The Very Best of Rufus with Chaka Khan is a greatest hits album by funk band Rufus and singer Chaka Khan, originally released on the MCA Records label in 1982. The collection comprises ten of the group's biggest hits on the ABC/MCA labels, including "You Got the Love", "Sweet Thing", "At Midnight (My Love Will Lift You Up)", "Do You Love What You Feel", "Tell Me Something Good", "Stay", "Hollywood" and "Dance Wit Me".
| The Very Best of Rufus with Chaka Khan | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
 | ||||
| Greatest hits album by Rufus with Chaka Khan | ||||
| Released | 1982 | |||
| Recorded | 1974–1979 | |||
| Genre | Soul, funk | |||
| Length | 42:54 | |||
| Label | MCA | |||
| Producer | Rufus, Bob Monaco, Quincy Jones, Roy Halee | |||
| Rufus chronology | ||||
| ||||
| Chaka Khan chronology | ||||
| ||||
Release and reception
editThe Very Best of... was released in late 1982, prior to the recording of the band's two final albums, both for the Warner Bros. Records label, and does consequently not include their hits "Ain't Nobody" and "One Million Kisses", both from the 1983 double-set Stompin' at the Savoy - Live. However, it doesn't contain any material from their 1973 self-titled debut album or their recent album at the time, 1981's Camouflage. It also doesn't contain any material from the Khan-less albums Numbers (1979) and Party 'Til You're Broke (1981).[citation needed]
The ten track Very Best of Rufus featuring Chaka Khan was re-released on CD by MCA/Geffen Records in the mid 1990s in both the US and Europe and is to date the only career retrospective available with the band. Rufus and Chaka Khan's ABC/MCA back catalogue (1973–1982) is as of 2003 distributed by the Universal Music Group.[citation needed]
In a contemporary review, Billboard said The Very Best Of revisits the group's "spine-tingling brand of soul-gone-funk", which remains potent because of Khan's singing.[1] Village Voice critic Robert Christgau said the compilation contained Khan's "great Rufus songs".[2] Stephen Thomas Erlewine gave it four-and-a-half out of five stars in his review for AllMusic,[3] and Dave Thompson gave the record an eight out of 10 in his 2001 book Funk. "All the hits and no misses", he wrote. "A great comp".[4]
Track listing
edit| No. | Title | Writer(s) | Length |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1. | "Do You Love What You Feel" (from Masterjam, 1979) | David Wolinski | 4:30 |
| 2. | "Tell Me Something Good" (from Rags to Rufus, 1974) | Stevie Wonder | 4:40 |
| 3. | "Dance Wit Me" (from Rufus featuring Chaka Khan, 1975) | Gavin Christopher | 4:00 |
| 4. | "Hollywood" (from Ask Rufus, 1977) | André Fischer, David Wolinski | 4:09 |
| 5. | "Stay" (from Street Player, 1978) | Richard Calhoun, Chaka Khan | 5:42 |
| 6. | "Once You Get Started" (from Rufusized, 1974) | Gavin Christopher | 4:31 |
| 7. | "You Got the Love" (from Rags to Rufus, 1974) | Chaka Khan, Ray Parker Jr. | 4:45 |
| 8. | "At Midnight (My Love Will Lift You Up)" (from Ask Rufus, 1977) | Tony Maiden, Lalomie Washburn | 4:21 |
| 9. | "Please Pardon Me (You Remind Me of a Friend)" (from Rufusized, 1974) | Brenda Gordon, Brian Russell | 3:06 |
| 10. | "Sweet Thing" (from Rufus featuring Chaka Khan, 1975) | Chaka Khan, Tony Maiden | 3:20 |
References
edit- ^ Anon. (August 21, 1982). "Top Albums Picks". Billboard. p. 65.
- ^ Christgau, Robert (2000). "Chaka Khan: Epiphany: The Best of Chaka Khan Volume One". Christgau's Consumer Guide: Albums of the '90s. Macmillan. p. 160. ISBN 0312245602.
- ^ The Very Best of Rufus with Chaka Khan at AllMusic
- ^ Thompson, Dave (2001). Funk. Hal Leonard Corporation. p. 183. ISBN 0879306297.
External links
edit- The Very Best Of at Discogs (list of releases)