Commodores and Lionel Richie Greatest Hits poll

now to figure out how to play all of this

Was wondering what he played on "Machine Gun" - luckily there's a Soul Train clip on youtube that indicates he's playing an ARP synth (=all the squiggly sounds).

Gotta be that. I like "Brick House" of course, and "You Are" is kinda sweet, but.

i voted for Runnin with THE night

i will change my mind in an hour
i really love three times a lady bc of eddie murphy & still crack myself up doing Buckwheat Sings

and iiii nuuuub noooooo

but real talk he’s kind of a genius & i love so many of his songs

say you say me for gregory hines dancing
hello for clay sculpture
night shift for perfectness
i mean
i dont think there’s a wrong answer

"You Are" is one of those songs I always forget about, even when thinking about Lionel Richie. Beautiful melody, threw it a vote

sorry for shitposting

i read somewhere steve lukather said the solo they used on Runnin with the Night was just him warming up, and they were like “great we got it” and Lukather was like “wait dont you want my actual solo” lol

“Night Shift” is cool but Lionel’s not on it

'I know it sounds funny, but i just can't stand the pain' is an all time classic opening line.

otm

"Easy" is one of the best songs of all-time and i still don't know if i will vote for it here

Voted for Sail On. Love those harmonies.

i read somewhere steve lukather said the solo they used on Runnin with the Night was just him warming up, and they were like “great we got it” and Lukather was like “wait dont you want my actual solo” lol

― terminators of endearment (VegemiteGrrl), Wednesday, February 23, 2022 11:55 PM (yesterday) bookmarkflaglink

This makes so much sense. I have long felt that this gratuitous solo ruins what would have otherwise been a perfect song

I voted for it anyway

Spoiled for choice here. Love "Machine Gun" so much though.

Good poll idea, but there are several notable omissions.

Re the Commodores: their second hit “I Feel Sanctified” is missing, as are some big post-1978 Lionel-led hits: “Old-Fashion Love” (okay, not that big), and especially the great “Lady (You Bring Me Up)” and “Oh No”.

As for solo Lionel: “My Love”, the third hit from his debut, and “Love Will Conquer All” and “Se La” from album number three.

I get why “My Destiny”, the follow-up to ‘92s exquisite comeback single “Do It To Me“ is not included, as it bombed in the US, but it’s a bop. It actually topped the charts over here in the Netherlands.

All in all it’s a very tough choice, and I’ll have to listen to several of the options again first, but “Easy” is simply undeniable, I love the country vibe on “Sail On”, and speaking of undeniable, let’s please not overlook “All Night Long (All Night)”.

There’s one big elephant in the room tho (Look up!)… Much as I appreciate LR’s work, he’s also responsible for one of the worst songs ever recorded by a major star: he had to go “Dancing On The Ceiling” because he had pulled the rug out from under his own feet with that track.

"Dancing on the Ceiling" is that most execrable of things: forced joy.

I get why “My Destiny”, the follow-up to ‘92s exquisite comeback single “Do It To Me“ is not included, as it bombed in the US, but it’s a bop. It actually topped the charts over here in the Netherlands.

My top 40 station played it in 1992 a few times; it's catchy enough to remember almost 30 years later.

xp for some reason I’ve heard marching bands play that multiple times. Maybe it’s some kind of collective in-joke, like the forced joy of trying to get people cheer for a hopeless losing team.

"Easy" and "Sail On" have to be two of the most casual, relaxed break-up songs ever.
He's great at what he does, but most of the time I feel like I acquiesce to his music more than I enjoy it.
I'm familiar with more than half of these, probably prefer the Commodores in general to his solo songs, but voted "All Night Long".

"Sail On" sounds like Shot of Love-era Dylan.

pvmic

Glad I got the funkier take on the Gold compilation last year but can't remember what all the good songs are beyond Brickhouse and Machine Gun. Will have to stick it on again

Good poll idea, but there are several notable omissions

It was difficult to pick the right combo and went by chart position/how many copies sold

That’s a risky strategy with compilations though, both because compilations don’t always live up to their title, and because it’s not a given that the best/most complete compilations will become the most commercially successful ones.

That particular “Greatest Hits” one was released mid-career, when the Commodores still (…) had many more great hits to come, and that 2003 “Definitive Collection”, in the 20-track US version that you used, is a lot more random that its name would suggest (although the limited number of tracks is a big clue to that).

The 38-track international version of it does a much better job (for starters, it includes “Lady (You Bring Me Up)” and “Oh No”, whose omission from the poll stands out the most), which balances out the inclusion of far more inconsequential then-recent stuff like “Angel”, “Goodbye” and the Enrique Iglesias duet.

Of the ones I mentioned only “I Feel Sanctified”, “Old-Fashion Love” and “Se La” remain missing in action there, which would have been much less of a deal in this context.

Anyway, sailin’ on. Right now I’m enjoying the “You Are” / “My Destiny” / “Lady (You Bring Me Up)” trifecta on an easy Saturday morning, so thank you for this poll!

Automatic thread bump. This poll is closing tomorrow.

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When a friend of mine saw Lionel Richie opening for Tina Turner in 2000, he put on an afro wig to sing "Brick House".

I kind of wish stuff like that would happen more often. Once I saw Vanilla Fudge at one of their 2000-somthing reunion shows, and just before showtime I was thinking, how funny and awesome would it be if they came out on stage all dressed in psychedelic-era finery. (They didn't).