Friday 28 August 2009

Rufus Featuring Chaka Khan “Rags To Rufus”

Rufus Featuring Chaka Khan

Rags To Rufus
( LP ABC Records, 1974 )
Catalog # ABCL-5052

Tracklisting:
A1 You Got The Love (4:39)
A2 I Got The Right Street (3:17)
A3 Walkin’ In The Sun (3:02)
A4 Rags To Rufus (4:05)
A5 Swing Down Chariot (4:24)
B1 Sideways (1:55)
B2 Ain’t Nothin’ But A Maybe (3:36)
B3 Tell Me Someting Good (4:40)
B4 Look Through My Eyes (3:13)
B5 In Love We Grow (3:38)
B6 Smokin’ Room (4:20)

Personnel &Credits:
Backing Vocals – Al Ciner , Andre Fischer, Chaka Khan,
Dennis Belfied, Kevin Murphy, Ron Stockert
Bass – Dennis Belfied
Drums – Andre Fischer
Engineer – Don Sciarotto , Tony Sciarotto
Featuring – Chaka Khan
Guitar – Al Ciner
Keyboards – Ron Stockert
Lead Vocals – Chaka Khan , Ron Stockert
Mastered By – Vic Zaslow
Organ, Clavinet – Kevin Murphy
Photography – Arthur Lee Hanson
Producer – Bob Monaco
Producer, Arranged By – Rufus

Notes:
Recorded at Quantum Studios, Torrance, California.
Mastered at ABC Recording Studios.

Review:
In many respects the group seems to be feeling their way through this. Luckily, Rags to Rufus does feature some can’t-miss propositions. The great rock and funk mix of “You’ve Got the Love” all but sums up what Chaka Khan was going to be doing for the long haul. The biggest hit here, “Tell Me Something Good,” is a rare instance of an artist like Stevie Wonder giving away a tune that he could have had a big hit with himself. That being said, it was Khan’s playful and sensual vocal that put it over the top. The songs that veer from the formula suffer the most on Rags to Rufus. The cutesy “I Got the Wrong Street” and the saccharine “Walkin’ the Sun” are duds. Even early on, Khan needed songs that were complicated either lyrically or musically. On Ashford & Simpson’s “Ain’t Nothin’ but a Maybe,” Khan displays the maturity and knowing that it took to make the song have that much more emotional weight. Rags to Rufus ends on a relaxing note with the tracks, “Look Through My Eyes,” “In Love We Grow,” and the sultry “Smoking Room.” This album is far from perfect, but it’s certainly representative of the band’s gifts and Khan’s vocal power.
By Jason Elias (AMG)

I TOTALLY disagree with the review – this album is more than PERFECT – it’s interstellar, and one of my favourite LPs from my favourite band. The only other LP to match this is ‘Ask Rufus’, which has a totally different flavour since Al Ciner (superb guitarist) had long left the band and Claire Fischer introduced those now legendary string arrangements. Plus this is where I first got into soul hearing ‘Tell me something’ on the radio and rushed out to buy the LP hot off the presses, only to find ‘You got the love’ to be even funkier !! This LP runs the gamut of soul styles, with only ‘right street’ being weak melodically (great lyrics though). It’s hard to believe how fresh and awesome little Chaka was back then with no track record (save one dodgy Rufus LP).
Absolutely essential, Celo – and the real brilliance are those deft touches and that no two verses play the same, something so untypical today!
By Trakbuv (Funk My Soul blog)

By Celo

1 comment:

aggregate to the funk said...

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