MACLAINE

Strawberry Letter 23 - The Brothers Johnson

Damn, this song is hot.  This is the 1977 version of the original 1972 Shuggie Otis song.  Wikipedia sums it all up nicely.  If it sounds familiar, it’s because this song has been covered and sampled extensively, but depending on how old you are, the bridge section will probably be most familiar as the basis of Color Me Badd’s 1992 song I Wanna Sex You Up.

The track was produced by one of my all time favorite music dudes, Quincy Jones (written about earlier here).  This song and its corresponding album came out a year before Michael Jackson’s Off The Wall, and while the music doesn’t quite have the dynamism of Michael’s songs, you can hear a common thread.  Most obvious is the fact that Louis Johnson, the bass-playing half of the Brothers, lent his incredible talents to several of Michael’s biggest albums, including Thriller.

(Source: youtube.com)