LP Review: Candy
Released: 1979
LP Charts: #7 R&B, #46 pop
Candy finds the intrepid seven-man band Con Funk Shun still going strong with a solid blend of funk and soul.
After a needless intro (“Fire When Ready”), the album starts jammin’ HARD with the absurd “Chase Me”. A smash on the R&B charts (it reached #4) “Chase Me” is handled ably by Felton Pilate on the verses, but it’s Michael Cooper’s handling of the chorus that makes this song so crazy. His growl/yell of chase me is unlike anything I’ve heard before or since.
And shout out to Paul Harrell for his fantastic flute solo on the bridge.
After what is easily the most aggressive funk song ever released by Con Funk Shun, the group drops the saccharine “Not Ready”. The dreamy strings on the song captured my attention first, but subsequent listens over the years always draw my ears to the exquisite, understated bass work of Cedric Martin.
The tempo picks back up with “Da Lady” and “Candy”. The former maintains the strings but has some zloppy (yes, I made that word up) synth bass while the latter kind of reverses the template of “Chase Me”. On this one, Cooper gets most of the verses while Pilate floats on the chorus. It works really well. Martin kills it on bass once more, FYI.
Well, now it’s time for the song that kept this album from a strong B+ rating: “(Let Me Put) Love On Your Mind”.
On the one hand, I am glad the band didn’t have your standard boring Pilate ballad and they got a little ambitious.”Love On Your Mind” has a screeching electric guitar and a sweeping string arrangement over a slow funk ballad groove. Unfortunately, the song is less than the sum of its parts. All of these pieces don’t quite cohere over the six-minute runtime. I don’t hate the song by any means, but it’s a clear step below the other tracks on Candy.
“Main Slice” is mindless pop-funk and the closing instrumental “Images” is resplendent. Perfect for watching the sunset. If someone asks you for an old school R&B groove, look no further than “Images”.
ALBUM GRADE: B+
Con Funk Shun’s third straight gold album and well deserved. The only hiccup is “(Let Me Put) Love On Your Mind” and even that song isn’t a total misstep. Everything else is actively engaging and enjoyable. And its consistency gets a bump up from a B grade to B+.
Song Scores
Chase Me: 7.5/10
Not Ready: 7.5/10
Da Lady: 7.5/10
Candy: 7.5/10
(Let Me Put) Love On Your Mind: 6/10
Main Slice: 7/10
Images: 7.5/10