Day 261: The Brothers Johnson – Right On Time

Today I needed a bit of morale-boosting funk and/or R&B. I don’t know what it is about having a cold but I always regress into an existential crisis, sitting around wondering what I’m doing with my life. I needed to keep my spirits high, and there’s no better high-spirited song than the Brothers Johnson version of “Strawberry Letter 23”, so I thought I’d explore the whole album that that song is from.

Album cover courtesy of A&M Records

The Brothers Johnson was formed by guitarist George "Lightnin' Licks" Johnson and bassist Louis "Thunder Thumbs" Johnson, who were originally joined by their older brother Tommy and their cousin Alex Weir as a band called Johnson Three Plus One while they were in high school. Later when they went professional, they worked as a backing band for acts like Bobby Womack and The Supremes, before touring and recording with Quincy Jones, who ended up producing four of their albums.

Right On Time was released in 1977 and it became a huge success: they peaked at number two on the R&B albums chart, got a number one hit with “Strawberry Letter 23” and won a Grammy for Best R&B Instrumental Performance with “Q”. It was produced by Quincy Jones before he went on to produce some of Michael Jackson’s big hitters, with Louis Johnson joining him in recording Off the Wall and Thriller.

It’s an album of cool funk/pop/R&B that starts off very strong with some big hitters, but unfortunately the momentum cools down a bit at the end with songs like “Never Leave You Lonely” and “Q”. And while it’s a nice feel-good album, it doesn’t ever reach the levels of the all-time cover “Strawberry Letter 23”  on any other song. High bar to clear, let’s be honest, but they don’t really even come close.

Did I enjoy listening to it? Sure. Will I listen to it again? Probably not, but I liked “Brother Man” and “Strawberry Letter 23” will always have a place on my playlists. It’s a solid 7/10.