There is no denying the Commodores’ 1977 self-titled album was a huge success at the time and a harbinger of even bigger things to come. It was their first album to reach the Top 10 of the Billboard 200 and their first to launch a pair of Top-10 singles. In peaking at No. 4, “Easy” became the Commodores’ highest-charting single to date, and the follow-up “Brick House” went to No. 5.
While those two singles became Commodores classics—they are the group’s two most-streamed songs on Spotify—”Easy” is particularly significant because it changed the direction of the band. The Commodores continued to split the lead vocal and songwriting duties among multiple members, but the massive mainstream success of “Easy” led Motown Records to favor Lionel Richie’s compositions when selecting singles to be released. Over the course of the final four studio albums for which Richie remained a member of the Commodores, the band scored five Top-10 hits. All featured Richie as the lead singer and all but one, “Lady (You Bring Me Up),” were ballads composed by Richie.
While we might associate the Commodores with songs like “Easy,” “Three Times a Lady,” and “Still,” we shouldn’t forget the band were a major presence on Billboard’s R&B chart in the years leading up to 1977, and they had five Top-40 hits to boot. Some were Richie ballads, but others were of a funkier variety. Let’s take a trip back to the mid-’70s and remind ourselves of who the Commodores were before Richie became a superstar.
“Machine Gun” from Machine Gun (1974)
The Commodores’ first single was one of the band’s funkiest, and its lack of vocals makes it all the easier to focus on the groove. The mid-’70s were something of a golden era for pop instrumentals, and this clavinet-driven tune helped to usher it in. Keyboardist Milan Williams wrote the track, making it one of five songs he either wrote or co-wrote for the Machine Gun album. According to Commodores’ trumpeter and percussionist William King, the song was originally going to have lyrics, but co-producer James Anthony Carmichael had a vision for the number as an instrumental. The band clearly executed that vision well; “Machine Gun” gave the Commodores a No. 22 hit on their first try.
“Slippery When Wet” from Caught in the Act (1975)
The title may remind you of Bon Jovi, but this Commodores hit was getting airplay 11 years before the New Jersey rockers released their career-defining, Diamond-certified album. The tune itself bears some resemblance to Earth, Wind & Fire’s “Shining Star” and Wild Cherry’s “Play that Funky Music,” but it was recorded around the same time as the former and predated the latter by a year. Richie sings the lead vocal on “Slippery When Wet,” but the song was written by Commodores guitarist Thomas McClary. The anti-infidelity anthem edged the Commodores into the Top 20, peaking at No. 19 on the Billboard Hot 100.
“Sweet Love” from Movin’ On (1975)
“Sweet Love” was the Commodores’ first Top-10 hit on the Hot 100, and given it’s a Richie-penned ballad, it could be seen as a sign of what was just ahead. However, “Sweet Love” isn’t quite in the same mold as “Easy” or “Three Times a Lady.” It moves at a faster tempo, and with sharp horn blasts and energetic bass lines, it’s somewhere between a slow jam and the Commodores’ funkier material. In peaking at No. 5, it was the first of eight Commodores songs to make it into the Top 5 of the Hot 100.
“Just to Be Close to You” from Hot on the Tracks (1976)
More so than “Sweet Love,” “Just to Be Close to You” sounds like a precursor to “Easy,” though Richie’s spoken-word section gives it a unique vibe. Though Richie is the lead vocalist, he trades off lines with Walter Orange (who sang lead on “Brick House”) in the pre-chorus and chorus. However, Richie was the sole composer of this downtempo ballad. In reaching No. 7 on the Hot 100, “Just to Be Close to You” gave the Commodores their second straight Top-10 hit. It also became their second song to go to No. 1 on Billboard’s R&B chart, coming more than a year after the chart-topping success of “Slippery When Wet.”
“Fancy Dancer” from Hot on the Tracks (1976)
This follow-up to “Just to Be Close to You” came out at a time where seemingly every Top-40 song was either in a disco style or about disco. This one leans more toward the latter, though it likely made its way to some dance floors. “Fancy Dancer” is yet another single with a Richie lead vocal, and he co-wrote the song with Commodores bassist Ronald LaPread. It also has the distinction of being the first Commodores single to follow a Top-40 hit from the same album and then also reach the Top 40. It barely did so, peaking at No. 39 on the Hot 100.
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