Melba (1978 album)
| Melba | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
 | ||||
| Studio album by | ||||
| Released | September 29, 1978 | |||
| Recorded | 1978 | |||
| Studio | Sigma Sound, Philadelphia & New York City | |||
| Genre | Soul, disco | |||
| Label | Epic | |||
| Producer | Gene McFadden, John Whitehead Jerry Cohen | |||
| Melba Moore chronology | ||||
| ||||
| Review scores | |
|---|---|
| Source | Rating |
| Allmusic |    [1] |
Melba is the eighth album by singer Melba Moore, released in 1978.
Overview
[edit]Between 1975 and 1977, Moore had recorded four albums for Buddah Records, the last three of which had been disco-oriented with the title cut of her 1976 album This Is It providing Moore with her first glimmer of recording success. Moore's fourth album for Buddah, the 1977 release A Portrait of Melba, helmed by the virtuoso Philly soul production/songwriting team of McFadden & Whitehead - i.e. Gene McFadden and John Whitehead - had been a commercial failure which ended Moore's tenure with Buddah. However Moore was expediently signed to Epic Records who assigned McFadden & Whitehead to again oversee Moore's recording sessions, with Moore's Epic debut album: Melba, recorded at Sigma Sound Studios and released in September 1978.
The album's lead single: "You Stepped Into My Life", ranked as high as #5 on the Billboard ranking of top disco songs which success translated into Moore's strongest showing on Billboard's Hot 100 and R&B charts with respective peaks of #47 and #17: Moore would have number of higher ranked R&B chart singles during the 1980s but "You Stepped Into My Life" would remain her final Hot 100 chart single. The Melba album itself would be afforded a Billboard 200 peak of #114: its second single: the McFadden & Whitehead original "Pick Me Up I'll Dance" was a moderate club hit.
Despite the comparative success of the Melba album, Moore's followup album: Burn (1979), helmed by Pete Bellotte, showed a radical and commercially unsuccessful shift toward harder-edged dance music. Moore's musical focus subsequently shifted back to a softer sound, and throughout the 1980's Moore scored a handful of R&B hits without becoming a major star. McFadden & Whitehead would contribute as songwriters and/or producers to Moore's albums: Closer (1980) and What a Woman Needs (1981), and to the singer's 1988 album I'm in Love: also Gene McFadden would produce and co-write Moore's two #1 R&B hits: "Falling" and (with Freddie Jackson) "A Little Bit More" both from Moore's 1986 album A Lot of Love.
Track listing
[edit]- "You Stepped Into My Life" (Barry Gibb, Robin Gibb, Maurice Gibb)
- "There's No Other Like You" (Gene McFadden, John Whitehead, Victor Carstarphen)
- "It's Hard Not to Like You" (Frankie Smith, Harold Preston, Gene McFadden, John Whitehead)
- "Together Forever" (Melba Moore)
- "Pick Me Up, I'll Dance" (Gene McFadden, John Whitehead, Ronald Rose)
- "Happy" (Gene McFadden, John Whitehead, Jerry Cohen)
- "I Promise to Love You" (Gene McFadden, John Whitehead, Jerry Cohen)
- "Where Did You Ever Go" (Dexter Wansel)
Charts
[edit]| Chart (1978) | Peak position |
|---|---|
| Billboard Top LPs & Tapes[2] | 114 |
| Billboard Top Soul LPs[2] | 35 |
Singles
[edit]| Year | Single | Chart positions[3] | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| US | US R&B |
US Dance | ||
| 1978 | "You Stepped Into My Life" | 47 (1979) | 17 | 5 |
| 1979 | "Pick Me Up, I'll Dance" | — | 85 | 22 |
References
[edit]- ^ https://www.allmusic.com/album/r2173243/review
- ^ a b "Melba Moore US albums chart history". allmusic.com. Retrieved 2011-07-15.
- ^ "Melba Moore US singles chart history". allmusic.com. Retrieved 2011-07-15.
