Madam Butterfly
Studio album by
Tavares
ReleasedJanuary 1979
GenreR&B, soul
Length37:39
LabelCapitol
ProducerBobby Martin
Tavares chronology
Future Bound
(1978)		 Madam Butterfly
(1979)		 Supercharged
(1980)
Professional ratings
Review scores
SourceRating
AllMusic[1]
The Encyclopedia of Popular Music[2]
The New Rolling Stone Record Guide[3]

Madam Butterfly is the seventh album by the American soul/R&B group Tavares, released in 1979 on Capitol Records.[2][4]

Commercial performance

By this stage in the group's career, they had become known as a disco act due to successful singles such as "Heaven Must Be Missing an Angel", "Whodunit" and "More Than a Woman." However, Madam Butterfly is noted for its lack of anything approaching disco material, and, as such, is considered to be more akin in style to the group's 1973-'75 albums than to their '76-'78 Freddie Perren-produced output.

"Never Had a Love Like This Before", one of several slow jams on the album, became a top 5 R&B hit and has subsequently become a quiet storm radio classic, while tracks such as "I'm Back for More" are more funk-based than listeners had come to expect from Tavares. The title track Madam Butterfly received considerable airplay on R&B radio stations, and became a hit, but was not released as a single by Capitol. The album performed respectably on the R&B chart, peaking at #13, but failed to achieve substantial sales in the crossover market. Its reputation has grown over the years and it is now considered among the group's best.

Track listing

  1. "Straight From Your Heart" (Len Ron Hanks, Zane Grey) - 4:23
  2. "Games, Games" (Sam Dees) - 4:30
  3. "Madam Butterfly" (Johnny Simon, Kenny Stover) - 4:29
  4. "Let Me Heal the Bruises" (Sam Dees) - 4:24
  5. "Never Had a Love Like This Before" (Len Ron Hanks, Zane Grey) - 4:32
  6. "One Telephone Call Away" (Benorce Blackmon) - 4:22
  7. "My Love Calls" (Sam Dees) - 5:05
  8. "Positive Forces" (Joe Reaves, Lonnie Reaves) - 2:56
  9. "I'm Back for More" (Kenny Stover) - 2:58

Singles

  • "Never Had a Love Like This Before" (US R&B #5)
  • "Straight From Your Heart" (US R&B #77)

Personnel

Tavares

    with:

    • Benorce Blackmon, Steve Erquiaga - guitar
    • David Shields - bass
    • Ron "Have Mercy" Kersey - keyboards
    • Len Ron Hanks - keyboards on "Straight From Your Heart" and "Never Had a Love Like This Before"
    • Gaylord Birch - drums
    • Melvin Webb - percussion
    • Don Moors - vibraphone
    • John Roberts, Oscar Brashear - trumpet, flugelhorn
    • Grover Mitchell, Linda Small, Maurice Spears, Tom McIntosh - trombone
    • Bobby Martin, Len Ron Hanks, Ron "Have Mercy" Kersey - arrangements
    • Paul Shure - concertmaster

    References

    1. ↑ Henderson, Alex. Madam Butterfly review at AllMusic. Retrieved 2017-02-09.
    2. 1 2 Larkin, Colin (2006). The Encyclopedia of Popular Music. Vol. 8. MUZE. p. 53.
    3. ↑ The New Rolling Stone Record Guide. Random House. 1983. p. 503.
    4. ↑ Smith, Will (13 Feb 1979). "New Sounds". Omaha World-Herald. p. 14.
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