Friends | ||||
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Studio album by | ||||
Released | January 29, 1982 | |||
Recorded | 1981 | |||
Studio | Studio Masters Larrabee Sound The Record Plant Kendun Recorders (Los Angeles) | |||
Genre | ||||
Length | 44:55 | |||
Label | SOLAR | |||
Producer | Leon Sylvers III | |||
Shalamar chronology | ||||
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Review scores | |
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Source | Rating |
AllMusic | [1] |
BBC | favorable [2] |
Robert Christgau | B− [3] |
Friends is the sixth album by American R&B group Shalamar, released in 1982 on the SOLAR label. The album, which features the 'classic' Shalamar line-up (Jeffrey Daniel, Howard Hewett and Jody Watley), topped the R&B chart and peaked at #35 on the Billboard chart. It has been certified Gold in the United States for sales over 500,000. It would eventually go Platinum. In the United Kingdom Friends gained impetus from a now-legendary demonstration of body-popping by Daniel during a performance of "A Night to Remember" on the BBC programme Top of the Pops . It reached #6 on the UK Albums Chart and produced four top 20 singles.
In 2002, Friends was re-released by Sanctuary Records in the United Kingdom in a double-CD package with Shalamar's previous album Go for It .
No. | Title | Writer(s) | Length |
---|---|---|---|
1. | "A Night to Remember" | Dana Meyers, Charmaine Sylvers, Nidra Beard | 5:08 |
2. | "Don't Try to Change Me" | William Bryant, Tina Scott, Roberta Stiger | 4:10 |
3. | "Help Me" | Joey Gallo, Leon Sylvers III, Jody Watley, Nidra Beard | 5:10 |
4. | "On Top of the World" | Dana Meyers, Richard Randolph | 4:06 |
5. | "I Don't Wanna Be the Last to Know" | Kevin Spencer, William Shelby, Linda Carriere, Nidra Beard | 4:02 |
No. | Title | Writer(s) | Length |
---|---|---|---|
6. | "Friends" | William Shelby, Glen Barbee, Nidra Beard | 5:00 |
7. | "Playing to Win" | Jody Watley, Ralph E. Clayborne, Charmaine Sylvers | 4:24 |
8. | "I Just Stopped By Because I Had To" | Stephen Shockley, Joey Gallo, Leon Sylvers III, Nidra Beard | 4:08 |
9. | "There It Is" | Nidra Beard, Dana Meyers, Charmaine Sylvers | 4:27 |
10. | "I Can Make You Feel Good" | William Shelby, Howard Hewett, Renwick Jackson | 4:20 |
In The Boston Phoenix , Mike Freedberg wrote that the album "presents [Howard] Hewitt again and again overmatched by roseate fugues, overmatching lyrics so glib they vanish. He doesn't know whether to drive ahead or scat back--but neither would a Shalamar fan. Hewitt's stabs at sincerity fit into the I-can't-manage atmosphere that has all but replaced the buoyant bravado of soul, funk, and disco from today's black-teen music." [4]
Weekly charts
Year-end charts
| Singles
Certifications
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