Midnight star

[Kamasu_Jr]

I didn't catch all of the Unsung episode devoted to Midnight Star, but I liked their music. Their brand of techno funk makes you feel like dancing. Not sure when the episode will be repeated. Have you noticed how much their discs sell for these days?

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WHhR_ftZyoE

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Hkp9f_CjEL4

[timmyfunk]

I have another question: do any of the artists that are profiled on Unsung see a bump in sales after their segment airs?

Before the ConFunkShun episode aried, they represented a band that did absolutely nothing for me. Now I feel a little differently after their segment. I might actually get their greatest hits.

[Kamasu_Jr]

I have another question: do any of the artists that are profiled on Unsung see a bump in sales after their segment airs?

Before the ConFunkShun episode aried, they represented a band that did absolutely nothing for me. Now I feel a little differently after their segment. I might actually get their greatest hits.

I'd say yes that some artists featured on Unsung do see a boost in sales. But most people download songs they want. I'd bet there's an increase there. I downloaded one Midnight Star track that I thought was on one of their greatest hits discs.

[MIKEW-UK]

Undoubtedly, for sure, without question, their greatest work.... six hundred and seventy four thousand people took the trouble to look it up,and listen. Marvin would have perhaps recognised 'Sexual Healing"?


http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=joX3E3m7XtI

[timmyfunk]

Easily their Funkiest moment on wax.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PKUXKEBu3qI

[Jerry Oz]

This is by FAR my favorite Midnight Star song. I don't know anyone else who listened to it on an album that spawned several hits [["Wet My Whistle", "Freakazoid", "No Parking On The Dance Floor"), this one always stood out.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DqbFoTGshYo

[Ngroove]

I have another question: do any of the artists that are profiled on Unsung see a bump in sales after their segment airs?


....Does the buying of used vinyls of Minnie Riperton, Deniece Williams, Sylvers, Teddy Pendergrass, Evelyn Champagne King, and Freddie Jackson counts?

Probably doesn't, since it's basically re-buying somethings that's previously bought anyways, but it's still in the listening appreciation of those top-quality singers!

[roger]

This one is, I think, the first track I ever heard by MIDNIGHT STAR - "Make It Last"


http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wc6gNzC4xmo

I remember being surprised that it was on Solar, as most other releases on the label at that time veered more towards "Pop"/"Soul" rather than being pure "Funk".

Roger

[zebop]

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9s_5nobkXZU

Here's the one I like the best, "Headlines" from 1986. There's a few versions, 45 mix, extended mix...

[glencro]

Here's the full UNSUNG episode
http://tvone.tv/shows/unsung/video/Full-episode-midnight-star.html

[glencro]

Sooo the long of the short is Reggie & Vincent Calloway's mother was the group's accountant. The other member's sneaked a peak at the books and had questions about their money. Reggie and Vincent were mad that they would question their mother's integrity and the group split up. The fact that the other member's had to sneak to see what was going on with their money is a red flag in itself. Ironically the Calloway brothers next big hit was "I Want Money"

[Jerry Oz]

I'm in the minority of fans who actually liked Midnight Star more with their earlier cuts like "Victory" than after they glitzed it up with the vocoders and dance tunes. Songs like "Midas Touch" showed that they were a unique and talented band. I haven't watched the "Unsung" episode yet, did they mention that Babyface got his break with the band with "Slow Jam"?

[glencro]

I'm in the minority of fans who actually liked Midnight Star more with their earlier cuts like "Victory" than after they glitzed it up with the vocoders and dance tunes. Songs like "Midas Touch" showed that they were a unique and talented band. I haven't watched the "Unsung" episode yet, did they mention that Babyface got his break with the band with "Slow Jam"?

Yes they did mention Babyface. It's a good episode and the group has aged well.

[chidrummer]

I saw the episode the other day. Felt like I was 21 again. TimmyFunk, great call! Hot Spot was a JAM. I too liked their earlier hits more along with Slowjam and Operator. Used to run into them sometimes when they were working on stuff at the old 5th Floor Studios in Cincinnati.
Jerry, Edmonds was all over the Natti after he left Manchild. At the time [[1980) he was making contacts and writing with the best musicians in town. Out of all that activity eventually came, The Deele.

A couple of years ago, I was back in Cincy and decided to attend a Jazz jam at The Blue Wisp which is located downtown. On the door was a notice that Vincent Callaway was going to play his trombone in a jazz group later during the week.
I happened to ask the young lady bartender [[in her 20's) if Vincent played at the club often. She replied that she'd never heard of him! Stunned, I asked her if she'd heard of Midnight Star - not really. I said you've never heard No Parking on the Dancefloor, Operator or Slow Jam? She said is that the song that Usher and Monica did? I almost fell off my chair. Now feeling about a hundred years old. I said, yeah, Vincent and his bandmates wrote that song.
She said, really?! After that I needed a drink.

[soulster]

I have another question: do any of the artists that are profiled on Unsung see a bump in sales after their segment airs?

Before the ConFunkShun episode aried, they represented a band that did absolutely nothing for me. Now I feel a little differently after their segment. I might actually get their greatest hits.
Really! When I discovered them around 1977, when I suppose most people did, they came off sounding like another Earth, Wind & Fire rip-off, probably due to their work with Skip Scarborough. But, I didn't hear that they really did have their own sound. They really started to cook when they did more funk towards the 80s. But, what intrigued me is when I discovered the album they did at Muscle Shoals before they signed with Mercury. I was able to download a crappy low-bit-rate mp3 of it, but it's quite interesting to hear them find their voice.

[Jerry Oz]

Oh, man. Con Funk Shun had me from before I was able go out and dance. "Ffun" and "Make It Last" remain two of the most iconic records for me. "Make It Last" is on the very short list of my favorite ballads. I can't say that "Unsung" has made me more interested in the bands profiled, but after I read about the Temptations in multiple books and seen some of what those brothers went through to make their music, I never heard them the same way before. Instead of smooth pop-soul that I considered them to be for the first 30 years of my life, I can hear all of the arguments and pain in every song that they sang. Their sound became much more "soul" to me than previously.

Somehow, I became more of a fan by understanding that those brothers were human like me and subject to the same problems that result from the dynamics of close relationships. That's what I like about "Unsung": Every episode featuring a band tells the same story where greed, drugs, sex, or ego has to get in the way of the greater good.