Dancin' in the Key of Life [Bonus Tracks] in Bloomington, MN

Steve Arrington
's artistic and commercial zenith post-
Slave
-- with whom he had an outstanding four-album run and involvement with the spin-off group
Aurra
--
Dancin' in the Key of Life
was also quite transitional. Having cut two LPs with his
Hall of Fame
, the funk legend was moved to
Atlantic Records
from its
Cotillion
subsidiary, matched with established producers
Keg Johnson
and
Wilmer Raglin
, and went all-the-way solo in name. He worked in Los Angeles with a crew including many session keyboardists and background vocalists, guitarist
George Johnson
(of
the Brothers Johnson
), and first-call percussionist
Paulinho Da Costa
, whose nimble handiwork smartly intertwines with driving drum machines.
doesn't induce as many satisfied grimaces as
Steve Arrington's Hall of Fame I
, yet its festive spirit and nonstop forward motion more than make up for the reduction of pure funk. The album's sense of communal joy can be attributed to
Arrington
's foregrounding of spirituality and desire to make widely embraced message music. Two shining examples are front-loaded: the rolling "Feel So Real," a song of thanks with a trumpet solo from
Freddie Hubbard
, and the feel-great title track (the finest unconcealed gospel crossover since
Alicia Myers
' "I Want to Thank You"). Both of those and four additional songs -- ranging thematically to the tragic narrative "Willie Mae" -- were written by
with
India Arrington
, his then-new wife. The other selections were instead either written or co-written by
Michael Terry
; "She Just Don't Know," the better of the two, perhaps had too much in common with
Stevie Wonder
's "Go Home" to fare well as a single.
sonically is as 1985 as
In Square Circle
Alexander O'Neal
, but as with those recordings, its highlights are imperishable. [
Iconoclassic Records
' 2022 reissue of the album surpasses a basic 2009 BMG Europe edition, confoundingly the set's lone previous appearance on CD. It features remastered sound and five bonus tracks taken from the contemporaneous 12" singles -- such as a remix of the title song by then-emergent dance music figures
Boyd Jarvis
Timmy Regisford
-- along with in-depth liner notes filled with fresh quotes from
and associates.] ~ Andy Kellman