People Usa January 18, 2021

The season has changed. Chris Jusell, Chaz Prymek, Matthew Sage, and Patrick Shiroishi continue forward with what follows 2020’s Fuubutsushi. Here, it is a new year, and it is time to shake the demons off and make a fresh start. Setsubun is the Winter chapter in the cycle (yes, Spring and Summer will come one day), but don’t conflate this “winter music” with the holidays; this is music for the stretch between January and the first peals of spring. The days in this chasm that may be getting longer, however slowly, but the nights are still long. The air is crisp. The natural world lays dormant, but the imagination flutters.

"Destiny" is the 6th studio album by American R&B/funk singer Chaka Khan, released on Warner Bros. Records in 1986. "Destiny" was Khan's follow-up to the platinum-selling "I Feel for You" and was as high tech as its predecessor - symptomatically and characteristically for its period with more producers and sound engineers credited in the liner notes than musicians - but was musically more geared towards rock and pop than soul and R&B, most prominently on tracks such as "So Close", the self-penned title track "My Destiny", "Who's It Gonna Be" and "Watching the World" featuring Phil Collins on drums and backing vocals.

"Diana Ross & The Supremes Sing and Perform "Funny Girl"" is the 13th studio album released by Diana Ross & the Supremes on the Motown label, released in 1968. Berry Gordy had Diana Ross & the Supremes cover the songs from Barbra Streisand's Broadway musical Funny Girl original cast LP to tie-in with the September release of the feature-film version of the musical, also starring Streisand. The LP was not a success, and, with a Billboard 200 peak of 150, ranks as the lowest-charting of the Diana Ross-led Supremes albums. It was, however, praised by the composer, Jules Styne as one of the finest renditions of his score after the Broadway cast and movie soundtrack albums. Despite the commercial failure, fans celebrated the release, and the group performed a medley on the Ed Sullivan Show . Diana continued to perform "Don't Rain on My Parade" and "My Man" (equally associated with Fanny Brice), at her solo concerts throughout the 1970s.

These two albums are almost perfectly suited to each other, representating the peak of the Temptations' early- to mid-'70s output. "A Song for You" was a rare Berry Gordy co-production (necessitated by Norman Whitfield's departure from the company) Gordy and Jimmy Bowen came up with an album that combined a powerful, funky beat with gorgeous singing (especially by Dennis Edwards) and a range of superb songs. These tapes sound extraordinary on this release, like they're really being heard properly for the first time. "Masterpiece" was precisely that for producer Whitfield, comprised of just six songs, every one of them a winner, including the epic-length title song, possibly the best extended track ever to come out of Motown Records. The two albums fit together almost seamlessly (though one wishes that "Masterpiece"'s tracks were first on the disc), and the only flaw is that there are no expanded notes or album credits.

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"Masterpiece" is a 1973 album by The Temptations for the Gordy (Motown) label, produced and written by Norman Whitfield. The title refers to the album being not the group's intended masterpiece, but Norman Whitfield's. Having already produced songs for the Temptations such as "Smiling Faces Sometimes" and "Papa Was a Rollin' Stone" which emphasized his instrumental tracks over the group's vocals, Whitfield goes one step further here. Despite the criticism directed towards the LP, "Masterpiece" became a #1 hit on the Billboard R&B singles chart, and a #7 hit on the Billboard Hot 100. Its follow-up, the "Papa Was a Rolling Stone"-like "Plastic Man", hit #40 on the Billboard Hot 100. "Hey Girl (I Like Your Style)" also became a Top 40 hit in the late summer/early fall of 1973. "Law of the Land" was released as a UK-only single by Tamla Motown, and just missed out on the UK Top 40, peaking at #41 in late 1973.

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Two fine late-'60s albums, combined onto one CD, including some hits and a wealth of good, overlooked Mayfield compositions that touched on sensitive racial issues as well as romance. Offering excellent value, the CD is a recommended alternative to tracking down the hard-to-find original vinyl editions.