264 Hello The Commodores - Machine Gun

Chart  entered :  24th  August  1974

Chart  peak  : 20

Number  of  hits : 16

The  advent  of  disco  also  brought  about  a  resurgence  of  the  instrumental  hit  - I'm  struggling  to  think  of  any   to  be  found  in  the  glam  rock  canon - and  that's  how  Alabama's  Commodores  first  broke  into  the  charts.

Like  Showaddywaddy,  The  Commodores  were  formed  from  a  merger  of  two  existing  groups , the  Mystics  and  The  Jays  at  Tuskegee  Institute  in  1968. Lionel  Ritchie  , Thomas  McClary  and  William  King  from  the  former  joined  Milan  Williams  ( and  two  other  guys  who  were  quickly  replaced  by  Ronald  LaPraed  and  Walter  Orange )  from  the  latter  to  form  The  Commodores  , a  name  plucked  at  random  from  a  dictionary. Most  of  them  were  multi-instrumentalists  who  regularly  swapped  roles  but  the  most  common  line  up  was  Ritchie-vocals, McClary -  guitar, King - trumpet, Williams -  keyboards , LaPraed - bass  and  Orange - drums.

The  band  were  not  an  overnight  success. They  had  a  short  spell  on  Atlantic  in  1969  where  they  released  one  single,  the  instrumental  "Keep  On  Dancing"  which  is  an  interesting  blend    of  early  Chicago   and  James  Brown  with  some  great  drumming  but  not  that  strong  a  melody. Their  big  break  came  in  1972  when  they  supported  The  Jackson  Five  on  tour  and   were  signed  up  to  Motown's  West  Coast  subsidiary  Mowest.

Their  first  single  "The  Zoo  ( The  Human  Zoo )  was  released  in  March  1972  and  is  a  riotous  mess. The  song  was  written  and  produced  by  Gloria  Jones  and  Pam  Sawyer  and  is  apparently  a  Marvin  Gaye  -ish  consciousness  anthem  although  you  wouldn't  know  it  from  the  terrible  production  which  has  Thomas's  guitar  too  high  in  the  mix  and  renders  most  of  the  lyrics  unintelligible. There's  also  just  too  much  going  on  on  the  record  though  that  didn't  stop it  becoming  a  favourite  at  Wigan  Casino. A  cleaned  up  version  was  on  their  debut  LP  "Machine  Gun"  the  following  year.

In  January  1973  they  released   "Don't  You  Be  Worried"  a  more  conventional  pop  soul  number  co-written  by  Walter  who  perhaps  did  the  Levi  Stubbs- esque   vocal   as  well  because  it's  certainly  not  Lionel. Despite  its  lack  of  chart  success  it  must  have  pleased  someone  because  they  were  promoted  to  the  main  label  for  their  next  one ," Are  You  Happy "  in  August. It's  a  languid  downbeat  urban  soul  number  that  sounds  like  the  theme  song  to  some  forgotten  blaxploitation  movie  with  Diahann  Caroll  living  on  welfare. It  doesn't  work  because  Lionel's  light  vocal  doesn't  seem  in  the  least  bit  concerned  about  the  subject  matter.

This  was  the  song  that  broke  them  on  both  sides  of  the  Atlantic, another  sleeper  hit  that  was  actually  released  in  April. The  tune  was  written  by  Milan  although  named  by  Berry  Gordy  who  said  Milan's  clavinet  work  reminded  him  of  gunfire. I  can't  hear  that  myself  I  must  say. What  it  is  is  an  infectious  itchy  funk  number , clearly  influenced  by  Stevie  Wonder but  those  high-pitched  clavinet  lines  give  it  some  distinction   ( and  will  crop  up  again  in  late  eighties  R  &  B  ).  It  gives little  indication  that  the  group  would  go  on  to  record  the  most  soporific   number  one  of  the  decade  and  numerous  pale  imitations  thereafter  but  then  artists  don't always  take  the  road  you  would  have  chosen.