Songoftheday 6/24/19 - When I feel what I feel sometimes it's hard to tell you so, you may not be in the mood to learn what you think you know...
from the album Age Ain't Nothing But A Number (1994)
Billboard Hot 100 peak: #6 (two weeks)
Weeks in the Top-40: 14
Today's song of the day comes from (the late) R&B singer Aaliyah, who had landed her debut single "Back & Forth" in the summer of 1994. Her follow-up would be a cover of a song from the Isley Brothers, "At Your Best (You Are Love)". Written by the Brothers, and appearing on the top ten album Harvest For The World in 1976, their original never was released as a single, but was a staple at "quiet storm" style radio...
Produced by her mentor/secret husband R. Kelly, Aaliyah's album version coos over a similar production, keeping the soft emotion but adding a bit of naivete to the track. But the remix for the single adds a bit of street sounds to the mix, especially in the percussion...
Aaliyah's take on "At Your Best" became her second top ten pop hit in October of 1994. The song spent three week at #2 on Billboard magazine's R&B chart as well. Internationally, the single reached the top-40 in the UK (#27), New Zealand (#38), and the Netherlands (#40), while it was a minor hit in Canada at #76. A third release, the title track "Age Ain't Nothing But A Number" (creepily written by Kelly), missed the pop top-40 at #75, but did climb to #35 on the R&B tally (it did get to #32 in Britain). Finally, the song "Down With The Clique" scored Aaliyah her fourth top-40 British hit at #33.
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And here's the softer and more delicate album version of the cover...
In 2015, Frank Ocean released his own version of "At Your Best" to honor the late singer's 36th birthday...
And here's Aaliyah performing the song live in concert..
Up tomorrow: Two soulful vocal giants go back to one of the biggest hits of 1981.
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