all night long

so here's the thing: this morning i'm sitting at my desk scratching out a few details for work and itunes grants me a gift i forget every so often- lionel richie.

the song that came on was "stuck on you," an honest little ballad that goes straight to the point. in much of the music made today bands dawdle around trying to find out how to say something before considering what it is they have to say. i don't mind it too terribly much but it's nice to remember that sometimes (and quite often as far as motown goes) there's an artist who really goes for the juggular of whatever it is he's feeling at the time.

the rub is that with lionel, much of his solo work was tempered by his undying love for his wife, brenda, who played the muse for richie in most of his classic hits, both in and out of the commodores. of course, when that fell apart, so did his music. but the fact remains that richie accomplished over and over again in a couple hundred syllables what bands like tool can't touch in a half million.

i'll grant you that entirely too many of richie's songs (not unlike other pop gods of the eighties michael jackson and prince) were played to death in every venue available to the labels and studios. it took years afterwards before i could listen to most of it again, but when i did i discovered that unlike most of today's hitmakers, richie wrote quite a song, blending latin beats with funk with soul with pure pop balladry seemlessly. it's true that alot of it is tapered with a sometimes "too eighties" feel to his songs, but it's not as true as you might think. a large chunk of his music has a quality that is more than just a little timeless.

on the phone with a friend of mine, this turned into a whole ordeal.

"i don't like that eighties stuff," he said.
"i'm not talking generically about the eighties, i'm talking about lionel richie."
"it's all the same to me."
"then it sounds like the problem with the situation is you."
"maybe so."

okay, maybe i was a little harsh, but in today's world of emotions so complex they make the middle east look like a problem solomon could have solved by chopping a baby in half, it's nice to find someone who can go for the gold in as few words as possible. he avoids the long-winded tendencies so popular among today's bands like it's a plague on music itself. and i find that enormously refreshing. i guess i'm on my way.

so do yourself a favor today and put on a little richie. it doesn't really matter which one, just put it on. admire the honesty, admire the precision with which he hones his craft, and maybe dance just a little, even if just in your seat.

i told a friend of mine once, long ago that "if you don't like lionel richie, i don't like you." and that went too far, but i will say that if you can't respect him, i can't respect you.

now go listen to it before you forget how pure the emotions of a human being can be. then, just to balance it out, put on MC eiht's "straight up menace".

2006-05-05 | 3:47 p.m.
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