"Just For the Moment" by Ray Kennedy

Song#:  0152
Date:  05/03/1980
Debut:  89
Peak:  82
Weeks:  3
Genre:  Pop, Adult Contemporary



Pop Bits:  As a tenor sax player, Kennedy got his first steady gigs with famous jazz musicians such as Gerry Mulligan and Dizzy Gillespie. But by 1962 he was done with the jazz lifestyle and moved to playing with rock n' roll artists like Fats Domino and Wilson Pickett. His first solo album in 1970 didn't go anywhere and in the mid-70s he found himself part of a mini rock "supergroup" called KGB, which featured Mike Bloomfield and Carmine Appice. The group called it quits after two unsuccessful albums and Kennedy returned to solo work releasing a self-titled album in 1980. The album failed to chart but this single made a brief appearance.

ReduxReview:  I had never heard of Kennedy and was kind of jazzed by his background, especially his co-writing credits (see below). So I looked forward to hearing his own chart song. Oh, what a disappointment. This huge slice of AC cheese, made worse by a horrible arrangement, plays like the closing credit theme to a bad 80s rom-com. That kind of makes sense since David Foster produced the album. He is obviously a talented musician with the ability to write a good tune, but this one ain't it.

ReduxRating:  3/10

Trivia:  Double Shot!  1) Kennedy co-wrote "Sail On, Sailor" (#79 in 1973 and #49 in 1975) along with two hits by The Babys, "Isn't It Time" (#13 in 1977) and "Every Time I Think of You" (#13 in 1979).  2) Around 1960, Kennedy was a dancing regular on American Bandstand. Dick Clark would go on to pay him to mimic playing sax for artists that would perform on the show.

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