined this song yet by making it the background for some ultraviolence? I think he has but I can’t remember where. There are some fine original songs here too in a similarly breezy, windows-rolled-down summer spirit. In fact the opening and closing tracks of the LP could have been written as bookends to accommodate Strawberry Letter, which is sequenced squarely in the middle of the album (first song on Side 2). There are a couple of tight instrumentals too. But yeah, no doubt, Strawberry Letter 23 is the showcase piece here.
Is this the last post of 2016?
passwprd: vibes