Songoftheday 11/8/22 -She caught me by surprise I must say, 'cause I never have seen such a pretty face...

 

 

"Take You Out" - Luther Vandross

from the album Luther Vandross (2001)

Billboard Hot 100 peak: #26 (one week)

Weeks in the Top-40: 4

 

Today's song comes from the late great soul singer Luther Vandross, who had landed the highest-charting pop hit of his career in the autumn of 1994 with his cover of "Endless Love" with Mariah Carey, coming a notch from the #1 spot. After a holiday release the following year, This Is Christmas, which made the top-40 on the Billboard 200 sales tally and sold over a million copies, Luther returned in 1996 with his next regular studio release Your Secret Love, which returned him to the top ten on that list at #9 (and #2 on the R&B Albums chart) and also sold over a million to go Platinum. But despite the lead single title track "Your Secret Love" reaching #5 on Billboard magazine's R&B Singles chart, the song stalled down at #52 on the pop Hot 100, perhaps being a little "too" traditional for mainstream radio at the time (it's a great record, and did reach #14 on the British Singles Chart). Nevertheless, the song won the Grammy Award the following year for Best Male R&B Vocal Performance, and was also nominated for Best R&B Song (losing to Babyface-written "Exhale (Shoop Shoop)" for Whitney Houston). 

Fulfulling his record contract with long-time label Epic with a second greatest hits set in 1997, Vandross signed with Virgin Records, where he released only one album, I Know, in 1999. The set came in at #26 on the Billboard 200 (his lowest-ranked regular release since 1983), and his first to fail to sell over a million copies (it went "gold" at 500,000). Perhaps the fact that none of the songs promoted to radio were released as "commercial singles", as well as the misstep of featuring a rap break (by unknown Precise) on lead single "Nights In Harlem" that confounded fans and radio, stopping at #29 on Billboard's R&B Airplay chart (it did get to #4 on the older-skewing Adult R&B radio list). Another track from the record, "Are You Using Me?", got a remix that received some DJ love, slipping on to Billboard's Dance Club Play chart at #46. Even so, title track "I Know", which only managed to go to #61 on Billboard's R&B Airplay chart, managed to garner a Grammy nomination for Best Male R&B Vocal Performance, which went to "ringer" Stevie Wonder (who coincidentally played harmonica on "I Know") for his one-off cover of "St. Louis Blues" from a Herbie Hancock tribute to Gershwin album. The I Know album was also up for Best Traditional R&B Performance, which Patti LaBelle won for her Live! One Night Only concert album. 

 

Subsequently, Vandross left Virgin and signed with uber-executive Clive Davis' fledgling label J Records, where Alicia Keys and Jimmy Cozier were having some big hits. In 2001, Luther released his self-titled twelfth studio album on the imprint. While a couple of the tracks reunited the singer with producers Nat Adderley Jr. and Marcus Miller, Davis attempted a second go at a "Santana-style" comeback, pairing him up this time not with guest singers (like Santana) but new and hot production teams. The first single from the record, "Take You Out", brought in Warryn Campbell as producer, and he co-wrote the track with Harold Lilly and John Smith. The song has Luther shooting his shot with a woman (!), using the hook "excuse me miss" to lead into the chorus of asking her name and on a date in the same breath. He doesn't attempt to "sell it", but concentrates on delivering a professional and smooth performance for his fanbase of (older) women. I mean, even the music video seems like he's doing a "girls' shopping day with the BFF" more than a date. But such is the price of the closet. The song is an okay update on his sound, though not totally one of his most memorable, and forcing the heteronomality on him is sort of sad, like he was forced to do this for the comeback (which sadly is kind of true)...

 

Nevertheless, "Take You Out" returned Luther to the pop top-40 for a month in August of 2001, while reaching #7 on Billboard's R&B Singles chart. On the radio, the song went to #19 on the R&B Airplay list, but is was a massive success on the older-skewing Adult R&B format, topping that chart for seven weeks. Internationally, the single was a minor hit in the United Kingdom at #59. The Luther Vandross album, released in June of that year, went to #6 on the Billboard 200 sales tally, and #2 on the R&B Albums list, going on to sell over a million copies. 

The second single from the self-titled set, "Can Heaven Wait", didn't capture the momentum of the previous hit, stalling at #63 on the R&B Singles chart, though it did climb to #6 on the Adult R&B radio list. But remixes of the track were a big hit in the clubs, helping Luther peak at #3 on the Dance Club Play chart (tied for his highed rank there as a solo artist). A third release, the ballad "I'd Rather", did better, returning Vandross to the Hot 100 at #83, while making it to the R&B top-40 at #40, and even got on to the Adult Contemporary (or "easy listening") radio list at #17. But its best showing was again at the Adult R&B Airplay format, where it took nine weeks at #1. Another cut from the album, a remake of the 60's and 80's hit "Any Day Now" produced by Adderley, was nominated for a Grammy Award for Best Traditional R&B Performance in 2003, losing to Chaka Khan for her remake of the classic Marvin Gaye song "What's Going On". Although the album wasn't the mega success that Santana's comeback was, it did give Luther a bit of mojo, and he will be back to the series.

(4/10)

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Here's Luther performing the song on The Tonight Show to promote the album...

 In 2002, rapper Jay-Z interpolated "Take You Out" for his single "Excuse Me Miss", which topped the R&B Singles chart and hit #8 on the Billboard Hot 100...

 

And lastly, on his Live From Madison Square Garden concert album/DVD from 2003...

Up tomorrow: The first appearance of the future country star, taking a detour in hippie Texas.