Michael Bolton - Michael Bolton

This month marks the thirtieth anniversary of the release of the self-titled studio album Michael Bolton. This Gold selling record, which peaked at number 89 on the US Billboard Hot 200, was the third studio album from the American singer. His first two, Michael Bolotin from 1975 and Everyday of My Life from 1976, were recorded under his birth name and garnered very little chart action.

George Clinton - Computer Games

On November 5th of 1982, funk-master extraordinaire George Clinton released Computer Games, his first solo album away from Parliament and Funkadelic (the bands were both formally disbanded by Clinton a year prior). Today we will take a look at the record as part of its thirtieth anniversary celebration.

Computer Games climbed to number 40 on the US Billboard Hot 200 and number 3 on the US Billboard R&B charts. Slant Magazine ranked it at number 97 on its list of the Best Albums of the 1980’s.

Parliament - Mothership Connection

Welcome to another edition of Seventies Saturday. This weekend we also wish a very happy seventy-first birthday to George Clinton, born July 22nd in 1941.

Clinton and his Detroit-based funk super group Parliament released Mothership Connection, their fourth studio album, on December 15th, 1975. The Platinum selling record went to number 13 on the US Billboard Hot 200 and number 4 on the US R&B charts. It also generated a trio of R&B hit singles including their biggest crossover track.

Prince - Graffiti Bridge (soundtrack)

Welcome to another edition of Soundtrack Sunday.

In 1990, Prince wrote, directed and starred Graffiti Bridge, the sequel to 1984's highly successful Purple Rain. The film follows the Kid (Prince) who is now a performer at his own club Glam Slam. Morris Day also returns, playing himself, as the owner of a number of clubs including Pandemonium. However, rivalry still exists between the two which culminates in a showdown between the venues. The film also stars Ingrid Chavez, Jerome Benton, the Time, Mavis Staples, Tevin Campbell, and George Clinton.

Critically, the film was panned. At the box office, it barely managed to recoup the original production cost.

The double-record soundtrack album, however, did fairly well. I went Gold in the US, the UK and Canada. It reached number 6 on the US Billboard 200 chart and the US R&B Albums chart, number 4 in Germany and the Netherlands, number 3 in New Zealand, number 2 in Norway and Switzerland, and number 1 in the UK. It also produced a number of hit singles for Prince and the other artists on the record.