Quincy Jones‘The Dude, a 1981 Grammy Award-winning triple album, is available from today (18) via IGA / A & M / Urban Legends in a limited edition, 40th anniversary reissue.
This memorable and successful ensemble, which featured a cast of famous singers and musicians, is now available on yellow vinyl with red / orange splashes, featuring a lithograph of the iconic album cover art, a gatefold cover with an aluminum finish and a newly remastered sound. A single Standard Edition LP is also available, with a rocking gatefold cover and newly remastered sound.
The Dude was an unforgettable platform for the production and arranging genius of “Q” himself, and for contributors such as James Ingram, who sang the lead role on “One Hundred Ways” and “ Just Once ”. Both were substantial American pop and R&B hits that made Top 5 in the contemporary adult format.
The other single “Razzmatazz”, starring Patti Austin, became Jones’ biggest UK hit, and Austin also sang on another of the LP’s signings, Stevie Wonder‘s “Betcha wouldn’t hurt me.” Dune, aka Charles May, was the lead singer on the first hit on “Ai No Corrida”, written by Chas Jankel (of Ian Dury and the Blockheads) and veteran pop composer Kenny Young.
The album reached No.10 in an epic 80-week run on the Billboard charts, was certified platinum and was a big winner at the 1982 awards ceremony, for best instrumental arrangement (for “Velas”), Best R&B Performance by a Duo or Group with Vocal (for the title track), Best R&B Performance, Male (“One Hundred Ways”) and Best Instrumental Arrangement (accompanists) for “Ai No Corrida”. Jones also won the producer of the year award.
“One day,” Jones remembers, “Henry Mancini and I were in an art gallery on Wilshire Blvd., and I saw a sculpture that had just called out to me. He was like, ‘Hey man, take me home. I want to be an album, I want to be a melody. I didn’t question it and bought the statue on the spot because it had an attitude like I had never seen before.
“It might sound crazy, but that’s what inspired the name of my 1981 album, The Dude, and you can see the silhouette of the sculpture on the album cover. I also discovered that the statue actually came from a farm in South Africa.
“The farm was not making any profit, so the owner had a sculpture teacher named Fanizani Akuda. [a member of the sculptural movement called Shona Sculpture] come teach his workers how to carve so they can make a living, and The Dude is one of the sculptures Fanizani made on the farm. I have since had The Dude.
Buy The Dude 40th Anniversary Editions.
The full tracklist for The Dude is:
A1 Ai No Corrida 6:18
A2 The guy 5:35
A3 Just once 4:32
A4 Betcha ‘wouldn’t hurt me 3:33
B1 Something Special 4:03
B2 Razzamatazz 4:20
B3 Hundred Way 4:19
B4 Velas 4:05
B5 Activate action 4:17
Follow the official Quincy Jones Productions playlist.
–
