CoronaVinyl Day 215 (B): Blast! The Latest and Greatest by The Brothers Johnson

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Today's CoronaVinyl category is "B," and I'm going with funk group The Brothers Johnson's 1982 album Blast! The Latest and Greatest.

As their name implies, The Brothers Johnson was made up of two brothers with the last name Johnson.  There was George (aka "Lightnin' Licks") on guitar and Louis (aka "Thunder Thumbs") on bass, and they shared lead vocal duties.  Before they decided to branch out as The Brothers Johnson, they had toured with or backed the likes of The Supremes, Billy Preston, and Bobby Womack.  (And later, Louis played bass on Michael Jackson's Off The Wall and Thriller albums.)

In the early '70s, they teamed up with legendary producer Quincy Jones, who then produced their first four albums, between 1976 and 1980.  They played funk, soul, and R&B, and they had a good amount of success.  Their first four albums went platinum in the U.S., all four reached the Top 15 of the Billboard album charts (with three going Top 10 and one Top 5), and their first five albums reached the Top 10 of the Billboard R&B album chart (and three went to #1). Their singles were hit or miss, but when they hit, they hit.  They had three Top 10 songs on the Billboard Hot 100, and all three went to #1 on the Billboard R&B singles chart, but outside of that, they only had one other Top 40 hit.

Blast! is a combination of new tracks and greatest hits.  Of the ten songs on the album, the first four are new songs, and the last six were previously released between 1976 and 1981.  Their top five highest-charting singles are on the album:  1976's "I'll Be Good to You" (#3) and "Get the Funk Out Ma Face" (#30), 1977's "Strawberry Letter 23" (#5), 1980's "Stomp!" (#7), and 1981's "The Real Thing" (#67).  I like most of the songs on the album.  A couple of the new tracks are a little soft for my liking, but their funkier songs are great.

In addition to George and Louis, some of the backing musicians on the songs are great in their own right.  Among others who make appearances on the songs on the album are legendary session keyboardist Greg Phillinganes (who I highlighted last week when listening to Billy Vera), Toto's Steve Porcaro, and legendary songwriter/musician Rod Temperton on keyboards, '80s soul star James Ingram on backing vocals, Toto's Jeff Porcaro and legendary session drummer John "JR" Robinson on drums.

After Blast! was released, they split up for a couple years, but then reunited in 1984 and released a couple more albums.  Sadly, Louis died in 2015 from internal bleeding.  Blast! is not available on Spotify, so I'm just embedding another greatest hits album.

Favorite song from Side 1:  "Welcome to the Club"

This is a nice, uptempo early '80s funk song, in the vein of Kool & The Gang or early Prince.

Favorite song from Side 2:  "Strawberry Letter 23"
One of the band's biggest hits, this one was a 1977 cover of a 1971 song by Shuggie Otis.  It's pure '70s funk, and it has appeared in various movies and TV shows over the years and has been sampled by dozens of other artists.