Product Description:
Also available in a 3-pack with FOREVER, FOR ALWAYS, FOR LOVE and BUSY BODY.
Personnel: Luther Vandross (vocals); George Wadenius, Steve Love (guitar); Nat Adderly, Jr. (keyboards); Ed Walsh (synthesizer); Marcus Miller (bass); Buddy Williams (drums); Crusher Bennett (percussion); Bashiri Johnson, Billy King (congas); Cissy Houston, Tawatha Agee, Yvonne Lewis, Brenda White, Michelle Cobbs, Phillip Ballou, Sybil Thomas, Fonzi Thornton (background vocals).
Recorded at Media Sound, New York, New York. Includes liner notes by Brian Chin.
Digitally remastered by Joseph M. Palmaccio (Sony Music Studios, New York, New York).
Personnel: Luther Vandross (vocals); George Wadenius, Steve Love (guitar); Nat Adderly, Jr. (keyboards); Ed Walsh (synthesizer); Marcus Miller (bass); Buddy Williams (drums); Crusher Bennett (percussion); Bashiri Johnson, Billy King (congas); Cissy Houston, Tawatha Agee, Yvonne Lewis, Brenda White, Michelle Cobbs, Phillip Ballou, Sybil Thomas, Fonzi Thornton (background vocals).
Recorded at Media Sound, New York, New York. Includes liner notes by Brian Chin.
In hindsight, Luther Vandross's debut should be viewed as one of the most important R&B records of the 1980s. With its balance of slick, buoyant, uptempo numbers and lush, mid-tempo tunes, both of which are distinguished by Vandross's inimitably smooth voice and delivery, '81's NEVER TOO MUCH ushered in a distinctive brand of satin-sheeted, romantic R&B that carried throughout the rest of the decade and into the '90s and 2000s.
The writing, arrangements, and performances on the album are consistently strong, and many of the cuts made significant dents in the R&B charts (including the title track, which went to number one). Yet it is Vandross's treatment of the Bacharach-David song "A House Is Not a Home" that is the album's true highlight. Evocative, lonely, and heartbreaking, Vandross truly makes the song his own (besting even Dionne Warwick's popular version). Quiet Storm R&B gathered a lot of momentum in the early '80s; and Luther Vandross--as heard here-- was one of the best and most influential practitioners of the style.
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