Forever, For Always, For Love (Remastered) Luther Vandross

• 1Bad Boy / Having a Party05:16
• 2You're the Sweetest One04:46
• 3Since I Lost My Baby05:28
• 4Forever, for Always, for Love06:23
• 5Better Love06:25
• 6Promise Me04:43
• 7She Loves Me Back06:09
• 8Once You Know How04:35
• Total Runtime43:45

Info for Forever, For Always, For Love (Remastered)

Forever, for Always, for Love is the second studio album by American R&B/soul singer-songwriter Luther Vandross, released on September 21, 1982 by Epic. It became Vandross' second album to chart in the top 20 on the Billboard 200 and was his second album to top the R&B Albums chart where it spent three weeks.

The album was certified Platinum by the RIAA, and earned Vandross his third nomination for Best R&B Vocal Performance, Male, but lost to Marvin Gaye for his song "Sexual Healing".

The hit "Since I Lost My Baby" was originally recorded by The Temptations in 1965, while the "Having a Party" part of the opening track was originally recorded by Sam Cooke in 1962. The album's opening track was heard during the opening credits of the 1990 film House Party. Rolling Stone gave the album a four-star rating, describing Vandross as "the most gifted male pop-soul singer of his generation".

In 2004, singer Lalah Hathaway covered the song "Forever, for Always, for Love" for the compilation album Forever, for Always, for Luther. She later included the song on her 2004 third album Outrun the Sky. In the same year Philadelphia rap-duo Young Gunz sampled "Better Love" on their top 40 hit "No Better Love" ft. Rell.

"Forever, For Always, For Love is a remarkably sweet record that captured Luther Vandross at an early peak. By 1982, Vandross had been recording for the best part of a decade. A respected session singer, he’d come to wider attention singing on David Bowie’s Young Americans album and on Chic’s biggest hits. Sadly, his early attempts at recording with his group, Luther, had been met with general indifference in the mid 70s. However, his vocals on The Glow of Love by Change in 1980 recast him as a ballad singer and his debut solo album, Never Too Much, followed a year later.

Although his superstardom was still a few years ahead, Forever, For Always, For Love helped consolidate Vandross’s achievements in the US, and was a word-of-mouth success in the UK. Through an astute choice of material and support from regular sidemen and arrangers Nat Adderley Jr and Marcus Miller, Vandross created his own universe with his loved one at its very centre.

Vandross’s interpretation of soul classics is unusual, because he neither slavishly copies nor significantly attempts to rework them. His understated approach makes them his own, most obviously here on The Temptations’ Since I Lost My Baby. Taking the original, he makes it a languorous stretch, with emotive backing vocals from Chic choir stalwarts Fonzi Thornton and Michelle Cobbs. His own Bad Boy segues into Sam Cooke’s Having a Party. Of the originals, the title track and She Loves Me Back stand out. It sounds like soulful New York in the early 80s, and UK suburbia by the middle of the decade.

Luther Vandross is often sniggeringly undervalued in British music circles, as some light-footed patron saint of saccharine, white-sock R&B. Frankly that would be like saying Jimi Hendrix could strum a few chords. His voice was one of the most precious in soul, infectious and expressive yet seldom overwrought, no matter how many extra syllables he inserted into his lyrics. Forever, For Always, For Love, while not his best album, shows him as a master at work, enjoying every second of his solo career."

Luther Vandross, vocals, backing vocals, vocal arrangements; acoustic piano Doc Powell, guitar Georg Wadenius, guitar Nat Adderley, Jr., keyboards, backing vocals Ed Walsh, synthesizer Marcus Miller, bass Yogi Horton, drums Buddy Williams, drums Paulinho da Costa, percussion Ralph MacDonald, percussion Sammy Figueroa, percussion Alan Rubin, horn Dave Bargeron, horn David Taylor, horn Gregory Williams, horn Jon Clarke, horn Michael Brecker, horn Peter Gordon, horn Randy Brecker, horn Ronnie Cuber, horn Tom Malone, horn Brenda White King, backing vocals Fonzi Thornton, backing vocals Paulette McWilliams, backing vocals Phillip Ballou, backing vocals Cissy Houston, backing vocals Michelle Cobbs, backing vocals Tawatha Agee, backing vocals Yvonne Lewis, backing vocals Norma Jean Wright, backing vocals Paul Riser, string and horn arrangements Leon Pendarvis, string and horn arrangements

Digitally remastered

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