Track of the Day: May 29, 2014

Track of the Day: I didn’t get to this track during my party track rundown, but that’s ok, this great b-side is in its own way kind of special. From Tulsa, Oklahoma’s greatest band, the Gap Band, comes this wonderfully blooming ballad. Released on The Gap Band IV album, a great album itself full of hits like “Outstanding”, “Early in the Morning”, and “You Dropped a Bomb on Me”, “Season’s No Reason to Change” stood out not only because of how decidedly unfunky it is next to all these jams but how great the track is to live there regardless. They were really at the end of their kind of funk being popular, and dropped their final strain of energy into this great album (with all of its moods) and it shows here on this track.

Charlie Wilson strains his southern cooked vocals into a different range and goes for a double-tracked dreamy vocal vibe. It brings to mind a lot of what John Lennon was trying to do before he was murdered a year before. Charlie’s brothers back him up masterfully, in many ways their backup vocals and rhythm is what makes this song so great. Just listen to how their backup vocals overtake the song around the 3 minute mark. Charlie beforehand was chopping the “Season” ending of the verse, now he starts to lift it and every verse upward to match their delivery. Its such a brilliant change: its passionate, heartfelt and wrestles the track from a datedness, into the timelessness.

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