LP Review: Switch
Released: 1978
LP Charts: #6 R&B, #37 pop
Hey, Switch finally started calling themselves Switch!
And thanks to the guidance of Jermaine Jackson, they got a deal with Motown Records. The big label promotion probably helped this album become their first successful release. Not that it was undeserved.
The first side of the album is really good. Its dominated by three ballads plus a dance floor filler. That floor-filler is “We Like To Party... Come On”, which sounds like a funky vestige of Switch’s days as White Heat/Hot-Ice.
As for the three ballads? Best stuff on this album, by far. And they come back-to-back-to-back. “I Wanna Be With You” commences the entire LP and is a midtempo ballad replete with sitar (or a guitar distorted and plucked to sound like a sitar). “There’ll Never Be” is a splendid ballad that verges on outright dance music at times, but is full-on jammer at all points. Particularly delightful is when Bobby DeBarge does his ad libs in the song’s final moments. “I Wanna Be Closer”, written by Jermaine Jackson, is the slowest of the three ballads and is duet primarily led by Phillip Ingram with help from DeBarge.
After that good Side 1, Side 2 swoops in very disappointingly. “Fever” is truly boring and is the worst song the band had ever recorded to this point. Thankfully, the midtempo funky “(You Pulled a) Switch” restores some joy to the album. It’s not great by any means, but sounds so coming on the heels of “Fever”. “It’s So Real” is a pleasant, if unremarkable, ballad. Definitely not on the level of Side 1’s material.
The album concludes on a mediocre note: “Somebody's Watchin' You”. Technically funky, it lacks any heart to my ear.
ALBUM GRADE: C+
Side 1 of this album is a damn good B/B+, while Side 2 is a mediocre C-. Really wish they had at least a couple more competent tracks for the back end, cuz that first side is real nice.
Well, the good news is that “There’ll Never Be” (#6 R&B, #36 pop) was a hit single, so hopefully that’d inspire the band to do more tracks in that song’s vein on their next Motown release.
Song Scores
I Wanna Be With You: 7/10
There’ll Never Be: 8/10
I Wanna Be Closer: 7.5/10
We Like To Party... Come On: 6.5/10
Fever: 3/10
(You Pulled a) Switch: 6.5/10
It’s So Real: 6/10
Somebody's Watchin' You: 5/10