Maps of Music

Can't Slow Down (1983)

Where the lyrics of Can't Slow Down take you, and where it was really made.

Every single released from this album reached the top ten of the Billboard Hot 100, and two of them went to No. 1.

Key places

Where the album was recorded (1983)

Recording site Sunset Sound — Recording for this album took place at Sunset Sound Recorders in Hollywood, Los Angeles, alongside Ocean Way Recording. The point marks the studio's building position. Google Maps · Apple Maps

How to get there: See the map for directions.

Album story

Overview

• Second solo studio album by American recording artist Lionel Richie
• Released October 14, 1983 by Motown
• Follows the self-titled debut album Lionel Richie (1982)
• Certified Diamond by the RIAA; over 20 million copies sold worldwide
• Richie's best-selling album and one of the best-selling albums of the 1980s
• Five singles released, and all five reached the top ten of the Billboard Hot 100

Background

• Richie decided to begin a second record after his debut album
• Lead single All Night Long (All Night) entered the charts in the United States, United Kingdom and Australia
• All Night Long (All Night) reached No. 1 on the Billboard Hot 100 and became Richie's third No. 1 hit
• The album won the Album of the Year Grammy at the 27th Annual Grammy Awards in 1985

Recording

• Recorded at Sunset Sound Recorders and Ocean Way Recording in Los Angeles between March and September 1983
• Mixed at Motown / Hitsville U.S.A. recording studios
• Credits list Richie, James Anthony Carmichael and David Foster as the producers of the album

Sources: en.wikipedia.org · es.wikipedia.org · fr.wikipedia.org · www.discogs.com

Tracklist

Sources: musicbrainz.org

Artist

Formation

• Born June 20, 1949, in Tuskegee, Alabama; grew up on the Tuskegee Institute campus and attended Tuskegee Institute on a tennis scholarship.
• In the late 1960s he joined the Commodores as singer and saxophonist; they moved from Atlantic to Motown, first as a support act to The Jackson 5.
• Commodores' early funky sound ("Machine Gun", "Brick House") gave way to romantic ballads he wrote and sang, such as "Easy", "Three Times a Lady", "Still" and "Sail On".

Career

• 1974: first commercial songwriting success with "Happy People", recorded by The Temptations as a No. 1 R&B hit.
• 1980: wrote "Lady" for Kenny Rogers, a US No. 1; produced Rogers' album Share Your Love in 1981.
• 1981: "Endless Love", a duet with Diana Ross, became one of Motown's biggest hits.
• 1982: debut solo album Lionel Richie, with the No. 1 single "Truly", sold over 4 million copies.
• 1983: Can't Slow Down won Album of the Year and sold over twice as many copies; "All Night Long" was a No. 1 hit.
• 1985: co-wrote "We Are the World" with Michael Jackson; "Say You, Say Me" from White Nights won an Academy Award and a Golden Globe.
• 1986: Dancing on the Ceiling, his last widely popular album; a break from recording followed until the 1992 hits collection Back to Front.
• Sold over 90 million records worldwide and won four Grammy Awards.
• Judge on American Idol from its 16th season (2018 onward).
• 2022: inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame.

Sources: en.wikipedia.org

Reception

At release

• Don Shewey of Rolling Stone gave the album four out of five stars
• Shewey said the ballads were monotonous but that Richie broadened his music for different listeners
• Shewey said Richie drew on contemporary artists such as Stevie Wonder and Michael Jackson
• Robert Christgau in The Village Voice gave the album a B+
• Christgau called it a surprisingly solid improvement, particularly in Richie's ballad singing
• Christgau predicted the album had the potential to become a mini-Thriller

Reappraisal

• Stephen Thomas Erlewine gave the album four-and-a-half out of five stars in a retrospective review for AllMusic
• Erlewine wrote that the hits showed Richie at his best and that the only weakness was a short running time
• In 1999, Q magazine included the album on its list of the best Motown records of all time

Records

• Reached No. 1 on the Billboard album chart
• Spent 59 consecutive weeks in the Billboard top 10, including all of 1984
• Spent a total of 160 weeks on the Billboard 200
• Third best-selling album of 1984
• Won the Album of the Year Grammy in 1985
• Hello and All Night Long (All Night) each reached No. 1 on the Billboard Hot 100
• Stuck on You reached No. 3 on the Hot 100 and No. 24 on the Hot Country Singles & Tracks chart
• Running With the Night reached No. 7 and Penny Lover reached No. 8
• Certified Diamond by the RIAA

Sources: en.wikipedia.org · es.wikipedia.org · fr.wikipedia.org

Trivia

• Peter Banks, formerly of Yes, played the lead guitar on Hello, but his contribution was not credited
• The album is on Rock and Roll Hall of Fame's list of the 200 definitive albums
• The album won the Album of the Year Grammy at the 27th Annual Grammy Awards in 1985
• The music video for Hello shows Richie falling for a girl who is blind

Sources: en.wikipedia.org · es.wikipedia.org · fr.wikipedia.org · pt.wikipedia.org

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