G Force

Let the photo negative photo album cover fool you, as Clive Davis definitely tried to mask Kenny Gorelick’s skin color and poodle hairdo, pitching his 1983 album to the urban R&B markets. It didn’t hurt that fusion keyboardist Jeff Lorber is all over the album and it’s executive produced by R&B kingmaker Kashif. Kashif was riding a hot hand in the early 1980s, making hits for Evelyn “Champagne” King, George Benson, Howard Johnson, and himself (and he was just two years away from doing it for a young singer named Whitney Houston) and it’s his silky, synthesized strain of R&B all over the album, with judicious use of that horn. If the very thought of putting on a Kenny G album for enjoyment makes you break out in hives, it’s easy to hear this as the smooth album Kashif himself never got around to making.