"The Real Thing" by The Brothers Johnson

Song#:  0652
Date:  06/27/1981
Debut:  81
Peak:  67
Weeks: 6
Genre:  R&B



Pop Bits:  The two Johnson brothers had four consecutive platinum albums including their popular 1980 effort "Light Up the Night," which featured the hit "Stomp!" (#7). All of these albums were produced by Quincy Jones and the Brothers seemed to have a good thing going. However, that came to an end with their next album "Winners," which the Brothers took on production duties themselves. The album failed to replicate the success of their previous albums and fell far short of expectations by not even reaching gold status. This single fell shy of the R&B Top 10 peaking at #11 and barely made a dent in the pop chart where it would be their final charting song. It was not a good start and further singles couldn't really get anywhere. The duo broke up briefly in 1982 but did put out a couple more albums before the decade was out, but the best they could manage were a couple of R&B Top 20 entries. This song basically ended the heyday for the duo.

ReduxReview:  Although not a bad song at all, it just doesn't have that same spark as some of their previous songs. After four discs with Jones, I'm sure they thought they were ready to branch out on their own, but I think Jones' guidance is missing here. It bops along pretty good, but it lacks something solid to latch onto like "Stomp!" had.

ReduxRating:  5/10

Trivia:  Two songs from the duo's debut album ended up being remade later by their producer. Quincy Jones' 1989 Grammy-winning Album of the Year LP "Back on the Block" featured the Brothers' songs "Tomorrow" and "I'll Be Good to You," which the Brothers took to #3 in 1976. The Quincy Jones version of "I'll Be Good to You" was performed by Ray Charles and Chaka Khan and it reached #18, while Tevin Campbell sang "Tomorrow" and reached #75.

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