“Nightshift” also garnered the band a Grammy award. They focused on their own unique brand of Southern funk, rising to the top with chart-toppers including “Slippery When Wet” and “Just to Be Close to You.” Now, backed by their five-piece band, The Mean Machine, The Commodores share their unique vocal stylings through even more of their number one hits, including “Three Times a Lady” and “Still,” two more of their seven songs that have topped the US R&B charts. Four years later, they were signed to Motown Records after opening on tour for the Jackson 5. The Commodores first met at Tuskegee Institute in Alabama. Orange’s instantly recognizable voice reminds everyone that she's a 'Brick House,' one of the band's most recognizable hit singles. 'Machine Gun,' a grooving instrumental from their debut album, feels as fresh today as the day the tracks were laid down. Nicholas take audiences on a tour through the roots of funky soul. In concert, Walter Orange, William “WAK” King and J.D. Nevertheless, it’s the cheating ballad “You Don’t Know That I Know” that proved the Commodores had more to offer than dance floor shakedowns.The Commodores are one of the most iconic funk and soul bands to ever bust a groove, riding the rhythm section since 1968 and remaining musical innovators to this day. Like barbecue, funk is better when it’s cooked slow, which is what makes “Look What You’ve Done To Me” so tasty. “Better Never Than Forever” is as dark and greasy as something from Sly Stone’s Fresh, while Lionel Richie’s “Let’s Do It Right” is an early indication of his talent for pop hooks. The fun and flashy songs are contained in the first half of the record, but the overlooked second half is actually much more interesting. They’re also tightly played and expertly arranged, and the band delivers them with so much gusto that you can’t help but be drawn into the party. The wikka-wikka guitar, gutsy singing and virile horn charts are all contained in “The Bump,” “I’m Ready” and “Slippery When Wet.” The songs are cheesy and dated, but that’s part of their appeal.

The Commodores’ sophomore album helped codify a sound that has now become something of a punch line. The quickest way to define funk music in the mid-‘70s is to hand someone a copy of Caught In the Act.

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