yet again, defend the indefensible: LIONEL RICHIE

Bimble Lionel Richie is the actual 80s that you yearn for. Without him your main area of interest is a vast empty soundless sea.

ilx is rarely as easy as sunday morning

b... b... but that's because many ILXors work on the nightshift

(and before anyone points it out, I know that LR left the Commodores years before Nightshift was released)

the video for "Hello" is so hilariously awesome/bizarre that it permanently burned into my memory, despite only watching it once.

Can't Slow Down is a surprisingly solid album and "Stuck on You" is a genuinely moving and excellent country ballad.

Not listened to much of his output aside from this album; "Say You, Say Me" is garishly 80s and I really don't need to hear "Endless Love" ever again...

Re: "Endless Love," I always felt that Lionel was put to better use in another teen romance of the era

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZuVH5LcEZj0

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZuVH5LcEZj0

Can't Slow Down is a surprisingly solid album and "Stuck on You" is a genuinely moving and excellent country ballad.

"surprisingly"

well, as I've said, I'm not particularly familiar with his catalog, so when I looked at the tracklisting, the only songs I recognized were "All Night Long", "Running with the Night" and "Hello". I didn't know about the other very good songs.

"Stuck On You" and "Penny Lover" hold up, don't they?

hell yes.

Last American Virgin has a great soundtrack, iirc.

http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/thumb/b/ba/The_Last_American_Virgin_movie_poster.jpg/220px-The_Last_American_Virgin_movie_poster.jpg

Side 1

"Teen Angel Eyes" - Tommy Tutone (3:30)
"De Do Do Do, De Da Da Da" - The Police (4:07)
"Whip It" - Devo (2:38)
"When I Find You" - Phil Seymour (5:13)
"Better Luck Next Time" - Oingo Boingo (3:30)
Side 2

"Are You Ready for the Sex Girls?" - Gleaming Spires (4:00)
"Since You're Gone" - The Cars (3:30)
"I Know What Boys Like" - The Waitresses (3:14)
"Airwaves" - The Fortune Band (3:46)
"I Will Follow" - U2 (3:34)
In addition to this, the film contains a compendium of other 1980s radio hits:

"Oh No" - The Commodores
"Open Arms" - Journey
"Keep on Loving You" - REO Speedwagon
"Just Once" - James Ingram
"That's the Way (I Like It)" - KC and the Sunshine Band
"Love Action (I Believe in Love)" - The Human League
"Shake It Up" - The Cars
"Besame Mucho & Granada"- Los Fabulosos 3 Paraguayos
"It Aint Easy Comin' Down" - Charlene
"Zero Hour" - The Plimsouls
"In the Flesh" - Blondie
"España Cani" - The Dancing Brass

Love 'running with the night'. What are the original lyrics that tracer is referring too tho?

"Say You, Say Me" is hideously 80s.

I've already said that upthread, but I was listening to it again and it bears repeating.

so listen to it again

"hideously 80s" = my aesthetic now basically

I'll defend Hello -- it's got a great melody, the singing is full of pathos, and although some of the lyrics are a little too cheesy for their own good, there are a couple of subtle things that really capture the loserish longing of a guy too afraid to even talk to the object of his affection, especially "Hello, is it me you're looking for?" The kind of almost magical thinking that a guy in his position can resort to -- he's never even made himself apparent to her, yet he imagines that she might be looking for him. He doesn't actually have the slightest idea who she is or what she's like, yet he has almost creepily constructed elaborate fantasies about her (I say "almost" creepily, because it's the kind of thing I think most guys engage in at some point in their lives).

This week has been Lionel Richie week in my work, Greatest Hits playing every morning so far - it was George Benson the week before - I'm not the biggest fan but the guy is undoubtedly a class songwriter.

Came here to give big ups to "You Are," and see that I already did it way back in 2003. Some things never change.

I'm stuck on him.

I was confused about the inclusion of Nightshift before I realized you weren't restricting your Commodores considerations to only years he was a Commodore.

my wife's a big fan and i went with her to a gig a few years ago with fairly low expectations but tbh it's one of the best gigs i've ever been to as far as staging, pacing and frequency of hits goes

the guy puts on a hell of a show and he is massively charismatic onstage

Lionel is classic as fuck.

What the bloody hell happens three minutes into Say You, Say Me? I mean it wasn't a great song anyway but this hot garbage won an Oscar.

Lionel Richie IS classic as fuck.

I'd forgotten about 'Don't Wanna Lose You'! Saw the video to that quite a lot in '96, and it made the Top 20. I can still sing it in my head now even though I haven't heard it for 23 years.

https://i.imgur.com/pn8lXBh.png

Lionel Richie's stuff is wildly uneven to me, but I lean towards the Commodores hits. There's really not much by the post-Richie Commodores that I want to play, but I like "Night Shift" more than any of their previous hits except "Brick House."

(Even though those two do not have Richie on lead vocals, he's still THE guy in that group.)

"Night Shift" is a lovely neon puddle a-shimmer.

Even now I have to echo "Marvin... Marvin..." when I hear his name.

I still have no regrets about putting that song on the top of my ballot when we polled Motown a few years back.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Z7j9iSbz0qc

^^ love this scene and movie

Pre-Cambrian ILM was a miserable place..

The most charismatic and charming man I ever interviewed. Total classic, even the soppy stuff. Somebody needs to sing about endless love, and he's the master of it.

“Hello” is a masterpiece

"Easy" is undeniable.

Was in a supermarket last weekend and saw his face on the cover of People or similar and he pretty much looks the same these days.

The pulse in “Running With The Night” alone means Lionel will be forever classic

The end of the first verse of "Three Times a Lady" is my favourite Lionel Richie moment: "...I must say out loud...", goes to the discordant augmented (?) chord, and then hangs on it for an extra measure before the chorus. He knows he has you hooked, he can keep you listening through this strange chord.