Never Too Much (album) explained
| Never Too Much |
| Type: | studio |
| Artist: | Luther Vandross |
| Cover: | ntm-lv.jpg |
| Released: | August 12, 1981 |
| Recorded: | April–July 1981 |
| Studio: | Media Sound (New York City) |
| Length: | 36:50 |
| Label: | Epic |
| Producer: | Luther Vandross |
| Next Title: | Forever, for Always, for Love |
| Next Year: | 1982 |
Never Too Much is the debut solo studio album by American singer Luther Vandross, released on August 12, 1981, by Epic Records. Mostly composed by Vandross himself, the album reached number 19 on the US Billboard 200 and number one on the Top R&B/Hip-Hop Albums chart, and has been certified double platinum by the Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA). Never Too Much earned Vandross two Grammy Award nominations in 1982, including Best New Artist and Best R&B Vocal Performance, Male.
The album's title track topped the Black Singles chart for two weeks. Vandross's rendition of Dionne Warwick's 1964 song "A House Is Not a Home" became one of his signature songs, and received attention for its transformation into an "epic", since its duration was extended to seven minutes. In 2020, the album was ranked number 362 on Rolling Stone's 500 Greatest Albums of All Time.[1]
Critical reception
AllMusic editor Craig Lytle found that Never Too Much featured "one outstanding song after another. Vandross concocts a bouncy, vibrant flow on his up-tempo numbers and an intimate, emotional connection on his moderate grooves and his lone ballad [...] This is one of the better R&B albums of the early '80s." Robert Christgau wrote about the album: "In music as tactful as this, where so much of the meaning is carried on the skip and flow of rhythm and timbre, songwriting doesn't matter all that much. So Vandross can attach tropes like "sugar and spice" and "she's a super lady" to undistinguished melodies and make me like them. But when his touch is just a little off, the great hit single you've just heard (or at least the good one that's sure to follow) seems almost as forgettable as the loser he's singing."
Personnel
Adapted from AllMusic.[2]
Performers and musicians
- Luther Vandross – lead vocals, vocal arrangements, rhythm arrangements (1, 2, 3, 5, 6, 7), backing vocals (1, 3-6), arrangements (4), song arrangements (7)
- Nat Adderley, Jr. – keyboards (1–7), rhythm arrangements (1, 2, 3, 5, 6), arrangements (4), backing vocals (4, 5)
- Ed Walsh – synthesizers (2, 4)
- Georg Wadenius – guitar (1, 2, 3, 7)
- Steve Love – guitar (3–6)
- Marcus Miller – bass (1–7)
- Anthony Jackson – bass (7)
- Buddy Williams – drums (1–7)
- Errol "Crusher" Bennett – percussion (1, 4, 5, 7), congas (4)
- Bashiri Johnson – congas (1, 2), percussion (2, 5)
- Billy King – congas (3, 5, 6)
- Paul Riser – horn arrangements (2, 5), string arrangements (2, 3, 5)
- Gary King – arrangements (4)
- Leon Pendarvis – string arrangements (6, 7), horn arrangements (7)
- Tawatha Agee – backing vocals (1–6)
- Michelle Cobbs – backing vocals (1, 2)
- Cissy Houston – backing vocals (1, 2)
- Yvonne Lewis – backing vocals (1, 2)
- Sybil Thomas – backing vocals (1, 2)
- Brenda White King – backing vocals (1, 2)
- Phillip Ballou – backing vocals (3–6)
- Fonzi Thornton – vocal contractor, backing vocals (4, 5)
- Norma Jean Wright – backing vocals (4, 5)
Technical
- Producer – Luther Vandross
- Executive producer – Larkin Arnold
- Production coordination – Sephra Herman
- Recorded and mixed by Michael Brauer
- Engineer – Carl Beatty
- Assistant engineers – Lincoln Clapp, Andy Hoffman, Nicky Kalliongos, Gregg Mann and Don Wershba.
- Mastered by Greg Calbi at Sterling Sound (New York, NY).
- Art direction – Karen Katz
Charts
Year-end charts
See also
- List of Billboard number-one R&B albums of 1981
Notes and References
- The 500 Greatest Albums of All Time. Rolling Stone. September 22, 2020.
- Web site: Never Too Much - Luther Vandross | Credits. AllMusic.
- Billboard 200 Albums – Year-End 1982. Billboard. November 14, 2020. https://web.archive.org/web/20201121024046/https://www.billboard.com/charts/year-end/1982/top-billboard-200-albums. November 21, 2020.
- Top R&B/Hip-Hop Albums - Year-End 1982. Billboard. July 5, 2022. https://web.archive.org/web/20210411074022/https://www.billboard.com/charts/year-end/1982/top-r-and-b-hip-hop-albums. April 11, 2021.
