Consumer Guide Album

Commodores: Greatest Hits [Motown, 1978]
One thing you know about a funk band that goes number one with something as sappy as "Three Times a Lady"--they ain't as funky as they used to be. Or maybe they were never really a funk band to begin with--just potential pros who understood funk's entertainment potential the way John Denver understood folk music's. If they perceive any inflammatory potential in rhythm per se, they do what they can to dampen the fire. I love "Brick House," "Machine Gun," and "Slippery When Wet," but they're not even on the same side of this depressing compilation, half of which is devoted to Lionel Richie and his mealy mouth. B-