Rated X-Traordinaire: The Best of Johnnie Taylor
The 16-track Rated X-Traordinaire sets out to rescue the reputation of the Johnnie Taylor of 1976-1980, the period that began with his biggest smash, "Disco Lady," but that found him, so the conventional wisdom goes, a Southern soul man set adrift on the disco wave. Annotator Kalamu Ya Salaam argues that "Disco Lady" is not a disco song, and backs this up by noting that the track actually was played by members of Parliament Funkadelic True enough, though that only applies to Taylor s debut Columbia album, Eargasm Elsewhere, Taylor did drift, from Muscle Shoals tracks that updated his Stax Memphis sound to tracks that sounded like Marvin Gaye The early years, 1976 and 1977, were more accomplished than the later ones, and that's where compilation producer Leo Sacks focuses, with 12 of the 16 tracks coming from then. In so doing, he ignores R&B chart singles like "Keep on Dancing" and "Ever Ready," but he satisfies the "best-of" title. ~ William Ruhlmann, All Music Guide
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Credits »
Johnnie Taylor - Producer
Johnnie Taylor - Main Performer
Wade Marcus - Arranger
Bobbye Hall - Executive Producer
Pete Bishop - Engineer
Adam Block - Series Director
Don Davis - Arranger
Don Davis - Producer
Don Davis - Engineer
Reginald Dozier - Engineer
Bert Keyes - Arranger
Jerry Masters - Engineer
Bruce Miller - Vocal Arrangement
Steve Moore - Engineer
Rudy Robinson - Arranger
Sonny Sanders - Arranger
Ken Sands - Engineer
Brad Shapiro - Producer
Allen Sides - Engineer
Don Smith - Engineer
David Van De Pitte - Arranger
Jim Vitti - Engineer
Fred Wesley - Arranger
Terry Woodford - Engineer
Leo Sacks - Producer
Leo Sacks - Compilation
Leo Sacks - Compilation Producer
Christopher Banninger - Engineer
Tom "Curly" Ruff - Digital Remastering
Tony Sellari - Artwork
Tony Sellari - Art Direction
Gina Campanaro - Packaging Manager
Johnny Taylor - Arranger
Johnny Taylor - Producer
Robert Eaton - Vocal Arrangement
Jeff Steinberg - Arranger
George Worrell - Arranger
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