Machine Gun (Commodores album)

Machine Gun is the debut studio album by The Commodores, released on July 22, 1974, on Motown Records. Unlike subsequent Commodores albums, Machine Gun has only funk music and is devoid of slow-paced ballads.

The titular lead song has Milan Williams on clavinet, which led the Motown executive Berry Gordy to name the song "Machine Gun" as the clavinet work reminded him of gunfire. This track peaked at #7 on the R&B charts, while reaching #22 on the overall pop charts. Samples from the song were used prominently by the Beastie Boys in their 1989 song "Hey Ladies," and the song itself was featured on the soundtrack for the 1997 film Boogie Nights. In the early 1980s the tune was also used as the opening theme of the New Zealand music show Ready to Roll.

The second single to be released, "I Feel Sanctified", reached #12 on the R&B charts, and concerns a man spiritually blessed by his girlfriend's love. The song has Ronald LaPread on bass guitar, while Lionel Richie and William King contributed horn arrangements. The tune has an a capella introduction with three-way harmonization.

Machine gun

A machine gun is a fully automatic mounted or portable firearm, designed to fire bullets in quick succession from an ammunition belt or magazine, typically at a rate of 300 to 1800 rounds per minute. Fully automatic weapons are generally categorized as submachine guns, assault rifles, battle rifles, automatic shotguns, machine guns, or autocannons.

As a class of military firearms, true machine guns are fully automatic weapons designed to be used as support weapons and generally used when attached to a mount or fired from the ground on a bipod or tripod. Light machine guns are small enough to be fired hand-held, but are more effective when fired from a prone position. The difference between machine guns and other categories of weapons is based on caliber, with autocannons using calibers larger than 20 mm, and whether the gun fires conventional bullets, shotgun cartridges, or explosive rounds. Fully automatic guns firing shotgun cartridges are usually called automatic shotguns, and those firing large-caliber explosive rounds are generally considered either autocannons or automatic grenade launchers ("grenade machine guns"). Submachine guns are hand-held automatic weapons for personal defense or short-range combat firing pistol-caliber rounds. In contrast to submachine guns and autocannons, machine guns (like rifles) tend to have a very high ratio of barrel length to caliber (a long barrel for a small caliber); indeed, a true machine gun is essentially a fully automatic rifle, and often the primary criterion for a machine gun as opposed to a battle rifle is the presence of a quick-change barrel, heavyweight barrel, or other cooling system. Battle rifles and assault rifles may be capable of fully automatic fire, but are not designed for sustained fire.

Machine Gun (disambiguation)

A machine gun is a type of firearm.

Machine Gun may also refer to:

Nickname

Machine Gun (Peter Brötzmann album)

Machine Gun is the second album by jazz saxophonist Peter Brötzmann, released on the Bro label in 1968, later reissued on the FMP label in 1971. In 1990 FMP issued the album on CD, adding two previously unreleased alternate takes. In 2007, Atavistic Records reissued the album again as The Complete Machine Gun Sessions, adding the only live recording of the title piece (previously issued on the Fuck DeBoere CD). In 2011 the label Slowboy reissued the first studio take again on vinyl in tip-on style cover with 3 color silkscreen.

Track listing

Original release

1991 Re-release

Personnel

Commodores

The Commodores are an American funk/soul band, which was at its peak in the late 1970s through the mid 1980s. The members of the group met as mostly freshmen at Tuskegee Institute (now Tuskegee University) in 1968, and signed with Motown in November 1972, having first caught the public eye opening for The Jackson 5 while on tour.

The group's most successful period was in the late 1970s and early 1980s when Lionel Richie was co-lead singer. The band's biggest hit singles are ballads such as "Easy", "Three Times a Lady", and "Nightshift"; and funky dance hits which include "Brick House", "Fancy Dancer", "Lady (You Bring Me Up)", and "Too Hot ta Trot". However it was in 1986 that the Commodores won their first Grammy for the song "Nightshift".

Band history

The Commodores originally came together from two former groups, the Mystics and the Jays. There was even a Jazz aspect to one of the groups. They wanted to change the name. Together, a six-man band was created from which the notable individuals were Lionel Richie, Thomas McClary, and William King from the Mystics; Andre Callahan, Michael Gilbert, and Milan Williams were from the Jays. To choose a new name, William "WAK" King opened a dictionary and randomly picked a word. "We lucked out", he remarked with a laugh when telling this story to People magazine. "We almost became 'The Commodes!

Commodores (album)

Commodores is the self-titled fifth studio album by the Commodores, released in 1977. The album spent eight weeks at the top of the R&B/soul albums chart, the second of their albums to do so, and was their first Top 5 pop album.

There is also a previously released extended version.

Reception

The band employed a variety of musical styles for the album, highlighted by the popular anthem "Brick House". With Walter Orange's squeaking/growling voice on the lead, and Ronald LaPread's roundtone bassline, this track peaked on the U.S. Hot 100 at #5, and the U.S. R&B Chart at #4. As their second single, "Brick House" helped to propel the Commodores into the spotlight as a leading R&B act.

In contrast to "Brick House", "Easy" is a pop-soul ballad with mellow vocals by Lionel Richie with a Southern country twist.

"Zoom" is one of the Commodores' best known tunes, despite not being released as a single in the US. It reached #38 on the UK singles chart.Fergie sampled "Zoom" in her song "All That I Got (The Make-Up Song)" on the album The Dutchess.

Commodores 13

Commodores 13 is the tenth studio album by the Commodores, released in 1983. It is their first album after Lionel Richie left the group, and their last album with guitarist Thomas McClary before his departure from the band (McClary recorded a solo album for Motown Records in 1984, and then retired from the music industry). The song "Turn Off the Lights" was written as a sequel to 1981's "Lady (You Bring Me Up)".

Track listing

Chart positions

Personnel