Get down (Raydio) (LP 3610- 3611)

Raydio  Raydio (Vinyl and CD, Arista Records, 1978) *** 

Raydio  Rock On (Vinyl and CD, Arista Records, 1979) ***   

Genre: R&B, pop 

Places I remember: Vinyl Countdown, Slow Boat Records, The Warehouse.

Fab, and all the other pimply hyperboles: You Can't Change That (Rock On)

Gear costume: Jack and Jill (Raydio)

They loom large in his legend (The Album Collection playlists): Part 1; Part 2; Part 3; Part 4; Part 5

Active compensatory factors: The two hits dominate these two early albums for Raydio. There were a couple more in the eighties before Ray Parker Jr went solo. Albums, that is.

The band have two modes really - the Prince style sexy dance floor fillers and the love ballads - I prefer the latter.

The nice thing about Raydio is the harder edged singing on offer thanks to the combination of Vincent Bonham, Arnell Carmichael, and Ray. The harmony mix of the three is a strong feature of their sound.

Where do they all belong? I have no intention of buying their third album - I'll stick to these two and the Ray Parker Jr solo stuff.

Electronic Lover (Ray Parker Jr) (LP 526)

Ray Parker Jr Woman Out Of Control (Vinyl, Arista Records, 1983) ** 

Genre: Soul 

Places I remember: Hastings' Record Exchange

Fab, and all the other pimply hyperboles: I Still Can't Get Over Loving You

Gear costume: Woman Out Of Control 

Active compensatory factors: Ray Parker Jr with and without Raydio was a force in the seventies and eighties (Raydio broke up in 1981). Ghostbusters is of course what first comes to mind when his name comes up, but he's so much more than that mega-hit.

This is a very rewarding listening experience - Ray's smooth vocals and likeability, the sharp sounds (yes, of course it's dated but that's now part of the appeal) and the catchy tunes, all make Ray Parker Jr ripe for your reappraisal!

Where do they all belong? More Ray Jr to come when I cover  Raydio.

Who you gonna call? (Ray Parker Jnr) #302- 304

Ray Parker Jnr and Raydio A Woman Needs Love (Just Like You Do)/ So Into You (Arista, ATA 592, 1981)

Ray Parker Jnr Ghostbusters/ Ghostbusters (Instrumental) (Arista, K 9454, 1984)

Ray Parker Jnr Ghostbusters (Extended version)/ Ghostbusters (Dub version), Ghostbusters (Short version) (Arista 12", MX 62905, 1984)

Ubiquitous. It means 'omnipresent, ever-present, present everywhere, all-pervasive, universal, worldwide, global'. In 1984 Ray Parker Jnr hit ubiquity city with the theme to the movie Ghostbusters.

It helped that the film was cool (Bill Murray IS Mr Cool) and popular. It helped that MTV, introduced three years earlier, was becoming a force. It helped that he was a fine looking dude. It helped that the song rocked its socks off. 

The song just oozes appeal - the memorable tag lines (I can't hear you, who you gonna call? Bustin' makes me feel good), the crisp 1980's production and that unrelentingly chirpy Ghostbuster beat.

Hidden gem: B side is the instrumental version - I prefer the A side with Mr Parker Jnr.

I'm just a prisoner of rock'n'roll (Scooter and The Big Man)

The No Nukes triple live album from 1979 is a wonderful collection which in retrospect was the last musical gasp of the 60s/70s hippy counter culture movement. When the big stars came out to play after this they did so for Saint Bob and for starving Africans but there was no live album at all!

No nuclear energy/weapons is a really hippy cause, and by the mid Live Aid eighties the music business was a different corporate beast.

The album is a real period piece - no one is going to sing songs like Jesse Colin Young's Get Together or Dylan's The Times They Are A-Changin' during an event like this again without a huge dollop of cynicism being attached to it.

I do love this album though. The highlights are many and evenly distributed over the six sides:

• Bonnie Raitt
• Jackson Browne
• Raydio
• James Taylor with and without The Doobie Brothers
• Bruce Springsteen and The E Street band

all turn in amazing performances and the lowlights are few:

• Chaka Khan
• Jesse Colin Young's aforementioned naive Get Together

I remember going to see the film of the concert with friends who were really turned off by the Springsteen section - the James Brownisms turned them off but I loved his performance.

You can't stop me from loving you, no, you can't change that (Raydio)

On a recent solo road trip to Dubai I brought along a bespoke driving songs compilation for the Woz-mobile. You know the sort of stuff - songs that can be sung LOUDLY (and really badly) as you're pootling along.

When Raydio's You Can't Change That came on I kept hitting replay. It played about five times on the approach to Dubai Mall.

Raydio housed the awesome talents of Ray Parker Jnr, before he did that Ghostbusters theme and went mega, and the other blokes were terrific as well (they must be cheesed off that these hits are attributed to either Ray Parker Jnr AND Raydio or worse just to Ray).

Here's three of the funky best from Raydio: their first hit Jack and Jill, the awesome You Can't Change That and their biggest hit of all A Woman Needs Love.







And, as a bonus for my eldest son who LOVED dancing around to this on my green 12inch vinyl in the early 80s: