Inspiration And Influences - The Commodores

A band who were great playing funk, soul, country, jazz and creating massive pop hits!

Clayton Craddock's Deep Cuts

Jan 01, 2023

My New Year’s resolutions:

1) Grow an Afro.

2) Wear armbands onstage wherever I play.

3) Get a jumpsuit with reflecting shoulder pads to ward off all enemies.

4) Form a funk band as good as these guys

5) Learn how to create intellectual property to get me paid in perpetuity like Lionel Ritchie. What an incredible songwriter.

I remember this live album because I listened to it all the time, and played along to it when I was an 11-year-old kid learning to play the drums. I never knew there was footage of this show. It’s so cool to see.

Houston was the spot for live concert footage and audio back in the 70s.

The group members mainly met as first-year students at Tuskegee Institute (now Tuskegee University) in 1968 and signed with Motown in November 1972. They went on tour opening for The Jackson 5 for over two years, but the group's most successful period was in the late 1970s and early 1980s when Lionel Richie was a co-lead singer.

Their 1976 songs "Sweet Love" and "Just to Be Close to You" were just the beginning of their hit streak. In 1977, the Commodores released "Easy," which became the group's biggest hit. "Easy" reached #4, followed by "Brick House," also top 5. They scored a number-one hit in 1978 with "Three Times a Lady." The band had another top-five in 1979 with "Sail On" and reached the top of the charts again with "Still." In 1981 they had two top-ten hits: "Oh No" (No. 4) and "Lady (You Bring Me Up)."

Lionel Richie left in 1982 to pursue a solo career. The band remained hitless until 1985 when their final Motown album, "Nightshift," delivered the Grammy Award-winning title track "Nightshift."

One of my favorites from their early years was a tune written by the band's guitarist Thomas McClary. It's a classic instrumental named Cebu—after the Philippine island (and city). It's an example of the diversity of a band who were equally adept at hard R&B as they were with soul, pop, and country.

Check out the drum soloing at the end of this tune. I tried to figure out what their drummer Walter Orange was playing when I was young. I think I finally figured it out after all of these years:

Inspiration And Influences - The Commodores

A band who were great playing funk, soul, country, jazz and creating massive pop hits!

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