This self-produced album sadly bombed commercially, but this is a surprisingly fairly good album. The band hasn’t fully replaced Richie just yet: instead, the lead vocals here are shared between Walter Orange (who had sung lead on “Brick House”) and longtime Commodores sideman/co-writer Harold Hudson, who’s not credited here as an official member in spite of his greater profile on this disc. Commodores 13 (1983, Motown) C + You have to feel pretty bad for the Commodores: in a twelve-month span, they not only lost Lionel Richie to a solo career, but longtime producer James Anthony Carmichael also jumped ship to continue working with Richie, and, even worse, their longtime manager Benny Ashburn died of a heart attack at the age of 54. “You Are” is a perfect demonstration of Richie’s ability to write an R&B song that’s nothing but hooks from start to finish, and his playful performance on the cut oozes charm throughout as well. The tender piano ballad – and Number One hit – “Truly” (recorded on the same piano Carole King used to record Tapestry, interestingly enough) is perhaps the loveliest ballad Richie has ever put on disc, with or without the Commodores its arrangement is truly flawless, even right down to where the acoustic guitars arrive in the mix. It’s also unusually back-loaded, with the album’s two most notable hits not arriving until the second half.

Lionel Richie (1982, Motown) A + It may lack the fiery funk excursions of the Commodores’ best albums, but Richie’s first solo album is still a must-own for R&B fans and one of the more impressive solo debuts ever made by a former frontman.

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