Happy 40th Anniversary to The Gap Band’s sixth studio album Gap Band IV, originally released May 17, 1982.
George Clinton and Parliament-Funkadelic were unquestionably responsible for shaping the psychedelic and electro funk genre, and in the '70s, they were operating from an entirely different plane—or mothership, I'd say. However, by the 1980s, when Clinton’s congregation began to part ways, the contestants to the funky crown were three brothers from Oklahoma: Charlie, Ronnie, and Robert Wilson, best known as The Gap Band.
The group's debut album Magician’s Holiday (1974) and its follow-up The Gap Band (1977) were released at the pinnacle of the P-Funk mania, and therefore did not get the attention they deserved. The following projects found the Wilson brothers establishing themselves with hits like “Steppin’ Out” and “Burn Rubber," while it was only the release of the trio’s sixth studio album Gap Band IV that kicked the band off into superstar status throughout the R&B world.
Gap Band IV is arguably one of the group’s most beguiling projects, in terms of its multeity of sounds and fresh approach to the funk genre. With the new album, The Gap Band began assimilating the then-modern aesthetics to their signature sound—which was influenced by the formula George Clinton and P-Funk defined—blending uplifting up-tempo and mid-tempo funk tunes with smooth, romantic jams.
Although each band member was a multi-instrumentalist, by 1982, the trio had begun incorporating new sounds and electronic musical instruments, melding them with their horn-based heritage. The relevancy of such fresh aural experimentations—particularly prominent in the group’s sixth studio album—is sealed in being one of the earliest examples of synth-funk music.
The Gap Band IV is a bopping hits-packed album that reached gold status by the end of 1982, turning the group into a household name. The record is an immaculate combination of ballads—often wrongfully overlooked—and energetic, danceable up-tempo singles. With their new approach to the funk genre, the Wilson brothers’ new release soon turned into a blasting hit that could boast its dominance on the R&B chart, being able to compete with other top acts, including Michael Jackson, Prince, Luther Vandross, and Kool & The Gang.
While the three hits ( “Early in the Morning,” “Outstanding,” and “You Dropped a Bomb On Me”) were massive successes on radio stations and peaked at #1 on the charts, the album also included great ballads, such as “Stay With Me” (fondly known from the band’s 1982 performance on the famed Soul Train), “I Can’t Get Over You” and “Season’s No Reason To Change,” which were hot on R&B radios during the LP’s reign of dominance. And while Parliament-Funkadelic enhanced the power of funk, The Gap Band put a romantic spin to funk music, proving that they were no P-Funk facsimile.
The album opens with the energetic “Early in the Morning,” complete with Charlie Wilson’s vivacious vocal delivery, a sinuous guitar riff, pounding rhythm and bassline layering the main beat section, and a subtle dynamic piano hook.
The saccharine “Season’s No Reason to Change” soon became a standard radio-friendly R&B sentimental jam, filled with piano-driven harmonies, pepped up by Minimoog undulating, underlying tunes. The highlight of the track is Charlie Wilson’s passionate, convincing, laid-back vocal delivery.
“Lonely Like Me” shoots the listener into a smooth and dreamy, 5-minute-and-21-second soundscape whilst the trio intones the words “Two people wondering, looking, searching for a fantasy.”
The timeless mid-tempo, groovy “Outstanding” offers a change of mood, with percussive, syncopated, quirky beats, an alluring driving bassline, and layered backing vocals. The song was the band’s third single and soon reached the #1 spot on the Billboard R&B chart at the beginning of 1983, dethroning Michael Jackson and Paul McCartney’s hit “The Girl Is Mine.” Furthermore, “Outstanding” turned out to be the Wilson brothers’ hit par excellence, and one of their most sampled songs in the hip-hop community, including Ashanti and Ja Rule’s 2002 single “Happy,” Da Brat, The Notorious B.I.G. and Jermaine Dupri’s 1994 hit “Da B Side,” and Tyler The Creator, Frank Ocean, Steve Lacy, and Anne of the North’s “911/ Mr. Lonely.”
“Stay With Me” provides yet another change of pace to a romantic, whimsical realm, beaming with sultry vocals and lavish, gleamy harmonies.
The unparalleled anthem “You Dropped a Bomb on Me,” built around electric, bouncy, hysterical synth-bass, thumping beats, and quirky sound effects, is the flawless epitome of a riveting, unrivaled funk masterpiece.
Particularly energetic were the music videos produced for “You Dropped a Bomb on Me” and “Early in the Morning,” which were early BET favorites, when the network’s production was still played via cable, and MTV was refusing to air videos by African American artists, including The Gap Band, Prince, and Earth, Wind & Fire.
Opening with a classy, lulling, flugelhorn solo, courtesy of Ronnie Wilson, the mellow, syrupy “I Can’t Get Over You”—brimming with lush vocals reminiscent of Stevie Wonder’s best love songs—serves as the predecessor of modern R&B slow jams.
There could not possibly have been any better album closer than the Parliament-Funkadelic-esque “Talkin’ Back,” drawing inspiration from two of the most monumental electro-funk pillars such as Mothership Connection (1975) and Funkentelechy vs. The Placebo Syndrome (1977), including special sound effects and multiple refrains of “Oh, yeah, you gon' dance, sucker.”
In 1982, Charlie, Ronnie, and Robert Wilson perfected their group’s formula of dance-all-night-long tunes and blissful laid-back balladry. Gap Band IV marked a new starting point for the imminent synth-funk era, and today it still holds up with its everlasting allure, remaining an enticing artistic endeavor, able to funk up a storm.
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