Wednesday, July 7, 2021

Switch "Reaching For Tomorrow"

(Motown, 1980) I contend that when you consider songwriting ability between the Jacksons and the DeBarges, the family that came about their light complexions without surgical intervention may have been the most talented Motown brood. Which is brought to mind hearing the opening track of this album, "Power to Dance," which was clearly crafted upon receiving a directive to copy the Jacksons post-Motown sound (they even got Married-to-the-Motown non-defector Jermaine to play on the record). And it's great! If the whole ablum had been like that it would have seemed much more desperate and mighta been much more successful, but DeBarges have too much musical juice to just copy eight times, so there's all kindsa different greatness on this platter that matters. That said, the recently unearthed Jermaine-heavy Bonus Track, "Tahiti Hut," is a pleasant Jackson/DeBarge marriage (unlike the actual Jackson/DeBarge marriage, the less spoken about the better).


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