Customer Reviews

Continuation

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This is an album that was over looked. He does a duet with Denise Williams called, "Our Time" that is awesome.
Along with the songs, "Trapped", "Your Boyfriends Back" and "Viya" are more songs that are equally great. If your a Phillip Bailey fan, then you want this CD. It's that simple.

I have the original Album, and I have the CD too. That tells you exactly how I feel about this project. It is a classic.

This album is great not only because of Phillip Bailey's vocals but there is just a host of others 80's artists as well. Like Denice Willims on the third track entitled "It's Our Time"

Somewhere between the final two EWF albums of the early 80's Powerlight and Electric Universe this album came out during the same year in 1983. Gradually during the first three years of the 80's the entire Earth Wind & Fire camp was starting to falter from various pressures and creative differences. A lot of this moved in tandem with the same sort of situation occurring within the R&B/soul/funk world during that anti disco freeze out. Since this would be the first real formalized solo album by any member of that band Philip didn't have to look hard to find a way to carve out his own musical niche. He went to musician/producer George Duke,whose jazz/funk/pop musical style was very close at this point to EWF and whose falsetto vocals were deeply influenced by Bailey's,to produce and play on this album. Seldom has there ever been a more appropriate marriage of talents in recent years. The result is a short,crisp album that respects musical quality to such as degree I have to say I'll personally claim it as my favorite of Bailey's solo albums.

Consisting of eight tracks,six of which are uptempo and very heavily steeped in the funk ideum there's a great degree of variety and strength to everything to be heard here. The album opens on a very strong note with "I Know",a number reflecting how much 70's funk and 80's new wave had in common and there the two styles could intermix into 80's urban funk. It also has this great slow driving bass groove as well. "I'm Waitin' For Your Love" and the closer "You Boyfriend's Back" also bring in the rockier new wave influence,soon to be a primary element in Bailey's solo music. In these cases Duke's Seawind Horns take the place of EWF's Phenix Horns so...may be a somewhat new song and dance but definately the same old tune. Because of it's hybrid of classic funk styles with electronic arrangements the newer subgenre of boogie funk found a place here on the potent "Desire",with it's popping synth bass and Bailey mostly in his lower vocal register and and the more deeply funky boogie variant of "The Good Guy's Supposed To Get The Girl". "Vaya (Go With Love)",with it's cleaner urban funk/pop/jazz fusion sounds more like a straight up George Duke number but seems in a way one of those hit type songs that got away. On the strong "Trapped" and "It's Our Time" with Deniece Williams Bailey is essentially still in his old fasioned EWF ballad style with the sweeping arrangements mixed with the idea of rhythm.

Overall this album has nothing on it that might lower it's quality. Also it contains more than a fair share of strong,melodic pop/funk styled grooves. So why did it go so unnoticed in it's day?And why did people such as myself have to learn of it's existence over a decade after it came out? Honestly after listening to this album not only on vinyl for years but on this wonderfully remastered CD....I really have no idea. Bailey was huge at the time due to associations with EWF,the album was contemporary with not an embarrassing moment to be heard and Bailey's voice was in prime shape. Sometimes when a great album goes unnoticed...it just does so for no rhyme or reason. Anyway what matters to me is that Bailey didn't wind up becoming a full on pop crooner or an adult contemporary solo artist. Even outside EWF he managed to continue innovating and experimenting within the funk genre. The results could be very surprising. But Philip Bailey had the potential as a huge creative talent. He also had the potential with his melodic,pop friendly approach to be coerced by others into becoming a big time sellout. Luckily the years have shown him to be someone who tends to follow the creative drummer rather than the more obviously commercial one. And as pop friendly as this is,no matter how little success it had commercially at it's time it may be one of his most significant releases from a purely creative standpoint.

Continuation is a really good album. Most only know about the Chinese Wall album (which gave us Easy Lover). I think this album set the stage quite nicely for that album. Having George Duke producing was a great thing. Having everyone from Sister Sledge to Deneice Williams performing... C'mon, does it any better? I will continue to wait patiently for a CD copy (I have no choice,really). When I get it, I will be happy. in the meantime, I have a vinyl copy