Customer Reviews

Gap Band I

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4 star:		(1)
3 star:		(1)
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1979 Mercury Records - Songs Include : Shake / You Can Count On Me / Open Up Your Mind Wide / Messin' With My Mind / Baby Baba Boogie / I'm In Love / Got To Get Away / I Can Sing

In early 1979 the Gap now reduced down to a trio hooked up with L.A. producer/labelowner and came out with their self titled debut on Mercury Records. This was their second self titled after and third album overall after being signed to fellow Tulsa native Leon Russell's Shelter Records. The first two album featured a different lineup and consisted of eleven other members, but the albums sold poorly therefore they had to come up with another plan for group. After hooking up with Lonnie Simmons they knew they found the right producer to start them off with a classic album. The first single "Shake" was very diso-ish and found a home in discos across the country along with "Baby Baby Boogie" with it's four on the floor drum beat and female background singers basically repeating the same chant throughout the song. But this album is also filled with some great ballads such as "You Can Count On Me" and "I'm In Love" which is my favorite song off this album and is also cover beautifully by Mary J. Blige twenty years later on her Mary album (although I do love the Gap Bands version much better). There's really no hardcore funk tunes on here unless you include "Shake" and "Open Up Your Mind (Wide)" with the latter being more on the midtempo side with it's great bass work played by Robert Wilson. Label owner Lonnie Simmon displays some great production throughout the album with the great Charlie Wilson handling keyboards,drums, and all lead vocals with brother Ronnie on piano,trumpet,fluglehorn, and trumpet. This album also has some superb horn and string work and excellent session musicians such as sax player Don Myrick who's also known for playing with Earth Wind & Fire. But to sum it up great way to comeback with an awesome major label debut and just the beginning of a marvelous body of work while at Mercury/Total Experience Records.

you can tell from this Set that the Gap Band had a direction of where they were going musically.you could tell early on that Charlie Wilson was gonna be a Voice that was gonna be a force for a long time to come.the Grooves had a P-FUNk,Influence amongest a few other Bands of the Era but yet you could tell the Gap Band were gonna have there own Bag&way of sounding in the years to come.

This is the oldest Gap Band title around but who can resist
great funk like "Shake" and "Open Your Mind (Wide)"-you can't.And
the rest of the album surely indicates the their is a commercialy
accessible sound in the Gap dynamic that will serve to make them
a force to contend with in years to come.Only the silly clished
disco of "Baby Baba Boogie" is a might trying but who cares-it
still works!