''Released'' is the fourth studio album by the American singer

Patti LaBelle Patricia Louise Holte (born May 24, 1944), known professionally as Patti LaBelle, is an American R&B singer, actress and businesswoman. LaBelle is referred to as the " Godmother of Soul". She began her career in the early 1960s as lead singe ...

. It was released by

Epic Records Epic Records is an American record label owned by Sony Music Entertainment, a subsidiary of Sony Corporation of America Sony Corporation of America (SONAM, also known as SCA), is the American arm of the Japanese conglomerate Sony Group ...

on March 14, 1980, in the United States. The album featured the hits "I Don't Go Shopping", written by previous collaborator

David Lasley David Eldon Lasley (August 20, 1947 – December 9, 2021) was an American recording artist, singer, musician and songwriter. He was best known as a touring background singer for James Taylor, as a session singer on recordings by artists including ...

and musician Peter Allen, and the title track, "

Release (The Tension) "Release (The Tension)" is a song recorded and released by singer Patti LaBelle as a single on the Epic label in 1980. The title track of LaBelle's fourth solo album, '' Released''. It was written and produced by renowned New Orleans funk musician ...

", which was written by funk legend

Allen Toussaint Allen Richard Toussaint (; January 14, 1938 – November 10, 2015) was an American musician, songwriter, arranger and record producer. He was an influential figure in New Orleans rhythm and blues from the 1950s to the end of the century, descri ...

, who produced the entire album. The title track found some international success upon its release while "I Don't Go Shopping" was her first top 40 R&B charted single since 1977. Along with her frequent collaborator, James "Budd" Ellison, LaBelle lyrically co-wrote the last five songs on the album.

Track listing

All tracks produced and arranged by

Personnel

* Patti LaBelle – vocals *

– Yamaha electric grand piano,

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 ...

(3, 8),

RMI Harmonic Synthesizer RMI may refer to: Science and technology * Radio-magnetic indicator, an instrument used in aircraft navigation * Repetitive motion injury, an injury to the musculoskeletal and nervous systems * Richtmyer–Meshkov instability, an instability occur ...

(8), acoustic piano (9) * James Budd Ellison – acoustic piano * Sam Henry Jr. –

Fender Rhodes The Rhodes piano (also known as the Fender Rhodes piano) is an electric piano invented by Harold Rhodes, which became popular in the 1970s. Like a conventional piano, the Rhodes generates sound with keys and hammers, but instead of strings, th ...

* Edward Levon Batts – guitars, backing vocals * Ron Smith – guitars * David Barard – bass * Herman "Roscoe" Ernest III – drums * Miguel Fuentes – percussion * Kenneth Williams – percussion * Albert White – alto saxophone * Carl Blouin – baritone saxophone * Harold Deffies – baritone saxophone * Paul McGinley – tenor saxophone * James Rivers – tenor saxophone solo (1), alto saxophone solo (7) * Jim Duggan – trombone * Michael Genevay – trombone * Jerome Verges – trombone * Clyde Kerr Jr. – trumpet * James Weber – trumpet * Vernon Manuel – backing vocals * Jay Van Hall – backing vocals

Production

* Patti LaBelle – associate producer, album concept * James Budd Ellison – associate producer * Skip Godwin – recording, mixing * Danny Jacobs – recording, mixing * Jack Skinner – mastering at Sterling Sound (New York City, New York). * John Berg – art direction, cover design * Andrea Klein – art direction, cover design * Hiro 51 – photography

Charts

References

{{Authority control Album chart usages for Billboard200 Album chart usages for BillboardRandBHipHop 1980 albums Patti LaBelle albums Albums produced by Allen Toussaint Epic Records albums