539 Goodbye The Commodores - Goin' To The Bank

Chart entered : 25  October  1986

Chart  peak :  43

Like  Rose  Royce  and  Shalamar,  The  Commodores  were  attempting  to  soldier  on  after  the departure  of  key  members.

The  seeds  of  the  group's  demise  were  sewn  by  their  greatest  success  in  1978  when  the  gruesomely  boring  Our  Tune  favourite  "Three  Times  A  Lady"  topped  the  charts  on  both  sides  of  the  Atlantic. From  then  on  piano  ballads  written  by  Lionel  Richie  with  limited  involvement  from  the  other  guys  dominated  their  singles  output   and  after  the  enormous  success  of  "Endless  Love"  his  duet  with  Diana  Ross  he  made  the  inevitable  decision  to  go  solo  in  1982. He  was  replaced  by  a  guy  called  Skyler  Jett  but  in  the  UK  the  hits  stopped  immediately. The  following  year  guitarist  Thomas  McClary  quit  the  group   and  was  replaced  by  Sheldon  Reynolds   who  had  played  with  Millie  Jackson  and  the  Ohio  R &  B  outfit  Sun.  Sheldon  does  not  appear  on  the  record  sleeves  so  I'm  not  sure  he  was  counted  as  a  full  member  of  the  group. In  1984  Jett  was  replaced  by  J.D. Nicholas  who  had  been  the  touring  singer  for  Heatwave since  1979   when  vocalist  Johnnie  Wilder  was  left  paralysed  by  a  car  accident. They  immediately  enjoyed  a  huge  comeback  hit  with  "Nightshift"  an  affecting  tribute  to  the  recently  deceased  Jackie  Wilson  and  Marvin  Gaye  which  reached  number  3  on  both  sides  of  the  Atlantic  but  subsequent  singles  from  the  LP  of  the  same  name  were  less  successful.

In  1986  they  switched  labels  to  Polydor  and  lost  bassist  Ron LaPread  who  emigrated  to  New  Zealand  to  be  with  his  new  wife..  

"Goin  To  The  Bank"  was  their  first  release  on  Polydor  and  the  lead  single  from  their  album  "United "  released  at  the  same  time.  Lyrically  it  pursues  the  same  theme  as  Wham's  Everything  She  Wants, bemoaning  a  stay-at-home  partner  who  sucks  up  all  the  singer's  hard  -earned  income. The  band  prove  their  ease  with  contemporary  electro-funk  and  JD  supplies  a  very  Anglo-sounding  rap section  towards  the  end.  It  does  lack   the  strong  chorus  that  would  probably  have  got  it  into  the  Top  40. It  was  their  last  new  hit  on  both  sides  of  the  Atlantic, peaking  at  65  in  the  US.  The  follow-up  "Take  It  From  Me" , a  jittery  Michael  Jackson  style  dance  pop  number  isn't  noticeably  inferior  but  again  lacks  a  real  hook. "United  In  Love"  is  a  cloying  electro-ballad  with  terrible  cliched  lyrics. They'd  never  been  a  strong  albums  act  in  the  UK  but  "United"  failed  to  chart  here  and  did  poorly  in  the  US.

Sheldon  ended  his  association  with  the  group  in  1987 to  join  Earth  Wind  and  Fire  although  some  of  his  work  was  on  the  next  album  "Rock  Solid  " in  1988.  At  the  same  time  as  its  release , their  1977  number  9  hit  "Easy"  was  a  hit  again  in  the  UK  following  its  use  in  a  popular  commercial, this  time  reaching  number  15. There  was  no  such  luck  with  the  contemporary  singles. "Solitaire"  is  a  routine  80s  R&  B  number  only  distinguished  by  some  nice  sax  work  and  "Grrip"  is  a  tuneless  trip  through  Cameo  and  Prince  territory.

Polydor  cut  them  loose  and  in  1989  keyboardist  Milan  Williams  was  sacked   after  a  row  over  plans  to  tour  South  Africa  ( which  in  the  event  was  cancelled ). The  band, now  reduced  to  a  trio  of  JD, Walter  Orange  and  William  King,  had  to  set  up  their  own  label  to  release  new  material. They  cobbled  together  a  Christmas  album  in  1992  which  was  ignored  then  a  year  later  came "No  Tricks".  The  single  "Everything  Reminds  Me  Of  You " is  a  competent  enough  wallow  in  Richie  territory  but  didn't  sell  and  the  album  failed  to  chart.

Since  then  the  trio  have  stayed  together  as  a  touring  act  and  have  re-recorded  some  of  their  old  hits   but  there's  been  no  more  new  material.

We're  not  through  with  Lionel  yet  of  course  and  Sheldon's  story  will  be  picked  up  when  we  say  goodbye  to  EWF..

Milan  does  not  seem  to  have  been  musically  active  after  leaving  the  band. He  died  of  cancer  in  2006  aged  58.

Ron  is  still  involved  in  music  in  New  Zealand  and  played  bass  on  an  album  by  Johnny  Croot. He  has  occasionally  joined  Lionel  on  stage.

Thomas  signed  a  solo  contract  with  Motown   and  released  an  eponymous  album  in  1984. It's  a  very  generic  R & B  effort. Thomas's  voice  is  up  to  the  task  but  it  never  really  catches  fire  and  sounds  like  the  sort  of  thing  one  of  the  other  Jackson  brothers  would  churn  out.  The  single  "Thin  Walls"  wasn't  a  hit  and  the  album  failed. He  did  some  writing and  producing  fr  other  artists  such  as  Klique  and  Michael  Henderson  but  in  1986  retreated  to  Florida. He  set  up  his  own  label  for  gospel  music  and  eventually  released  his  own  contribution  to  the  genre with  the  2008  album  "A  Revolution  Not  A  Revival". His  image  was  tarnished  in  2011  when  he  faced  battery  charges  after  harrassing  the  wife  of  an  old  friend. Like  Ron  he  has  occasionally  appeared  on  stage  with  Lionel. In  2014  he  set  up  his  own  version  of  The  Commodores  to  go  out  touring.