If I Could Steal One Final Glance: The Mourning After Luther
Got to Have Your Body
New York City Band
from the album New York City Band (1979)
Far from matching the songwriting and funky stuff of “Never Too Much,” Vandross shows you where the inspiration comes from.
Forever, For Always, For Love
Luther Vandross
from the album Forever, For Always, For Love (1982)
The intro here speaks of the majesty of Vandross’s own remake of “Superstar.” And that probably was the origins of that musical masterpiece. As he plays with sultry Paul Riser-arranged string and slow dances around a Quiet Storm escapade, he showcases an art of romance that was a bit more refined and sensual than of Teddy Pendergrass, even Marvin Gaye. It’s more like Sinatra on a slow jam. Amazingly, neo-soul singer Lalah Hathaway pulled off an excellent version of the song in 2004, which she to this day still hasn’t come close to surpassing.
Every Girl (Wants My Guy)
Aretha Franklin
from the album Get It Right (1983)
There’s a sad argument floating around message boards that Luther and funk should never be mentioned in the same sentence. There’s another one usually sparked by insta-r&b critics that claims he deposited his leftovers on those he produced records for. This track used on Aretha should clearly kill both of those theories. This was just as good as anything on The Night I Fell in Love.
I’ll Let You Slide
Luther Vandross
from the album Busy Body (1983)
There’s no way that this song should have remained an album track. It screams for the sweat of the dance floor, even in the post-disco era it was in. The New Wave synths and the catchy sing-a-long chorus speaks of the marvelous ear Vandross had for pop music, even if he was so shamelessly limited to black audiences.
The 2nd Time Around
Luther
from the album Luther (1976)
Want more of that Bacharach/David gorgeousness? Dig deep into his early and long forgotten works with his cluster group Luther (Christine Wiltshire, Theresa V. Reed, Anthony Hinton, Diane Sumler). The sultry strings are there, so is the Philly soul adult contemporary romance that Vandross is best known for. His mastery of backing vocal arrangements are also exhibited. Plus, there’s some very passionate singing on the inside. Vandross covered the tune on his Any Love album using a copy-and-paste template, but the original still sounds superior.
