Road Runner (Junior Walker album)

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Road Runner
Road Runner.jpg
Studio album by
Junior Walker & the All-Stars
Released1966
Genre R&B
Label Soul Records (US)
Tamla/Motown (international)
Producer Johnny Bristol, Henry Cosby, Lamont Dozier, Harvey Fuqua, Berry Gordy, Jr., Brian Holland, Lawrence Horn, Mickey Stevenson
Junior Walker & the All-Stars chronology
Shotgun
(1965)		Road Runner
(1966)		Live
(1967)

Road Runner is a 1966 album by Junior Walker & the All-Stars. [1] The band's second album, it reached #6 on Billboard's Top R&B Albums chart and #64 on Billboard's Top Albums chart, launching four hit singles. [2] [3] First released on record by Motown's Soul label in the US and Tamla/Motown internationally, it has been multiply reissued on cassette and compact disc. It has also been remastered and reissued in conjunction with the band's following studio record, Home Cookin' , as Road Runner & Home Cookin'.

Contents

Songs

Among the album's notable songs were four charting singles. Peak among them at #3 on the R&B Singles, #18 on the Pop Singles charts and #22 on the UK Singles was the Holland–Dozier–Holland song "How Sweet It Is (to Be Loved By You)", [3] [4] which had previously hit for Marvin Gaye in 1964. Not far behind, "(I'm a) Road Runner", by the same songwriters, reached #4 on Black Singles and #20 on Pop Singles, while surpassing "How Sweet It Is" to reach #12 in the UK. "Pucker Up Buttercup" did not crack the top 10, but reached #11 Black Singles and #31 Pop Singles. A distant fourth, Junior Walker & the Allstar's cover of the 1959 Barrett Strong hit "Money (That's What I Want)" reached #35 Black Singles and #52 Pop Singles.

The album is titled for "(I'm a) Road Runner", which had been previously released on Junior Walker & The All-Star's 1965 debut album, Shotgun . It proved so successful in its March 1966 single that it was included and singled out on the band's follow-up. [5] Although "How Sweet It Is (to Be Loved by You)" surpassed it in two out of three charts, "(I'm a) Road Runner" is regarded as a superior offering from Junior Walker & The All-Stars, one of three songs by the band (along with "Way Back Home" and "Shotgun" included in 1999's Da Capo Press publication The heart of rock & soul: the 1001 greatest singles ever made. [6] Ranking it second of the three at #467, music critic David Marsh, identifying Junior Walker as "the one gutbucket star in Motown's heaven", says "even...[ Robert Johnson ] never saw the like of this blend of booming bass, tanked-up tambourine, and gritty guitar. Much less Walker's fractured saxophone." [7] Sometimes known as "I'm a Road Runner", the song has been covered by a number of rock bands, including Fleetwood Mac (on album Penguin ) and Peter Frampton (on I'm in You ), and also by comedian Bill Cosby on Bill Cosby Sings Hooray For the Salvation Army Band! [5]

Track listing

  1. "(I'm a) Road Runner" (Lamont Dozier, Brian Holland, Edward Holland, Jr.) – 2:49
  2. "How Sweet It Is (to Be Loved by You)" (Dozier, Holland, Holland) – 3:04
  3. "Pucker Up Buttercup" (Johnny Bristol, Danny Coggins, Harvey Fuqua) – 3:18
  4. "Money (That's What I Want)" (Janie Bradford, Berry Gordy) – 4:34
  5. "Last Call" (Frank Bryant, Autry DeWalt II, Lawrence Horn) – 2:23
  6. "Anyway You Wannta" (Harvey Fuqua, Gwen Gordy) – 2:41
  7. "Baby You Know You Ain't Right" (Autry DeWalt II, Lawrence Horn) – 2:34
  8. "Amé Cherie (Soul Darling)" (James Graves, Horn, Victor Thomas, Willie Woods) – 4:13
  9. "Twist Lackawanna" (DeWalt, Ronald White) – 2:19
  10. "San-Ho-Zay" (Freddie King, Sonny Thompson) – 3:00
  11. "Mutiny" (Henry Cosby) – 3:55

Personnel

Performance

Production

References

  1. ↑ Gregory, Andy (2002). International Who's Who in Popular Music. Routledge. p. 529. ISBN   1-85743-161-8.
  2. ↑ "Road Runner & Home Cookin', Billboard chart". AllMusic . Retrieved July 1, 2009.
  3. 1 2 "Junior Walker, Billboard Singles". AllMusic . Retrieved July 1, 2009.
  4. ↑ Roberts, David (2006). British Hit Singles & Albums (19th ed.). London: Guinness World Records Limited. p. 590. ISBN   1-904994-10-5.
  5. 1 2 Koch, Steven. "I'm a Road Runner". UALR Public Radio. Retrieved July 1, 2009.
  6. ↑ Marsh, Dave (1999). The heart of rock & soul: the 1001 greatest singles ever made. Da Capo Press. pp. 144, 310, 382. ISBN   0-306-80901-X.
  7. ↑ Marsh, 310.
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