“Good Intentions” is a 1987 single by American singer and model Ava Cherry. She collaborated with English musician David Bowie between 1972 and 1975; the two met in New York City when she was a nightclub waitress and Bowie was touring for The Rise and Fall of Ziggy Stardust and the Spiders from Mars. Afterwards, they began a period of personal and artistic collaboration that heavily influenced the Young Americans “blue-eyed soul” era. Following this, she struck out as a solo singer and backing artist for musicians such as Luther Vandross and Chaka Khan.
“Good Intentions” was the first single taken from her third and most successful studio LP “Picture This” (1987). “Good Intentions” debuted on the Billboard Dance Chart on August 8, 1987, peaking at #16 after spending eight weeks on the survey.
“Men” was the first single taken from the third solo LP “Good Women” by American R&B singer Gladys Knight. The single peaked at #2 on the U.S. R&B/Hip-Hop Chart on August 17, 1991, after spending seventeen weeks on the survey.
SIDE A: Men (Extended Club Version) 7:15
SIDE B: Men (Instrumental) 5:27
VINYL GRADE:
Vinyl: Near Mint
Sleeve: Near Mint
U.S. CHART HISTORY:
Year
Single
Chart
Position
1991
Men
U.S. Billboard Hot R&B/Hip-Hop Singles
#2
RELEASE INFORMATION:
Label: MCA Records – MCA12-54130
Format: Vinyl, 12″, 33 ⅓ RPM, Single
Country: US
Released: 1991
Genre: Funk / Soul
Style: New Jack Swing, Soul, Contemporary R&B
“The Visitors” (working title “Den första”, meaning “The First”), also known as “The Visitors (Crackin’ Up)”, is a 1981 song by the Swedish pop group ABBA. It is the title track from the band’s studio album of the same name, and was released as the fourth and final single in April 1982. The lead vocal was performed by Anni-Frid Lyngstad.
The official stated theme is a protest against the persecution of political dissidents in the Soviet Union at the time, as ABBA seemed to put political issues into their lyrics in the final days of the group. Björn Ulvaeus has stated that at the time of release he preferred that the song should have a sense of mystery so did not explain the exact meaning.
In 1982, the album The Visitors was banned in the Soviet Union, possibly due to the band allowing a video of “When All Is Said and Done” to be shown in the United States Information Agency television special, Let Poland Be Poland, along with a spoken message from Ulvaeus and Benny Andersson, broadcast via satellite around the world on 31 January 1982. The show, which also featured Frank Sinatra, Paul McCartney, Orson Welles, Henry Fonda, UK Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher and US President Ronald Reagan, was a public protest against the then-recent imposition of martial law in Poland.
However, ABBA’s segment was not included in the broadcast. The official reason given was time constraints. However, in a Rapport interview, Björn Ulvaeus mentioned that their message referenced human rights issues in several countries, including El Salvador and Chile. This has led to speculation that political considerations might have influenced the decision to exclude the segment, although this remains unconfirmed.
“The Visitors” was released as the album’s second (and final) single in the US instead of “Head over Heels,” which remained as the B-side.
The single peaked just outside the Top 60 at No. 63 on the singles chart in the U.S., and a double A-sided “The Visitors/When All Is Said and Done” 12″ single reached No. 8 on the Billboard dance chart. AllMusic reviewer Bruce Eder retrospectively described the song as “a topical song about Soviet dissidents that also manages to be very catchy.” Even though the song did not have any success in some countries, “The Visitors” was No. 1 in Costa Rica.
++ The “Short Version” included on this U.S. 12″ Promo is a vinyl-only exclusive, and has not appeared on CD. The edit that appeared on “More ABBA Gold” was modeled after the original “Short Version” taking the “Long Version” and editing it down therefore not the original edit that appears here.
SIDE A: The Visitors (Long Version) 5:45
SIDE B: The Visitors (Short Version) 4:22 ++
VINYL GRADE:
Vinyl: Near Mint
Sleeve: Near Mint
U.S. CHART HISTORY:
Year
Single
Chart
Position
1982
The Visitors
U.S. Billboard Hot 100
#63
1982
The Visitors
U.S. Billboard Hot Dance Music/Club Play
#8
RELEASE INFORMATION:
Label: Atlantic – DMD 329
Format: Vinyl, 12″, 33 ⅓ RPM, Promo
Country: US
Released: 1981
Genre: Electronic, Pop
Style: Synth-pop, Disco
“The Way You Make Me Feel” is a song by American singer Michael Jackson. It was released by Epic Records on November 9, 1987, as the third single from his seventh studio album, Bad. It was written and composed by Jackson and produced by Quincy Jones and Jackson.
The song received positive reviews from contemporary critics. “The Way You Make Me Feel” became Bad’s third consecutive single to peak at number one on the Billboard Hot 100 and charted mainly within the top ten and twenty internationally. A music video for the song was released at the time, showing Jackson pursuing and dancing with model Tatiana Thumbtzen.
The song has been performed on all of Jackson’s world concert tours as a solo artist and was planned to have been performed during the This Is It concerts from 2009 to 2010. Notable live performances of the song by Jackson include at the 30th Grammy Awards (1988).
“The Way You Make Me Feel” generally charted within the top ten and top twenty positions on music charts worldwide. The song climbed to number seven on the Billboard Hot 100 on the chart’s issue date of December 26, 1987. After charting within the top ten for five weeks, the song peaked at number one on the Hot 100 on January 23, 1988. “The Way You Make Me Feel” became the album’s third consecutive single to reach number one on the Hot 100. The song charted on Billboard’s Adult Contemporary chart, peaking at number nine, and on the Hot Dance Music/Maxi Single Sales chart at the peak of number three. The song also charted at number one on the Billboard Hot Black Singles chart and Dance Club Play Singles chart.
The song entered the United Kingdom singles charts at number sixteen on December 5, 1987. The following week the song moved up thirteen spaces to number three, which was the song’s peak position. The song stayed at its peak position for two consecutive weeks, and remained on the country’s chart for ten weeks, before falling out of the top 100 positions, only to re-enter the charts two weeks later.
The song has sold over 2 million digital copies as of August 2018.
The music video for “The Way You Make Me Feel” was directed by Joe Pytka and was filmed in June 1987 at Skid Row, Los Angeles. It was choreographed by Jackson and Vincent Paterson. The short version of the video is six minutes and forty-four seconds long and the full version is nine minutes and thirty-three seconds long. The video begins with a group of men trying to pick up women, but failing. One of the men, Jackson, is told to go home and not to hang around with the other guys anymore. When Jackson walks home, an elderly man (played by Joe Seneca), who is sitting on the steps of his house, tells him to just be himself. Jackson notices a woman, played by model/dancer Tatiana Thumbtzen, walking down the streets alone.
Shortly after, Jackson walks out of an alley and stands in front of Thumbtzen while she is walking down the street. However, she ignores him and keeps walking, which prompts the other guys to make fun of him. Jackson shouts at them, which gets the attention of everyone, including Thumbtzen. After walking up to her, Jackson begins singing “The Way You Make Me Feel” to her while also dancing. Uninterested, Thumbtzen walks away. He follows her, having been cheered on by his friends to pursue her. This leads to the man to continue to pursue the woman throughout the neighborhood. The video ends with the man eventually winning the woman over, and embracing her, while a fire hydrant sprays out water. The videoclip features an appearance by his sister La Toya as one of Thumbtzen’s friends.
The music video was released on October 31, 1987, and received one nomination at the 1988 MTV Video Music Awards Ceremony. The video, alongside Jackson’s “Bad” video, was nominated for Best Choreography, but lost to Jackson’s younger sister Janet’s video “The Pleasure Principle”.
The music video was included on the video albums: Video Greatest Hits – HIStory (long version on DVD and short version on VHS), Number Ones (short version), Michael Jackson’s Vision (long version) and the Target version DVD of Bad 25 (long version).
The introduction of the full version of the video also samples the Roy Ayers 1985 song “Hot” (written by Binky Brice, Philip Hunter Field and James Mtume) from his You Might Be Surprised album.
SIDE A: The Way You Make Me Feel (Dance Extended Mix) 7:53 The Way You Make Me Feel (Dance Remix Radio Edit) 5:22
SIDE B: The Way You Make Me Feel (Dub Version) 5:05 The Way You Make Me Feel (A Cappella) 4:30
VINYL GRADE:
Vinyl: Near Mint
Sleeve: Near Mint
U.S. CHART HISTORY:
Year
Single
Chart
Position
1987
The Way You Make Me Feel
U.S. Billboard Hot 100
#1
1987
The Way You Make Me Feel
U.S. Billboard Adult Contemporary
#9
1987
The Way You Make Me Feel
U.S. Billboard Hot Dance Music/Club Play
#1
1987
The Way You Make Me Feel
U.S. Billboard Hot DanceMusic/Maxi-Singles Sales
#3
1987
The Way You Make Me Feel
U.S. Billboard Hot Black Singles
#1
RELEASE INFORMATION:
Label: Epic – 49 07487
Format: Vinyl, 12″, 33 ⅓ RPM, Single
Country: US
Released: 1987
Genre: Electronic, Funk / Soul, Pop
Style: Dance-pop, Contemporary R&B
