Staying Power - White, Barry (CD 1999)

To me the sound of a mans voice is a real selling point. Peter Steele [Type O Negative], Vin Diesel, Christian Bale and Cole Hauser all top my list of hot voices . Now, before you fall off the chair in a fit of laughter, think about it. A guy walks up behind you, says something a little on the nasty side and you simply melt. Now, take that thought and put it to music and you have Barry White s Staying Power . I ll put it bluntly, unless you are going to be doing something physical you aren t going to want to play this because, frankly, it will have you climbing the walls. I don t own any other releases from White but I am pretty familiar with his music; when I heard the track The Longer We Make Love with Chaka Khan, I knew that I d be getting the CD. What I still can t figure out is what it is about the song that got me hooked on it. This CD has two versions of it, one with Chaka Khan and one with Lisa Stansfield. Both of them are great, picking between them comes down to the mood that you are in when you toss this in the CD player. The Stansfield version is a bit more erotic, to me this track [listed as a bonus] isn t as grating as the Khan track.

The Deep Cuts

Staying Power
Don t Play Games
The Longer We Make Love [with Chaka Khan]
Get Off On You
Which Way Is Up?
Get Up
Sometimes
Low Rider
Thank You
Slow Your Roll
The Longer We Make Love [with Lisa Stansfield]

Tracks like Don t Play Games and Slow Your Roll are definitely worth checking out and yes, they are about the physical side of things. There aren t any face paced songs on this CD so it s perfect if you are looking for something that s 68 minutes long and is going to have you so far in the groove you ll wish you hit the loop button before you got down to business. Now, you have to understand something, this isn t the music that I normally choose to play, you know, when all that is going on ... but damn, Barry White can really maximize the moment . To me one of the hottest, sexiest songs has to be I Get Off On You , between the lyrical content and White s vocals you have these sultry background female vocalists that throw some gasoline on the fire. Sure, this is pretty much all about sex but it isn t offensive. White takes the high road when it comes to talking about sexual relations. If you ve ever heard the term less is more , this is a great example of it. Sort of like guys who say they d rather see a female scantily clad in something than just flat out naked.

You are different, beauty is in the eye of the beholder baby
And to me your as different as night and day, from all the rest
There s not a lot of things that can excite me, ignite me
You re all that and then some ...

There is one song that I simply can t take seriously, Low Rider , yes that Low Rider . The horn section was replaced with female background vocals which takes a little away from the feel of the song but White puts a sexual spin on it. If you ve ever heard the track in it s original form you wouldn t really think that there s anything sexual about it but leave it to Barry to increase the smut level by 100%. Thankfully this is the only song that really sticks out like a sore thumb, the rest are all smooth and slick. White isn t something that the younger crowd are going to throw in the CD player when it comes time for some flesh play but those who wish to maximize their efforts will reach for Barry s music. On a side note, there are no lyrics provided but in all honesty, it isn t hard to understand what is being said since White has those almost trademarked pauses between phrases. Hell, he could probably read the back of a cereal box and have most women in a state of fury.

Ahhh, The Sexual Side

If it weren t enough that the title of this release is Staying Power there are more than a few sexual overt terms that White tosses out in the tracks; nature s body lotion being one of the best. This isn t stickered with a Parental Advisory Warning for adult content but I really wouldn t want kids listening to this and be-bopping around the house singing about it. It s bad enough Annabelle whistles the song from the Enzyte commercial, I don t need her singing the words to Get Up or Don t Play Games . There are tons of sexual references like you gotta get up and stay up , work you all night long and pretty much every single line from the opening track.

The Bottom Line

Like I said, I doubt anyone is going to buy this and play it when they are cleaning the house, doing laundry or driving to the grocery store [oh that would be so very dangerous . White combines erotic and sensual vocals with an intoxicating beat, passionate female backing vocals and a smooth overall sound. The Longer We Make Love [both versions] are the fastest songs on this release and even they are on the slow tempo side of things. Compared to his other CD s and songs, this one is dead on spot. I don t play this all that often and when it comes off the shelf ... let s just say ... there s no turning back. When I was talking about this CD to a few friends they had a hard time believing that this was something that I found erotic. Considering my usual pick for mood music is Type O Negative, Cradle of Filth or something in between those two, it says a lot about the true staying power of this music.


As always, thanks for the read!

~^V^~ Freak ~^V^~

2006 Freak369