Customer Reviews

Rags to Rufus

5 star:		(12)
4 star:		(4)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(1)

 

 

I don't know all of the Rufus albums well yet, but so far I think this is most jaw-droppingly great. The whole album just reeks of sweat and soul. Chaka Khan shows us that she is possibly the only woman that could give Aretha Franklin a run for her money in the R&B arena of the 1970s. But all credit certainly doesn't go to Chaka; everyone is great here. The arrangements, grooves, and everything else all click. This album is truly a masterpiece. With all due respect to hip hop America (which I am not at all a part of), they don't know diddley about music. It's all electronic, programmed, emotionless, and over-produced. Take one listen to this and you'll cringe the next time you hear fake beats boom their way out of electronic keyboards. This band had saxes, horns, drums, piano, synthesizers (used sparingly), funky guitars, a real bass, and, well, Chaka. These instruments all worked together to create something very special, very rare, and downright sublime.

You can't go wrong with this album. My favorite track is the gorgeous "Walkin' In The Sun", which is really more of a ballad, but is a powerfully funky one (thanks to Ms. Khan). But the whole album rocks.

Don't hesitate to get this one. It will blow you away.

This album showcased Chaka's amazing vocals and set the stage for a vocal technique that only Aretha could touch. Most of Rufus/Chaka Khan's songs start out with her singing in the low or medium registers; then at the end every song she lets loose to the highest octave she could reach. On Rags to Rufus, listen to "Smokin Room," "In Love We Grow," and "You've Got The Love." Chaka Khan has the ability to sing rock, soul, and jazz without breaking a sweat. The producer of this album, Bob Monaco, went on to produce Three Dog Night and Tina Turner. Dennis Belfield, Ron Stockart, and Al Ciner left the group after this album but the all continued to produce and play on a variety of artists'albums.

Wow! It is still a great CD after all these years! I first had this on 8 track and then album. Now, I have it on CD and love listening to it every chance I get. Also, my kids get to listen to great music with me!!! They now know what good music sounds like.

I have all of their Albums but this one stands out more.to often than not the other Albums would have a couple of Great cuts&what not but that would be all this one is solid from start to finish.The music is Great&CHaka Khan Sings Like Nobodys business here.

This Rufus/Chaka album ranks a strong second in my personal fave category of the group's work behind the incomparable, Ask Rufus.
This disc has a more funky/folksy overtone than others but is a cohesive, well put together collection of songs.

Of course, 'Tell Me Something Good' set it off for the disc but hidden gems that I'd never heard of until I bought this like the beautifully sublime 'In Love We Grow', 'Smoking Room' & 'Ain't Nothin But A Maybe' should have also been mega hits in their day. Other standout tracks to me are: 'You Got The Love' & 'Walkin In The Sun'.

This group, with its racially diverse members indeed created a unique sound in the r&b genre and cemented a place for themselves as one of the great groups of all time. I'd highly recommend this disc if you're trying to build a Rufus/Chaka collection.

Recently I've been reading articles linking Rufus & Chaka Khan with what's known as the "sophistifunk" crowd. Well of course if your aware of Rufus's early career,of which this sophmore album is definately a part of than you'll know that wasn't always the case. This album doesn't possess the heavy country-rock flavors of their debut Rufus a year earlier but it doesn't have that albums relatively clean production style either. The recording quality of this albums tends to be somewhat raw and muddy and it includes a number of songs that benifit from that. "You Got The Love" is one of those songs that builds instrumentally but same as with the big hit "Tell Me Something Good" there's some deep grunting male backround vocals and,on the first cut only Chaka is sticking primarily to an often underused (in this period anyway) higher level of her elastic voice. Considering she had no particular love affair of the blues at this time it's odd to hear the energy she puts into the clavinet charged blues/funk of "I Got The Right Street (But The Wrong Direction)". The ballads here have got a range too. You have "Walkin In The Sun" which does possess a mild Nashville flavor only in Kevin Murphy's piano and Ashford & Simpsons' "Aint Nothin But A Maybe",again finding Chaka using her higher voice at a more consistant level as opposed to scaling. "Swing Down Chariot" is a great chugging funk/gospel with an amazing sense of build and some of the most inspired vocals on this album and,back to the ballad front the BEST vocal (and likely composition) on this album is "In Love We Grow". This piano ballad is so strong it almost sounds like something...er a Barbara Streisand would be inclined to sing but Chaka's voice and the lyrics take this heavily chorded song to a whole different level of soulfullness. You basically get the same effect with "Smokin' Room",another great composition although definately more in the jazz-funk ballad style than anything so obviously pop. The title track and the briefer "Sideways" both showcase the bands instrumental abilities, particularly the rhythm section. "Look Through My Eyes" is a jazz-funk style uptempo tune and one of the slicker tunes here production wise. So this is a diverse flavored album all and all and one should'nt go into this expecting each cut to be a clone to "Tell Me Something Good";they're not. But it does place Rufus out of the country-folk-rock influences they had earlier on and more into the funk/soul/jazz/gospel vein they'd make famous from this point on.

Groovy album by unsung heroes of R&B/Dance/Funk. Chaka Khan is at her best here before over-production drowned out her rootsy, groovin charm.

1974...h.s. senior year for me and a magical time in my life. The funk, soul, rhythm & blues, and fusion of this special time was truly golden, so when I first heard a sweet, transfer student, by the name of Daphne singing in her slow, country voice, 'tell me somethin' good', I said to myself, 'what the hell is that?' I could tell it was something beyond what she was capable of concocting...sure enough, soon I heard Queen Chaka...wow, what can I say, her voice was so clean, powerful, pure and downright sensual...I think I got a woodie, matter of fact, I know I did, she did that to a lot of us, male and female...still does, if you want a true taste of the time, GET THIS.

In 1974, I heard "Tell me something good" and noted what a "funky" tune it was, still is! The song was just "gutsy." and outside of Sly Stone, no one else was doing music that way. "You got the love" and "Smokin' Room" are the other stand-out tunes on this collection. Get your copy and jam! Four stars!

If you want to hear them at their best, pick this one up! After I got this one I ran out and bought all their others(a big mistake) buy this one, and if you dig it, the only other one worth getting is the one with the big mouth illustration on the cover. After that move on. This is absolutely their best work!