Commodores - Machine Gun

Unavailable in the U.S. this is the legendary Motown soul group's 1974 album, one of their earliest from when Lionel Richie was their lead vocalist. 10 tracks, including their very first U.S. top 100 single, the top 30 hit 'Machine Gun', plus 'I Feel Sanctified'. 1998. Album Description

PHEW!!(I Am Wiping The Sweat Off My Brow)

Hey if you generally only know The Commodores for their Commodores and the hit "Easy" then 'Machine Gun' will blow you away!The Commodores in 1974 were a very different kind of band.Having opened for the Jackson 5 for many years the band had got their rhythm section cooking and fasioned a very chunky funk sound filled with the fattest wah-wah possible,clapping drums,the RAPID FIRE clavinet riffing and SHRIEKING synthesizer bursts of Milan Williams and horns with punch-you-out impact!And from the classic title song,it's equal masterpiece "Rapid Fire" on through "Young Girls Are My Weakness","I Feel Sanctified","The Bump" and the MESSED UP "Gonna Blow Your Mind" and "Superman" this album NEVER LEAVES the territory of that heavy,nasty,catchy RAW uptempo 70's funk!The band do take a little break from the nonstop funk barrage for the dancable soul of "The Assembly Line","There's A Song In My Heart" and the quirky "The Zoo (The Human Zoo)" with it's light latin refrain.Aside from the now almost impossible to find Caught in the Act and Hot on the Tracks this is BAR NONE the most full on funky album The Commodores ever made.While 'Machine Gun' has plenty of variety and plenty to sing along with you won't find one ballad or smooth groove here whatsoever.And you won't be complaining either! June 16, 2007

Those Funky Commadores!

Before the sellout years the Commadores were a chunky,horn
heavy funk band who debut with this album,containing two fine
instrumentals in the hit title song and "Rapid Fire".The quircky
"Zoo (The Human Zoo)" points to the bands good sence of humor.
Further more this album contains no ballads at all and is filled
with sweaty horns,yoweling vocals from Lionel Riche and alot
of staccato clavinet spats!But BOY do times change! July 23, 2004

Motown's answer to EWF and the Ohio Players....

During the early to mid-'70s, funk bands ruled the R&B world. This was not lost on Motown, and they wanted an act that covered the down and dirty funk/R&B bases like Maurice White's Earth, Wind and Fire, the Ohio Players and Funkadelic did. They discovered the Commodores, a sextet straight out of the Dirty South (Tuskegee, Alabama) in a New York City nightclub, and they found their answer.

MACHINE GUN was the group's second album on Motown (their first one was recorded in '72 but never released), and signaled that this group was an important force to be reckoned with. Featuring the amazing keyboard wizardry of Milan Williams, this album kicks off with the title cut and grabs you from start to finish! The three lead vocalists' voices (that's right, not just Lionel's) are wonderfully soulful and earthy, especially drummer Walter "Clyde" Orange's voice!! That brotha, all 5'4" of him, is SOUL PERSONIFIED!! Lionel did go on to become the most famous of all the Commodores, but Clyde was the FUNKIEST by far.

I especially loved "Gonna Blow Your Mind", "The Bump", "Young Girls Are My Weakness", "I Feel Sanctified" and "The Assembly Line" (the last of which has been sampled by hip-hoppers time and time again, and musically similar to a later tune that Lionel Richie wrote on his own, the popular "This Is Your Life"). Lots of syntheziers and horns (courtesy of Lionel on alto sax and William King on trumpet) drive this CD and you'd never guess back then that these guys could come funkier than this...but they did, even more so because their follow up album to this, CAUGHT IN THE ACT, is even better!

The only weak spot on this CD is the Richie-penned "Superman" - this was technically the first recorded tune Lionel Richie wrote by himself, and the music is good. But the lyrics - well, the nicest thing I could possibly say about them is that THANK GOD Richie got better as the years went on.

Pick this up today and believe me when I say, the mighty, mighty Commodores existed long before "Brick House", "Three Times A Lady" and "Still" and why they will always be a funk band first and foremost in my book. This CD is living proof! Get it! May 2, 2004

This is some Phunk 4 ya!!

This was the first album ever realeased by the Commodores. After hearing various songs from it played on "The History of Funk" radio show here in the SF Bay Area, I dug up this album a few years ago in a record shop because it's THAT FUNKY.

It's now on CD for all to hear and get down to. Keyboardist Milan Williams was the real breakout artist on this album..."Rapid fire" is one of the illest, funkiest synthesizer jams ever made. The title track was a breakthrough of early synthesizer use for it's time as well, and was the album's only actual hit at the time of it's release, despite it's later "shameful" use in the movie Boogie Nights but...I'm telling you, almost every song on this album is funky and great. "Assembly Line" has a classic breakbeat with "Ho's!" that has been sampled/scratched by untold hip hop DJ's and producers over the years...If you're any kind of Hip Hop fan you'll go "Oh Yeah, so that's where that's from!" as soon as you hear it. "Blow Your mind" is also real funky. "Superman" and "Song in my heart" is where you can hear Lionel Ritchie's earliest gospel oriented strong singing. All in all, this is a "lost classic" of sorts. Almost all the songs here have a happy funky 70's sound, yet almost none of these songs have ever made it onto any Funk or Old school compilations. Trust me, it's a great slab of 70's funk, especially "Rapid Fire" May 17, 2003

commodores used to be funky

this is some funk 4sho young kids hearing this who grew up off lionel richie's solo stuff won't believe he had some funk up in his bones at one time get this and plus this whole cd has 2 of the original funkadelics eddie hazel and billy bass nelson in this no wonder the commodores were funky they've been maggotized. October 1, 2002

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