40 Year Itch : Stevie's Ladies

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   Just months after winning five Grammys, Stevie Wonder was lending his hit-making magic to the ladies in his life. Under the pseudonym El Toro Negro, Wonder produced Minnie Riperton's comeback album as well as her biggest hit "Lovin' You". The story is, with a song short of a full album, Wonder asked Minnie and husband Richard Rudolph for their most embarrassing song. Minnie immediately thought of the bedtime lullaby she sang to daughter Maya (Rudolph of SNL fame): the US #1 hit "Lovin' You". 

Perfect Angel offers more than sweet ballads showcasing Minnie's epic range. There are two Wonder-penned tunes ( "Perfect Angel", "Take a Little Trip"), a rocker (" Reasons") and a great Summertime jam called "Seeing You This Way".

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  Stevie Wonder gave away a sure-fire hit when he met LA funksters Rufus working on their second album.   He liked their recording of  "Maybe Your Baby" on the Rufus debut. Wonder first offered Rufus " Come and Get This Stuff" but Chaka Khan wasn't impressed. So Wonder offered " Tell Me Something Good", which he also produced. He had to convince Chaka Khan to sing the song in his key...which she did in one take. The result is a #3 hit.

   Watching the video, you'll see why Chaka Khan dominated the spotlight. That didn't necessarily sit well with the other members. Many left after the recording was finished. Too bad! Rags to Rufus has more going for it than the hit single. There's the Chaka penned "You Got the Love" and deep cut favorite  "Smokin' Room".

Wonder wrote "Until You Come Back To Me ( That's What I'm Gonna Do" in 1967 but handed it off to Aretha Franklin who hit #3 with the tune. 1974 wasn't much of a year for the Queen of Soul. For the first time ever, She failed to deliver an Atlantic album into the Top 40. On the bright side, Aretha shed 40 pounds thanks to a vinegar and honey diet and replaced her African robes with foxy outfits. 

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Last but not least is the album Stevie Wonder produced for and with his ex-wife Syreeta Wright. Among the songs ( there's more smooth soul than funky butt soul here)  are three UK hits and "Come And Get Your Stuff, the tune Chaka Khan turned down. Side Two features an Abbey Road like medley. Because all of the songs were written--or co-written-- by Wonder, his biggest fans say this album, falling between Innervisions and Fulfillingness' First Finale.

1974's Sexiest Album Covers

America's largest record retailer, Sears,  refused to stock Buffy Saint-Marie's MCA debut Buffy because she exposes a breast on the album cover. Buffy said the photo " is a good-natured protest against gloom, as well  as support for any woman's right to take off her own shirt". In that spirit here are a few more of 1974's sexiest album covers.

So scandalous a cover that future American printings only showed the evergreen trees.

Is that hose supposed to represent something?

 Hard rockin' Slavs.

Mood music from popular -tho cheesy- Italian sax player

Chaka Khan is one of the decade's sexiest frontwomen

Robert Palmer's debut, backed by the Meters

The single, "Le Sud", sold a million copies. 

Jimmy Cliff may have been a breast man in the mid 70's

Cannonball Adderly's horoscope influenced horror

When they weren't  playing with George Harrison and Joni Mitchell, they were laying down a groove for future hip hop stars.

German prog

Hard rocking Brits

One of soul's sexiest singers of the decade

Italian singer's debut featured a memorable gatefold

40 Year Itch: Sensational Late Summer Soul

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In August of 1973 Hi recording artist Ann Peebles released her biggest selling single " I Can't Stand the Rain", which peaked at #38 on the pop charts. She wrote it with future husband Don Bryant and a DJ named Bernard Miller.  John Lennon called it "the best song ever."

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Another great Hi recording artist, Syl ( "Is It Because I'm Black?") Johnson hit the R and B charts in 1973 with the title track from Back For A Taste of Your Love, an album produced by Willie Mitchell who worked on all of the Al Green masterpieces. In 1975 the Mitchell-Johnson team would record the classic "Take Me To The River".

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The most important thing about Rufus's low-key debut is the band's decision to record Stevie Wonder's "Maybe Your Baby." Wonder liked the way Chaka Khan sang it so much, he walked into the studio and presented them with "Tell Me Something Good". Their biggest hit would peak at #3 in 1974.

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Earth Wind and Fire's fourth album, Head to the Sky, features the transcendent "Evil", one of 1973's greatest singles in my opinion. The sister on the cover is singer Jessica Cleaves who would leave after this album and eventually join George Clinton's Brides of Funkenstein. 

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With Thom Bell producing, Ronnie Dyson recorded One Man Band which featured one of the Summer of '73's greatest love song " I Just Don't Want To Be Lonely" (#60 pop, #29 R and B). The Main Ingredient would make this a Top 10 hit in 1974.

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One of Aaron Neville's greatest singles is a laid back funk classic. Paul Weller covered this on one of his first solo tours. Like the horns?  They're a top of the hat to John Coltrane's "Minor Blues"

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The Four Tops had already left Motown and recorded their big hit "Ain't No Woman ( Like the One I Got)" in 1972. This follow-up hit #15 for ABC-Dunhill. It appeared on the Shaft in Africa soundtrack.