Customer Reviews

Busy Body

5 star:		(11)
4 star:		(4)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

Picking just one favorite Luther Vandross album is a daunting task for me, but 1983's "Busy Body" is among his very best. A great mix of suave upbeat r&b and smooth ballads, Luther's third CD is a classic release that puts much of modern music to shame. The upbeat track "For the Sweetness of Your Love" has Luther at the top of his game with his butter-smooth voice, the song's memorable bassline, and its undeniable groove. "Make Me a Believer" is a killer love ballad that's become a beloved favorite among fans, while he shares the spotlight with Dionne Warwick in "How Many Times Can We Say Goodbye." But the real deal is the dynamite closer, the 9-minute soaring love song "Superstar/Until You Come Back to Me." In an age where overprodced, trendy, and image-conscious singers rule airwaves and collect platinum discs, it's refreshing to know that there are mature, serious vocalists who have a genuine passion for music. "Busy Body" is a timeless r&b classic that, without hesitation, belongs in your CD collection.

This is one of Luther's best albums. It is highlighted by superstar, but Superstar is not the good song on this album. A must for any Luther fan

Make no mistake-Luther Vandross is an excellent modern R&B
cronner but he can SURE pack a punch on the right mid to uptempo
dance funk tunes and "Busy Body" has plenty of 'em.From the
opening "I Wanted Your Love","I'll Let You Slide",the slamming
"For The Sweetness Of Your Love" and the burning,sexual tital song-all specacularly produced by Marcus Miller.Oh and then
there is "Superstar" and all that stuff.But seek out "Busy Body" AND Marcus Miller's similar sound self-titaled 1984 LP (if you can) and you'll be so satisfied!

I remember hearing this from a relative back in 85 and completely flipped out when she played the song "Superstar - Til You Come Back To Me (That's What I'm Gonna Do)". One of the worlds most sweetest love songs ever written an performed by man. Once I picked up the CD, I was amazed how the rest of the album was just as good if not better. This is definately a CD to played to your loved one or some secret admirer. Other tunes to check out: "Make Me A Believer", "Busy Body", "I Wanted Your Love". Sdeez

This is an excellent CD with some great music. I remember searching six music stores in the rain for this album when it came out back in 1984. "Superstar" is obviously a great single in the library of Luther, but I really love "make me a believer". I had to reorder this one because I lost the album when my girlfriend and I broke up. The moral here is simple: Pick up this CD because it's great and never buy Luther together with anyone.

There were several Luther Vandross albums I was thinking of revisiting at this unfortunate time of his passing, some that I think artistically were even better than this one, but this is one'a those records that I remember hearing from my childhood CONSTANTLY so I went with it. The production may sound a lil' dated today (but, realistically, how much from back then DOESN'T?) but man, does this music make me feel good. It's a great mixture of uptempo danceable R&B, slinky sensual grooves, and powerful ballads. It almost goes back and forth: 'I Wanted Your Love' is the perfect opener; a light, breezy backbeat and great stylish vocals; the title track slows things down to a hypnotic groove, gettin' thangs hot n' heavy. Then the tempo kicks back into dancefloor mode with the classic '80s banger 'I'll Let You Slide'. 'Make Me a Believer' I think is one' his ALL-TIME best ballads; wrtten and sung, and the duet with Dionne Warwick 'How Many times Can We Say Goodbye' is incredibly lovely on both parts. I tell you what singers these days jus' don't have the soul in them anymore (even when they try they best to). This should never, EVER be overlooked in Luther's repertoire. It's NOT his best in my opinion, but it's also NOT a misstep like some reviewers have claimed. It's fun. lively, beautiful, elegant and stirring like all great music should be. This man had an incredible, beautiful voice that got takin' for granted a lot in the past few years, and hopefully that will change for a lotta others, like it did for me in the past 24 hours. The old saying goes, You don't miss a good thing until it's gone. Well, thats true. Well, I already miss ya, Luther. And I'm sure a lotta others do too.

In my opinion this has to be Luther's most uneven 80's record. Luther must have been doing some heavy Gotham City nightclubbing to include overproduced/synth-heavy cheesefests like 'I wanted your Love' and 'For the Sweetness of your Love'. In fact, I'll Let you Slide was the first single...are you kidding me??!!! And just when it seems all hope is gone, along comes the title track, 'Make me a Believer', 'How many times can we say Goodbye', and Luther's magnum opus, 'Superstar/Until you come Home to me'. Sing Luther!!!

Sure, you could bypass the Velvetta tracks and just buy a greatest hits package with all the hits. But this is Luther y'all. But if you want to be a true LV fan you need the whole experience, the love songs and the cheese.

This album keeps jamming on all track

Interestingly enough this was the very first album by Luther Vandross I ever heard. And I didn't even know then that this wasn't typical of his sound of this era. Having been a session writer/singer and minor league recording artist in the 70's Luther forged ahead with the band Change before Never Too Much made him a big name solo star,he was something of a "retro nouveau" style artist with a style of R&B rooted in the past but with modern production values. After two albums that were something of a precursor to what we now call neo/retro soul he and bassman Marcus Miller came up with this album. On his self titled 1984 album Marcus embraced the electronic,new wave inflected style of post disco funk now known as "boogie" as his musical hotbed. And that is exactly what Luther does here. Since the boogie subgenre was associated with a lot of female performers with more male writer/musicians that suited Luther to a tee because that was also part of who he was. So the whole affair represented an important step in Luther's evolution as a singer/songwriter.

On many levels this album is different from most Luther Vandross albums because it features more uptempo music with funkier touches. Always on the more pop/soul side,especially on the orchestral ballad end this album leaps out at you with "I Want Your Love","I'll Let You Slide" and "For The Sweetness Of Your Love",three scorching boogie/funk jams with Marcus's steely electric/synth bass sounscapes with Luthers creamy vocal delivery and strong pop hooks. These are some of the best uptempo tunes Luther ever made,though they are very electonic musically. The title song is a sultry midtempo tune in the same vein. Where this tempo of music isn't too hard to do (according to Beyonce anyway) Luther had a way of making it really work for him. He duets with Dionne Warwick on "How Many Times Can We Say Goodbye" and presents a medley of "Superstar/Until You Come Back To Me (That's What I'm Gonna Do" but honestly? They aren't high points to me. Luther made a name for himself as a balladeer and these songs bring out his best vocally. But all the same hearing him belt out on the faster songs show he was challanging himself a little more and I appreciate that a lot.

Anyway it's all just personal opinion. You probably won't hear many people give Luther Vandross props for his faster music. In fact some even speculate this is the very quality that makes his albums uneven. If truth be known,if Luther hadn't presented this sort of variety on his albums he'd likely bore someone like me to tears. Luther didn't really develop a well rounded ballad approach until the middle to end of his career. And while he's good at singing them most of his 80's ballads all fit into the same place-very slow,orchestrated with a lot of strings and very heavily produced. True that's what made him and he did a good job with it. But Luther really was a very talented person who needed heavy,gospel/blues/funk type music to bring his quieter,silky style of soul singing to more of a boil. And even though it doesn't totally get there the electro/boogie-funk style of uptempo music he presents here is a huge step in that direction. And on a more futurist viewpoint makes this one of his stronger albums.

I love Luther Vandross music so I bought this cd. I was worried bout it being used. But it was in great conditon and I recieved faster then i excepted. I LOVE the song Make Me a Believer. I don't know why that song doesnt ever get mentioned with his other great songs