his best (Tuly, You are, My Love). the ones released after this get worse and worse.(dancing on the ceiling, All night long, Say You Say Me)

take this one instead

.
[Edited 6/13/08 15:23pm]

theAudience said:

As in "I no longer care about their new records". I think I got excited about the last Ritchie single, but only for a minute. Anyways, I just don't dig the Toto sound. It's extremely bland though technically accurate. I guess I have to acknowledge its preeminenvce in 80s West Coast pop, but I don't play these records much nowadays.
[Edited 6/13/08 9:52am]

vainandy said:

Aww hell naw vain. I overlooked your comment on dancing with the ceiling.
Am i gonna have to pull your funk card?
To me dancing on the ceiling was the worst song he's ever done.
Like soul alive stated that was the cheesiest song and video made.
If i recall the only decent song from that album was love will conquer
all. At least it resembled something he would have done with the commodores
a little.

SoulAlive said:

I agree with you on say say me but remember too he wrote that song specifically
for that gregory hines film(i think white nights). Yeah lionel seemed to leave
all his R&B roots behind on can't slow down. Yeah hello was barry manilowish
too but i liked penny lover a lot as well as the title track.

phunkdaddy said:

I think that Can't Slow Down was an album that was aimed at a "pop" audience...all the while keeping r&b fans happy. I hate to say it, but he did it. Most of the trax on the album were r&b with a pop feel (except Running With the Night, Hello and The Only One).

Now, to me, "Love Will Find A Way" is a true masterpiece. Lionel should make an album with the smooth jazz/r&b flavor to it. I think it would be successful (especially if he and Greg Phillengains works on it together).

Yeah i liked that one too(love will find a way).
I knew it was another song from that album i liked but
i just couldn't remember at the time.

daPrettyman said:

I agree,'Can't Slow Down' is definitely a "pop" album,but it's good pop.Lionel hadn't completely "soldout" at that point.There's still alot of R&B on that album.Someone compared it to MJ's 'Thriller'...it's very similiar to that album.A perfect blend of catchy pop and R&B."Love Will Find A Way" is the highlight,imo.It wouldn't have sounded out of place on a Frankie Beverly and Maze album....a truly soulful gem.

I was talking with my mother about Lionel Richie. She's from South Carolina, right on the Atlantic Coast (where Hurricane Hugo made landfall). Essentially she's a hillbilly; a black hillbilly. She loves country music, often a lot more than soul. A big fan of Kenny Rogers, Wilie Nelson and Charlie Pride. So she was huge on Lionel Richie's first solo albums and the one he produced for Rogers. She even points to a few Commodores songs, most noticeably "Still", that show the whole group had a fondness for country. Granted it was country close to pop, but that was the big trend of "new country" and Lionel fit in perfectly. "Penny Lover" is a perfect example.

Labelling him a sellout signals a disconnect: most r&b fans don't dig country, even though the "new" country sound is essentially r&b sung by mostly white people. There's no excusing how awful Dancing is, but if you listen to your Commodores albums you'll hear country strains. These guys are from Alabama, y'know.

PFunkjazz said:

I agree with u about the country influence. There are a LOT of black people in their 60s, and 70s that LOVE country music. Especially if they grew up in the south in small towns/communities.

I have an uncle that is one of the biggest Johnny Cash fans that you'll ever want to meet.

Lionel and the rest of the Commodores grew up in the south and were exposed to country. If you listen to all of those Commodores ballads (especially those at the end of side 1 and the end of side 2 on most of thier albums), they were country songs. Sail On, Still, Oh No, etc. are pretty much country songs.

I find myself being a "closet" country fan. I really love Brooks and Dunn, Trace Adkins, and Rascal Flatts.

I like the country-styled songs that Lionel wrote."Lady" by Kenny Rogers is one of my favorites,and I think Lionel's own song "Stuck On You" is excellent.I had no problem with the country influences at all

SoulAlive said:
The only decent song I could find on that album is "Love Will Conquer All" (a rip-off of the superior "Love Will Find A Way").[/quote]


To me, most of Lionel's slow songs sounded like superior rip offs of each other.