Can't Slow Down (Lionel Richie Album)
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''Can't Slow Down'' is the second solo studio album by American recording artist
Lionel Richie Lionel Brockman Richie Jr. (born June 20, 1949) is an American singer, songwriter, record producer, and television personality. He rose to fame in the 1970s as a songwriter and the co-lead singer of the Motown group Commodores; writing and recor ...
. It was released on October 14, 1983, by
Motown Records Motown is an American record label owned by the Universal Music Group. Founded by Berry Gordy, Berry Gordy Jr. as Tamla Records on January 12, 1959, it was incorporated as Motown Record Corporation on April 14, 1960. Its name, a portmanteau ...
. ''Can't Slow Down'' has been certified
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by the
RIAA The Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA) is a trade organization that represents the music recording industry in the United States. Its members consist of record labels and distributors that the RIAA says "create, manufacture, and/o ...
, selling over 10 million copies in the United States and over 20 million copies worldwide, making it Richie's best-selling album, and one of the best-selling albums of the 1980s. Five singles were released from the album, all of which hit the top ten of the ''Billboard'' Hot 100 chart, including two that reached No. 1: " All Night Long (All Night)" and "
Hello Hello is a salutation or greeting in the English language. It is first attested in writing from 1826. Early uses ''Hello'', with that spelling, was used in publications in the U.S. as early as the 18 October 1826 edition of the '' Norwich Cou ...
". The album subsequently won the
Grammy Award The Grammy Awards, stylized as GRAMMY, and often referred to as The Grammys, are awards presented by The Recording Academy of the United States to recognize outstanding achievements in music. They are regarded by many as the most prestigious ...
for Album of the Year at the 27th Annual Grammy Awards in 1985.


Critical reception

In a contemporary review for ''
The Village Voice ''The Village Voice'' is an American news and culture publication based in Greenwich Village, New York City, known for being the country's first Alternative newspaper, alternative newsweekly. Founded in 1955 by Dan Wolf (publisher), Dan Wolf, ...
'', music critic
Robert Christgau Robert Thomas Christgau ( ; born April 18, 1942) is an American music journalist and essayist. Among the most influential music critics, he began his career in the late 1960s as one of the earliest professional rock critics and later became a ...
gave the album a "B+" and called it a "surprisingly solid" improvement, particularly with respect to Richie's ballad singing. He felt that its "jumpy international dance-pop" suited Richie more than the
Commodores Commodores, often billed as The Commodores, are an American funk and Soul music, soul group. The group's most successful period was in the late 1970s and early 1980s when Lionel Richie was the co-lead singer. The members of the group met as m ...
' funk had and predicted that, considering his "well-established appeal to white people," ''Can't Slow Down'' had the potential to become a "mini-'' Thriller''". Don Shewey of ''
Rolling Stone ''Rolling Stone'' is an American monthly magazine that focuses on music, politics, and popular culture. It was founded in San Francisco, California, in 1967 by Jann Wenner and the music critic Ralph J. Gleason. The magazine was first known fo ...
'' magazine gave the album four out of five stars and said that, although the ballads were monotonous, Richie successfully broadened his music for different listeners and drew on contemporary artists such as
Stevie Wonder Stevland Hardaway Morris (; Judkins; born May 13, 1950), known professionally as Stevie Wonder, is an American and Ghanaian singer-songwriter, musician, and record producer. He is regarded as one of the most influential musicians of the 20th c ...
and
Michael Jackson Michael Joseph Jackson (August 29, 1958 – June 25, 2009) was an American singer, songwriter, dancer, and philanthropist. Dubbed the "King of Pop", he is regarded as Cultural impact of Michael Jackson, one of the most culturally significan ...
: "if you can't innovate, imitate. And the more honest they are about their sources, the better." In a retrospective review for
AllMusic AllMusic (previously known as All-Music Guide and AMG) is an American online database, online music database. It catalogs more than three million album entries and 30 million tracks, as well as information on Musical artist, musicians and Mus ...
,
Stephen Thomas Erlewine Stephen Thomas Erlewine (; born June 18, 1973) is an American music critic and former senior editor for the online music database AllMusic. He is the author of multiple artist biographies and record reviews for AllMusic, as well as a freelance ...
gave it four-and-a-half out of five stars and wrote that Richie took a conservative, melodic hook-based approach on an album whose hits showed him at his best and whose only weakness was a short running time. In 1999, '' Q'' magazine included ''Can't Slow Down'' on its list of the best Motown records of all time and stated, "Production values are high, his songwriting craft is at its peak and at least one track – the global smash 'All Night Long' – is an anthem to good times that makes the heart sing and feet twitch".


Commercial performance and re-releases

The album reached No. 1 on the ''
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'' album chart. It also spent 59 consecutive weeks inside the Top 10 (including the entire year of 1984) and a total of 160 weeks (over three years) on the ''Billboard'' 200. After being the third best-selling album of 1984, it went on to win a
Grammy Award The Grammy Awards, stylized as GRAMMY, and often referred to as The Grammys, are awards presented by The Recording Academy of the United States to recognize outstanding achievements in music. They are regarded by many as the most prestigious ...
for Album of the Year in
1985 The year 1985 was designated as the International Youth Year by the United Nations. Events January * January 1 ** The Internet's Domain Name System is created. ** Greenland withdraws from the European Economic Community as a result of a n ...
, beating out such heavyweight contenders as '' Born in the U.S.A.'' by
Bruce Springsteen Bruce Frederick Joseph Springsteen (born September 23, 1949) is an American Rock music, rock singer, songwriter, and guitarist. Nicknamed "the Boss", Springsteen has released 21 studio albums spanning six decades; most of his albums feature th ...
and '' Purple Rain'' by
Prince A prince is a male ruler (ranked below a king, grand prince, and grand duke) or a male member of a monarch's or former monarch's family. ''Prince'' is also a title of nobility (often highest), often hereditary, in some European states. The ...
. By 1986 the album had sold 15 million copies, eventually selling over 20 million. ''Can't Slow Down'' achieved the feat of having every single released hit the top ten on the ''Billboard'' Hot 100 chart. Two songs, "
Hello Hello is a salutation or greeting in the English language. It is first attested in writing from 1826. Early uses ''Hello'', with that spelling, was used in publications in the U.S. as early as the 18 October 1826 edition of the '' Norwich Cou ...
" and " All Night Long (All Night)", both went to No. 1. Other hits include " Stuck on You" (US #3), "Running With the Night" (US #7), and "Penny Lover" (US #8). The ballad "The Only One" was a significant song from the album which was never released as a single, yet remains a popular staple of Richie's live performances. The single "Stuck on You" also reached No. 24 on the ''Billboard'' Hot Country Singles & Tracks chart (now
Hot Country Songs Hot Country Songs is a chart published weekly by ''Billboard'' magazine in the United States. This 50-position chart lists the most popular country music songs, calculated weekly by collecting airplay data along with digital sales and streaming. ...
). On May 6, 2003, a two-CD deluxe edition of the album was released in conjunction of the 20th anniversary of the album's original release date. This version included several mixes originally included on various singles from the album at the end of the first CD, including instrumental versions of the 12-inch extended mixes of " All Night Long (All Night)" and " Running with the Night". Disc 2 showcased demo or alternate versions of all tracks from the original album, plus additional unfinished songs from the same sessions, all previously unreleased.


Track listing

All tracks written by
Lionel Richie Lionel Brockman Richie Jr. (born June 20, 1949) is an American singer, songwriter, record producer, and television personality. He rose to fame in the 1970s as a songwriter and the co-lead singer of the Motown group Commodores; writing and recor ...
, with additional writers noted.


Personnel

Credits lifted from the album's liner notes. Performers and musicians * Lionel Richie – lead vocals, vocal arrangements, rhythm arrangements (2–4, 6–8), backing vocals (2–7), Yamaha GS-1 (2–4), acoustic piano (8) * David Cochrane – synthesizers (1), synthesizer programming (1),
vocoder A vocoder (, a portmanteau of ''vo''ice and en''coder'') 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 wa ...
(1), synth bass (1), guitars (1, 5), arrangements (1), backing vocals (2, 5, 7) * Greg Phillinganes – Yamaha GS-1 (2, 5), synthesizers (5), rhythm arrangements (5) * Michael Boddicker – synthesizers (3, 4, 7, 8),
E-mu Emulator The Emulator is a series of digital sampling synthesizers using floppy-disk storage that was manufactured by E-mu Systems from 1981 until 2002. Although it was not the first commercial sampler, the Emulator was innovative in its integratio ...
sampler (4), additional synthesizer (5), vocoder (7) * John Hobbs –
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, t ...
(3), electric piano (7) * Brian Banks – synthesizer programming (5) * Anthony Marinelli – synthesizer programming (5) * David Foster – keyboards (6), Roland Jupiter 8 (6), Moog bass (6), rhythm arrangements (6) * Reginald "Sonny" Burke – Fender Rhodes (8) * Darrell Jones – guitars (2), acoustic guitar (4), electric guitar (8) * Tim May – guitars (2), acoustic guitar (8) * Carlos Rios – guitars (3, 7) * Mitch Holder – guitars (4) * Louie Shelton – guitars (4, 8) * Fred Tackett – acoustic guitar (4) * Steve Lukather – guitars (6), guitar solo (7) *
Peter Banks Peter William Brockbanks (15 July 1947 – 7 March 2013), known professionally as Peter Banks, was an English guitarist. He was the original guitarist in the rock bands Yes (band), Yes, Flash (band), Flash, and Empire; he was also a guitarist f ...
– guitars (8) ncredited* Abraham Laboriel – bass guitar (2, 3) * Joe Chemay – bass guitar (4, 7, 8) *
Nathan East Nathan Harrell East (born December 8, 1955) is an American jazz, R&B, and rock bass guitarist and vocalist. With more than 2,000 recordings, East is one of the most recorded bass players in the history of music. East holds a Bachelor of Arts ...
– bass guitar (5) * Paul LeimSimmons drums (1), drums (3, 4, 8) * John Robinson – drums (2, 6) *
Jeff Porcaro Jeffrey Thomas Porcaro (April 1, 1954 – August 5, 1992) was an American drummer. He is best known for being the co-founder and drummer of the rock band Toto, but is also one of the most recorded session musicians in history, working on hundr ...
– drums (7) *
Paulinho da Costa Paulinho da Costa (, born Paulo Roberto da Costa on May 31, 1948) is a Brazilian percussionist. Beginning his career as a samba musician in Brazil, he moved to the United States in the early 1970s and worked with Brazilian bandleader Sérgio Me ...
– percussion (2, 7) * Charlie Loper – trombone (2) * Bill Reichenbach Jr. – trombone (2) *
Chuck Findley Charles B. Findley (born December 13, 1947, in Johnstown, Pennsylvania) is an American trumpet player known for his diverse work as a session musician. He also plays other brass instruments such as flugelhorn and trombone. His technical ab ...
– trumpet (2) * Gary Grant – trumpet (2) *
Jerry Hey Jerry Hey (born 1950) is an American trumpeter, flugelhornist, horn arranger, string arranger, orchestrator and session musician who has played on hundreds of commercial recordings, including Michael Jackson's '' Thriller'', '' Rock with Y ...
– trumpet (2) * James Anthony Carmichael – arrangements (1), horn arrangements (2), string arrangements (2–4, 8), rhythm arrangements (3–5, 7, 8) * Jeremy Lubbock – string arrangements (6) * Israel Baker – concertmaster (3, 4, 6) * Harry Bluestone – concertmaster (8) * Melinda Joyce Chatman – vocal sound effects (2) *
Calvin Harris Adam Richard Wiles (born 17 January 1984), known professionally as Calvin Harris (and sometimes under the stage name Love Regenerator), is a Scottish DJ, record producer, singer, and songwriter. His debut studio album, ''I Created Disco'' (2007 ...
– backing vocals (2) * Richard Marx – backing vocals (2, 5–7) * Deborah Thomas – backing vocals (2, 5, 7) * Kin Vassy – backing vocals (2) * Jeanette Hawes – backing vocals (6) Chant vocals on "All Night Long" * Diane Burt * James Anthony Carmichael * Melinda Joyce Chatman * David Cochrane * Dr. Lloyd Byro Greig *
Calvin Harris Adam Richard Wiles (born 17 January 1984), known professionally as Calvin Harris (and sometimes under the stage name Love Regenerator), is a Scottish DJ, record producer, singer, and songwriter. His debut studio album, ''I Created Disco'' (2007 ...
* Jeanette Hawes * Janice Marie Johnson * Brenda Harvey-Richie * Richard Marx * Deborah Joyce Richie * Lionel Richie * Suzanne Stanford * Deborah Thomas Hoopa Hollers on "All Night Long" * Marilyn Ammons * Sue Ann Butler * Melinda Joyce Chatman * Sheldon J. Cohn, Esq. * Sandy Dent-Crimmel * Ruth Diaz * David Egerton * Sylvia Genauer * Rejauna Lynn Green * Gabrielle Greig * Sally Greig * Tanya Greig * Darrell Jones * David Malvin * Alison Maxwell * Jerry Montes * John Michael Montes * Billy "Bass" Nelson * Greg Phillinganes * Carlos Rios * Suzanne Stanford * Randy Stern * Wilbert Terrell * Susan Wood


Production

* James Anthony Carmichael – producer (1–5, 7, 8) * Lionel Richie – producer (1–5, 7, 8) * David Foster – producer (6) * Brenda Harvey-Richie – production assistant * Melinda Joyce Chatman – production coordinator *
Calvin Harris Adam Richard Wiles (born 17 January 1984), known professionally as Calvin Harris (and sometimes under the stage name Love Regenerator), is a Scottish DJ, record producer, singer, and songwriter. His debut studio album, ''I Created Disco'' (2007 ...
– recording and mixing engineer * Steve Crimmel – second recording engineer (1–5, 7) * David Egerton – second recording engineer (1–5, 7) * Mark Ettel – second recording engineer (1–5, 7) * Larry Ferguson – recording engineer (6) *
Humberto Gatica Humberto Gatica is a Chilean and American recording engineer, mixing engineer and record producer, best known for his work with Celine Dion, Chicago, Michael Jackson, Barbra Streisand, Andrea Bocelli, Josh Groban, Cher and Michael Bublé. Gatic ...
– recording and mixing engineer (6) * Terry Christian – second recording engineer (6) * Jim Cassell – second recording engineer (8) * Jane Clark – additional engineer * Fred Law – second mixing * Karen Siegel – second mixing * David Kraai – technical support *
Bernie Grundman Bernie Grundman (born 16 December 1943, Minneapolis) 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 Chr ...
– mastering 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 La Brea Avenue and Sunset Boulevard in Hollywood. Originally established by film star Charlie Chaplin, the property served as C ...
(Hollywood, California) * Rita Leigh – creative assistant * Johnny Lee – art direction * Chris Callis – innerspread photography * Greg Gorman – front and back cover photography


Charts


Weekly charts


Year-end charts


Decade-end charts


Certifications and sales


See also

*
List of best-selling albums This is a list of the world's best-selling albums of Comparison of recording media, recorded music in physical mediums, such as vinyl, audio cassettes or compact discs. To appear on the list, the figure must have been published by a reliable so ...
*
List of best-selling albums in the United States The following is a list of the best-selling albums in the United States based on RIAA certification and Nielsen SoundScan sales tracking. The criteria are that the album must have been published (including self-publishing by the artist), and the ...


References

{{Authority control 1983 albums Lionel Richie albums Albums produced by David Foster Albums produced by James Anthony Carmichael Albums produced by Lionel Richie Albums recorded at United Western Recorders Albums recorded at Sunset Sound Recorders Grammy Award for Album of the Year Motown albums