{"id":41436,"date":"2009-04-05T00:00:00","date_gmt":"2009-04-05T00:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/reviews\/i-feel-for-you\/"},"modified":"2009-04-05T00:00:00","modified_gmt":"2009-04-05T00:00:00","slug":"i-feel-for-you","status":"publish","type":"review","link":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/reviews\/i-feel-for-you\/","title":{"rendered":"I Feel For You"},"content":{"rendered":"

Of all the black female artists, Chaka Khan is my favorite. She\u2019s got that unique, unmistakable voice that leaps from the speakers and grabs you right where it counts. When she hits those high notes, it\u2019s like the Earth stops spinning on its axis. I first discovered Miss Khan in the mid-\u201880s. I didn\u2019t know anything about her involvement with the \u201870s funk outfit Rufus, so even though she had been in the industry quite a while, it was all new and exciting to me. To this day, the only Rufus songs that I care to listen to are \u201cTell Me Something Good\u201d and their classic farewell tune \u201cAin\u2019t Nobody.\u201d<\/o:p><\/p>\n

Solo Chaka Khan is where it\u2019s really at, especially on the albums she released from 1984 to 1986. This particular disc, entitled I Feel For You<\/i>, <\/i>is where it all began for me. Radio listeners couldn\u2019t get enough of the #1 smash title track with its staccato rhythms (\u201cCh-ch-ch Chaka Khan, Chaka Khan, lemme rock you lemme rock you Chaka Khan\u2026\u201d) and the buttery smooth slow jam \u201cThrough The Fire.\u201d It was none other than Prince who wrote \u201cI Feel For You,\u201d and he didn\u2019t even replace the word \u201cFor\u201d with the number \u201c4!\u201d Prince\u2019s affect on female artists back in the \u2018\u201980s is now legendary, and the diversity was quite amazing. He worked with everyone from Chaka Khan to Sheila E. to Sheena Easton to Martika to Sinead O\u2019Connor. Back then, Prince was in demand everywhere; now he\u2019s selling albums at Target. Oh, how times change.<\/o:p><\/p>\n

On I Feel For You<\/i>, Khan effortlessly handles an old Gary Wright chestnut \u201cMy Love Is Alive\u201d and succeeds in blowing the original out of the water by giving it an experimental twist. She completely busts out of her shell on the declarative #1 dance single \u201cThis Is My Night\u201d and shifts to a mellower gear for \u201cStronger Than Before.\u201d Both songs put her incredible vocal range on display and help to make this album such a welcome surprise. The flattering, slimmed-down artwork on the back cover probably didn\u2019t hurt from an image standpoint either. Producer Arif Mardin, the miracle worker who transformed the Bee Gees back in the \u201870s, works his magic once again for Chaka Khan in the \u201880s. We really could use someone like him with so many artists floundering about these days.<\/o:p><\/p>\n

However, Khan misses the mark whenever she strays into more obscure territory, as she does on \u201cLa Flamme\u201d and \u201cChinatown,\u201d both of which are obvious filler-style B-sides. It is the strength of the other eight tracks that keeps this album firmly in the A range. <\/o:p><\/p>\n

In 1986, she would attempt to duplicate this success with the follow-up Destiny<\/i>, with less than stellar sales results. Had Destiny <\/i>gotten the same push from Warner Bros. as I Feel For You <\/i>did, it <\/i>could have been a hit, too. Chaka Khan certainly did her part for both releases, touring extensively for three years straight \u2013 and I got to see her both times she came to my town. Her show is what you might call a must-see. As dance albums go, I Feel For You <\/i>is a must-hear.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":57,"featured_media":29821,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","template":"","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"tags":[],"artist":[8376],"rating":[5613],"class_list":["post-41436","review","type-review","status-publish","has-post-thumbnail","artist-chaka-khan","rating-rating-a-minus"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/review\/41436","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/review"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/review"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/57"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=41436"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/review\/41436\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/29821"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=41436"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=41436"},{"taxonomy":"artist","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/artist?post=41436"},{"taxonomy":"rating","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/rating?post=41436"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}