We Can Never Light That Old Flame Again

[captainjames]

From what session was this song recorded in ? Diana had just left Motown and at the top of her game and Motown releases this 45. It almost sounds like something the Honey Cone would have recorded.

[jobeterob]

Suggested an inferior product? LOL

[kenneth]

I found this in the bargain bins and had never heard of it before that. It came in an interesting picture sleeve which indicated it was "found in the Motown vaults." It was evidently released to try and one up her new material on RCA, I guess. I thought it was a decent song. It must be included on some of the Ross anthologies.

Interesting, it credits Mack David [[!) as one of the writers. He was from the Golden Age of Hollywood, and wrote the lyrics for some of Disney's best known films such as "Cinderella" and "Alice in Wonderland." I never knew he had any Motown association until I looked for this image.

8887

[RobertZ]

I think it's a good song and great record. It is a tad Honey Cone-ish. It was included on the expanded "diana" Chic CD.

[Buttered Popcorn and so forth]

According to the diana Deluxe Edition liner notes, the song was recorded during the Ross sessions. You can get the original single version on her 2CD Motown Anthology from 2001 and the diana Deluxe Edition has an alternate mix which was first released on the cassette-only edition of the compilation Reach Out And Touch [[Somebody's Hand) from 1990.

[rovereab]

I can listen to this song but I just cannot bring myself to even contemplate Old Funky Rolls :)

[captainjames]

Thanks everyone I read once that HDH had something to do with it and I though maybe Motown was trying to pull a fast one.

[reese]

It was released in 1982, between her RCA singles WORK THAT BODY and MUSCLES. JET Magazine listed it on their weekly chart, and I bought the single that same week without hearing it first. From the title, I was expecting a Michael Masser-ish ballad. I was surprised and pleased to play it and find that it was an upbeat Holland Brothers production. My copy didn't have a picture sleeve.

I've read that it was recorded circa 1978. But the sound of Diana's voice and the production itself make me think it might have been a few years earlier.

[sup_fan]

i actually like Old Funky Rolls lol

[longtimefan]

Old Funky Rolls should have been on the "Last Time I Saw Him" LP.

[vgalindo]

It was released in 1982, between her RCA singles WORK THAT BODY and MUSCLES. JET Magazine listed it on their weekly chart, and I bought the single that same week without hearing it first. From the title, I was expecting a Michael Masser-ish ballad. I was surprised and pleased to play it and find that it was an upbeat Holland Brothers production. My copy didn't have a picture sleeve.

I've read that it was recorded circa 1978. But the sound of Diana's voice and the production itself make me think it might have been a few years earlier.
I bought the single as soon as it was released too. Loved it.

[jobeterob]

Old Funky Rolls is good; just not necessarily a single.

[supremester]

I refuse to believe that Old Funky Rolls was recorded for a pop album. It must have been done for Sesame Street, The Muppets or, perhaps Carol Burnett. For what it is, and I admit i don't know exactly WHAT it is, it's fine - her vocal is spirited - all we need is The Ernie Flatt Dancers
. Last Time I Saw Him had enough issues without adding this to that mess. The best album of her career followed by her worst - all in less than six months. Ay yi yi yi yi........

[supremester]

I think it's more like '73/74 - at least the track is. I like her vocalizing but it's in the wrong key and that attempt to do that change at the end over hand claps doesn't work as her vocal, I'm certain, was not intended for that quiet bg. The bg chorus is so heavy it sounds like a choral salute to The 5th Dimension - not a hot pop/dance single. Motown looked silly putting this mess out to compete with her RCA hits.


It was released in 1982, between her RCA singles WORK THAT BODY and MUSCLES. JET Magazine listed it on their weekly chart, and I bought the single that same week without hearing it first. From the title, I was expecting a Michael Masser-ish ballad. I was surprised and pleased to play it and find that it was an upbeat Holland Brothers production. My copy didn't have a picture sleeve.

I've read that it was recorded circa 1978. But the sound of Diana's voice and the production itself make me think it might have been a few years earlier.

[florence]

I quite liked We Can Never Light That Old Flame Again and wonder if it might have been a hit in the UK had it been issued here. Presumably Motown saw merit in the Holland connection.

I don't know what went on at Motown just after Diana had left for RCA - in the UK instead of We Can Never Light they issued Old Funky Rolls with a re-issue of The Boss as the B-side as a single in August 1982 between her RCA [[Capitol in the UK) singles It's Never Too Late which was issued here as a fourth track from the Why Do Fools Fall In Love album - a minor hit just missing the top 40 at #41 and Muscles.

Unfortunately it sank without trace perhaps because it was almost impossible to buy a copy! I had to order one especially and even then it took my store almost three weeks to get it.

[Philles/Motown Gary]

I love "We Can Never Light That Old Flame Again" AND "Old Funky Rolls". I played both sides to death when it first came out.