Name: Musical Massage
Brand: Universal Music Distribution
SKU: 228190
Availability: OutOfStock

Musical Massage

Rating

Album: Musical Massage
#	Song Title		Time
1)	Learning How To Love You Album Version	More Info...	3:25
2)	Instant Love Album Version	More Info...	3:28
3)	Body Heat Album Version	More Info...	4:43
4)	Share Your Love Album Version	More Info...	3:24
5)	Holiday Album Version	More Info...	3:26
6)	Phantom Lover Album Version	More Info...	3:43
7)	Journey Into You Album Version	More Info...	4:06
8)	Musical Massage Album Version	More Info...	3:46
9)	French Waltz Album Version	More Info...	1:52
10)	Turn Out The Light Album Version	More Info...	3:52
11)	I Wanna Be Where You Are Album Version	More Info...	3:34
12)	Comfort (AKA Come Live With Me, Angel) Album Version	More Info...	6:15
13)	Long Time No See Album Version	More Info...	3:46
14)	Don't You Wanna Come Demo	More Info...	3:42
15)	You Are The Way You Are Demo	More Info...	3:22

Tracks

Performer Notes

Personnel: Leon Ware, Minnie Ripperton (vocals); David T. Walker, Ray Parker, Jr. (guitar); Sonny Burke, John Barnes, Jerry Peters (keyboards); Chuck Rainey (bass); James Gadson (drums); Bobbye T. Hall, Gary Coleman (percussion); Jessie Smith, Merry Clayton, Felicia Griner (background vocals).
Producers: Leon Ware, Hal Davis, T-Boy Ross.
Recorded at Motown Studios, Hollywood, California between 1975 & 1976. Originally released on Gordy (976S1). Includes liner notes by by Harry Weinger.
This is part of Motown Records "Classic Albums" series.
Personnel: David T. Walker, Ray Parker, Jr. (guitar); John Barnes, Sonny Burke , Jerry Peters (keyboards); James Gadson (drums); Eddie "Bongo" Brown (congas); Gary Coleman, Bobbye Hall (percussion); Felicia Griner, Merry Clayton, Jessie Smith (background vocals).
Audio Mixer: Kevin Reeves.
Audio Remixer: Art Stewart.
Liner Note Authors: Harry Weinger; Leon Ware.
Recording information: Motown Recording Studios, Hollywood, CA (08/22/1975-07/??/1976).
Arrangers: David Blumberg; Coleridge-Taylor Perkinson .
Leon Ware's classic Motown offering from 1976 came about as the result of another classic recording done by Marvin Gaye. Ware had written the single "I Want You" for a demo recording to score T-Boy Ross a recording contract with Motown. Berry Gordy heard it and told Ware he had to have the song for Marvin Gaye's next single. He took it to Gaye, who also loved it. Later, as Ware finished the tracks and orchestrations for his own album, he was playing it back for friends at Gaye's home when Marvin came out of a bedroom to inquire about what it was. He asked for -- and received -- all the tracks from Ware for the legendary I Want You album. This left Ware no choice but to compose an entirely new set of songs for his own record; the result is Musical Massage. (It should be noted that, according to Ware, Gordy, Gaye, and others felt he should also give this album away as a follow-up to I Want You, but Ware refused.) Musical Massage is the perfect mix of soul, light funk, jazz, and what was about to become the rhythmic foundation for disco. Picture the Motown song orchestrations with arrangements by Barry White for the Salsoul Orchestra and you get a bit of the picture. The disc opens with two smooth soul wonders in "Learning How to Love You" and "Instant Love." Strings dominate the melodic arrangement and Ware croons directly to them as Ray Parker, Jr. fills the lines with a silky but chunky guitar. Ware's mellifluous tenor is deep in the swell of strings and guitars as the rest of the band provides a shimmering backbeat for his soul crooning. On a re-recording of the track "Body Heat" -- which Ware had recorded as a duet with Minnie Riperton for Quincy Jones' album of the same name a year earlier -- Parker and bassist Chuck Rainey set a groove for Bongo Brown, Gary Coleman, and Bobbye Hall's percussion orgy. Ware's vocals, augmented by a three-piece female choir, cover the tune with dripping, seductive, sexual energy. Bobby Womack guests on the title track and "Holiday," while Gaye also lends a hand on the latter. Both tracks are spurious soul-funk workouts with fat, smooth grooves underlying Ware's gorgeous voice that melts the heart strings like butter, sounding like the whispering of satin sheets. Produced by Ware with Hal Davis and engineer Cal Harris, the disc has the same sweet, swaying feel as Gaye's I Want You but is a bit tougher, a little funkier in the breaks. The string arrangements by Dave Blumbery and Coleridge-Taylor Perkinson are among the best the Motown studios issued to date. Ultimately, Musical Massage is a little-known classic from the supposedly twilight years of Motown. This record reveals Ware as a talented but undercelebrated visionary; he envisioned the evolution of soul and went about to bring it to fruition. Musical Massage is a watermark not only for Ware, but for Motown as well. ~ Thom Jurek

Professional Reviews

Uncut (11/03, p.130) - 3 stars out of 5 - "...This is silky, yearning soul..."

Mojo (Publisher) (11/03, p.139) - 4 stars out of 5 - "...Ware specialised in soothing, sensual soul, his lyrics, intimate yet respectful, delivered effortlessly via his richly warm falsetto..."