LP Review: Masterjam
Released: 1979
LP Charts: #1 R&B (2 weeks); #14 pop
And we’re back together again! Rufus and Chaka Khan!
AS THE RUFUS TURNS (where we keep track of band members)
Kevin Murphy (keyboards)
Chaka Khan (vocals)
Tony Maiden (guitar and vocals)
Bobby Watson (bass)
John Robinson (drums)
David “Hawk” Wolinski (keyboards and vocals)
But things ain’t the same as before.
Chaka Khan’s solo album had been a smash being certified gold. Rufus’s album sans Chaka had pretty much bombed.
I noted that on their previous collaboration, Street Player, that Rufus & Chaka Khan often sounded like they were imitating a Quincy Jones production. Well, shit, they went and got Quincy to actually produce Masterjam. And when you got Quincy Jones, you got a production sheen that cannot be washed or cleaned off, for better or worse.
Triumphantly for the band, however, the album’s big hit was written by David “Hawk” Wolinski. “Do You Love What You Feel” (#1 R&B, #30 pop, #5 disco) is midtempo dance music performed by professionals to the point of almost feeling mundane. However, there’s a really catchy beep beep noise and Khan and Tony Maiden really do give it their all in the vocals… despite the vocals being mixed kind of low in the track.
And Hawk was feeling himself on the next track, “Any Love” (#24 R&B, #5 disco). Although not as big a hit, it’s the better song, in my opinion. It fully goes all in on cynical disco, which was increasingly becoming a thing by 1979. Some partygoers and music critics were tiring of the pretensions that came along with some of club culture’s exclusionary excess. Anyhoo, the bass thumps, the strings stab menacingly, and there are little blips and quips of synthesizers from Hawk that reward close listening during the break down.
The splendid “Heaven Bound” sounds like the template for early 1990s British R&B/funksters like the Brand New Heavies and Lisa Stansfield. Despite being another midtempo track, it packs some serious energy as the horns sway with sass and the guitar is crisp as an autumn breeze. Oh and Chaka sounds crystal clear; as if her voice had been cleaned with Windex.
Well that was a fun three songs cuz the next three are relative let downs. “Walk the Rockway” is some insipid nonsense courtesy of Maiden, who wrote and sings the song.
Quincy Jones’s partner in writing/production Rod Temperton provides his first song on this album with “Live in Me”, which you could tell was a Temperton tune right off the bat. Has that struttin’ beat and trilling rhythm guitar often found in his old band Heatwave’s music. Things stay in a semi-rut with a cover of Jones’s “Body Heat”, first recorded in 1974.
Finally, we get back into a real groove with “I’m Dancing For Your Love” which has Maiden totally solo on the lead vocals. The mild-mannered song is the one where I really do think we have solid proof that Quincy Jones did not fully credit some folks on this album. Only Chaka and Maiden are credited with vocals on this entire LP, but the backup singers here sure sound A) more numerous than just those two and B) not solely like just those two.
And if we have some uncredited vocalists, we probably have uncredited musicians.
Quincy probably evading the tax man or record company rules.
“What Am I Missing?” is a slinky slow funker that I think deserved more loud electric guitar. “Masterjam” is the most Quincy Jones sounding song. Woulda been right at home on a Brothers Johnson LP.
ALBUM GRADE: B-
An album that benefits and suffers from the standardized quality of Quincy Jones. You were never getting bad album out of him, but he could also drown out the uniqueness of the artist he was producing. Which is kind of what happened here, but it is a good album.
Hell, I bought the thing without hesitation when I saw it at the record store.
Song Scores
Do You Love What You Feel: 7.5/10
Any Love: 8/10
Heaven Bound: 8.5/10
Walk the Rockway: 5/10
Live In Me: 6/10
Body Heat: 6/10
I’m Dancing For Your Love: 7/10
What Am I Missing?: 7/10
Masterjam: 6.5/10