Everlife - Everlife #1 (1981)

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Tracklist

A1.  Have A Good Time - 5:56
A2. I Love You Girl - 5:03
A3.  Money's Only Paper - 4:26
A4.  Escape - 5:50

B1.  You Are My Lucky Star - 5:48
B2.  It's Time To Love - 6:23
B3.  Dream Machine - 5:48
B4.  Have A Good Time (Reprise) - 2:20


Companies, etc.

Credits
 
Notes
Released: 1981
Genre:  Electronic, Funk / Soul
Style:  Rhythm & Blues, Soul, Disco
Length:  42:08
Label : Jibaro Records

Dire Straits - Secrets In The Closet (Live In San Antonio 1985) (2007)

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Disc 1
1.  Ride Across The River - 10:15
2.  Expresso Love - 6:47
3.  One World - 5:02
4.  Romeo And Juliet - 10:21
5.  Private Investigations - 8:14
6.  Sultans of Swing - 11:53
7.  Why Worry - 5:04
8.  Walk Of Life - 4:21

Disc 2
1.  Two Young Lovers - 5:00
2.  Money For Nothing - 7:55
3.  Wild West End - 10:47
4.  New Castle Interlude - 1:27
5.  Tunnel of Love - 15:59
6.  Brothers in Arms - 8:12
7.  Solid Rock - 4:45
8.  Going Home - 5:25

Live at Majestic Theatre, San Antonio, USA. August 16th 1985.
Soundboard Recording. 


Companies, etc.

Credits

Notes
Released:  2007
Format:  2 x CDr, Unofficial Release
Genre:  Rock
Style:  Classic Rock
Length:  2:00:56
Label:  Cellar Dweller Records 

Frida - Djupa Andetag (1996)

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Tracklist

1.  Älska Mig Alltid - 4:33
     Guitar [Solo] – Jonas Isacsson
2.  Ögonen - 4:18
     Backing Vocals – Fred Johansson
3.  Även En Blomma - 4:36
4.  Sovrum - 3:47
      Acoustic Guitar – Anders Glenmark
      E-Bow – Johan Lindström
5.  Hon Fick Som Hon Ville - 4:36
      Accordion – Kajtek Wojciechowski
      Acoustic Guitar – Jonas Isacsson
      Electric Guitar – Johan Lindström
      Mellotron – Anders Glenmark
6.  Alla Mina Bästa År - 4:41
      Backing Vocals [Additional] – Anna Stadling
      Electric Piano – Anders Glenmark
      Vocals [Duet] – Marie Fredriksson
7.  Lugna Vatten - 3:27
      Acoustic Guitar, Slide Guitar – Johan Lindström
      Bass – Stefan Olsson (4)
      Glockenspiel – Tommy Lydell
8.  Vem Kommer Såra Vem Ikväll - 4:32
       Backing Vocals – Anna Stadling
       Backing Vocals [& Male Solo] – Fred Johansson
       Synthesizer – Anders Glenmark
9.  Sista Valsen Med Dig - 5:52
       Lead Guitar – Johan Lindström
10.  Kvinnor Som Springer - 4:46
         Guitar – Anders Glenmark
         Lead Guitar [Wah Wah Solo] – Jonas Isacsson
         Other ["Flås"] – Fred Johansson


Companies, etc.


Credits


Recorded and mixed: spring/summer 96 at Polar Music Studios, Stockholm
Strings recorded at Sveriges Radio, studio 2
Drums on "Sista Valsen Med Dig" recorded at Cirkus, Djurgården

Notes
Released: Sep 23, 1996 
Country:  Sweden 
Genre:  Electronic, Rock 
Style:  Pop Rock, Synth-pop 
Length:  47:32
Label:  Anderson Records 

John Miles - Upfront (1993)

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Upfront is the eighth solo album of John Miles, released in 1993. It was his first album in eight years, due to being involved in several other projects, such as an album with Jimmy Page, an album with Joe Cocker, singing several tracks on albums by the Alan Parsons Project and touring with Tina Turner.

His 1st Solo Album for some years , as he was always in demand on other projects with Alan Parsons, Jimmy Page, Tina Turner's band
In fact it's the Tina Turner band members Jack Bruno ( Drums ) Ollie Marland (Keyboards) + Neil Stubenhaus ( Blood Sweat and Tears ) that are the nucleus of the band for this solo work .
It's a surprisingly good album, firmly AOR in sound and mid 90's in production, acouple are dated firmly into the 90's ( It's such a Mystery ), but the strength of songs and particularly the guitar and vocals from John Miles himself.
The bass playing in particular is well up in the mix and is played with some panache by Neil Stubenhaus (Barbra Streisand's and Quincy Jones' main bass player). 
It features the Miles penned song "Now That the Magic Has Gone"  which was recorded by Joe Cocker on his 1992 album 'Night Calls'. This alone is a shinning example of just how good, and sadly over-looked, song writer John Miles is. 
Just check out the opening track "Everything's OK" and you'll see why this is my 'discovery' of the year.


Tracklist

1.  Everything’s - 4:37
2.  Can’t Get Through - 4:34
3.  One More Day Without Love - 5:55
4.  Oh How The Years Go By - 4:59
5.  What Goes Around - 4:24
6.  Now That The Magic Has Gone - 5:38
7.  It’s Such A Mystery - 5:02
8.  Body Of My Brunette - 4:16
9.  Forever And Ever - 4:52
10. It’s Not Over Yet - 4:51
11.  Chains And Wild Horses - 4:29
12.  Absent Hearts - 5:55
13.  Pale Spanish Moon - 5:10


Companies, etc.

Credits

Notes
Released: 1993
Genre:  Rock
Style:  Soft Rock, Pop Rock
Length:  1:04:10

Label: EMI Germany 

Bonnie Tyler - Secret Dreams and Forbidden Fire (1986)

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Secret Dreams and Forbidden Fire is the sixth studio album by Welsh singer Bonnie Tyler, released in April 1986 by CBS/Columbia Records as the follow-up to her fifth studio album, Faster Than the Speed of Night (1983). 
Three years in the making, Secret Dreams and Forbidden Fire was executive-produced by Jim Steinman, who had produced Tyler's previous album. 
Seven singles were released from the album, with "Holding Out for a Hero" originally being released two years in advance on the movie soundtrack album Footloose. Tyler's album features collaborations with songwriters and guest artists including Desmond Child and Todd Rundgren. 

Not totally unique, Secret Dreams & Forbidden Fire nevertheless depicts a cool portrait of '80s pomposity. Producer/director Jim Steinman always kicks his records off in style, and the breathtaking, go-for-Baroque "Ravishing" is no exception. 
Building to "Livin' la Vida Loca," Desmond Child's songwriting ascent continues with "If You Were a Woman," which morphed into "You Give Love a Bad Name" for a certain Bon Jovi big shot. 
No having a cranium-blasting "Faster Than the Speed of Night" or chart-busting "Total Eclipse of the Heart" immediately makes Secret Dreams & Forbidden Fire substandard to the 1983 Steinman/Tyler collaboration. This power-keg feels a bit sleeker and more streamlined: a fighter plane instead of a luxury jumbo. 
The ubiquitous Footloose soundtrack showcased colossal closer "Holding Out for a Hero," so even that ditty doesn't prop this platter. 
Todd Rundgren (another member of this bizarre clique) joins his distinctively plain voice to Tyler's for a deranged duet on "Loving You's a Dirty Job but Somebody's Gotta Do It" (not the Ratt killer). "No Way to Treat a Lady" follows "Straight From the Heart" as an attempted Bryan Adams interpretation. 
Too much ado piled on top of the glittering "Band of Gold" almost breaks the back of a very sturdy song. Naturally the unsubtle Steinman production boasts an excess of everything, but somehow this secret dream needs a bit more fire. Not a bad pickup from the delete bins though.


Secret Dreams and Forbidden Fire - Vinyl edition

1.  Ravishing  (Jim Steinman) - 6:20
2.  If You Were a Woman (And I Was a Man)  (Desmond Child) - 4:46
3 . Loving You's a Dirty Job but Somebody's Gotta Do It (with Todd Rundgren)  (Steinman) - 7:28
4.  No Way to Treat a Lady  (Bryan Adams, Jim Vallance) - 4:23
5.  Band of Gold  (Edyth Wayne, Ronald Dunbar) - 5:40
6.  Rebel Without a Clue  (Steinman) - 8:30
7.  Lovers Again  (Child) - 4:13
8.  Holding Out for a Hero  (Steinman, Dean Pitchford) - 4:50

Technical and production

Instruments


Vocals

Visuals and imagery

Notes
Released:  7 April 1986 
Recorded: 1983–1986 
Genre:  Rock
Length:  46:10 (vinyl)
Producer(s):  Roy Bittan, Larry Fast, John Jansen, John Rollo, Jim Steinman (exec.)

Label - Columbia

The Beatles - Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band (50th Anniversary Edition) (4CD) (2017)

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Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band: 50th Anniversary Edition is an expanded reissue of the 1967 album Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band by the English rock band the Beatles. It was released on 26 May 2017, the album's 50th anniversary. It includes a new stereo remix of the album by Giles Martin, the son of Beatles producer George Martin.
The release was accompanied by the Apple Corps documentary Sgt. Pepper's Musical Revolution, televised on the BBC, PBS and Arte. Promotion included billboards posted in major cities around the world. The reissue garnered critical acclaim and topped the UK Albums Chart.

Somehow 50 years have come and gone since Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band was released. And unless you’ve been living in a cave (or have been too preoccupied with the intense political goings-on around the world in 2017), you probably know that The Beatles organization has done something special to commemorate that anniversary. 
The album has been re-mixed from the original source tapes by Giles Martin, the son and later assistant of Sir George Martin, The Beatles’ original producer. And it’s been released in a variety of packages containing various numbers of discs with new stereo and original mono mixes and a bunch of early takes and outtakes, a book and a DVD. (As I write this, Sgt. Pepper is No. 3 on the Billboard album chart, the first time it’s been in the top 3 since December 1967.)
Depending on your proclivities, either you’ve already bought at least one version of this set (probably the most deluxe), or you couldn’t care less, or you’re wondering if you really need one more version of a Beatles album that you’ve already bought at least twice, on vinyl and CD. This review is for you in that third group. And the answer is, yes, you need this.
It would be hard to overstate how important they were to me as a child, an adolescent, and a teenager. But though I loved some of the songs on Sgt. Pepper it was really as an adult that I first experienced it as an album, and it’s never been among my very favorites. 
I did go through an intensive period of listening to it after I first got it on CD in the ’90s, and now I find that its songs have etched themselves surprisingly deeply on my psyche. 
Well, not so surprisingly. 
John Lennon and Paul McCartney were at a peak of their creative powers in the months that they labored on this album, and the songs reflect that. Just about everybody can sing you a verse or two of “Lucy In The Sky With Diamonds,” “With A Little Help From My Friends” and “When I’m Sixty-Four,” but even with the deeper cuts like “Lovely Rita” and “Good Morning, Good Morning,” once you’ve heard them a time or two, you can’t forget them.

One of the reasons Sgt. Pepper was so revolutionary in 1967 was because of the way it was recorded. The problem was, they wanted to put far more stuff on each song than you could do with the equipment of the day. I don’t want to go into too much detail, but for various reasons what happened was that the bass and drums especially ended up being muted and dull. 
Also a lot more time was spent mixing the mono version than the stereo, and that afterthought of a stereo mix is what eventually was used for the original CD releases. But now instead of just tweaking those original mono and stereo mixes, Martin went back to the source tapes and used modern digital consoles to create entirely new mixes that he thinks more closely reflect the intent of the original musicians and producer.

I’m no audiophile but I am a longtime Beatles fan, and I’ve listened to these songs obsessively at times. And I’m blown away by this music all over again. 
Particularly the psychedelic soundscapes like those on “Being For The Benefit Of Mr. Kite!” and “A Day In The Life,” the latter of which still stands as one of the most towering achievements in recorded popular music of the 20th century. 
But even in much smaller ways. Like the drums. Ringo was my first favorite Beatle, and his drumming is absolutely unique and integral to the band’s sound. 
These recordings for the first time give it the prominence it deserves, with a clarity that is delightful. Those three big tom-tom bombs that introduce each chorus on “Lucy”? They really shake you. But it’s not just the big fills; you can now hear Starr’s subtle cymbal work and the steady heart-beat of his kickdrum during the verses. 
Likewise McCartney’s bass. It was always pushed to the back by studio tradition and policy and washed out in the overdubbing process, but now it stands out for all to hear what a joyfully creative bassman Paul was. 
And for the first time I’m also hearing John’s acoustic guitar strumming and other subtle details in this song, too.

The “super deluxe” edition that I’m reviewing comes with two discs of early takes, outtakes, orchestral tracks and such. I love having these bits, but then I’ve also read the books that contain details of every Beatles recording session. 
For a liner-note reader like me, these discs are like lifting up the hood of a Tesla and seeing how the magic happens. But even if you don’t enjoy listening to such things, it’s worth it to get a version of the set that contains the new 2017 mixes of the double-sided hit single associated with Sgt. Pepper, “Strawberry Fields Forever” b/w “Penny Lane.” 
Somehow over the years “Strawberry Fields” has become one of my absolute favorite Beatles songs, and this recording knocks me out. That said, one of the early takes of Lennon’s “Good Morning, Good Morning” totally changed my opinion about that song, entirely for the better.

I seem to have become a raving madman about Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band because of this box set. And to think that the 50th anniversaries of two albums I like a lot more, the so-called White Album and especially Abbey Road are still to come. 
I doubt that they can give such detailed attention to the sprawling four-sided White Album, but Abbey Road is ripe for the deluxe treatment. I can barely contain my anticipation.


Disc 1:  New Stereo Remix
1.  Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band (Remix) - 2:03
2.  With A Little Help From My Friends (Remix) - 2:45
3.  Lucy In The Sky With Diamonds (Remix) - 3:28
4.  Getting Better (Remix) - 2:47
5.  Fixing A Hole (Remix) - 2:38
6.  She's Leaving Home (Remix) - 3:26
7.  Being For The Benefit Of Mr. Kite! (Remix) - 2:39
8.  Within You Without You (Remix) - 5:08
9.  When I'm Sixty-Four (Remix) - 2:40
10.  Lovely Rita (Remix) - 2:46
11.  Good Morning Good Morning (Remix) - 2:34
12.  Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band (Reprise) - 1:21
13.  A Day In The Life (Remix) - 5:33

Disc 2:  Sgt. Pepper Sessions
1.  Strawberry Fields Forever (Take 1) - 2:40
2.  Strawberry Fields Forever (Take 4) - 3:00
3.  Strawberry Fields Forever (Take 7) - 3:17
4.  Strawberry Fields Forever (Take 26) - 3:19
5.  Strawberry Fields Forever (Stereo Mix 2015) - 4:10
6.  When I'm Sixty-Four (Take 2) - 2:59
7.  Penny Lane (Take 6 - Instrumental) - 2:57
8.  Penny Lane (Vocal Overdubs And Speech) - 1:46
9.  Penny Lane (Stereo Mix 2017) - 3:01
10.  A Day In The Life (Take 1) - 4:42
11.  A Day In The Life (Take 2) - 4:48
12.  A Day In The Life (Orchestra Overdub) - 0:54
13.  A Day In The Life (Hummed Last Chord - Takes 8, 9, 10 And 11) - 1:55
14.  A Day In The Life (The Last Chord) - 2:52
15.  Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band (Take 1 - Instrumental) - 2:34
16.  Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band (Take 9 And Speech) - 2:37
17.  Good Morning Good Morning (Take 1 - Instrumental Breakdown) - 1:04
18.  Good Morning Good Morning (Take 8) - 2:47

Disc 3:  Sgt. Pepper Sessions
1.  Fixing A Hole (Take 1) - 2:57
2.  Fixing A Hole (Speech And Take 3 - 3:28
3.  Being For The Benefit Of Mr. Kite! (Speech From Before Take 1 - Take 4 And Speech At End - 3:07
4.  Being For The Benefit Of Mr. Kite! (Take 7) - 2:34
5.  Lovely Rita (Speech And Take 9) - 3:04
6.  Lucy In The Sky With Diamonds (Take 1 And Speech At The End) - 3:40
7.  Lucy In The Sky With Diamonds (Speech, False Start And Take 5) - 4:06
8.  Getting Better (Take 1 - Instrumental And Speech At The End) - 2:19
9.  Getting Better (Take 12) - 2:45
10.  Within You Without You (Take 1 - Indian Instruments) - 5:33
11.  Within You Without You (George Coaching The Musicians) - 3:55
12.  She's Leaving Home (Take 1 - Instrumental) - 3:49
13.  She's Leaving Home (Take 6 - Instrumental) - 3:47
14.  With A Little Help From My Friends (Take 1 - False Start And Take 2 - Instrumental) - 3:17
15.  Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band (Reprise) (Speech And Take 8) - 1:59

Disc 4:  Sgt. Pepper in Mono
1.  Sgt Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band - 2:02
2.  With A Little Help From My Friends - 2:43
3.  Lucy In The Sky With Diamonds - 3:27
4.  Getting Better - 2:47
5.  Fixing A Hole - 2:34
6.  She's Leaving Home - 3:33
7.  Being For The Benefit Of Mr Kite! - 2:35
8.  Within You Without You - 5:04
9.  When I'm Sixty Four - 2:37
10.  Lovely Rita - 2:41
11.  Good Morning Good Morning - 2:41
12.  Sgt Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band (Reprise) - 1:17
13.  A Day In The Life - 5:18
14.  Strawberry Fields Forever - 4:05
15.  Penny Lane - 2:57

Bonus Tracks
16.  A Day In The Life (First Mono Mix) - 4:40
17.  Lucy In The Sky With Diamonds (Original Mono Mix - No. 11) - 3:47
18.  She's Leaving Home (First Mono Mix) - 3:37
19.  Penny Lane (Capitol Records Mono US Promo Mix) - 2:58


Companies, etc.

Credits

Notes
Released:  26 May 2017
Recorded:  24 November 1966 – 21 April 1967 Studio EMI and Regent Sound, London
Length: 99:59
Producer(s):  George Martin (Original recordings) / Giles Martin (Remix)

Label - Apple

Lonnie Liston Smith & The Cosmic Echoes - Astral Traveling (1973)

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Astral Traveling is the debut album by keyboardist Lonnie Liston Smith, featuring performances recorded in 1973 and released by the Flying Dutchman label.
One of Lonnie Liston Smith's most spiritual sessions, and the record that most clearly shows his roots with Pharoah Sanders! 
The vibe here is much more jazz-based than on some of Lonnie's other records for Flying Dutchman – with Smith playing as much acoustic piano as he does electric, using the former in long-spiralling lines that have a beautifully meditative quality, and which give the album a real Strata East-like sound. 
Mtume and Sonny Morgan play percussion, Cecil McBee plays bass, and the real star of the album may well be George Barron – who turns in some beautiful Sonny Fortune-like work on tenor and soprano sax!

Lonnie Liston Smith was 32 when, in 1973, he finally got around to recording his first album as a leader, Astral Traveling. 
By that time, the pianist/keyboardist had a great deal of sideman experience under his belt, and this superb debut made it clear that former employers like Pharoah Sanders, Rahsaan Roland Kirk, Gato Barbieri, and Betty Carter had taught him well. 
One hears a lot of Sanders, John Coltrane, and McCoy Tyner influence on Astral Traveling; Smith obviously shares their passion for all things spiritual. 
Nonetheless, this LP leaves no doubt that the improviser is very much his own man and has a wealth of brilliant ideas of his own; thankfully, he has a cohesive band to help him carry them out. 
On Astral Traveling, Smith's 1973 edition of the Cosmic Echoes includes George Barron on soprano and tenor sax, Joe Beck on guitar, Cecil McBee on bass, David Lee Jr. on drums, James Mtume and Sonny Morgan on percussion, Badal Roy on Indian tabla drums, and Geeta Vashi on the Indian tamboura. 
An impressive lineup, and one that shows a great understanding of Smith's spiritual nature. Ninety-five percent of the time, Astral Traveling is serene and tranquil; but on "I Mani (Faith)," the unexpected interesting happens when Barron goes outside during his sax solo and gets into the type of dissonant, forceful screaming one would expect from Albert Ayler or late-period Coltrane. 
"I Mani (Faith)" has a hauntingly peaceful melody, but Barron's out-of-left-field solo makes it the most avant-garde track that Smith ever recorded as a leader. 
Produced by the late Bob Thiele -- an eclectic heavyweight who worked with everyone from Coltrane, Ayler, and Charles Mingus to Coleman Hawkins, Count Basie, and Louis Armstrong -- Astral Traveling is among Smith's most essential and rewarding albums.

Tracklist

  1. "Astral Traveling" − 5:30
  2. "Let Us Go Into the House of the Lord" − 6:30
  3. "Rejuvenation" − 5:50
  4. "I Mani (Faith)" − 6:10
  5. "In Search of Truth" − 7:04
  6. "Aspirations" − 4:20
All compositions by Lonnie Liston Smith


Companies, etc.

Credits

Notes
Released: 1973 
Recorded: 1973 Studio New York City 
Genre:  Spiritual jazz 
Length:  39:12 
Producer:  Bob Thiele 

Label - Flying Dutchman

Luther Vandross - One Night With You: The Best Of Love, Volume 2 (1997)

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One Night with You: The Best of Love, Volume 2 (issued internationally without 'Volume 2') is the third compilation album released by American singer Luther Vandross, released on September 15, 1997, by Epic Records. 
It is his second compilation album to be released stateside, and is a continuation of his triple-platinum selling first compilation The Best of Luther Vandross... The Best of Love (1989). One Night with You contains four newly recorded songs including the R. Kelly-penned and Grammy-nominated "When You Call on Me/Baby That's When I Come Runnin'" and selections compiled from his later studio albums such as Songs (1994), This Is Christmas (1995), Never Let Me Go (1993), Power of Love (1991) and Your Secret Love (1996).

The album also contains his then-biggest pop hits such as "Power of Love/Love Power", an alternate club mix of "The Best Things in Life Are Free" (a duet with Janet Jackson from the Mo' Money soundtrack) and a cover of the Lionel Richie/Diana Ross recording "Endless Love" with Mariah Carey, which became his biggest hit on the Billboard Hot 100 peaking at number two. 
The album was moderately successful, reaching the top 50 of the Billboard 200 album chart and peaking inside the top 20 within the R&B Albums chart. One Night with You was certified platinum by the Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA) in 2021.

One Night with You picked up where Luther Vandross' first hits collection left off, including the R&B/pop Top Ten hits "Power of Love/Love Power," "Don't Want to Be a Fool," "The Best Things in Life Are Free," and "Endless Love," as well as the R&B Top Ten hits "Little Miracles" and "Your Secret Love." 
Also included was the Grammy-winning "Love the One You're With." Fans may have found the omission of some R&B hits in favor of Vandross' interpretation of Rodgers & Hammerstein's "My Favorite Things" questionable, and the four new songs, despite boasting the hot songwriting pens of Diane Warren, R. Kelly, and Jimmy Jam and Terry Lewis, did not generate any new hits of the kind that propelled Vandross' first hits album to triple-platinum status. 
Indeed, this second set was a sales disappointment. Maybe Vandross' fans already had these songs on the original albums. 
More likely, the album marked the end of his sometimes stormy relationship with Epic, and the company didn't push it.


Tracklist

1.  One Night With You (Everyday Of Your Life)   (Diane Warren) - 4:25
2.  When You Call On Me / Baby That's When I Come Runnin'   (R. Kelly) - 4:42
3.  It's All About You   (Ralph B. Stacy, Ron Neal & Dennis Bettis) - 5:29
4.  I Won't Let You Do That To Me   (Jimmy Harris III, Terry Lewis & James Wright) - 4:34
5.  Power Of Love / Love Power   (Luther Vandross, Marcus Miller & Teddy Vann) - 6:42
6.  Don't Want To Be A Fool  (Luther Vandross & Marcus Miller) - 4:36
7.  The Best Things In Life Are Free (Classic Club Edit)   (Jimmy Harris III, Terry Lewis, Ronnie DeVoe & Michael Bivins) - 4:03
8.  Little Miracles (Happen Every Day)   (Luther Vandross & Marcus Miller) - 4:43
9.  Endless Love   (Lionel Richie) - 4:20
10.  Always And Forever   (Rod Temperton) - 4:54
11.  Love The One You're With   (Stephen Stills) - 5:04
12.  Your Secret Love   (Luther Vandross & Reed Vertelney) - 4:12
13.  I Can Make It Better   (Luther Vandross & Marcus Miller) - 5:36
14.  Love Don't Love You Anymore (TM's Urban Mix)   (Luther Vandross) - 4:09
15.  My Favorite Things   (Richard Rodgers & Oscar Hammerstein II) - 5:56


Companies, etc.

Credits

Notes
Released: September 17, 1997 
Recorded: 1991–1997 
Genre: R&B, soul, pop, adult contemporary 
Producer(s): Luther Vandross, Nat Adderley Jr., Walter Afanasieff, Jimmy Jam and Terry Lewis, R. Kelly, Marcus Miller, David Morales, Tony Moran, Ralph Stacy, Keith Thomas, Jim Wright
Length: 73:25

Label - Epic

Leon Ware - Leon Ware (1982)

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Leon Ware is the second self-titled and overall fifth studio album by American musician Leon Ware, released in 1982. It was his second and final release for Elektra Records. The album was produced by Ware and Marty Paich.
This is the follow-up to 1981's much loved Rockin' You Eternally. While that effort had Ware engaged and willing to do rich and melodic work with no commercial consideration, Leon Ware more often than not seems to be overly concerned with making a big hit. 
Leon Ware was co-produced by Ware and the legendary Marty Paich. Although Paich had everyone from young Ella Fitzgerald to Boz Scaggs on his resumé, there wasn't much he could do with Ware. 
Paich also arranged the rhythm here, which is undoubtedly Ware's forte. That's not to say Leon Ware is a dismal failure -- far from it. The first track "Slippin' Away" is Ware's best track here but it's reminiscent of a so-so track from Earth, Wind & Fire's Faces. 
In fact, Leon Ware employs some of the same players and writers from that effort. 
The oddly peppy "Lost in Love With You" was no doubt aiming for the charts but it possesses little or nothing of what makes Ware musically special. 
The track that comes closest to Ware's style is "Deeper Than Love" despite its smoldering sax solos from Gato Barbieri; the song is a little overdone. Perhaps the most telling is the duet with Flora Purim, "Somewhere." 
The track's promise seems to evaporate with the intro. 
If Purim wasn't going to light a fire under the proceedings, no one could. Throughout this effort, Ware's sounds wan and hemmed in. 
Given the fact that this didn't include many great songs, Leon Ware isn't the best way to get acquainted with the artist.


Tracklist
  1. Slippin' Away  (David Foster, David Paich, Leon Ware) - 4:11
  2. Lost In Love With You  (Geoffrey Leib) - 3:52
  3. Shelter  (Allee Willis, Leon Ware) - 3:56
  4. Why I Came To California  (Janis Siegel, Leon Ware) - 4:10
  5. Deeper Than Love  (Leon Ware, Marcos Valle) - 3:23
  6. Can I Touch You There  (William Beck, Chet Willis, James Williams, Leon Ware) - 4:05
  7. Words Of Love  (Marti Sharron, Zenobia Conkerite) - 4:35
  8. Miracles  (Bill Champlin, Leon Ware) - 4:06
  9. Somewhere  (Laudir de Oliveira, Leon Ware, Marcos Valle) - 4:15
  10. Where Are They Now  (John Bettis, Richard Kerr) - 4:21

Musicians:

Production:

  • Leon Ware – producer
  • Marty Paich – producer, string and rhythm arranger
  • Sid Sharp – concert master
  • Jerry Hey – horn arranger
  • Allen Sides – recording engineer, mixing engineer
  • John Hanlon – overdub engineer, vocal engineer
  • Robin Laine, Mark Ettel – assistant engineer
  • Kathy Morphesis – designer
  • Ron Coro – art director
  • Bobby Holland – photographer
  • Isao Kikuchi – digital remastering engineer

Notes
Released: 1982 
Recorded: 1982 Studio Ocean Way, Los Angeles; The Village, Los Angeles 
Genre:  Soul, funk, R&B
Length:  41:23
Producer(s):  Leon Ware, Marty Paich

Label - Elektra