LP Review: Spirit Of Love
Released: 1980
LP Charts: #7 R&B, #30 pop
Spirit of Love is Con Funk Shun’s final gold album and, for whatever it’s worth, my favorite LP from the band as the group ambitiously decides to sprawl their sound over 40 minutes and 10 songs.
As usual, they waste no time getting to the funky groove with the opening “Got To Be Enough” (#8 R&B). The song is a little softer and more discoey than their previous lead singles. All of that doesn’t mean the song ain’t funky, though. Michael Cooper explicitly commands “get funky with me” during the song’s extended outro. It’s not an empty demand. The bass work sees to that you heed Cooper’s call. (Another good song focusing on the bass is “Curtain Call”.)
Spirit of Love has the strongest set of ballads (and ballad-adjacent material) in the band’s oeuvre. “By Your Side”, “All Up To You”, and “Honey Wild” all surpass the standard Con Funk Shun slow and midtempo songs we’ve seen thus far over their career.
However, “Juicy” takes it up a notch higher with its sweet, sexy sax.
And heaven help you when “Early Morning Sunshine” and “Spirit Of Love” show up back-to-back on this album. The former is mostly instrumental with the only vocals being heavenly repeats of the phrase “early morning sunshine, feeling good in my mind.” The soft, cloudy synthesizers of that song soon give way to the effervescent “Spirit of Love”, which has an acoustic piano intro that slowly builds up into a charging burst of glee that’s led by thumping drums, pounding piano, and triumphant horns. I will be the firs to admit this song might be too sappy for some, but Michael Cooper’s growls give the song a gospel fervor that keeps it on the right side of sweet for me.
Guess I should also mention “Happy Face” and “Lovestruck 1980”. Both are perfectly good uptempo disco-funk.
ALBUM GRADE: A-
Besides having really good and great songs, Spirit of Love has a flow. The sequencing is pretty much flawless as the sound deftly shifts from slap-bass funk to disco-funk to yacht pop to ballads and back again. That’s what gets this album over the hump into A territory.
Song Scores
Got To Be Enough: 8/10
By Your Side: 7/10
Curtain Call: 7.5/10
Early Morning Sunshine: 8.5/10
Spirit Of Love: 8.5/10
Happy Face: 7/10
All Up To You: 6.5/10
Juicy: 7.5/10
Honey Wild: 7/10
Lovestruck 1980: 7/10