Day 187: Lionel Richie – Can’t Slow Down
Here’s a nasty situation I once again found myself in today: found an album, started listening to it, started sketching out what I’d write, went to the artist’s Wikipedia, saw a horrific “Allegations” section. Never mind, let’s pivot to something completely different! I checked and there is no such section on Lionel Richie’s Wikipedia, so it’s time to listen to his seminal album, Can’t Slow Down.
Album cover courtesy of Motown Records
Lionel Richie probably needs no introduction, but he’s musician, singer, songwriter and producer who rose to fame as a singer in the Commodores. As a solo artist, he became one of the best-selling artists of all time, and in addition to his wildly successful work for himself, he’s also written and produced hits for other artists: he wrote “Lady” for Kenny Rogers, he co-wrote “We Are the World” with Michael Jackson and he wrote “Missin’ You” for Diana Ross.
Can’t Slow Down was released as his second solo album in 1983 and it won him two Grammy’s, including Album of the Year. It also became a huge commercial hit, becoming one of the best-selling albums of all time.
My first thought is that it’s impeccably produced and one of the smoothest-sounding albums I’ve heard. It’s polished to absolute perfection, but not in a way where it’s so flawless that it’s boring, it’s far from being soulless car commercial music. It’s brimming with humanity and emotion and you would have to actually make an effort to not get a little bit moved during some of the slower jams, like “The Only One” or “Hello”.
And then there’s the faster-paced bangers. That man has a God-given talent to write songs that make you want to dance and have a good time. “All Night Long”? Come on. Second favourite in the category is the slightly grittier “Running With the Night”. He was asked in a GQ interview about where his songwriting talent comes from, and he had a wonderful answer:
They've asked me several times to teach at a couple of universities for a semester. And I said, "My songwriting class takes exactly 30 seconds." I said [Richie begins tapping his foot], "Now, for you all who hear me tapping my foot, if all you can hear is tapping my foot, you're not a songwriter. For all of you who can hear a song and a melody on top of this, you're a songwriter." Course over. The universe is either talking to you or it's not.
Hell yeah, Lionel. I also googled “Lionel Richie allegations” just to make sure there’s nothing horrible that I’m unaware of that makes the first paragraph embarrassing, and his worst kerfuffle is that his ex-wife got arrested for assault after she caught him cheating – I would expect nothing less, a man this sensual is obviously a shagger. Can’t Slow Down is a strong 9/10, it’s one of those albums you could play to an alien to say “see, this is what music is.”