CoronaVinyl Day 183 (R): Can't Slow Down by Lionel Richie

For an explanation of CoronaVinyl, click here.

Sadly, I don't have any albums by Queen or any other "Q" artist, so we're skipping from "P" to "R."  Today's CoronaVinyl selection is Lionel Richie's hit 1983 album Can't Slow Down.

Richie, of course, had been the lead singer and one of the founding members of The Commodores.  He left the band in 1982 to pursue a solo career.  Can't Slow Down was his second solo album, and it ended up being his biggest success.

The album was pretty much an immediate smash upon its release, and it sustained its magic for several years.  Here are some amazing stats about the album:

• It went to #1 on the Billboard album chart, spent 59 consecutive weeks in the Top 10 (including the entirety of 1984), and spent a total of 160 weeks on the chart (i.e., the Top 200).  
• It was the #3 album on the Billboard Year End chart for 1984 and #22 in 1985.  It was also #1 on the Billboard R&B album Year End chart for 1984.
• It was the best-selling album in 1984 in Australia, the Netherlands, and the UK.
• It hit #1 on the album charts in Australia, Canada, the Netherlands, New Zealand, and the UK, and reached the Top 5 on the album charts in Germany, Norway, Sweden, and Switzerland.
• It was #6 on the decade-end album chart for the 1980s in Australia.
• All five singles from the album reached the Top 10 of the Billboard Hot 100, R&B singles, Billboard Adult Contemporary charts.
• "All Night Long (All Night)" - #1 (all three; also #5 on Billboard Dance singles chart)
• "Hello" - #1 (all three)
• "Stuck On You" - #3 (Hot 100); #3 (AC); #8 (R&B) (also reached #24 on the Billboard country singles chart)
• "Running With the Night" - #7 (Hot 100); #6 (R&B and AC)
• "Penny Lover" - #8 (Hot 100 and R&B); #1 (AC)
• The songs were also big hits internationally:
• "All Night Long (All Night)" - #1 in Australia, Canada, Italy, the Netherlands, and South Africa, and Top 10 in seven other countries
• "Hello" - #1 on eleven international pop charts, and Top 10 on an additional six.
• "Stuck On You" - Top 5 in Canada and Ireland, and Top 40 on an additional five countries' charts
• "Running With the Night" - Top 10 on five other charts, and Top 40 on an additional six countries' charts
• "Penny Lover" - Top 10 in Belgium and Ireland, and Top 40 on an additional six charts
• "All Night Long (All Night)" was also ranked #96 on Billboard's All-Time Singles chart (1958-2018), and "Hello" was #389.
• By 1986, it had sold an astounding 15 million copies, and currently has sold over 20 million copies worldwide, including over 10 million in the U.S.
• In addition to some fantastic session musicians, Steve Lukather of Toto plays guitar on "The Only One" and "Running With the Night," Jeff Porcaro of Toto plays drums on "Running With the Night," and Richard Marx sings backing vocals on "All Night Long (All Night)," "Love Will Find a Way, "The Only One" and "Running With the Night."
• The album won the Grammy Award for Album of the Year at the 1985 Grammy Awards, beating out Cyndi Lauper's She's So Unusual, Prince's Purple Rain, Bruce Springsteen's Born in the U.S.A., and Tina Turner's Private Dancer.

And I would be remiss if I didn't mention the fact that the album cover is a gate-fold cover, which, when opened -- as shown above -- reveals a full-length, seemingly superfluous photo of Richie on either a stripper pole or nearing the bottom of a joyous firepole slide.  Whatever is going on there and no matter why the record company decided that it needed to make a gate-fold album cover to feature this photo, it's magnificent.

Favorite song from Side 1:  "All Night Long (All Night)"

This is one of the most beloved '80s songs.  I mean, who can hate this song?  No one, that's who.  In addition to being a great pop song, Richie performed the song at at the closing ceremony of the 1984 Summer Olympics in L.A.

Favorite song from Side 2:  "Running With the Night"
Despite the fact that it was a Top 10 song, "Running With the Night" is somewhat forgotten in the Lionel Richie pantheon, but it's a funky pop song, and Steve Lukather has a nice guitar solo as well.