What Cha Gonna Do for Me: Expanded Edition

Digitally remastered and expanded edition. After a hugely successful run fronting the multi-racial funk group Rufus, Chaka Khan redirected that success into a solo career. 1981's Gold certified What Cha' Gonna Do For Me (R&B #3/Pop #17/Jazz #35) builds upon the jazz leanings of its predecessor. The title track (R&B #1/Pop #53) launched the album with Chaka's breeziest vocals to date. Second single `We Can Work it Out' (R&B#34/DANCE #22) reconstitutes the Beatles as a call to the dance floor whilst "Any Old Sunday" (R&B #68) is the gentlest groove on the album. `I Know You, I Live You' failed to chart as the album's final US single but became a dance floor classic. Similarly, the instrumental solo to `Fate' would be sampled in Stardust's massive dance hit `Music Sounds Better with You'. Elsewhere, `And The Melody Still Lingers On', Chaka's adaptation of Dizzy Gillespie's `Night in Tunisia', acts as a tribute to the forbearers of jazz with Herbie Hancock contributing a synth solo as well as a Charlie Parker saxophone solo lifted from his own version of the song from 1946. It's this relationship with history that would inform much of Chaka's best work. Two recordings from the album session final make the cut on this BBR edition of What Cha' Gonna Do For Me. `Lover's Touch' and `Only Once' originally appeared only as single b sides from the album. For the first time, they now sit alongside the rest of the sessions.