The year was 1983. The music scene was desolate. The world was on the verge of implosion. Fortunately, a Motown singer from the depths of Tuskegee, Alabama would come to provide us with the words that would change the world. These words galvanized people across the land with their meaning. Those words were:

"Som bo li da say dee mo ya! Yeah! Jumbo Jumbo!!!"

Okay, so I'm exaggerating slightly. 1983 was a fantastic year for music, what with your Synchronicities and your Thrillers and your Innocent Men. I don't even know what that chant means! Quite frankly, I don't think the guy that wrote it knows what it means either. Lionel, if you're reading this, shed some light on a brother, OK?

Of course, the Lionel I'm speaking of is singer/songwriter extraordinaire Lionel Richie. After hooking up with some college buds and forming the Commodores, he became the "it" man of Motown in the late Seventies, able to balance funked-out jams like "Brick House" with tender, melodic ballads like "Three Times A Lady" (or as Buckwheat called it, "Fee Tines A Mady." His increased presence as an outside songwriter (most notably for Kenny Rogers) was the catalyst for him to step out as a solo artist. Debuting with a self-titled album in the fall of 1982, he became a certified superstar, a multi-million selling artist, won his first Grammy, and was the biggest star in soul music... .

..for about 5 minutes till Thriller came out...

At any rate, Lionel needed not worry about Michael dripping Jheri-curl juice down his back. Can't Slow Down was a similar pop/soul fusion with an emphasis on balladry. It went on to become Motown's biggest selling album by a solo artist, spun off 5 hit singles, and won the 1984 Grammy for Album Of The Year. It found Lionel updating his signature sound ever so slightly, but he mainly sticks to the rule that "if it ain't broke, don't fix it".

A lot of folks complained that Lionel's solo career completely robbed him of the funk that The Commodores had in abundance. You definitely can't argue with the fact that by Can't Slow Down, Lionel had traded in the Southern drawl and greasy grooves for a sound that was a bit more...polished. Songs like the title track have sort of a syncopated cool, splitting synth-funk and shiny pop down the middle. On this track, Lionel shows off a percussive singing style-actually, the song winds up sounding just a bit like "Wanna Be Startin' Somethin'."

Of course, Lionel's bread and butter was the sensitive slow jam. Unlike, say, Luther Vandross, Lionel wasn't really into going the sensual, seductive route. Quite possibly the best-known ballad here is "Hello," a classic piano ballad whose rep has been sullied by what was quite possibly the worst video in history. It's pretty much a pop ballad by numbers. Every time I hear this song now I think about the blind girl creating that ugly bust of the not-particularly-attractive Richie. He redeems himself by playing up his 'Bama roots with the hooky country ballad "Stuck On You." This ballad deftly skirts the line between hooky and cheesy.

The album's two best ballads are the ones that weren't released as singles. "The Only One" is an early prototype of what would be the classic David Foster adult contemporary ballad, and boasts a classic pop chorus. "Love Will Find A Way" is another animal entirely. Smoky and smooth, Lionel brings out his deep Lothario voice, although the song, at nearly 6 minutes, could've benefited from a smart edit.

"Running With TheNight" was a big hit that definitely tipped it's cap to Michael Jackson, both with it's pulsing uptempo beat and the choreography-heavy video. However, the song that Can't Slow Down will be most remembered for is "All Night Long (All Night)." You know that saying "so bad, it's good"? That definitely applies here. Over a herky-jerky vaguely Caribbean beat, Lionel sings in a Jamaican-inflected accent that would be later aped by Bobby McFerrin on "Don't Worry Be Happy" and Miss Cleo in those damn psychic commercials. Although your eyes will roll at the cheesiness of the song, you can't deny it's celebratory vibe. You'll be up and chanting in gibberish in no time.
Lionel couldn't hold on to this success much longer. After one more solo album, he went on an extended hiatus which resulted in a decade without a new studio album. However, Richis is still regarded as one of the best pop songwriters around, still able to sell out arenas with his signature ballad touch, although his talentless daughter is arguably as popular as he is right now. Can't Slow Down represented Richie's career peak. It seamlessly blurred the lines between pop and soul and, although it sounds slightly dated almost a quarter-century later, it still stands as one of the better pop albums of the Eighties.

Michael Speed