Larry Graham - Fired Up (1985) [2008, Remastered Reissue]

Effortlessly mixing soul, funk and pop, Larry Graham scored many hits throughout the 80s. This is his original 1985 release and includes the hits "For Your Love" and "That's Why I Love You".

The mid 80's was a time that baught a lot of challanges to musicians from the past couple of decades who'd still remained active at the time. Needless to say the electronics they'd previously experimented with in wonder and delight a few short years earlier were becomming required. Not only that but heavy,rangy singers were suddenly very out of fasion. In short,the male/female R&B as a symbol of strengh and dignity was starting to disappear. To survive the storm artists had the choice of either going along with the crowd or use the period to continue pioneering in some way,whether anyone was aware they existed or not. Lucky for all of us Graham chose the latter path. There's no question that all of these songs could easily integrate into the era in which it was recorded,it was not absorbed by them and THAT was an important distinction. Musically Larry chose to put a very strong emphasis on his bass (as shown on the cover) and the soulful funk style he'd made famous. "What We All Need Is More Love" really shows us that,at least in the hands of Graham and Bootsy the idea of rhythm in the hands of a bass player had definately not died. Not only does the percussion-meets-hard core bass riffs concept drive the groove straight to the subconscious but the lyric content strongly emphasizes the utopian yet truthful "people music" funk flavor Larry had long ago formulated with the Family Stone. The uptempo "For Your Love" as well as the midrange "Tearing Out My Heart" and "Love All The Hurt Away" are the more modern of the tunes,with there heavier digitized/handclap driven urban groove of the period working it's way in and out of the songs. For this kind of material it's Graham's rapturously rangy singing that are the main strengh. The only ballad "That's The Way I Love You" again focuses on vocals but is a good if not stand out Graham ballad. "Nobody's Gonna Steal You Away" and "How Does It Feel" throws this rocking funk/shuffle call-and-response cavalcade that represent the closest Graham has come in some years to the sound that he and Sly had during the late 60's. On "Let's Go" and the Deodatio produced "Crusin'" the funk sound is just plain on full throttle as this manic tempo rhythmic grooves have that "punchy" effect Graham could and did achieve so well over the years. On the title song of course.....WHOA!!!! Easily a candidate for THE TOP jam of the year for 1985. Even though it's made using a DX7 the organ effects that puncuated Graham's popping slap bass would never have anyone be aware they weren't from the genuine article.During the digital era that's quite an achievment. Considering every studio ace from Narada Michael Walden,Ray Parker Jr and David Sancious coming in to help out Larry Graham as his own musician shines most on this album perhaps out of all his solo recordings. And musically speaking it is certainly among his most unique and potent releases.