Day 391: The Brothers Johnson – Look Out for #1
It’s Saturday night, so I thought I’d listen to a compact album of feel-good funk to help me enjoy my weekend even more. I wrote about The Brothers Johnson already on day 270 and gave that album a reasonably enjoyable 7/10, but today I thought I should try what people regard as their best album. I don’t know why I had such a hankering for them today, but the heart wants what it wants.
Album cover courtesy of A&M
Look Out for #1 was released as the pair’s debut studio album in 1976. Before releasing the album, guitarist and vocalist George Johnson and bassist and vocalist Louis Johnson had been touring with artists like Quincy Jones, Bobby Womack and Billy Preston, and they gained national recognition for singing on Quincy Jones’ "Is It Love That We're Missin'?" Quincy Jones produced the album, which was a commercial success, reaching number 1 on the Billboard Top Soul Albums chart and number 9 on the Billboard 200.
Look Out for #1 is one of those records that you’ll never regret listening to. Granted, it’s not the most imaginative album, nor is it one where there’s a single big showstopper, but it’s just an album of rock-solid funk that’s mainly a pleasure to listen to. Is it something I want to wax poetic about for a long time? No, but I’m still happy to listen to it. It’s just a bit middle-of-the-road for my tastes, nothing stands out.
One thing I love is how much mileage funk groups have gotten over the years about the fact that the word “funk” is very close to another f-word, this time in the form of a song called "Get the Funk Out Ma Face", which is arguably very good. There’s also a perfectly enjoyable and coolly restrained Beatles cover with “Come Together”. The rest is bleeds together as slightly above average, without anything else to report, really – it’s good, sure, but not great.
This might have sounded more critical than I intended it to, I still enjoyed it, but it’s a little bit on the blander side for my tastes. It’s still a 7.5/10, I just wish there was a bit more to it.