I'm not talkin about Ghostbusters, I talkin about Ray Parker Jr. and Raydio: Jack and Jill, A Woman Needs Love and The Other Woman

or

Miss El Debarge with Who's Holding Donna Now, In a Special Way, and All This Love

Love them Both,but I gotta go with El. I remember The Last Dragon and Rhythm Of The Night. I always thought he was Mad Cute. He always reminded me of Prince.

Eldra! and if u throw in chico eye'de b very happy!

El DeBarge.Love Always is a great song.

El Debarge and his brothas...and light skinneded men still aren't in style but...

El Debarge just for the fact He was a Better Artist Overall IMHO than Ray Parker Jr.though Ray was a Badd Ass Session Cat.

Oh man this is a difficult one!

Hmm, El Debarge because he was in Fourplay with some of the greatest session musicians on the planet (in which "Stay With Me" has become a legendary sample!) and :I: personally loved his "Gemini" album too.

4get "Rhythm Of The Night", it is a feel-good track but when he did a Sting (a.k.a Gordon Sumner) and broke solo, that's when we noticed ol' Eldra!

Ray Parker Jr. is (un4tunately) as underrated a session musician as Narada Michael Walden.

He is an amazing guitarist and the "After Dark" album has some classic moments and in my view, demonstrated an early form of sampling or interpolation...

Let me give U a couple of examples...

1. "I Don't Think That Man Should Sleep Alone
sounds suspiciously similar 2 Patti Austin's "The Heat Of Heat"

and

2. "You Make My Nature Dance"
has certain elements of Cameo's "Back and forth"

nevertheless, El and Ray are 2 amazing artists and in Ray's case, successful session musician 2 boot.


'dre

Ray Parker Jr. All The Way! I was certain Ray was going to be the next George Clinton, but he really fell-off with Ghostbuster's! He may have made a lot of money with that song, but I feel a lot of hardcore funkster's (like me) lost respect for him when he did that one. "Ghostbuster's" was NOT funky AT ALL. Loved the movie, loved Ray Parker Jr., but the two were not a marriage made in heaven.

Always absolutely HATED all the Debarge's! I wanted to slap them all and tell them to get some BASS in their voice! LOL. Seriously.

Gotta go with Ray Parker Jr. on this one.Both artists are extremely talented,but Ray simply has more great songs that I love.Here's a list of my favorite songs by both guys...


EL DeBarge---
"I Like It"(1982)
"All This Love"(1982)(I never get tired of this gem!!!)
"Time Will Reveal"(1983)
"Love Me In A Special Way"(1983)
"A Dream"(1983)
"Stay With Me"(1983) (Biggie & Ashanti sampled this song)
"Single Heart"(1985)
"Who's Holding Donna Now"(1985)
"Love Always" El DeBarge solo (1986)
"Someone" El DeBarge solo (1986)
"Broken Dreams" El DeBarge solo (1988)


Ray Parker Jr.---
"Jack And Jill"(1978)
"More Than One Way To Love A Woman"(1979)
"You Can't Change That"(1979)
"Two Places At The Same Time"(1980)
"Tonight's The Night"(1980)
"For Those Who Like To Groove"(1980)
"Until The Morning Comes"(1980)
"A Woman Needs Love (Just Like You Do)" (1981)
"It's Your Night"(1981)
"The Other Woman"(1982)
"Street Love"(1982)
"Bad Boy"(1983)
"I Still Can't Get Over Loving You"(1983)
"Jamie"(1985)
"I Don't Think That Man Should Sleep Alone"(1987)
"Over You" with Natalie Cole (1987)
"Perfect Lovers"(1987)
"After Dark"(1987)
"You Shoulda Kept A Spare"(1987)


As Dre mentioned,Ray Parker Jr.s 1987 album 'After Dark' is a classic and if you've never heard it,you should hunt it down.It's his strongest,most consistent solo album,imo.
[This message was edited Thu Oct 31 4:05:19 PST 2002 by DavidEye]

Drezone

love your reasoning. I was not a big Eldra fan but did like his solo album with the Prince cut 'Tip o my tongue' and when he hooked up with Quincy on Secret Garden,

Ray has been quiet for some time, i did go to his website and they say he has some new music coming soon. I think he has the smoothest, sultry voice and The Other Woman is too funky.

thanks all for voting, looks like El is leading the race so i have to put a vote in for Ray Parker

I really dig El DeBarge,but he lost something in 1985 when they released that corny "Rhythm Of The Night" song.That song is Top 40 pop crap.I remember seeing him on a 1986 episode of "The Facts Of Life" singing the equally limp "You Wear It Well".Fortunately,he continued to release some great solo singles after that,but he never re-captured the soulfulness of his earlier songs like "All This Love".

Ray Parker for all those jams mentioned...and his session work which isnt widely known by the public and especially for For Those Who Like To Groove...but El is a badass alone just for I Like It and hes related to Switch members ( I Call Your Name-They'll Never Be).

He is an amazing guitarist and the "After Dark" album has some classic moments and in my view, demonstrated an early form of sampling or interpolation...

Let me give U a couple of examples...

1. "I Don't Think That Man Should Sleep Alone
sounds suspiciously similar 2 Patti Austin's "The Heat Of Heat"

and

2. "You Make My Nature Dance"
has certain elements of Cameo's "Back and forth"


3. ghostbusters-when this song came on the radio i could never tell if it was ghostbusters or i want a new drug by huey lewis and the news, i think huey took jr. 2 court over this and won.

gemini319 said:

I remember hearing about this. They were practically the same song!

El Debarge had some decent Albums.Ray Parker Jr had some Jams but after a While He Jacked any&everything IMHO after a while.Ray was never the same after the "GhostBusters" Jack.Ray Gets Props from Me for Playing with Dizzy&Marvin Gaye as a Kid.but as a Artist after He split from Raydio with the Exception of a Few Jams He just basically Pulled a Puffy.

I think El dropped a couple brain cells with Short Circuit's 'Who's Johnny'. After Secret Garden with Quincy, what has he been doing. Just curious

jthad1129 said:

El worked with 4 Play,Quincy Jones again,DJ Quik among others.El had too Pay the bills&Play The Motown&Corporate Game.the Guy has Skills.

jthad1129 said:

After the 1989 Quincy Jones hit "Secret Garden",El signed to Warner Bros. Records and went into the studio with EW&F leader Maurice White.The resulting album 'In The Storm' was released in 1991.It contained the hit "You Know What I Like" (a duet with the then-unknown Chante Moore).The album also contained a Prince-witten jam called "Tip O'My Tongue".

After that,he went into the studio with Babyface and released another Warner Bros. album in 1994.I haven't heard of any other albums,but he still continues to tour regularly.There have rumors of a DeBarge family reunion,but it never seems to materialize.

gemini319 said:

My word ! Just heard Huey Lewis' version... it might as well B the same track... heavy!!!

'dre

debarge

Ray Parker Jr.

DreZone said:

Huey Lewis got a Nice Compensation Check.Ray Parker JR. has Jacked alot of Tracks but this one got Him Busted.I Dug His Raydio Stuff better&His Session Work.but He got Corny as a Artist especially after this IMHO.

El DeBarge