Manchild
Power And Love
1977 Chi Sound Records CH-LA765-G
A1 Red Hot Daddy 3:25
Written-By – A. Johnson, K. Ferrell, R. Griffin
A2 (I Want To Feel Your) Power And Love 3:46
Written-By – C. Bush, S. Johnson
A3 Especially For You 6:06
Written-By – C. Bush
A4 Takin’ It To The Streets 4:04
Written By – M. McDonald
B1 You Get What You Give 2:31
Written-By – A. Johnson, K. Ferrell
B2 We Need We 4:06
Written-By – R. Griffin
B3 These Are The Things That Are Special To Me 3:37
Written-By – D. Simmons, K. Edmonds
B4 Funky Situation 5:46
Written-By – K. Edmonds
Recorded At – P.S. Recording Studios
Remixed At – Universal Recording Studio
Mastered At – Capitol Mastering
Acoustic Guitar, Rhythm Guitar, Handclaps, Backing Vocals, Vocals – Kenny Edmonds (tracks: B4)
Backing Vocals – Harold Gooch (tracks: A1, A3, B1)
Bass Guitar, Effects [Mutron], Handclaps – Anthony Johnson (8)
Congas, Bongos, Percussion, Handclaps, Backing Vocals – Daryl Simmons
Drums, Handclaps – Robert Parson
Electric Piano [Fender Rhodes], Piano, Piano [Acoustic], Synthesizer, Strings [Ensemble], Handclaps, Backing Vocals, Vocals – Chuckie Bush (tracks: A3)
Handclaps – Dwayne Johnson (tracks: A1, A4), Thomas Henderson (tracks: A4)
Rhythm Guitar – Harold Gooch (tracks: A1, B1)
Tenor Saxophone, Soprano Saxophone, Lead Guitar, Soloist [All Solos], Rhythm Guitar, Clavinet, Piano [Acoustic], Handclaps, Backing Vocals – Reggie Griffin
Vocals, Backing Vocals, Handclaps – “Flash” Ferrell
Producer – Sonny Sanders
Co-producer – Sid Johnson
Mastered By – Wally Traigett
Photography By – Pamoja Photos
Engineer – Paul Johnson (5), Paul Serrano, Scott Rowley
Remix engineer – Bruce Swedien
Recorded at P.S. Studios, Chicago, Illinois.
Remixed at Universal Studios, Chicago, Illinois.
Mastered at Capitol
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This is a solid funk record in the vein of mid-70s Kool and The Gang or EWF, with a couple of well-crafted slow-jam ballads, one of which has a strong Commodores flavor to it. What the material lacks in originality, it makes up for in execution. These guys are tight and the record stays entertaining throughout. If they can make me actually enjoy the song “Takin’ It To The Streets,” then they’ve got something good going on. The socially-conscious lyrics sound more convincing when not coming from Michael McDonald’s beardy-face full of yacht sea-foam, too. I know it is still tempting to skip right over it after those first few measures, but trust me that there’s a funky breakdown at the end that makes it worth hanging around at least once.
From the looks of it, I believe they got their name because these guys were all teenagers when they started. This Midwestern group featured a young Kenny Edmonds, later known as Babyface. Well he really earns his nickname here (see photo below). After two records with these guys, he would go on to be a member of The Deele in the 80s, and then obviously on to super-stardom in the 90s on his own, when he continued to collaborate with Daryl Simmons from this group. Babyface only sings on one tune here, the closer “Funky Situation,” which also happens to be the most complex funk-fusion jam on the album. Most of the lead vocals are handled by one Chuckie Bush. The smokey, Moog-enchancing slow-burner “Especially For You” was a minor hit for these guys. They probably would have had more success if the record had come out a few years earlier, as this sounds a lot more like a hard funk album from 1974 than 1977 in a lot of ways. It was reissued once on CD but for some reason the song “We Need We” was dropped from it. This is odd not only because it is one of the best tunes here, but also because its omission from this short album brings its running time down to slightly under 30 minutes. It was written by multi-instrumentalist Reggie Griffiths, who also has a crapton of album credits with all kinds of artists, as well as being responsible for a monster electro jam called “Mirda Rock” in 1982.
p/w: vibes