Customer Reviews

Other Woman

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

 

 

TRACK LISTING: SIDE 1 1. THE OTHER WOMAN [4:06] 2. STREETLOVE [5:30] 3. STAY THE NIGHT [4:00] 4. IT'S OUR OWN AFFAIR [3:50] SIDE 2 1. LET ME GO [5:03] 2. LET'S GET OFF [4:50] 3. STOP, LOOK BEFORE YOU LOVE [3:58] 4. JUST HAVIN' FUN [3:20]

The solo debut for Ray Parker Jr. was a very special musical event of his career.Not only was it his first album without Raydio after their hugely successfull A Woman Needs Love from the previous year. It's clear after listening to this that the bass moog oriented sound Ray had forged ahead on with Raydio is still very much in his mind.But being a guitarist he puts in plenty of time on these songs to give his axe as much excersise as he can.Obviously the title song is the ideal example:not only was it his first big solo pop hit (obviously) but it showed with it's gritty guitar riffing that Ray could easily rock n roll as well as give up the funk,something pretty hard to do without sounding kind of silly."Streetlove" goes in the same general direction but Ray whips out a little talk box into it for some spicy flavoring. I imagine there will be a few listeners who might roll their eyes in regard to how so many songs on this album seem to rub in the subject matter of infidelity and uncommited sex but at the same time Ray's...bemused tone and often shy vocals offer the other side of the coin:even as the affair goes on he seems to show genuine and appropriate worry and concern that he "slipped and fell in love" with this other woman.It really shows Ray had this knack for being sensative to the needs of woman,make his share of mistakes AND still maintain his own masculinity.That is definately a 70's "funk era" kind of attitude but,since that is the era of which he was a huge part it's still making a lot of sense for him in the early 80's. Musically a good deal of this album finds Ray in a romantic urban/quiet storm kind of mode;"Stay The Night","Let Me Go" and "Stop,Look Before You Love" are all very far away from 70's funk but for what they are they're very well done and will certainly go well with whatever Barry White or Teddy Pendergrass stuff you have on,even if of course they aren't nearly as trancendant vocally as those two guys can get to."Let's Get Off",with the prominant moog bass sticking out front and it's steady "clean" groove could easily trick you into thinking your hearding a Raydio outtake and,who knows:it might very well be just that.Either way it's one of the funkier tunes here. "It's Our Own Affair" puts a nice George Benson-y kind of solo into a great pop-jazz kind of groove that explores and expands some of the territory Ray Parker Jr had treded upon with his work with Herbie Hancock before this.Now if you want SERIOUS FUNK the album ends on that very note:
"Just Havin' Fun" is one of the grimiest,hard jamming funk instrumentals Ray ever put to wax,and that INCLUDES what he did with Raydio.Not only does he throw down three different guitar licks throughout the song but he drags the tempo to a total crawl and it just works the groove machine right out the box for as long as it goes.True Ray tries out a lot of different styles in his music on this album and not every song has the same tempo or genre exactly. But it does give him the opportunity to begin to explore his musical talents all on his own,move on from Raydio and also establish a whole new signiture sound for himself.