Top 10 Alert!
Grammy Alert!
Song#: 0496 Date: 02/14/1981
Debut: 83
Peak: 2
Weeks: 24
Genre: R&B, Smooth Jazz
Pop Bits: Saxophonist Washington was already a successful jazz/soul musician and one of the forerunners of what would become smooth jazz. From 1972 to 1978, he had seven straight #1 jazz albums with two of them hitting #1 R&B and two reaching #10 on the pop album chart. He would end up having six more #1 jazz albums, but his peak moment was his 1980 album "Winelight," which contained this single that featured the vocals of Bill Withers ("Lean on Me," #1, 1972). The song stayed at #2 for three weeks and it lifted the album to #5. Co-written by Withers, the song went on to with the Grammy for Best R&B Song.
ReduxReview: The single version is really just a Bill Withers jam with Washington only playing in the mid-section and at the end. The full 7+ minute album version has a much longer Washington solo that fills it out. Regardless, it's a silky smooth song that is hard to resist.
ReduxRating: 7/10
Trivia: In addition to the Grammy for Best R&B Song, the song was nominated for Record of the Year and Song of the Year, and Withers was nominated for Best Pop Vocal, Male. The "Winelight" album also won for Best Jazzy Fusion Performance.
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9/10 for me, this is one of the rare songs where I prefer the single version over the album version, especially when I want to listen to this song but don't have a lot of time on my hands, the album version is great but I often find myself choosing the single version.
ReplyDeleteChart Run: 83 - 65 - 41 - 34 - 27 - 23 - 8 - 7 - 5 - 4 - 4 - 2 - 2 - 2 - 3 - 7 - 8 - 11 - 35 - 44 - 58 - 67 - 86 - 98
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