''Commodores 13'' is the tenth studio album (and thirteenth overall, including two greatest-hits compilations and a live album) by the

Commodores Commodores are an American funk and soul band, which were at their peak in the late 1970s through the mid 1980s. The members of the group met as mostly freshmen at Tuskegee Institute (now Tuskegee University) in 1968, and signed with Motown in ...

, released in 1983 on Motown Records. It's also the first album by the band after the departure of Lionel Richie, who began his solo career in 1982.

Background

''Commodores 13'' was produced by William King, Thomas McClary,

Walter Orange Commodores are an American funk and soul band, which were at their peak in the late 1970s through the mid 1980s. The members of the group met as mostly freshmen at Tuskegee Institute (now Tuskegee University) in 1968, and signed with Motown i ...

and

Milan Williams Milan B. Williams (March 28, 1948 – July 9, 2006) was an American keyboardist and a founding member of The Commodores. Biography Williams was born in Okolona, Mississippi, and began playing the piano after being inspired by his older brother Ea ...

. Singers

Vesta Williams Mary Vesta Williams (December 1, 1957 – September 22, 2011) was an American singer-songwriter, who performed across genres such as pop, jazz, adult contemporary and R&B. Originally credited as Vesta Williams, she was simply known as Vesta begin ...

and

Melissa Manchester Melissa Manchester (born February 15, 1951) is an American singer, songwriter and actress. Since the 1970s, her songs have been carried by adult contemporary radio stations. She has also appeared on television, in films, and on stage. Early l ...

made guest appearances on the album.

Track listing

Side one #"I'm in Love" (Harold Hudson, Shirley King, William King) – 4:05 #"Turn Off the Lights" (Shirley King, William King) – 4:20 #"Nothing Like a Woman" (Hudson, Walter Orange) – 4:56 #"Captured" (Linda McClary, Thomas McClary) – 4:37 Side two #"Touchdown" (Michael Dunlap, Orange) – 4:30 #"Welcome Home" (Bill Champlin, Thomas McClary) – 4:20 #"Ooo, Woman You" (

, Thomas McClary) – 4:22 #"Only You" (Milan Williams) – 4:10

Personnel

Commodores * Harold Hudson – lead vocals (1, 2, 6), rhythm & vocal arrangements (1, 2, 3), backing vocals (2), additional keyboards (3) * William King – rhythm & vocal arrangements (1, 2), synthesizers (2, 3, 4, 6, 7), horns (2, 4, 5, 6, 8) *

Ronald LaPread Commodores are an American funk and soul band, which were at their peak in the late 1970s through the mid 1980s. The members of the group met as mostly freshmen at Tuskegee Institute (now Tuskegee University) in 1968, and signed with Motown in ...

– bass guitar (2, 3, 4, 6, 7, 8), vocal arrangements (3) * Thomas McClary – lead & rhythm guitar (2, 3, 5, 7, 8), acoustic & electric guitar (4), rhythm & vocal arrangements (4, 6, 7), horn & string arrangements (4, 6), guitar solo (6), lead vocals (7) *

– drums (1-8), lead vocals (3, 4, 5, 8), rhythm arrangements (3, 5), vocal arrangements (5) *

– keyboards (2-7), acoustic piano (8), Fender Rhodes (8), Oberheim synthesizer (8), rhythm & vocal arrangements (8), horn & string arrangements (8) Additional musicians *

Michael Boddicker Michael Lehmann Boddicker (born January 19, 1953) is an American film composer and session musician, specializing in electronic music. He is a three times National Academy of Recording Arts and Sciences (N.A.R.A.S.) Most Valuable Player "Synthe ...

– acoustic piano (1), Fender Rhodes (1), synthesizers (1), synth bass (1), synth horns (6), synth strings (6), additional synthesizers (7) * David Cochrane – backing vocals (1-7), synthesizers (5, 7),

vocoder A vocoder (, a portmanteau of ''voice'' and ''encoder'') is a category of speech coding that analyzes and synthesizes the human voice signal for audio data compression, multiplexing, voice encryption or voice transformation. The vocoder was ...

(5), additional guitar (8) *

Bill Champlin William Bradford Champlin (born May 21, 1947) is an American singer, musician, arranger, producer, and songwriter. He formed the band Sons of Champlin in 1965, which still performs today, and was a member of the band Chicago from 1981–2009. ...

– backing vocals (1, 3-8), vocal arrangements (6), acoustic piano (6), Fender Rhodes (6), synth bass (6) * Michael Dunlap – additional guitar (3, 5), additional keyboards (5), rhythm arrangements (5), rhythm guitar (6), Moog synthesizer (7) * Geno Findley – additional synthesizers (7) * Michael Lang – additional keyboards (8) * Paul Jackson Jr. – additional guitar (8) * John Gilston – Simmons drums (7) * Steve Schaeffer – additional drums (8) * Paulinho da Costa – percussion (1, 3, 6, 7), effects (3) * Rolene Marie Naveja –

castanets Castanets, also known as ''clackers'' or ''palillos'', are a percussion instrument (idiophone), used in Spanish, Kalo, Moorish, Ottoman, Italian, Sephardic, Swiss, and Portuguese music. In ancient Greece and ancient Rome there was a simil ...

(3) * Bruce Miller – horn & string arrangements (1, 2, 3, 5, 8) * Shirley King – rhythm & vocal arrangements (2) *

Gene Page Eugene Edgar Page Jr. (September 13, 1939 – August 24, 1998) was an American conductor, composer, arranger and record producer, most active from the mid-1960s through the mid-1980s. His sound can be heard in the arrangements he did for Jeffer ...

– horn & string arrangements (4) * Benjamin White – string arrangements (7) * Phyllis St. James – backing vocals (1) * Deborah Thomas – backing vocals (2, 4, 6, 7) * Tandia Brenda White – backing vocals (5) *

– backing vocals (5, 6, 8) *

– backing vocals (7)

Production

* Producers – William King (Tracks 1 & 2), Walter Orange (Tracks 3 & 5), Thomas McClary (Tracks 4, 6 & 7), Milan Williams (Track 8). * Executive Recording and Mixing Engineer – Jane Clark * Second Recording – Brian Leshon * Additional Recording, Second Recording and Additional Mixing – Magic Moreno * Additional Mixing –

Norman Whitfield Norman Jesse Whitfield (May 12, 1940 – September 16, 2008) was an American songwriter and producer, who worked with Berry Gordy's Motown labels during the 1960s. allmusic Biography/ref> He has been credited as one of the creators of the Mo ...

* Mastering –

Bernie Grundman Bernie Grundman is an American audio engineer. He is most known for his mastering work and his studio, Bernie Grundman Mastering, which he opened in 1984 in Hollywood. The studio, which includes engineers Chris Bellman, Patricia Sullivan, and Mi ...

* Recorded and Mastered at

A&M Studios The Jim Henson Company Lot, formerly A&M Studios, is a studio property located just south of the southeast corner of North La Brea Avenue and Sunset Boulevard in Hollywood. Originally established by film star Charlie Chaplin, the property serv ...

, Hollywood, California. * Mixed at Motown/Hitsville U.S.A. Recording Studios, Hollywood, California and

The Village Recorder The Village (also known as Village Recorders, or the Village Recorder) is a recording studio located at 1616 Butler Avenue in West Los Angeles, California. History The building was built by the Freemasons in 1922 and was originally a Masonic ...

, West Los Angeles, California. * Project Manager – Suzee Ikeda * Art Direction – Terry Taylor * Photography – Mark Sennet

Charts

References

{{Authority control Commodores albums 1983 albums Motown albums Albums recorded at A&M Studios